Independence Day

My independent little man celebrated his first Fourth of July in Buffalo.  We arrived late on the 3rd, just in time to celebrate the holiday with the family! 

Personally, I love the 4th of July.  Not sure why it is one of my favorite holidays.  I liked it ever since I was a kid.  We used to have everyone over to our house to swim in the pool and eat Sahlen's hot dogs and play in the yard and then walk down to Riverside Park for fireworks.  Always lots of fun!

This year, we hung out at Grandma, Uncle Steve and Aunt Kel's house.  The Gallagher Girls stopped by for a quick visit (and we ran into them again at fireworks!) and then cousin Bobby, Uncle Bob and Aunt Shannon stopped by for dinner and swimming (in the tiny, awesome Walmart pool).  We made our way down to the river when it got dark and all watched the fireworks.  I think Eli had a great time!

Eli and his Gallagher Girls

I love this one.
Kenzie is holding Eli's hand, but Eli is all about Ally.
I think Ally will be his "older woman" in the years to come!

In true Snekser fashion, lots of food!
Including and Andersons' ice cream cake!

"I love my blinking hat from
Uncle Steve!  I am also tired."

My Independent Man didn't mind
the fireworks, he just didn't want a
photo taken because he was trying
to sleep!

A trip to the Pitts!

"I'm glad you guys bought me a
comfy car seat, 'cause I sure do
spend a lot of time in it!"

We continued the PA tour to the western side of the state to have a quick visit with our friends Natalie and Emilio and their daughter Dahlia (who actually live in Altoona, not Long Island, where we met up with them last time!).  We only had a day, but it was fun to hang around the house with the kids and then drive to Pittsburgh to see the zoo with Natalie and Dahlia!  Natalie's a college professor too -- the joys of having summers off!  We love taking the kids to the zoo on a random Tuesday!

What biologists do when they take their kids
to the zoo ....

Everyone poses with the tree of life!

Eli watching the sea lion baby.
Or the water (it was another HOT day!)!

"Oh my God!  I am petting a dear!!!!!"

"Oh, a dear.  I prefer my ungulates to have an
odd number of toes.  Show me a rhino!"

Not sure who was more interested in whom.
Kangaroo/baby staring contest.

"Look Eli, a Gorilla!"

Gorillas are always a great end
to a great day at the zoo!

After the zoo, we took Eli to his first Pittsburgh Pirates game!  It was a pretty nice night and we had a great time cheering for the Pirates and the Houston Astros!  Eli's favorite part was McCutchen hitting a great home run!

The Wynnes at PNC Park

"Another day, another baseball game.
How do I break it to Daddy that my favorite sport
is actually water polo?"

"Just kidding Daddy!  I love baseball!!"

Seeing the PA family!

We were all very excited to hang out with the extended PA family at the beginning of July.  Eli had been dying to meet Great Aunt Renee, Great Uncle Johnny, and second cousins John, Rachel and Kristen and third cousin (I think?) Grady!  (It was also very nice to see Vicki and Steve too!!)

It was such a nice day and Uncle Johnny had put up the giant bonsai slide for the kids (of all ages).  The highlight was definitely Grady and Eli interacting.  The photos below show the fun!  I wish we had gotten more photos of Eli with everyone else too.  It was so nice to see the family and we can't wait to hang out again!

3rd cousins!

Grady: "Dude, that frog hood is lame.  I wear a lot of
hats and I know cool when I see it.  That is not cool."

Eli: "I know, help me out man!
My dad keeps putting it on me!"

Grady: "You look cooler now, dude."

Eli: "Thanks buddy!  I appreciate the style advice!" 

Eli:  "I am so excited, I just want to give you a big,
over-bearing hug / choke-hold."

Grady:  "Dad, get me away from this crazy kid!"

Adorable!

Seriously Adorable!



The boys, just playing it cool!

Never too early for Sparklers!

While we were in PA that first weekend in July, we lit some sparklers with the cousins.  It seemed as though Eli liked the sparklers and fireworks (who doesn't?!) and the girls (and adults) had a lot of fun!



