Independece Day

Chris of course had today off so we had a full day of fun! In the morning, we went on a glorious 2 and a half hour hike at the hiking park. This was probably the most fun for Daria, but a clsoe second for the girls. We found a water hole and didn't intend for the girls to get in, but one thing lead to another and Elia was pretty much fully submerged.  Showers for everyone as soon as we got home!

We headed over to the McBrides to barbecue before we went to watch fireworks.

What do you call these?  Poppers?

Yum cupcakes!

6 Year Anniversary

Its been 6 years!  Chris took a half day, which is always great, and we went out to dinner and then watched fireworks with the family.  We went to Cane Rosso, which was featured on Diners, Drive ins and Dives.

This restaurant was awesome!  Best fire oven, italian pizza I have ever had in the states!

Classic margherita pizza.  Buffalo mozzarella.

Elia was making Chris laugh.  Love this pic of him.

dessert- smores calzone!

Right before we left to go to the fireworks.

Goofing off while we waited (and waited) for the fireworks.

July 4ths

Just thought I would share these sweet pictures of Gianna. Elia slept through the fireworks this year and last, but Gianna has always loved them. She has never been scared of them. I hope to document her excitement every year, hopefully adding Elia's reactions too. Here is Chris' post of her first fireworks. If only we had taken Elia this year, maybe she would have learned to say 'wow' like G did.

14 months old

2 years old

3 years old

Family Fun

We went to St. Louis for July 4th weekend...and had a blast! We left very early Friday morning and made it to St. Louis without any major issues- no car battery dying or speeding tickets like last trip home. We sat them next to each other so that we could maximize space in the backseat. Although there were some fights, they ended up entertaining each other quite a bit.

The one on the left is of Elia after she had gone through a few cookies. We kept feeding them lots of horrible goodies to keep them happy.

So the weekend started out with Col's wedding fun. First, the girls all went and tried on bridesmaid dresses, and the sisters got to see Col in her wedding gown! So pretty, and so unbelievable that she is getting married! Then later that night, we had a bbq engagement party. We met Colleen's future in-laws, and they are such a sweet family. Bobby is the oldest, with 5 girls under him! And of course, because were all having such a grand time, I didn't take many pictures of this event. Just a few of the cute cousins together before the party:

Love this one of Uncle Ry carrying Austin in a bucket.

Then, the next day was July 4th. the Lengyels and Rowles and Marschners and Colleen all went to the Cardinal's baseball game. The Cardinals won, so we got to see a few fireworks. Here we all are enjoying the game!

Chris and I got to go out on our own for a while to celebrate our 4th anniversary (july 3) after the game, and we made it home in time to go and see fireworks with everyone. Gianna, who has loved fireworks since the first time we took her to see them when she was 1, was just hilarious. She kept covering her ears saying this is so noisy, but its making me giggle. Then she would go around asking other people (uncle Tom, Colin, etc) if it was making them giggle too. Such a sweetie.

Monday was spent saying goodbye to family and catching up with my highschool friends. We will hopefully be back in August! Miss you all soooooo much.