Detroit - August 2009

Last weekend, we were in Dearborn, Ferndale, and St. Clair, MI to see our wonderful midwest family and friends. We stayed the night Friday with The Brissons - Kate and Gerry hosted us for a late dinner (our plane was over 2 hours late) where we were joined by Sarah Jacobson to reminesce about Baltimore in our younger years. The next morning, we had breakfast and went to the park with Jimmy and Ruthie. Much fun was had by all.

On Saturday, we drove up to St. Clair to see the McCartan crew. Aunt Helen and Uncle Mike hosted us at their house because there was a big boat race extravaganza in town. Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Culann drove over from Cleveland. Aunt Maura and Uncle Lee flew over from Ireland. Cousins Thomas and Maura joined the party. And of course, the matriarch herself was in attendance - Granny Maura. Much fun was had by all. There was a birthday celebration for Grammy Vivienne, games of ladder ball and late-night poker, open mike night with folks from all over town. Chad even got to have a Daly burger and Daly dog!

North Carolina - July 2009

On a whim, and because Chad had an all day retreat, Ripley and I decided to go visit Aunt Jen and Cousin Dexter a few weeks ago (July 24-26). We love Southwest Airlines and got a great rate on Thursday and flew down the next day.

It had only been a few month since we saw Cousin Dexter, but he has grown A LOT. And when Ripley was last in Aunt Jen's house, she was only crawling, not walking, so there was much to do and explore. We had a pretty casual weekend. More pool time, spooking Cousin Dexter, and smiling at the airport (one of my new favorite toothy grin pictures!).

Things I Can Do - Sign for More

Yes, it has been over a month, so here I am tonight trying to do some catch up. And things are going to be out of order because I want to link this video first. Aunt Jenny gave us a Baby Sign Language book way back when Ripley was just a wee fetus. We've been pretty good about one of the first signs babies are supposed to learn - MORE. You basically touch your fingers and thumbs on each hand and move them together. When Ripley was in NC, she did it once when we were eating breakfast with Aunt Jenny, but hasn't done it again since. Until tonight. When she very clearly had one hand with its fingers and thumb together and would hit it against the palm of her other hand. All to get the little cat cookies (like animal crackers) from Trader Joe 's.

She was a bit shy at first about doing it on video, but she finally did it.