Outside the box

Nina is trying to pull herself up. Still not managing completely without help, but also that will soon be a milestone reached. Mobility is her motto nowadays!

With Daddy the Duke

Staszek just got a new company car, but he would for sure be willing to trade it in for this orange super model, at least for the summer...

Adnan in Waukegan

While on his way to the West coast, Adnan arranged a stop-over in Chicago and came to visit us in Waukegan. Weather was great, our attempt to sail to Chicago for the Air and Water Show failed, but we had lots of fun and in the end the wind even picked up so the Windspirit could show her true colours. And the guys kept their t-shirt tradition.

Pergola

Finally a few pictures of the new pergola we've been enjoying for over a month now! It's like having a dining room outside, very nice.

Bee Bopping

Last Sunday Nina got a super present: the Bee Bop Band. It's a drum filled with other colourful musical instruments. Since she's becoming more and more mobile and sitting up really well, this toy is a favourite for outside the playpen. Next thing we know, we'll be having concerts no. 710! She sure knows how to steal the show.

Pool party

Nina had been invited by her baby-club friend to come over for a little pool party. The weather was warm, the water too, toys galore, swim diaper premiere: Nina was loving it. In the fall we're signing her up for swimming lessons

Skipper Nina

This weekend, the weather was just perfect for sailing. Nice wind, sun, but not too crazy hot. We went out both days to enjoy and of course practice our skills. Nina joined in and she's making great progress. When she's not playing in the v-berth or snoozing in her carseat, she's out with us keeping us on course or tuning the jib.

Tree story - continued

The tree of which one part fell down during the storm, is no more. Staszek and myself cut up and cleared away the part that had taken over our lawn. After borrowing the gas-chainsaw from our good neighbours, buying one for ourselves was a very justifiable investment. For the rest of the tree that was still standing, we hired professionals to remove it. The fear of part of the left-over falling onto our neighbours garage or, even worse, house, won over the fact that we're sorry to have to give up some privacy and shade from the lovely green foliage. Plus: we'll have enough fire wood for the whole winter and beyond and our garden has opened up for more landscaping possibilities.

On the swing

At the end of our street, half a minute walk from our house, there is a nice park, with a playground. It was a warm day and the swing was just what Nina needed to create a bit of fresh, cooling air. We'll definitely go more often as the summer has only just begun.

Pickles

Another favourite on Nina's list is pickles. These sour spears go down a treat, only leaving the skins of the cucumber on her little tray table as her two little teeth are not strong enough yet to attack them too. Watching her eat this is fun and mess garantueed!

Nina in the limelight

No banana, apple or pear for Nina as fingerfood. Her preference goes out to the zesty sour stuff. She was sucking on this piece of lime for half an hour and would probably still be if we had not taken away from her. She just loved her vitamin C shot for that day and the bath she had to have after the session.

Again!

It's thunderstorm season the American way: bigger, harder, louder, rainier, stormier than you've ever seen before. And we got 'hit' again, too. Two years ago in Mundelein, a tree in our garden split in half and fell on the deck missing the house by 5 centimters. This time in Waukegan, again an even bigger tree split in half. Fortunately it decided to land in the middle (exactly) of our lawn, only crushing our prune tree. Time to get the chain saws out and have fun :) To be continued...

Bugaboo update

Nina has grown so much that the bassinet part of the Bugaboo was getting a bit tight, so time to take the name of the stroller, Chameleon, at heart and change to the stroller feature. She's loving it!

Sailing

The weather has been fantastic the last few days so we've been spending most of our free time on the water. A new experience for our latest crew member, but not a bad one as you can see on the pictures.

Daddy's new toy

At work they decided to buy one each and have races on the parking place during lunch. It runs 57mph on a little 47cc two-stroke engine and makes a lot of noise: a mini pocket bike!

For Staszek it is a minibike, but for Nina it is a full size superbike.