Memorial Day Weekend

It was a very busy weekend! Saturday morning we made a quick visit to Papa Scott and Nana Wendy's house before we attended the annual family reunion on Nonna Penny's side. It was fun to see all the extended family as well as hang out with GG Mum, Nonna, Tim, Deb, and Dylan. Sophia was a little overwhelmed with all the activity, but had fun playing with a few of the older kids. Sunday we celebrated Clara's life (my great aunt) who past away last year. The family gathered at the cemetery to commemorate her and unveil her stone. Following this we spent much of the day together first by going to brunch and later meeting up for diner. Monday was a little less eventful as we headed over to the Neulander pool for a little R & R. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so much family-makes me further appreciate how lucky we are!

Sophia a little preoccupied as she scours for food


Dylan shocked as he wondered where all the champagne had gone

dinner Sunday night

Sophia body surfing

Crawling!

On May 7th Sophia crawled for the first time. It was an emotional moment as I watched her and cried tears of joy. It took her about another 2 weeks to crawl consistently, here is some recent footage.

Mother's Day Brunch

I got great presents from both my husband and daughter. Sophia even wrote me a letter and signed her name, unbelievable! Later in the day we went to brunch with my side of the family at the Century Club. It was so nice to have all the generations together. Sophia put the icing on the cake for me by simply being herself and having fun with everyone, but especially with her older cousin Noah. Noah is 3 and Sophia just loves kids. She kept blabbering to him and of course trying to eat his pirate action figures. Not sure Noah had as much fun. Anyway, the other excitement was that we got to meet the newest additions to the family Dan and Vanessa's twins Logan and Julia. They are so cute!

All the mothers

Dan, Vanessa, Noah, Logan, and Julia

Grandma & Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa flew in for Friday and Saturday night of Mother's Day weekend. This was the first time they'd seen Sophia since she was 2 weeks old. She had a little anxiety at first as she got re-acquainted with them, but she quickly warmed up to them, as you can see from the pictures above — funny how fast a child's emotions change. Anyway, G & G also brought Sophia a treasure trove of clothes (lucky girl) and a few fun toys. Nonna joined us on Saturday for a lovely Mother's Day brunch. We all enjoyed hanging out and playing with Sophia. She now plops herself forward and even manages to take a few crawls, but it is not consistent. It was a short but sweet visit. Hopefully we will be able to make the trip to G & G's for Thanksgiving.

Happy Birthday Dylan!

Cousin Dylan celebrated his first birthday, and of course, we were there to help celebrate. It was nostalgic celebrating his birthday. It seems like only yesterday that we visited Tim and Deb and meet Dylan for the first time – hard to grasp how quickly time passes. Anyway, it was so fun to see how much he's changed. Dylan tried to teach Sophia how to crawl and stand by example, which encouraged her a lot, but just not quite enough. I think this was the first time they interacted since Sophia has become astutely aware of the outside world. They got along for the most part, except when Sophia tried to play with any of Dylan's toys. Luckily, this didn't bother her much.

We stayed the night at Tim, Deb and Dylan's along with Nonna. The next day after all the festivities we decided to find our spiritual centers by driving to Chuang Yen Monastery which houses the largest Buddha statue in the Americas — it was pretty impressive. Following this we stopped in Cold Spring Harbor for a quick lunch and then headed back north. Thanks for having us! Great party Dyl! Looking forward to the next one.

Dylan thinking over Sophia playing with his ball.

Then swiftly taking action to get it back.

The giant Buddha

Nonna with her grandkids at lunch in Cold Spring Harbor.