July 4th weekend: a brewery, bathtime, and a visit from Uncle Jonathan

My brother, Jonathan, came to visit over July 4th weekend. Let's be honest, he didn't come to see Phil and me. He flew down to Cville to meet Ellie. It isn't exaggerating to say that it was love at first sight. Ellie did greet him at the airport with a few screams (i.e. Mom and Dad were negligent and didn't change my diaper immediately!) She quickly calmed down on the car ride home from the airport sitting next to her uncle, the guy who looks a lot like Mom:) The four of us spent most of Friday at our house, letting Jonathan get to know Ellie. She seemed pretty interested in what he had to say...

On Saturday the 4th, we decided to celebrate the holiday by taking Ellie to her first brewery. How very American of us! We went to the Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton, VA with our friends Mur and Katie. It was a gorgeous day in the Virginia countryside. Ellie did very well and slept for most of the afternoon. It was her longest outing yet! Great food, friends, and family.

Ellie also had her first real bath over the weekend. It was quite an event. I'm sure in the future, it will be less of a production, but today it took the following to give our little girl a bath: two towels, two washcloths, two kinds of baby shampoo, two concerned parents with four hands, and one uncle with two cameras. (We'll get better at this with more practice, I'm sure.) Most importantly, she really liked bathtime. No major meltdowns, who-hoo!

On Sunday afternoon before Jonathan left, Ellie had some very awake time. We took a few family photos with Ellie wearing her new cherry shirt. (Thanks, Uncle Jonathan!) It was a wonderful July 4th weekend with much to celebrate.