In My Girl's World

She loves the geese!

And just walking around the grassy areas. Sometimes she collects rocks and leaves. Other times she just carefully observes everything. This was one of those days.

 

See her observing face? Haha!

She tried getting the squirrels to come to her and was clearly unsuccessful. 

Lots of walking and exploring.

I snagged this cute pic before we left.

On our way home from the park I stopped at my office to bring something to a coworker. We didn't go inside because Ella didn't have a mask, but I left her things outside the door and they brought Ella a donut treat in exchange. Ella wasn't sure how she felt about the whole situation... but she did enjoy that donut! 

We came home and did a quick diaper change before packing up for a little beach trip. I was really hoping the beach would be empty and when we arrived I was so happy to see that it was. We generally get there pretty early, so I figured there wouldn't be many people there.

 

I love watching her have so much fun! 

Seaweed isn't our fave.

But playing in the sand is! 

While we were on the beach I placed an order for lunch that we could pick up on Main Street on our way back home. I set the pick up for 11 because Ella typically eats then and naps around 12.

On our walk to pick up our lunch, Ella insisted on sitting on this wall and refused to leave for a good 5 minutes. Toddlers are weird and bossy haha.

We grabbed lunch from Pierside Press which is one of my favorite places to eat in Seal. They make the most amazing sandwiches! 

I got the turkey sandwich and a beet salad. 

Ella got an egg salad sandwich but also ate some veggies and leftovers at home.

After lunch Ella took a quick bath to get sand out of crevices and then went down for a nice long nap! She has been really consistent about napping from 12:30-2:30 lately and it has been so nice.

While she napped I did some picking up, reading and a bit of blog work.

I shared this on Instagram but after her nap Ella has a snack and gets some screen time. I gave her a bowl of cucumber, green beans, watermelon and 1/2 a chocolate chip cookie. She ate everything but the cookie!!! I was shocked! Offering veggies consistently, even when she often rejects them really is helping. She is learning to like them.

 We had a Carters order to pick up, and while we were in the car Ella kept asking for "Nai Nai" which is Michael's Mom. After grabbing our stuff from Carters we headed to their house, as they live close.

Peek-a-boo with Grandma! 

Ella stayed a bit longer at his parents and they dropped her off around 6:30/7. We enjoyed some time at home to catch up on housework and hang out with each other. I went to bed early after a long day with Ella. An early bedtime was the perfect end to a near perfect day! 

Michael had to work Saturday as well, so Ella and I had another day off together. Ella was asking to go "ousside" her new favorite word. We packed our bags and got everything ready for another morning at the beach.

 

Ella wanted to wear her new shirt that her "aunty" Jena gave to her. You can check out the T and more of her styles on her website here. She has so much cute stuff and has such a great mission:

"We are here to empower a new generation of youths. We aim to surround them with positive messages to ensure they grow up in a world where they can be ANYTHING and ANYONE they want to be. No judgment, only love and support"

Look at some of the cute styles. I am obsessed.

As you can see, Ella was beyond thrilled to be at the beach, listening to the waves and playing in the sand.

We made an epic sandcastle together and ran into the ocean to collect shells for Ella to play with. She is slowly getting more and more comfortable with the ocean waves and getting wet. As soon as the water touched her she looked at me and said "wattttt" which is her say of saying "wet." Her vocab is coming right along.

After about an hour and fifteen, Ella was asking to go home. She doesn't usually last much longer than an hour at the beach.

We had to walk by our favorite mural on our way home.

 

And of course swung by the park on our way home as well.

 

Ella had an ice cream treat before lunch. Who let her do that? :)

And we played in the pool for a bit.

We had some baked rotini and salad for lunch. It was super easy to make. I just sauteed the beef with some salt, garlic, finely chopped mushrooms and zucchini. I added jarred pasta sauce, and poured over the cooked rotini. I topped it with mozzarella and baked in our toaster oven. Ella will rarely eat red meat so it was awesome to watch her eating this and enjoying it. 

Shortly after lunch it was time for reading and a nap. 

After Ella's nap we headed over to Michael's parents house for dinner. Michael was running late at work so he drove there separately. They got Ella a little remote control car and she was obsessed with it. She is also obsessed with sitting in that basket. #whoknowswhy 

We headed home, did our usual bed routine and had an early night! 

See what I mean about her energy level? She wont even sit in her stroller and insists on walking! 

Snacks on the beach are the best kind of snacks! 

Having Michael was nice because I was able to just lay and relax while he took her to the water 10 million times. I only took her a few times, but yet I somehow got soaked. 

Love my giant cup! It keeps my water so cold! 

  

Sweet baby got wet so we changed her into a fresh diaper and some clean clothes for the ride back home. As soon as we got home we took a shower to get rid of the sand! I hate how sand gets literally everywhere. Why?

We spent our afternoon playing!

And I worked on a little project making Ella some color-sorting boxes to try working on her color identification. She still doesn't get it, but I think these boxes will help. I plan to do a whole post on how and why I made them.

We ordered take-out from my favorite Indian restaurant. Ella was a fan! She loved the different breads, dipping sauces and the chicken tikka with rice. She gets it from her Mama! 

We spent all day Sunday trying to get as much done around the house as we could, while still being present for Ella. I think we did a pretty good job! We got our laundry done, I did some dusting, sweeping, spot washed the kitchen floor and did a ton of purging of Ella's clothes and toys. We decided that we had enough food in our fridge to last us through the beginning of the week, so I was able to skip a grocery trip. These days that is such a relief! 

Ella went hard the rest of the day until the very end. I was trying to put her down for bed and she was just not having it, she was just crazy silly and maybe slightly overtired. 

Phew! Well that was our weekend and I don't know about you but I am like zzzz just looking at all of that. For some reason the sun just exhausts me! I hope you all had amazing weekends as well. We will be back later on this week, so please check back! PS: Don't forget to follow us on Instagram.

& as always, thanks to the hosts of today's link up!