Firsts and more firsts for the 1 year old Em
This past weekend was a bunch of firsts for our big, one year old girl! We started out on our way to NJ last Thursday with Emma facing front in her car seat for the first time. Auntie Sarah rode with us to NJ, which Em enjoyed as she had a playmate who didn't get carsick sitting next to her for the trip. Somewhere in Pennsylvania, we stopped at a Wendy's for lunch and a diaper change, and Emma had her very first taste of ice cream in the form of a few bites from Mommy's Frosty. Em didn't know quite what to make of the coldness at first, but let it melt on her tongue and then grinned and wanted more!

On Friday morning, we went to visit Aunt Amy and Emma met her adorable cousin, Hunter, for the first time. He's even cuter in person than he is in pictures! After hanging out with Aunt Amy and cousin Hunter - and getting thorougly licked by their dog, Sky - we dropped Auntie Sarah off at the train station and met up with Gramma Bindert at the NY Aquarium, which Emma was visiting for the first time. After a mini-meltdown when we finished eating lunch, Emma enjoyed looking at the seahorse and jellyfish exhibits with Daddy and Gramma. She especially liked the jellyfish that were in the cool, blue exhibit. Another exhibit Emma liked was the tank that had the clownfish in it, a.k.a. the "Nemo" fish. Emma kept peeking over the edge at the Nemos in the tank. After our visit to the aquarium, we took Emma for her first stroll on the Coney Island Boardwalk. While walking along, we thought it would be fun to take Em for her first ride on a merry-go-round, so over to the amusement park we went. Emma held on tight and had a very good time, even letting go of the bar to pet her horsey a few times! After the ride was over, we headed down to the ocean for Emma to get her first chance to walk barefoot on the beach, which Em didn't like that close to the water (it was cold, as Mommy discovered very quickly!), but she did like when we moved further up to the dry sand. We said goodbye to Gramma and headed to the car just in time for Emma to experience her first ride through a torrential downpour and first major traffic jam as we drove, and drove, and drove to get off Staten Island and back to the farm.

On Saturday, Emma's Uncle Sean and Aunt Heather got married. Emma skipped the ceremony at church, opting to hang out with her Aunt Bunny, Cousin Hunter and Cousin Ariel instead, especially since Ariel read Emma her favorite book, Hilda Must Be Dancing. Mommy came and picked Em up so she could go to the reception, where she enjoyed dancing with her Uncle Joel, Aunt Megan, and everyone else who wanted to take her for a spin on the dance floor! All that dancing makes a girl thirsty, so Em headed back to the table to relax and have something to drink on her Uncle Matt's lap. After eating some of Aunt Honda's delicious wedding cake, she went for a walk with Aunt Megan and danced some more, until it was time to head home for a nice, long nap.

On Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa Hunter had a birthday party for Emma before we hit the road. Emma enjoyed playing with her new toys, including the doggie xylophone her Aunt Megan and Uncle Matt gave her and the talking vacuum cleaner her Aunt Amy, Uncle Mike and Cousin Hunter gave her. She also ate some more birthday cake which she is really developing a taste for, and then we loaded up the car, said goodbye to everyone and headed for home. Emma is very excited about the new swingset with slide that Grandma and Grandpa gave her, and can't wait 'til a sunny afternoon for Daddy to set it up in the back yard! Pictures will follow as soon as it is up and Emma plays on that for the first time!
- posted by Heather @ 4:20 PM