Wisconsin: An Idyllic Vacation in 4 Parts

My best friend Jenny has a couple family cabins in Wisconsin on Lake Eau Claire. She's been inviting us for years, but the timing's never worked out. This year we decided to make it work out, so the 3 of us joined Jenny, her husband Chad, and their daughter Addie (who is 2 today...Happy Birthday, Addie!) for an 8 day vacation last week. IT WAS SO FANTASTIC!
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The weather was beautiful: crisp & cool mornings, sunny & warm days, chilly & snuggly nights. A typical day went like this: lazy morning breakfast and coffee, outdoor playtime for the girls, naptime for the girls while we took the baby monitors down to the dock to get some sun & drink a few beers, get the girls up from naptime and spend the rest of the day playing in the water or on the boat. Delicious dinner at night, a little more outdoor playtime for the girls before putting them to bed, then hang out by the campfire and play some cards. One of the best parts was that there was no cell phone service in the town...ahhhh....to be unplugged for a week!!
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We took a lot of pictures, so I've decided to break the Wisconsin trip into 4 blog entries that I will post throughout the week. I'm not presuming that anyone will actually want to pore over all our vacation pics; I just want everything recorded for us since I don't do scrapbooks or photo albums. :) This first entry focuses on outdoor playtime...enjoy!

Here's Addie on her tricycle chasing Delilah up the front walk of the cabin. Delilah also had a trike that she loved riding and the two girls spent hours that week chasing each other around.
Delilah strutting down the ramp

Delilah deciding she would rather be in Daddy's arms than on her trike
Running in a field of clover surrounded by Christmas trees

My angel in clover
A couple pics with Mom during a sunset

Chris and Chad went on a bike ride one morning. The bikes hadn't been ridden in awhile, so they did a little inspecting before taking off. Here's Delilah showing them where the problem is. :)
On another morning, Chris, Jenny, Addie, Delilah, and I went for a walk in the woods. I hung back and caught a few pics.

A view of the cabin from the lake. GORGEOUS!!

If you made it this far, be sure to check back in a couple days for Part Two: the Wilderness Walk Petting Zoo!

Hijacked Anniversary Post

7 years ago today, Chris and I got married. I was going to wax poetic (blog poetic?) about our love, but lucky for you guys (b/c that would have been BO-RING), Delilah did something today that was much more blog-worthy. She decided to...ahem...wait for it...READ! Not kidding. Here's how it all went down:
Yesterday, the 3 of us were hanging out in the living room and Delilah saw the word bubbles. She immediately said, "Buh-bulls". There were no context clues or pictures of bubbles around to give her a hint. She just said the freaking word on her own. Chris and I decided it was a fluke and didn't get too excited. (Just kidding, we started laughing and clapping and got crazy excited). But I didn't think she'd be doing it again anytime soon.
Then, this morning, we were playing with some flip books and flip cards that she loves and when she came across the words 'dog', 'hi', and 'up' she read all of them...before she lifted the flap to see the picture!!!! Okay, okay, I actually would not call this reading. More like 'recognizing words', but STILL!!! The even crazier thing is, this was the first time I've ever even heard her SAY the words 'dog' and 'bubble', much less read them. She may not read any other words until she's 5...she may not even read these words again until she's 5. I don't care, it was fun when she did it yesterday and today. When she was born, I truly had no idea how wondrous it would be to watch her discover the world. It is magical.

So, for my record keeping purposes, here's a picture of the first words Delilah read:

And, lest anyone think we're getting too academic in the Huntley home, here's Red running around with a colander on her head:

(And, Chris, Happy Anniversary. I love you with all of my heart. Can you believe we made her??)

A Jungle for Lila Bear

Now that Delilah is a toddler, she has become more adventurous than ever. Since we wanted to keep our living room as an adult oasis, Chris and I decided to turn the upstairs loft area into Delilah's playroom. We went with a jungle theme for our mischievous, climbing, intrepid daughter. She loves it!!!! And I love that she has a whole area to run and play in.

Before

AFTER!
Before AFTER!
(I put all the monkeys and vines up during Delilah's nap one day, and when she saw them for the first time, she FLIPPED out. She was so excited!)

