The Water Baby

Yesterday was Fredo's company "picnic" at Fiesta Texas. Normally we wouldn't go there, as it's just too expensive, but for $6 each for all day and lunch, it's worth it. Our main aim was the water park. Well....we got there to find out that the water park wouldn't open for 3 more hours, so we had to make do with some kiddie rides.
She had a blast, of course.




But then we made it to the water and she was in heaven. She had a smile permanently on her face. She Really Loves the Water.

The Party Hostess

And why I love Lavaca

So this picture is from earlier in the day, since I didn't get a picture of her in the evening. Little Angelina has inherited the Party Hostess Extraordinaire gene (I think it comes from her Nanny and Opa). Last night we had our neighborhood crawl (see here for more on that). We were house #4. By that time, even though it was late, Angelina had spent much of the day at Fiesta Texas and had no nap, she was on fire! She just loved having a house full of people, and was wandering around entertaining everyone, laughing and singing and keeping them happy. A few more years and she'll be able to offer drinks and food too.

The Beach

Ah, my little one. There's something I want to share with you: The Beach.

Well, no. It's Nature. We share that every day. See, your Maman is a California Girl at heart. That means she loves the Beach. She loves the Desert. She loves the Mountains. There are many beautiful places in the world, but one place has all three. California. Alas, it has many other things we could do without - traffic, high prices.....so we live other places. But I make this promise to you now: once per year, we will see the Sea.

Somehow.

I think we'll see the mountains all year. And the deserts are a little more challenging. But you will know them all.

Tonight it's been 4 years since your Maman married your Papa, in a beautiful civil ceremony in your ancestral village of Orbe, Switzerland. It was a wonderful day and evening, celebrated with dear friends and family (and repeated again 6 weeks later, equally as wonderful - your Maman and Papa know how to have parties :)). I couldn't celebrate this day with either of you. I was far away, at the sea. But I had the evening to myself. I sat on the sand, and I thought of you both.

I thought of you as a I watched the sea. I thought of you as I listened to the waves crashing. I thought of you in every moment. In every grain of sand.

I hope to share with you the majesty, the scenery, the beauty of the sea. And the mountains. And the desert.

Mother Nature has so much for us to share. You will share many anniversaries with Maman and Papa, and sometimes we'll celebrate them on our own, but we'll always share the thing we all love so much: Nature. And the sea.

Oh Man!

That's her favourite phrase.

It's funny how you don't realize how much you say something, until it gets repeated by an almost 2 year old. Fortunately she wasn't saying what I thought she was saying (Oh Merde!), but she says "Oh Man!" over and over again.

She also says 'Thank you,' which is great, but she says it "OOOh! Thank you!" I never realized I did this, but Fredo claims that's how I say it to her all the time. "Here you go" is another.

Her speech is finally, really taking off now. She's been slow to say much, at least coherently, but now she's talking all the time. She certainly understands French and English. Tonight I said "Next we go to bed." She answered "No au lit!"

UPDATE: Her other favourite phrase: "Oh COOL!" I am pretty sure where that came from...she's a California girl at heart.

Happy Father's Day!

I'm not sure how much Papa enjoyed it, but Angelina did!

The pictures don't do it justice. I think she was having so much fun I couldn't get her to stay still long enough to snap a photo. We went to Landa Park - a spring fed pool in New Braunfels with our neighbors and some other friends. Though it got pretty crowded, Angelina didn't care. She wanted to be in the water ALL DAY LONG.




She had so much fun. SHe kept asking us to swim with her across the width of the 'pool' -which was no small task! It's hard swimming with just your legs (holding onto her). We managed to pull her out for a couple of breaks, but she was shivering and still insisting on staying in. She even jumped off the dock!

She's our little water baby.