Fun with Aunt Erin

Beware: this post contains a lot of pictures. I figured it would help cheer up Aunt Erin and convince her to come home soon.

We went to visit Erin in New York for Labor Day weekend and had a ton of fun. I must say that traveling with Ellie is a pleasure. Sure, we're all tired after a long day of travel (who isn't?) but she really is an enjoyable companion. She sleeps when we want her to, she eats (and eats a lot) when we want her to, she behaves when we want her to... if it weren't for the fact that it's nice to sleep in my own bed, sometimes I wish we could travel more often.

For weeks Ellie was excited to see Aunt Erin and talked about her upcoming trip. When the day finally came, she announced that she wanted to ride a purple plane and an orange plane (she knew we had to take two planes to get to Erin). We searched for a purple or orange plane but couldn't find one. She seemed ok with that since she knew we tried. "Maybe next day," she said.
Ellie recognized Aunt Erin right off the bat and ran to give her a hug. It is nice that she has a longer memory now and doesn't require a warm-up period like she did last time. The first night we stayed at Aunt Erin's place and Ellie helped Erin do her exercise routine in the morning. Later that morning we went swimming, and much to our surprise Ellie REALLY enjoyed it. We should look into swim lessons soon.
Next we went to the New York balloon festival. Ellie was really looking forward to this because we had been telling her that she could get really close to the balloons. Unfortunately, it wasn't anything like the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, where they basically shoo people away when a balloon is going to launch.
Instead, we watched from a distance, but Ellie still really enjoyed it and wanted to share the pictures with Grandma when we got home. Ellie did get to play inside of an old balloon, so I'm sure that was pretty neat for her. She also got to bring home her very own balloon and was excited when she saw one launch that looked just like hers.
Next we spent a couple days in Ithaca, which was a very pretty city. On the way there, we stopped at the Corning Glass Museum (picture not shown), where Ellie really took us by surprise when she behaved the entire time (it could not have been very exciting for her). Like I said, she's such a pleasure to travel with. We took Ellie to the science museum and she had a lot of fun learning about how to effect things like water and air. Her favorite was the cubby of mirrors, but she really enjoyed the entire place. This little girl loves to learn new things.
The entire time we were there, Aunt Erin played her latest favorite songs and even taught Ellie how to howl at the werewolf song. It was pretty funny to see the effect Aunt Erin had on Ellie - I'm not sure she's used to being around someone who loves music so much.
We made sure to try to get in our fix of playgrounds because we knew that would keep Ellie very happy. What we didn't know was that it would also keep Aunt Erin happy. She loved to play with Ellie and we got some great pictures!
Below you see Aunt Erin and her magic blue cape. She had Ellie convinced that it could make her fly. Watch the video for proof.
Ithaca is filled with gorges and waterfalls. We had our very own waterfall in the backyard of the place we were staying and we saw a waterfall in one of the gorges that cuts straight through Cornell's campus (crazy, huh?) Ellie loved the waterfalls and especially enjoyed putting her feet in the water and throwing rocks. She learned that the word "Plunk" sounds a little funny and laughed a lot at that.She was constantly making us laugh, though I wish I could say I kept track of everything she said. One time, though, we were on our way back to the house to take a nap and I asked Daddy if he was going to nap too. Ellie spoke up from the back of the car and said "NO, Mommy! He can't! Daddy driving! Daddy need to look at road! He can't close eyes! No, Mommy!" It's a good thing she reminded us or who knows what might have happened if Daddy fell asleep at the wheel!In the end, it was a very enjoyable trip to see Aunt Erin and Ellie has asked to go back a couple times since we returned. We miss you already, Erin!