Susan's July pictures of Ellie

Ellie recently spent a night with Susan while Jimmy and I got some work done around the house (and enjoyed a night out with friends). Thank you, Susan! She also took a lot of pictures, so you can check out Susan's July '08 Ellie pictures.

Lake Erie!

Ellie took her first trip to Lake Erie a few weeks ago. Grand Jane rented a house at Lakeside, a quiet little town on Lake Erie west of Cleveland. Ellie and Rachel went for a 4 day visit along with Rachel's friend Maggie. It was a little over 6 hours of drive time, with the entire trip taking about 8 hours. Ellie did really well in the car both ways, with some help from Maggie's DVD player and Elmo!

Aunt Sarah and Uncle Dave were also at the cottage, so Ellie had lots of attention from everyone. She especially loved dancing to Uncle Dave's guitar playing. She also enjoyed the playground across the street, walking along the lake picking flowers and coloring on the sidewalks with chalk. The lake itself was not such a big hit. Ellie was fine in the deep water with Aunt Sarah holding her, but when we went to the beach part and she felt the sand on her feet, she immediately began to cry. That was the extent of her time in the lake. For the rest of the trip, Ellie made sure to tell us repeatedly, "no lake!" There was a small baby pool, but it was overcrowded with babies as well as much bigger children on the day we swam.

On our last full day there, Ellie, Maggie, Grand Jane and I went to Cedar Point, Ohio's biggest and best amusement park. We didn't seek out the thrill rides, but Ellie loved the "little cars" that went around in circles. She had to ride them by herself and after the first one, she was ready for more. We also all rode the carousel, but Ellie didn't want to ride on a horse so we sat on one of the benches. Grand Jane took a ride on the sky gondolas and Maggie cleaned up playing some arcade games, winning prizes for Ellie as well as her kids Alicia & Ethan. Overall it was a good trip to the park!

Thanks to Grand Jane for hosting us! We had a great time at the lake and look forward to going again next year. Check out our Lake Erie trip photos and some July 4th pictures. Maggie took some pictures too, so I will include hers here soon.