Mark & Mandy

Greg D visited us in Boulder a few weeks ago and came bearing gifts. Elsie was very excited about the t-shirt and looks forward to visiting with her complete entourage!

This post is sooo overdue - excuse the tardiness.

This year we decided to give elsie a choice of birthday theme … we laid out three visual cards (Bugs - from bugs life, Under the sea - nemo and little mermaid, and Elmo) - in 5 seperate sittings we laid the cards out and had her choose. She chose bugs 4 of the times and Under the Sea once. But we did butterflies last year, so I overruled her choice and picked Under the Sea. I mean how many years do I get to do what I want - I need to take advantage of it!

This year I purchased invites from Tiny Prints (feeling like a failure since this is probably the one thing I should be doing for elsie)… they were very cute

Party Table…

Of course my mom outdid her last years cupcakes with this awesome two tier cake

We made crepe paper seaweed with balloons and little inflatable fish for our decorations around the house

We had a big sushi spread (which the sushi chef questioned … isn’t it odd that they are eating nemo?) We ignored him

The biggest hit of the day was the dolphin bouncer we rented - it had a double slide and pretty much was the party. The kids loved it. We had it show up early so elsie could have her own time before the party go’ers arrived.

Elsie was very excited to sing happy birthday to herself

We also did a pinata - one of the string pull pinatas. After a few little ones pulled a string out Mia (standing directly under the pinata) walked over, grabbed all the strings and we were instantly in business (she’s no dummy)

Elsie loved the bubble machine and spent lots of time spinning and popping the bubbles

But then it was more jumper time

Happy Second Birthday Elsie Bean!

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even more photos here

We did a little cousins photo shoot before mothers day …

I recently got a Mac mini, so I have felt empowered to start doing something with all the raw video footage we have shot of Elsie over the last years.

I am going to try to do this a bit more frequently so we can see how the little bean is progressing - she is a chatty lady.

The below video is from May 4th 2009

I am so behind at blogging … I blame scott for that, but I digress …

After our florida trip we headed down to Antigua (which we now realized is pronounced ant-tig-ga) to meet up with the Sladdens. Michael and Alison flew direct from London, Chloe via NYC and we flew in via Miami.

Antigua was beautiful and extremely family friendly … we arrived to a rather long customs line and immediately they grabbed us to go immediately through. Michael and Alison rented a house near English Harbour right on the beach. The house had a mini-pool that Elsie spent much of her time in.

The house was on the water, but very private … we only saw a few fisherman and snorkelers …

Grammie Alison was happy to enjoy some relaxation with elsie (and her giant binky)

There was a bird feeder outside and the birds were practically tame - each day alison would fill the feeder up with sugar water and instantly we had some feathered friends …

We picked up a few beach toys for elsie …

And headed to a calm Pigeon beach which was right around the corner from the house

the beach and the water were amazing

Elsie didn’t ever truly realize the beauty of the mask underwater - but she is all for fashion, so she just kept it on for the cool factor of course

Alison took Elsie for a stroll down the beach

Swimming and running on the beach are extremely tiring - elsie was quick to lay down for a snooze

Auntie Go Go read elsie some interesting graphic novels …

The next day we did the same thing … more beach!

Alison gave elsie a few surf lessons (sans board - maybe next year)

Grandpa Michael was brilliant in packing up kitchen gadgets that could be fun on the beach. Mark and I were excited to build a big moated castle elsie was more interested in destroying all of our work

Alison, Chloe and Michael braved the sea to do a bit of snorkeling off the house … we headed down to take photos and make sure Michael was towing Elsie’s floaty tube so we could see where they were

Elsie and Mark were a great audience

Our last night in Antigua we headed to the top of English Harbour to enjoy a sunset barbecue and a steel drum band.

The last morning Elsie woke up early and was happy to crawl into the hammock with grammie alison and grandpa michael for her usual slow get up.

Our trip was fabulous - we enjoyed some home cooked sladden meals, yummy wine, and most of all great family. Thanks to Michael and Alison for starting a great tradition!

Tonight Mark and I headed down to Denver to have dinner and see a movie … a treat given to me for my birthday by Scott and Julie. They purchased tickets to see the documentary Objectified at the Mayan Theater (which has a full bar by the way - and serves wine in real glasses). The director of Objectified, Gary Hustwit, also did the film Helvetica. We had a great dinner at the Hornet Restaurant just around the corner before hand and then walked over for the showing.

