Tessa learns to ski!

We headed to Liberty Mountain today so that we could enjoy the winter weather we've been getting lately. After 80 minutes of driving, and 1.5 hours of rental lines, potty breaks, eating some food in the lodge, and getting geared up, we were finally ready for Tessa's first lesson.

Tessa was a little disappointed to find out that her teacher for the day was a man named Chip and was not a woman named Nora. Don't worry, Tessa, at least he looks like he knows what he's doing.

Robbie was carrying a bag of M&M's. Here he is sticking some chocolate candy in Tessa's mouth. Keeping her happy is important.

Tessa was understandably a bit nervous, but Chip guaranteed us that this was the right thing to do. We went on the chairlift for our very first run! That's joy on Robbie's face and terror on Tessa's.

Here's Chip encouraging Tessa to stand on her own. "I'm not going to carry you, Tessa," he said.

After hearing about a possible hot chocolate store at the bottom of the mountain, Tessa stood up, pointed her skis downhill, and took off.

She had so much fun on the first run, that she asked to do another ride and another run. By the end, she was even skiing on her own! Yay, Tessa!

(And, yes, she did get her hot chocolate at the bottom.)

After a long hiatus...

We apologize for the delay in posting, but it's because we've been having lots of fun with our girls and they keep us busy.

Here are a few pictures from Zoe's 2nd birthday party and from the "medal ceremony" at gym class.

Halloween

Tessa and her friend Katherine dressed up as matching Tinker Bells for Halloween this year.  Apparently, Tinker Bell is now a start of a popular cartoon for kids.  Thanks to Katherine's Mom for picking out the costumes.  The two fairies stuck together for the evening … tailed by a small cow.

 

 

 

Pumpkin carving

We are lucky enough to have Grandma visiting right now. Our afternoon activity was to carve a couple of pumpkins for Halloween. Funnily enough, the best part of carving was washing off the pumpkin seeds and laying them out on a paper towel to dry. 

Look at that concentration!

 

 

 

Puzzling

Several months ago, we bought Tessa her first puzzle - which also happened to be a map of the U.S. She has been enjoying learning about the states ("that's where Grandma lives," "that's where Daddy was born," "that's where Mimi and Pop Pop live," "I used to live in Virginia but now I live in Maryland"), which I figured would be the focus of the puzzle for several months. 

However, last weekend, Tessa pulled a huge surprise on me. She sat down with the empty puzzle and all the pieces on the side and proceeded to complete the entire puzzle by herself! It took almost fifteen minutes and she only asked for help at the very end because she didn't have the finger strength to pop the last few pieces in. Needless to say, I was quite impressed. 

So, note to Tessa's admirers: if you want to get her a good present, get her a puzzle!

 

  

 

(Long delayed) photos from North Carolina

We did a trip to North Carolina earlier this summer. Here are some of our favorite Tessa photos from that trip.

Being silly.

That's the smile!

Going hiking!

Made it to the top!

Cute smile.

The family.

Sisters

Train ride!

Bumper car

Swimming in the creek.

Florida!

Sensing a bit of unrest, we decided to pack up the family and fly to FL for the long 4th of July weekend. Tessa was thrilled about the trip and talked about it for several days before we left. Fortunately, the trip did not disappoint. We taught her how to float in the ocean using noodles (not to be confused with the slightly more dangerous sport of noodling). 

We spent a lot of time on the beach.

Mimi and Pop-Pop took her to the Naples Zoo, where they saw some large cats (and there was rumored to be a honey badger there, but we don't have the photos to prove it).

She got to ride around in the child wagon at the zoo.

And, she got to play in the swimming pool (with her second cousins)!