Annette and Zell had a great day visiting family. We said goodbye to Britta's grandpa, and got to see Kendall's uncle Richard's family too :-)

Annette had fun feeding the ducks at Maplewood Farm this morning, and we had a great dinner with all the family at Britta's aunt Zoey and uncle Wayne's house :-)

We had a great time at the Vancouver Aquarium today! Annette petted the starfish, checked out the jellyfish, watched the beluga show and looked at the sea otters!

We left Grandmama this morning and crossed the border into Canada. It's great to be back in the Great White North!

Annette and Zell enjoyed a nap and a trip to the park this afternoon :-)

Strolling in the woods with Kendall's Grandmama :-)

Traveling is exhausting!

We survived our first plane trip! Now we're ready for 3 weeks of fun in Canada :-)

On the rocking horse at Gymboree :-)

Snuggling with my girls in Annette's bed this morning :-)

The muffin hanging out at Mormor's house :-)

Annette loves garbage trucks - she always runs to the window to see them on trash pick-up days :-)

Annette made Daddy coffee this morning in her new play kitchen - a birthday present from Mormor and Morfar!

First date night in a while - thanks to Mormor and Morfar for babysitting!!

Happy 2nd birthday, Annette!! (I'm using this momentous occasion to update our blog after more than a month of absence. But now that I have an iPhone with a Blogger app, hopefully I can do it more often from now on :-))

We had a wonderful party for her this weekend at Huffington Park. The theme was Olivia the Pig, who she's currently obsessed with. Here she is eyeing her cake!

Our beautiful family of 4 :-)

This play table and chairs was her birthday gift from Mommy and Daddy.

Since she's a big girl now, we've also converted her crib to a toddler bed, which she LOVES!!

While in Galveston we went to check out the new Rainforest Pyramid at Moody Gardens. There are some nice new features like a butterfly area and monkeys roaming around.

Annette liked looking at the fish :-)

We also spent lots of time relaxing and playing on the beach. Kendall brought an arsenal of beach toys in the attempt to teach Annette how to make sand castles.

She mostly preferred to sit in the shade with her Mommy and sister :-)

Annette in her favorite summertime outfit!

Last Friday was Annette's last day of school at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church. Here she is with some of her classmates and her 2 wonderful teachers, Ms. Sara and Ms. Mahnaz. We'll continue to see Mahnaz, since she's become our part-time afternoon nanny. Annette will be moving on to St. Martin's Episcopal Preschool next year, which is perfect since that's where we go to church.

We celebrated the end of school with a trip to Galveston. We rented a condo at the Galvestonian, which is right on the beach. Here are my 3 favorite people strolling on the sand (Kendall has Zell on his chest in the baby carrier) :-)

Annette hadn't seen the waves since last summer, and was a bit unsure of getting into the ocean. Apparently she takes after her Mommy, and will only get in up to her ankles.

Annette did enjoy some sister bonding time...

...and dining al fresco!

Annette had fun swimming at our friend's house yesterday. She played in the shallow end for a while,

swam in the deep part with Daddy,

and even tried out the water slide!

Zell and I enjoyed dipping our feet in the water.

Nothing's quite as relaxing as napping poolside :-)

The girls enjoyed having Daddy at home for the long weekend!

He put all their stuffed animals in Zell's crib, which Annette thought was great fun :-)

Nani's birthday was on Sunday, so she came over to see her granddaughters.

Annette was fascinated by all the kittens on the quilt that Great-Grandma Lois made for Zell!

All the activity wore our little muffin out :-)