The Parrillo Family

We made a last-minute decision to head down to our favorite place Walt Disney World last weekend.  And we had so much fun!  And met lots of characters. The kids met Peter Pan.  And he was as good as you'd imagine.  He spent lots of time with all three kids. The girls met Cruella DeVille, but Frankie was too scared to go see her! And while Nat and the girls were riding Soarin' at Epcot, Frankie and I went to meet Baymax.  He was awfully cool. We found time to check out the newly-opened Pandora at Animal Kingdom.  We were all in awe.   And Eloise posed in front of the now-famous "Mossy wall". We also tried the new "MinnieVan" service.  Disney's version of Uber.  The vehicles are adorable.  And a trip wouldn't be complete without Mickey bars, right? We rode plenty of rides.  Check out Nat and Eloise in the back row of Splash Mountain. Dole wh...

Back in February, we shared how Sadie was just getting started with her training wheels .  But, because of a sweet deal that we came across, she's been upgraded to her very own "Big Girl Bike" that you can see her posing with above.  Recently, we've been walking down to the school at the end of our block and having her give pedaling without training wheels a try.  So far, she's still working on her balance and steering, but there are moments (brief ones!) that I let go and let her pedal a bit on her own.  She immediately starts to lean one way and I end up grabbing the handle bars and seat to course correct her and keep her from tumbling over. Hoping that before she goes back to school, she'll get going on this bike.  The scooter is tough competition - she seems drawn to it more than the bike, but I think with a little bit of success, she'll work on the bike riding and take to it like her big sister did at this age.

At the Root Beer source enjoying the known contraband of soda:  Sprecher's Root Beer place in Lake Geneva.  Eloise:  Age 7.5.  Sadie:  Age 5.

Take a close look at the photo that Ellie is holding.  That's our dear friends Matt and Suzie cradling a wee-baby Eloise all the way back around Christmas of 2009 right after she was born.  She's wearing a 'Lamb-y' Hat (as she/we called it) that they gave her as a gift.  And today as a 7 year old?  After we moved in and she began to unpack, she found the Lamb-y hat and this photo album.  On her own, she put 2 and 2 together and told me to take her picture and send it to Matt.  She's awesome!

For as long as we've had kids, Natalie and I have spent the 4th of July up 'at the lake'.  Up until this year, that has always been with Noonie and Papa in Coloma on Paw Paw Lake.   Here's some photos from 2013 up in Coloma with Eloise and Sadie and Grammy and Granddad and Aunt Sisi. This year, we were fortunate enough to be able to go up to Lake Elizabeth where the kids got out in this little raft that you see above and below.  The interesting thing is that *this* is the raft's second life.  It actually is from my childhood all the way back in the 1980's and Vic and I used to paddle around Paw Paw Lake (and Vic would take it up the channel) before we were old enough for the Waverunner. I love seeing my kids in the raft and I immediately sent my Dad (Papa) these photos, which he adored! The kids loved the freedom the raft gave them.  They could play 'Disney Boat' for an hour!

Just a few weeks back in early June, I posted a video of Eloise's first ever softball hit .  She hit a little nubber off the end of her bat down the 3rd base line.  A month later?  She's more confident.  She's a stronger hitter.  And has learned to love playing softball and her team. Check out that sweet swing on the lefty above.  She smacks down the ball and gets out of the batter's box with ease.  And scores another RBI single!