Europe, here we come!
We leave today on a two-week vacation to the Netherlands and Germany. I am excited and a little anxious about the trip- excited for all the obvious reasons and anxious mainly about having Hazel cooped up in a plane for almost 10 hours today. We leave this afternoon at 2 pm and arrive in Amsterdam tomorrow morning at 8 am local time (2 am here)- so our total travel time is just about 12 hours. We’re all packed and are spending the morning letting Hazel get all her energy out. We’ve got a short layover in Atlanta, but we plan to let Hazel out to run around the gates before we get on the big plane. Fortunately we are flying in the evening so we are hoping that Hazel will follow her usual 7 pm snooze routine. We’ve packed pajamas, mama and blankie, so hopefully those three things will ensure at least a few hours of sleep on the plane!
Our trip begins in Amsterdam where we will pick up our rental car and drive to the nearby city of Utrecht. We are staying in Utrecht for 4 days and 3 nights and I will be presenting my dissertation research at the Association for Moral Education conference. After a short stay in Utrecht we are heading up to Hindeloopen, a small fishing village known for its paintings. We will be staying there for two nights in an apartment. Jered and I went to Hindeloopen twice when we were growing up and we’re excited to go back with Hazel and explore the area again.
From there it’s off to Siegelsum, a town in Northern Germany where we will be visiting my mom’s cousin and her family. They have a working dairy farm and we can’t wait to show Hazel all of the cows and other animals. We plan to stay with them 2 nights before driving down to Oma’s house in Hanau, Germany where we will spend the remainder of our trip. So, as you can see we have a busy two weeks ahead of us! At some point while we are staying at Oma’s we plan to make the drive down to Heidelberg, the city where we met. We have so many good memories of Heidelberg and I can’t wait to take Hazel back to where it all began for us!
We will be taking as many pictures and short videos as possible, but we most likely won’t be posting them until we return in mid-July. We will be back late on the evening of July 14th, so later that week you can probably expect some picture-heavy posts! We hope everyone enjoys their 4th of July holiday weekend- see you in two weeks!
Filed under Hazel by esther | Comment (0)12-month Checkup Stats
Hazel’s 1 year pediatrician’s appointment went very well. She is meeting all of her developmental milestones (and then some!) and she handled her three shots very well. She didn’t even seem phased by them after the initial sting.
Her weight has really tapered off- she is now only in the 30th percentile at 20 pounds 3.8 oz- nearly the same weight as she was at her 9 month appointment. She is a tall girl, though, and is still in the 75th percentile at 29 and a half inches, which tells us that she is steadily growing, just becoming long and lean. Her head is still gigantic. At first the reading was off the charts and the doctor had to re-measure to be sure Hazel wasn’t, in fact, turning into a bobble head. When she measured again her head was at 18 and a quarter inches, the 85th percentile. She’s got a lot of brain in that there noggin’.
Last night the weather was gorgeous so we decided to take Hazel down to Yorktown beach for a little sun, sand and a picnic dinner. Here are a few videos from our weeknight trip to the beach.
Sand! from esther benoit on Vimeo.
More fun at the beach from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Water! from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Feet in the water from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Fearless from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Filed under Hazel by esther | Comment (0)Birthday Videos!
We managed to take some videos of Hazel’s 1st Birthday (and another one just this morning) and thought we’d share them this Monday morning. Hazel goes to the pediatrician for her 1 year check up today- I’m not looking forward to the shots! We’ll update later in the week with her latest stats from the pediatrician- we may even be moving her into the face-forward position in the car this week depending on how much she weighs at today’s appointment.
TuTu Cute! from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Happy Birthday to You! from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Untitled from esther benoit on Vimeo.
June 15 from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Filed under Hazel by esther | Comment (0)Hazel’s First Birthday!
Today was a big day for us. Hazel turned one and we had a fantastic birthday- she had friends over at Omi’s house, and got to play, dance, run and eat cake and icecream all afternoon. Our girl was fantastic today- she had to get up early to go to campus with us where she got to spend the morning in the clinic while I defended my dissertation (successfully!!).
Here I am with my committee after getting the good news!
After that we all headed to lunch at Sal’s (the same restaurant where we celebrated our rehearsal dinner four years ago).
Lunch was fabulous and we had great company. We headed back to Yorktown to try and give Hazel the chance for a little nap before her big birthday party. She slept on the drive home, but didn’t really nap much all afternoon. Considering that she hardly slept at all today she was an absolute doll!
Hazel had not one, not two, no, not even just three birthday cakes, she had FOUR! Talk about a loved little girl!
Did I mention she wore a birthday tutu?
Four generations!
Let’s eat this cake!
Cake and Cheerios- a winning combination.
We had a GOOD time!
After cake it was time for more fun- this time with no shirt (the cake got a little messy)
Time for presents!
Then Hazel’s new friend fed her icecream. This was possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
It’s pretty clear a great day was had by all! Thanks for all the well-wishes today!
Who’s that little girl?
She’s almost a year old and we can’t believe it.
I’m in the final crunch, getting ready to defend my dissertation this Friday on Hazel’s first birthday so I have been bad about blogging, but we have managed to capture a few fun moments on video. Take a look!
Whoa! from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Peekaboo! from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Running Around from esther benoit on Vimeo.
I found this baby in a toy chest from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Filed under Hazel by esther | Comment (0)