Summertime!

Well it's been awhile and I've been very bad, as per ususal, about posting. I think I should just plan to be happy if I get to posting once every month or two! We have been having a very nice summer here in La Crosse. Up until this week, the weather has been very mild (which I prefer) and so getting outdoors a lot has been great! Miss Ella has been the travelling baby this summer, with a trip to Redwood Falls, a trip or 2 to Duluth, a trip to New Ulm, and a trip to Pewaukee all under her belt in the past several weeks!
We enjoyed a nice 4th of July with Patrick's mom, and Ella got to see her first fireworks... I'm pretty sure by 10pm she was only half-concious towards the end of them, but she was a trooper nonetheless. We spent a weekend with the Walden side of the family in New Ulm and had a nice reunion and picnic of sorts, and Ella got to meet lots of new family members there! Ella got to spend some time checking out Lake Superior in Duluth for the second time, and we had a nice little trip to some new parts of the South shore there (except for the wood ticks that were stuck to us, and the huge snake Patrick almost stepped on, those were not highlights...). This last weeknd we spent the weekend in Pewaukee at my sister's house with her family and my parents, which was lots of fun. Ella got to take her first dip in the pool at Kim and Greg's house, and she splashed around to her hearts content, mesmerized by her cousins' advanced swimming abilities!
All in all a good summer thus far. Ella is starting to crawl around a good bit, mostly in circles at this point, but is on the verge of taking off across the floor at any second. Holding her own bottle and learning to clap are the two new tricks this past month... so fun to watch all these brain connections being made! Perhaps next week she'll be doing the dishes for me?? I won't hold my breath...
Hope all who follow here are having a great summer as well!
...and Happy Birthday to Ella's Grandma Coco today!