The film was a look at industrial design and how it impacts our lives today … they looked at a ton of objects and designers from a sustainable toothbrush to the mac powerbook to the oxo vegetable peeler. It was amazing to see how much thought and effort goes into every object we use (a lot of which we already know) but one of the biggest themes was sustainability - how can we make objects that last, or if they aren’t supposed to last (like your cell phone) how can we make it in a sustainable way so we aren’t filling our landfills with plastic.

It was a great night … but when I got home I said to mark, I had so much fun tonight but  going out on dates are so different now that we are older. He said I know, but there is one thing that really stuck with me about the film tonight was items that you grow into not out of, items that get better with age - like marriage. (and like the leather briefcase they were actually referring to in the film). I totally agree, Mark!

(ok, so I hate posts that are so sickly sweet - but that one had to be documented!)

So to top this off, I wanted to add an early photo (actually the first one ever taken) … Mark and I officially hit it off at a mutual friends wedding where we were both seated at the singles table - that some how collected all extra champagne bottles.

A special thanks to scott and julie for organizing the whole night! It was awesome - but it definitely made us miss you more.

Aunti Go-Go has left her job at Current for a new adventure … she is now the Director of Business Development for Global Broadcast & News Media for Twitter!

To celebrate she bought Elsie a Twitter Shirt (the notorious Fail Whale) - Elsie decided to pair her outfit with argyle knee socks - which look a lot like tights here.

Chloe was an early adopter of Twitter and for those of you who don’t follow her - you should @ChloeS (but be prepared for deepness that you might not understand)

Good Luck Auntie Go Go!

In march we headed to Florida for some fun and sun with the Johnstons in Bonita Springs. We had so much fun and look forward to a longer stay next year … (this post is FILLED with photos)

Finley sent Elsie to Florida in a very cute swimsuit that accentuated her little belly. Bonita beach is filled with shells so off we went with a bucket to collect …

Elsie was also delighted to find that sea water was salty … she’s clearly part baby deer and in need of a salt lick.

Elsie always has the fanciest clothes and I am stuck with my target swim suit.

The house had a SWING inside … Niko and Elsie were giving it a go (in their cute fishy and crab shirts from Julie!)

Elsie still isn’t so sure about the water … she prefers watching the waves at this point

Or playing with Scott

Baby steps into the waves

Niko is a great influence for Elsie, when she watches him in the water she has the competitive need to follow along …

Splashing around

Niko the shark!

A water favorite, up and down, up and down … notice the form on these boys

Elsie still nervous to get into the water

Scott is like a big child himself - he made a giant jump house inside for the kids (thanks to pat and jere for not minding our giant play room). Elsie again thinks scott or (cott as she calls him) is so funny

Jumps

Finally it was time for Elsie to go into the water … the boys were on a mission

of course Elsie wanted up and down in the water

Baby Andrew came down to witness elsie finally getting in the water, and celebrated with his own toes in the waves.

Florida was a hit!

ok, so no excuses on why I am so far behind … but I am back on the bloggin’ wagon (with some catch up)

In March, Grammie and Papa came to Colorado and we all headed up for our yearly ski trip at Vail. Even though my mom and dad only seem to ski once each year, my mom purchased a new set of skis and was ready to show the mountain who was boss. We rented a large house and all headed up to the mountain filled with gear … Elsie prepared herself for the snow with grammies uggs…

Josh, Amy, Saffie and the huntington crew joined us, and we also brought Min! along so the girls would have some fun while we hit the slopes.  Grammie was in heaven ..

The house had a hot pool which was a big hit for Elsie … Saffie doesn’t like the hot water, but Elsie can’t get enough of it.

the suana was more of a play room, but the benches provided minutes of fun

We weren’t allowed to wear shoes inside, so the house was stocked with slippers … Quinn and Elsie found Pokemon twin slippers.

Grandpa Michael and Grammie Alison sent Elsie a new book (knuffle bunny) and EVERYONE was excited to read it - the artwork in this book is amazing and the bunny is so cute!

Not sure there is anything more fun than chewing on Grammie and Papa’s toothbrushes …

While we were on the slopes, Min created a fort for the girls to play in, of course elsie is serving tea as always.

Elsie, the tattoo aholic, was excited to see if altitude made any difference with the tattoos … it didn’t, except that she convinced quinn to put some on too…

Here we are in our gear at two elks lodge (papa, josh and grammie)

Heidi and Jason

me and Mark (isn’t mark so cute in his new ski pants!)

It was a great trip!

We got some new croc’s to match our ultra mod etsy dress by April Scott …

We are ready for spring!