Our 4th of July this year!

So last year we went to a beautiful beach at a place called Cape May.... it was great but the 5 hour car ride was not!! This year we decided to do something a little different, we left early and headed to a inland lake called Lake Palvin.

Bella was on fire using her goggles (that we recently got while in France) and jumping in and doing her doggy paddle! We also set up a nice towl line on the sand of the lake, read books, comics and relaxed before having our packed picnic lunch! Was a great day and a lot of fun with Lily, Bella, Nick and our friend Kristy who came along for the ride.

After the excitement of swimming Mirabella was in a but and animal discovery mood and she managed to catch a frog and dragon fly in our picnic cups that then came back with us in the car. The frog actually managed to escape and managed to be croaking from the cup holder ha ha. Was a great day.

 

General ambience of the lake

Bella discovering friends to play with

Trying to get some shade!!

 

 A racing girl!

  

Come on Daddy, let's get bugs and frogs!!

And then back in time for the 4th of July fireworks on our apartment roof deck!

 

Here are some more random shots from the last couple of weeks:

Nick at a Gay bar in U Street Washington DC.... they kept making me pretty strong Gin and Tonics ha ha

 You can tell it's a Gay Bar from the Drag Bingo and Drag Brunch

 

Jo Jos was a sweet Jazz Bar

Dupont Circle in Washington DC on a walk at night

Pontomac River view from Virginia into Washington DC

Philadelphia skyline for the "Ready for 100% Renewable" Photoshoot

Mirabeau enjoying the swings at Philly's 30th Street Station garden on the way to the swimming pool

Bushwalk adventure

Love- heart photo!!

Ride-behind bike maiden voyage!!!! Bella loved it!

Nothing better than a fountain and hammock on a hot day
 

Running and dancing is good for the soul Daddy!!

A building 770 ton Chiller Nick was working on optimization for Temple..... all in a days work ;-)

Loving the swimming pool!

Thanks so much for looking. Love to those all over the world :-)

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Trip to the Land of Aus Over Christmas Part II

 Sorry everyone! Time got away from us and now it's like July! Arrrrgghhh, where has the year gone? Well Bella is doing amazingly at school, they are pushing her really hard but she keeps hammering away at it! She still wants to be a princess and an artist when she grows up and for her birthday she asked for her ears to get pierced, now that's brave...

But now back to the real subject of the blog: Bella and Nick's Australia trip part 2. So following on from Nick's birthday we spent a few days hanging out in Melbourne and seeing as much of our family and friends as possible before the Christmas craziness hit.

We also conducted Mirabella acrobatics for whoever was around at the time

 We also made sure the eggs made to the house in one piece and that the chickens felt appreciated each and every day!

We had plenty of warm summer hugs with Jill and Mimi

We made sure that uncle Rory was staying limber enough with some Bella Yoga and exercises.

We found some of the old favorites that have been waiting in the shed since Adrian and Nick were young lads.

We were caught in some of the local spider webs but help wasn't ever too far away!

We took some time out for some good old night time photography at the St Kilda pier.

 And heaps of sisterly love cafe dates.

But before we knew it, it was Christmas day!

Reading her new book with Uncle Adrian and Aunty Erin

 

Then we managed to escape the craziness of Melbourne to Moggs Creek for New Years and fun beach times!

Said hi! to the wildlife

 Beach times!

Burried some people

Went for a few surfs

Played lots of card games

Looked for bats at the caves on the beach

 Explored the rockpools!

 Bartered at Bella's shop

 Then it was time to get back to Melbourne.... and Luna Park

We had so much fun visiting Oz! And we plan on keeping them coming!

Love of love to everyone,

NLB