Jungle table and chairs
(BTW, when I bought this set from Babies R Us, I needed help carrying it out. The stocker loaded it into my car, then said, "WAIT A MINUTE!" and ran back in the store. He came out carrying the rhino, tiger, and lion cutouts above. They had been part of the store display and were about to go in the trash. He said he thought Delilah would like them. How sweet is that?!?! :)
Cubbies for toys and alphabet flashcards on the wall Playing at her table. Doesn't she look like such a big kid?!?!?

She loves puzzles. (As a proud mama, I can't help but point out that she's putting the red circle in the correct slot) Helping Dad put up the canopy
Closeup of the canopy (Amazing what you can do with a hula hoop and some fabric)
Walking in and out of the canopy. She loves to play with all the fabric and can entertain herself for a LONG time this way
Thanks, Mom and Dad! I was wondering when I was going to get my own place!

Dancing Machine

While still in the aforementioned silver shoes, Delilah decided to take the party into the kitchen. And to make it a dance party. These next shots were all taken within about 10 seconds of each other.

Delilah's Dance Instruction:

Take one hand up!

Now both hands up!

Wave your arms!

Do a twirl!
Shake your hips
Watch out for the wall
And strut back to your cheering fans

Delilah will soon be accepting requests for private instruction. Silver shoes required. Pants optional.

15 Months Old (and 1 Week Old!)

On Tuesday, Delilah turned 15 months old and her cousin Greyson turned 1 week old! Delilah needs to get used to sharing, so here are Greyson's pics first:

Precious little man

First Greyson and Aunt Rachael pic
Warm and snuggly

And now to Delilah. She had her 15 month checkup and everything is great. She's 22 pounds, 7 ounces (50th %), 31.5 inches tall (75th%), and I don't remember her head size, but it was the 90th %. The doctor asked what she ate in a typical day and I started listing things. Then I paused and said, "And then for lunch..." and the doctor interrupted me and said, "Wait, that was all just breakfast?!" What can I say, my kid's hungry. All the time. In our weekly playgroup, I've heard her referred to as "the sweet, giggly one who steals everyone's food" Her current favorites are salmon, yogurt, edamame, and multigrain Cheerios. I know in every picture it looks like she only has two teeth, but she actually has 10 (including her bottom molars).

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She is still quite the climber and has also become an escape artist now that she can open doors. Childproofing has definitely gone up a notch in our house. She's also getting over her separation anxiety, which is nice (for her and me!). Loves to blow kisses and to sit in our laps and be read to. Waves to anyone and everyone she sees.

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She can say a dozen or so words/phrases: hi, hello, bye, mama, dada, up, puppy, good girl (to the dog), thank you, apple (but she only says this for applesauce--she hates fresh apples), uh-oh, meow, no. And the other day I called her my buddy and she looked at me and said, "buh-dee". Melted my heart, but she hasn't said it since, so I'm not counting that as one of her words yet. :)

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She's getting more fun by the day, which is awesome. I will admit that 13 and 14 months weren't my favorite b/c she was too old to be entranced by every little thing like when she was a baby, but too young to really understand how to "play". That's starting to change now and we love it!

These pictures are kind of random, but I just bought Delilah some new sparkly silver tennis shoes and she looks super cute in them. I had taken off her dress but not her shoes when she started running around in just her diaper and sparkly shoes...how could I NOT grab the camera?

Playing with Daddy

Mama makes me giggle so hard when she tickles me!

Chubby legs and hot shoes
Cherry head and silver feet

Introducing...

Greyson James Clifton!!!

My precious nephew was born yesterday, July 14, just before 8pm. He was 8 lbs, 3oz and 20.5 inches long. Just perfect. Here are a few pics from Greyson's first 24 hours as a newborn and Cannon & Amy's first 24 hours as parents. I wish I was in a few of these, but the little guy had a bit of trouble getting here, so only parents and grandparents were allowed to see him in person after he was born. Lowly aunts and uncles had to stay in the hospital waiting room. :( He's doing great now, though, so there will definitely be lots more pics soon!!

Here's Delilah looking cool in her cousin Brenden's sunglasses. She charmed everyone in the waiting room and was a welcome distraction for those of us waiting on pins and needles!

Father and Son My sweet brother looks SO proud here!!
The happy family
Congratulations, Cannon and Amy!! And, Greyson, you are already loved beyond words.

Froggy Fun

Chris has been out of town for work a lot lately, so yesterday he sent me out to have a "Rachael Day" while he stayed home and had a daddy/daughter day with Delilah. Judging from the pictures he took, it looks like Delilah had a fabulous time outside in her frog pool. Daddies are the best!