Fourth of July

Abbey was able to reconnect with her cousin from the Czech Republic this last week when my cousin and his family were in CO.  She met him when he was a meager 9 days old and she was just under year.  Here is their first meeting (in Prague):

And here they are now:

They didn't appear to remember each other. 

We celebrated the 4th up at my parents cabin.  Here is something to remember: never trust a pregnant woman with anything of importance.  The last time we were up at the cabin, my parents told me to check if the travel crib was there, that way we didn't have to bring one every time we came up.  So I looked in the closet and there was the Graco Pack-n-Play box.  So we got up there and it came time for Abbey's nap on Sunday... the box was empty.  Great.  Yes, I did not actually open the box to verify that the travel crib was in it.  Sigh.  We have been talking about moving Abbey to a big girl bed for quite some time, so it seemed this would be our first experience!  So we built a little pillow wall around the bed.  I heard a lot of sounds coming from the room... lots of singing and it sounded like paper rustling.  After about an hour, it was quiet.  My mom got Abbey up from her nap and said, "You really need to go in there and see the bed..."


Here is what we found:

I don't think we'll have too many Kleenex or books in her room when she does make the transition (which will actually be in the next week, I think).

Hiking!

 Oops.  Rotated. 

First the shoes came off:

Then Grammy got in on the action:

And then of course the pants:

An elk: 

One of the things I miss from Germany are the bakeries... specifically Apfeltasche.  It is tasty apple compotte in puff pastry.  Essentially like a turnover, but I don't think as sweet.  So I looked up a recipe and made some.  I even made the recipe from a German recipe.  They tasted really good.

We didn't stay up for any of the fireworks, but we were able to go to a parade in one of the nearby towns.  Abbey doesn't really like anything loud or big, but she enjoyed the parade from a distance.  She got candy, too... always an added bonus.

My mom chased down one of the parade trucks to get a necklace for Abbey.  Grammy's are nice!