Monkey see, Monkey do

Friday was my favorite day of the year--5+2=7!  That's right.  My birthday.  Even though turning 33 isn't nearly as fun as it sounds like.

But the best present of all (no offense to anyone who gave me gifts, I loved them all!) was Lisa and her family coming to visit!  The iPhone was definitely a close second though.  Just kidding.  They braved a 10 hr drive down from Mercer, PA to come and visit.  Although the Wilson family LOVES the car.  Charlotte is an amazing traveler.  Ellie wouldn't stand it.

Charlotte and Ellie were everything I was obsessing they were going to be like for pretty much the two weeks before the visit.  Monkey see, monkey do!  Charlotte, while only 4 months older, acts about a year older.  Which is no comment on Ellie, just that Charchar, as Ellie calls her, is extremely articulate and very investigative.  She is also very fast.  Ellie had a hard time keeping up.  But there was lots of hand holding and hugging, splashing in the tub and all around if one was doing it, the other played along.  Which Lisa and I played out to no end, depending on who was behaving better. 

And of course it was so great to see Lisa and Brad.  We probably haven't had 2 full days and one night out together since we both got married.  We headed out for some Mexican and margharitas and then down for some honkey tonk on my birthday.  Sat was a trip to the Farmer's Market and then the Zoo, which thankfully provided some outdoor fun in the shade.  Sunday was more of a girls and boys day, girls to the mall to spend birthday money, boys to the driving range, followed by an example of how we screw up Nashville all the time.  We headed out for free music in Dragon Park.  While it did say it started at 4pm, our friends the Reynolds went last week and said they were there until 7 or 8.  So we thought we would head down at 5 or 5:30, have some dinner and then play on the jungle gym.  We got there just in time for the last song!  Standard.  Everyone was sad to say good bye, except Little Maestro and Lloyd-e who didn't appreciate their relocation to the upstairs because of the scary bear dog downstairs.

Summer time is officially here.  It was in the 90's all weekend and will be up to 95 every day this week....

PS--check my picasaweb albums for more pics.

Who is this guy?

They actually didn't stay at the table for very long...

Happy Birthday to me!  Mike may not bake me a cake, but he is very good about making sure that I get some!  He insisted that we eat cake before dinner because he thought it would be rude to bring it to the restaurant.

Auntie Sheesha getting some Ellie action

Lisa bought them matching dresses.  While Uncle Brad got a lot of the high pitched squealing "nooooooooo!', Charlotte got all the loving.  Uncle Brad did finally get a voluntary hug from Ellie D before he left.

Lisa brought their bike trailer which converted into a double stroller.  They had a blast in it.

Ellie D being introduced to the iPad.  Charlotte can work that thing better than I.

I mean, this is priceless.

Ellie was sitting on the floor and Charlotte had been at the table.  As soon as she saw Ellie sit down, she came and sat down too.