At the beginning of July our friend's and neighbors, the Long's, came back to the states from Singapore for a 1 mo. stay. That sounds like a lot of time, but it felt too short to me, and I'm sure WAY too short to them. 
Elizabeth was basically born while they were in the air on their way to Chicago, so during their first week here, we didn't see them too much (The kids had touches of colds they picked up on the plane, so we didn't want them too close to AJ or Elizabeth). But we did manage to head out to one of our favorite parks and to
Doc's, our go-to smoothie spot. On July 3rd, this was one of Elizabeth's very first public outings. I carried her in the wrap sling and let AJ run amuck after driving to the park. I put driving in italics because it's crazy to drive to a park that's a 10 or 15 min walk away...unless you gave birth a week prior. :) Since Andy came with too, it was a full-on family outing, and I had it easy since he basically did all the AJ-wrangling. What a great dad! 
After playing for a while, we walked over to Doc's and got some lunch and smoothies. It was super fun to get a chance to talk to Emily in real-time and face to face, and to see how much the kids have grown. Her son, Ashwin, has become a major climber and he moves fast! He also thoroughly enjoyed his smoothie, as we can see here.
AJ loved his too. Here is is drinking his lately-fav, the "green" smoothie. I love that he always wants to order this one because it's made with kale, spinach and a host of other vitamin-packed veggies, so I don't have to worry about if he eats vegetables at dinner that night! 
One banana added in there and "voila!" it's a yummy treat! We were a little slow to get the lids and straws handed out, so AJ is also sporting a 70's style green mustache. Emily's daughter Kaya is so sweet and talkative. She loved meeting "Baby Elizabeth" and like most almost-4 year old girls I know, wanted to be near her and talk to/about her. Kaya is also getting so tall, and there's nothing "toddler" about her anymore. Here she is completely glued to the cartoon that was on at Doc's. In her defense, it was probably about midnight on her body's clock. LOL It's amazing how fast they grow and change.
As if going out to the park and for lunch were not enough for one day, we decided it was a good night for some soft serve. We had never taken AJ to Tastee Freeze together before (he had been one or 2 times before with my mom and I), so he was very excited. Keeping him (and me!) away from TF is tough considering it's about a 4 minute walk from our building, but last year was easier since he was not aware of what ice cream even was! But now that he knows, ice cream is the perfect reward/bribe (when we have to resort to that...). Stellar parenting, I know. Luckily, it takes him longer to eat the itsy-bitsy 75 cent baby cone than for the adults to eat a medium cone or sundae, so I don't have to set a good example my sharing mine with him. Haha!
After we finished our treat, AJ and I walked around the parking lot for a few minutes while Andy took these pictures. I like that wearing Elizabeth in the sling allows me to have my hands free to hold hands with AJ while he walks "the beam" in this pic, and I also like having a picture of myself with my 2 kids before any jealousy entered the scene (more on this later!).
The next picture is of AJ "fixing" this sign with his pliers. While Andy was building AJ's new room upstairs, AJ kept wanting all of his tools. Sharp tools, pointy tools, heavy tools, etc., so Andy bought him his very own plastic tool set. He loves it and the pliers and wrench are his favorites. He walks all around the house looking for screws, nuts, bolts and connections to "fix". One of his regular spots is the doorknob's hole in the hall bathroom's door jamb. He sticks his plastic flat head into it and quotes a book we read, "I'm fixing this door right now, I'll help you later." Thespian or handyman? Unfortunately, he still prefers Daddy's phillip's head screwdriver...
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