The Parrillo Family

In Downtown Elmhurst, there's a fountain that attracts kids from all across town.  Eloise has been there a few times now and with each walk past it, she spots it and then grunts and points to indicate to us that she *desperately* wants to go play in the fountain. Yesterday, on the walk home, we ran into Eloise's cousins who were there playing in the water.  Eloise couldn't wait to get unbuckled from her stroller and get wet.  If you watch closely, all three cousins make an appearance. ( If you are reading this in your email, you may need to click on the headline link above to go back to the website to watch the video. )

We went down to LaGrange for dinner at Palmer Place and stopped at an Italian restaurant for gelato on the walk to the car.  Eloise couldn't decide what flavor to pick, but once we did, she loved it! ( For those of you reading this in your email, you need to click the headline link above to go view the photos on the website. )

Eloise and her cousin are now the third set of grandkids to wear these frocks after spending some time in the pool or bath up in Michigan.  They're both growing up fast and becoming such big girls. I bet my folks never thought they'd get this much use out of these things when they bought them ten years ago!

Earlier this year, we went up to Coloma as a family and spent the better part of a week there .  We're looking forward to seeing Eloise grow up and have as much fun in Michigan as I did as a kid.  Unfortunately, I couldn't sneak away, so this week, Nat and Eloise went up without me.  It feels like I'm there, because they're doing a great job of keeping me up-to-date on their activities through the photos and videos they're sending.  I've pasted some of those photos below.  The fun part about the trip is that they're not alone.  Aunt Vicki and Eloise's three cousins are up there at the same time, so Eloise doesn't have to play alone on the beach.  How fun!  Just don't eat too much sand, Girlfriend!

Over the weekend, we joined some of our friends at their daughter's birthday party in their backyard.  Eloise ran around, got in and out of the big castle-sized jump-a-roo, swang on the swings and even went down the big 15 foot slide.  But the best part?  When it was time for cake and singing, the hosts set up a table with all the kids sitting down with each other.  The Birthday girls were at one end and guess who held her own?  That's right.  Our little Eloise!  She was (by far) the youngest at the table, but she got up on her knees just like the big girls and took it all in.  She even asked for cake when they were handing out the pieces. Here she is on the bottom right watching the cake get delivered to the two Birthday girls.  She was (apparently) in charge of passing out plates.  Blowing out the candles.  Eloise holding her own. She's checking out what other kids are doing with the cake.  Didn't take long for her to figure ...

It took more than 25 man hours, a HUGE assist from Granddad Charlie - who single-handedly assembled the tube slide and a few minor modifications, but I'm one proud Dad to be able to have built this amazing swing set for our little girl.  Anyone who has ever put together a tube slide will understand how difficult that part of the project can be, but with Granddad Charlie's tools AND expertise (he's done one of these before), he knocked it out in just 3-4 hours.  (yes...it took that long!) Here's a photo slideshow that Nat took that shows the initial reveal and Eloise's reaction.  Make sure you check out the captions - as she's really captured the experience well.   We finally finished it just yesterday and we already broke in the slide, swings, and playhouse.  Based on the first 24 hours, this set will provide hours of fun for Eloise, her cousins down the street AND her friends.  We can't wait to hear the squeals coming from the back corner of our yard! (Not...