At the aquarium today

Today, Tessa and I met up with cousin Caleb, Grammy and Grandpa at the aquarium. As you can see from these pictures, a good time was had by all!

After the aquarium, Tessa and I caught the water taxi home, stopping at "Coffee to a Tea" for cupcakes and Husky Deli for ice cream, and we came home and got Ryan's birthday dinner ready. (His actual birthday is Monday, but since that's a weeknight we celebrated a bit early with Paul & Libby.) It was lovely to spend a relaxed evening with Paul & Libby.

Tessa was completely worn out by the end, but happy from her busy day. Me too!

Tessa

Ryan said that his dad would look at this shot and have the perfect advice for Tessa - "Wait. Wait. Wait some more before you swing!" Good advice if she'll follow it, but actually hitting the ball wasn't important today. Today, Ryan got his first father-daughter pitching session, and I'm not sure who was happier about it, because both of them were glowing. Happy days!

Tessa getting tips on baseball from Daddy. (This time the fashion accessory is a Hawaiian flower barette.) Ryan, dressed in bike gear and fresh from his ride, came home hungry but had to delay his dinner because the sweet call of "Daddy, will you play baseball with me? I can run all of the bases - first, second, third, and sixth!" was too wonderful to resist. Tessa had her first go at baseball today at her YMCA "camp" and she loved it. Never mind that when I watched she was mostly drawing pictures in the dust behind the pitcher's mound...in her head, she's a baseball star.

Tessa at her first day of soccer, showing off her new YMCA camp shirt and her new shin guards. Oh, yes, and wearing kitty ears and posing. She made me laugh - but it was easy to spot her on the field! She is really enjoying soccer, and is getting better at kicking the ball around with a small (small!) degree of control.

This is of Tessa at the hospital on July 4. Notice that SHE has color in her cheeks, but Ryan is pale (as was I!). By the time we got to emergency, Tessa was feeling better to some degree, but both her parents were pretty freaked out. In this shot, Tessa is wearing her "4th of July" outfit - the one she was going to wear at the parade - and she's got her hand taped to the IV board. Ugh - I hope we don't have to do that any time soon.

It's late and I want to go to bed, but I wanted to share these pics. Have a good night!