Wednesday, April 22, 2009

My Trip to Naples - Part 1


Pretty as a postcard!



No... she's actually screaming! Does NOT like cold water!



In 10 minutes I'll refuse to eat and throw ALL my food on the floor... but aren't I cute right now!



101 meets 1 - Great-grandma gets to visit with Elena again



So we've had a pretty nice time here in Naples, Fl. We flew direct which was a good plan since Elena had never been on a plane before. She did surprisingly well on the flight - sleeping most of the time. Didn't cry when we had a bit of turbulence and only at the end was a little fussy pulling on her ears because they must not have popped as we descended.

Our first day was mostly a wash. Jen and I were both exhausted having got up before 7am with Elena crying the majority of the night being sick with a head cold. We ate some ok Mexican food (Jen hated it, I gave it a 5 or 6) and pretty much hung out in the hotel room.

Day two we walked to the beach along a raised walkway through mangrove trees. There were shuttle golf carts that zipped by but we wanted to enjoy the morning and walk the 8/10 mile at least once. It was very pretty. I'll have to post a Naples gallery later. E must have been tired because the first time we went to put her in the ocean she FREAKED! I don't know if it was the cold or if it was just scary, but she was having none of it.

Jen pretty much just laid with her on the beach as she napped and I walked around taking pictures. Later that day we drove to the Naples Pier which stretches pretty far into the Gulf. There were tons of fishermen and gulls and a few people surfing - a really neat spot just to sit and people-watch.

We tried another restaurant with "good" reviews called Buzz's Lighthouse and even though we spent a bunch we didn't get a very decent meal. I had a grouper Reuben which was actually decent (prob cause I couldn't taste the grouper over the rather good coleslaw) and Jen had the grouper dinner - which seemed very fishy and not fresh but processed. Elena's hot dog kids meal was also bad - just as well cause she wasn't hungry anyway. So our current tally on picking good restaurants was 0 for 2.

Today (Wed) we met my 101 year old grandmother for lunch in North Naples and got to see where she lives and spend some time with her. She told us about a nice cafe near our hotel so we backtracked and the food was the best we've had since we got here. Jen and I have decided we must be food snobs or else Naples has a LOT of mediocre to bad eateries.

After taking my Gma back home we finally hit the resort pool and both Jen and I went down the waterslide (I went more than once) and Elena got to swim in a pool for the first time. We tried both an infant lifevest and floaties. While she didn't seem to like either very much, however the floaties seemed to work best for her. More pictures of this to come.

Now we are lazily relaxing in the hotel room while E naps getting ready to explore another restaurant hoping we don't pick another lemon. Could we just get a gem for a change. Are all these reviewers just not educated how good food SHOULD taste? We ponder this and more as we debate just how we became food snobs living in a city like Cincinnati.

-Jason
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Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter in Akron

Elena and Jen smile pretty on Easter day


Isabella loves having a cousin

Lucas, Isabella, and Elena


Jason, Jen and Elena makes 3

We had a nice Easter weekend up in Akron with the Wenners and Springers. We had an Easter egg hunt in Nana's backyard for Lucas and Isabella and had a yummy Easter lunch. Elena was SO cute in her easter dress with sweater - she didn't survive more than a few minutes at the Easter service, however.

We spent some of Saturday at the neighborhood park where Jen and Elena swung and I was able to get a kite going for 10-15 (total) minutes - spending >20 minutes untangling and winding the string afterwards!

E is just about walking on her own but prefers to crawl cause she's more confident and faster that way. It was a rough rough ride up and back since E is cutting a bunch of her molars according to Jen as well as her pediatrician.

All in all it was a good short turn-around trip with what felt like days in the car. Alas we'll do it again someday soon I'm sure.

-Jason

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Sunday, April 5, 2009

Pictures of Elena's 1st Birthday Party now online!

I do believe this is the fastest I've *ever* posted pictures to the blog! Hope you enjoy them.

We had a great time celebrating our little girl's first birthday. Even though Lanie didn't really get a good nap prior to the party and was pretty grumpy most of the time, she seemed to have fun, loved the presents (especially her new tunnel toy) and apparently likes cake... surprise, surprise.

Thanks to everyone who could make it!!

-Jason

Click the picture below for the Picasa Album link...


Elena's First Birthday

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Elena's 1st B-Day



This is a picture of E's first birthday cake. Yes it's a real cake under that dress! Her party is Sunday and hopefully I'll have pictures to post of all the festivities. She may not understand what's going on, but I KNOW she'll soon know what cake is.

Until later,

-Jason

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