Eli's first sparkler!

I guess the little ones can only have so much
fun with sparklers that late at night!

Meeting Uncle Barry!

This was too cute not to share!  Life has been crazy for everyone, so Eli didn't get a chance to meet "Uncle" Barry until we met up with him at a summer carnival in PA.  Of course, Eli loved him and insisted on taking this photo!   So cute!

Happy Birthday Sophia!

At the end of June, we celebrated Cousin Sophia's 3rd birthday.  She is such a happy, crazy little girl!  I have a feeling, it will be Sophia and Eli getting into trouble together as the grow up! 

For her birthday, she decide to have a Lion King party and Eli was very excited to dress up as a lion.  All of Sophia's family came to celebrate, which may have been a bit overwhelming to Eli, but he did well.  The worst part about parties is that Eli hates to miss out on the fun and so he'll fight his nap for far too long.  I think Eli had a great time and he can't wait to celebrate his birthday with his cousins in December.   

Happy 3rd Birthday Sophia!

The lions attack their Uncle Ryan

 

Eli giving a ROAR and attacking
his giraffe!

The 3 cousins!

And a final shot from our weekend visit to PA ... Eli and his Uncle Al. 

Eli could sit with Uncle Al all day!

Take me out to the ball game (DC/Baltimore Edition)

In our quest to visit all MLB stadiums, we went on a trip with Grandma, Uncle Steve and Aunt Kelly down toward the capitol, to go to a Nationals game and an Orioles game.  There were only a few weekends all year that both teams are playing at home, so we had planned this trip a few months in advance.  Little did we know that it would be RIDICULOUSLY hot, hitting over 100 both days we went to the games.  Despite the heat, we all survived, and even had a good time! 

Our first night, we went to the Washington Nationals game against the Tampa Bay Rays.  Eli sported his Jeter Yankees onesie (and that's it -- trashy, but it was sooo hot!) in support of the Rays losing.  It was a hot night, but we had great seats and plenty of room to relax.      

Us with Thomas Jefferson at Nationals Park.

Eli watched most of the game with Aunt Kelly.
(I think she became his favorite because she
kept giving him ice cubes! Oh, and she's fun!)

"It's so hot, Mommy!"

The Wynnes at Nationals Park

This trip included Eli's first hotel stay and he loved it!  I am pretty sure his favorite part was the giant bed.  Ryan and I got a room with a king-sized bed so that we'd have room for the pack-n-play and Eli went nuts over it.  I think he also liked that Grandma, Aunt Kel and Uncle Steve were just across the hall and we could go visit them every night!

"I love this giant bed!"

"I could sleep on this bed every night!"

The next day, we hung out in Baltimore for a bit ... but mainly it was so hot we all felt awful.  So we ate lunch (Ryan ate only ice cream!) down in the Inner Harbor and then hung out in the air-conditioned hotel.  Eli, Ryan and I also met up with our good friend Jenny for some drinks (how did we not get any pictures??  Curses!).  It was so nice to see Jenny and have her meet Eli!

Luckily, it rained right as that night's baseball game was going to start, so it did cool a bit (though only a bit).  Another amazing stroke of luck -- our game seats were undercover, so we didn't get wet at all!  It was a nice night with the Baltimore Orioles playing the Washington Nationals (so it was packed!). 

"What?  Another baseball game? 
I'm cheering for the Mets tonight!" 

The Wynnes at Oriole Park at Camden Yards

One last playtime on the bed!

On the way back up north, we all headed to Atlantic City.  Grandma, Uncle Steve and Aunt Kelly spent the night, but we just hung out for the day and then drove home.  It was too hot for the beach, but we had a great time in the hotel pool with Grandma (Mommy also had some fun gambling with Uncle Steve and Aunt Kelly!)!

Hard to tell, but he is splashing and trying
to grab the water.
(He likes to grab and examine everything!)

Swimming was so fun, we had to nap!

While it was hot, we had a great time and a wonderful adventure with Uncle Steve, Aunt Kel and Grandma!  Can't wait for some more adventures to go see all the rest of the MLB stadiums!