Still not pink!

Last year visiting the bears...

and this year...

Same silly bears.
(This one just lounges)

Wait, did I say silly bear?

Ellison was pretty silly as well.

A little girl and her Daddy.

Last year, Grandma and Mommy took Ellison to Grandfather Mountain to see the bears. This year, Daddy made the trip with us. Ellison wanted to show him the "pink" bears. Guess what? They are still brown. The funniest part of the trip, upon arrival, Graham read aloud a sign "Ice Cream and Fudge Shop." All of the sudden, Ellison screamed from the backseat, "That is a deal!" Needless to say, she saw the bears and had strawberry ice cream. Graham and I are such pushovers!

Big Girl Lesson #4

Ellison set her first dinner table!

(Her mommy is so proud, her Aunts are probably rolling their eyes.)

Blueberry Picking

Aunt Ashley helped me!
Nice and ripe!

I ate one.

Grandma joined in the fun.

Just a few dance moves to complete the berry picking.

Thanks Grandpa for telling us about the yummy blueberry tree in the backyard. Ellison loved picking blueberries, and loved eating them as well. We wish you were in NC with us!

Ice Cream time!

Yesterday was Aunt Ashley's final day in the Mountains... boo hoo. Our last stop, ice cream of course! Yummy!

Tweetsie Time

We mosied over to Tweetsie Railroad today for some good old fun. Tweetsie Railroad is a mini theme park that we have all wanted to take Ellison to and were just patiently waiting until she was old enough.

So what was it like? Well, we ended up leaving exhausted, hot, and yearning for Disney. Well, at least Grandma, Aunt Ashley, and I did. Ellison was more exhausted, hot, and loving everything at Tweetsie, except the actual train rides (which are the main part of Tweetsie). Personally, I think we are all spoiled coming from Orlando :)

Ellison loved her new pink cowgirl hat, the rides, and petting the animals. Her favorite thing of the day... the llama. Her absolute least favorite thing... the train ride and the cowboy shoot out (she hated it because of the gun noise, I hate it for the purely bad acting). And her cutest moment... throwing off her sandals and stating, "I need pink cowboy boots!" Ok, well there were actually a ton of cute moments that made the day completely worth it for Grandma, Aunt Ashley, and Mommy. But, the girl needs pink cowgirl boots... duh!

We have arrived!

Up until a few days before Ellison and I departed from Orlando Internaitonal Airport for NC, I was braving the airport alone with E. I am sure I could have done it, however, I am very happy to say that Aunt Ashley decided to join us in our journey. We survived the ride thanks to a lollipop, new coloring book, Clifford dvd, skittles, pretzels, and a cup of ice.

And since our arrival to our beautiful home in NC, Ellison has been loving her time with Grandma. On her first day here, Ellison saw birds on our feeders, deer very close to the house, ducks in the infamous duck pond, and several plastic garden animals (the plastic variety are almost as exciting as the deer... ha ha). And about those ducks... well she is a scared of them as her Daddy is :)

Three Little Monkeys

This was not the Whiteman's boat,

but it was definitely worth a picture!

Graham, Ellison, and I headed to Delray Beach this weekend to check out the Whiteman's new house, take their boat out, and enjoy the DMB concert (with babysitter, of course)! We had a fabulous weekend, including pancakes made by Jason and some super silliness courtesy of E, Jack and Anna Banana. Ellison had an absolute blast with Jack and Anna. I am not sure if she had more fun on the boat, in the water, or jumping on the bed. You know the Little Monkey song... well we had "three little monkeys jumping on the bed". Completely safe, of course. If anything this weekend confirmed that we must get together more often and continue our Beech = Beach vacation. Thank you Cathy and Jason for hosting a fabulous weekend. See you in a few weeks for some beach and Gator football!