Pure Michigan

This weekend, we made our annual trip to Michigan to visit Karen's family.  We usually go to Port Huron to her uncle's place, but this time we went to cousin Steve's house in White Lake.  

And just like the TV add says, it was pure Michigan: many lakes, house in the woods, breezy weather and family atmosphere. It all made for a great weekend.  Olivia had a blast too as she had a chance to play with her cousins Anthony and Summer.

Not a baby anymore

As Aunt Kelly suggested, we should really change the name of this blog to Olivia because she is not a baby anymore.  She is walking all over the place, exploring everything, learning a lot of new things and developing her own personality. Very fun stage for the parents.

It cooled down a lot in Chicago, but we are still able to enjoy the parks and our nightly walks so here are some actions shots from the last couple of weeks:

We are back :(...

We had an amazing time in Croatia. It was so nice to see all the family and friends again, and of course, to show Olivia to everyone. She had a great time hanging with her cousins Ivan and Dora, swiming, playing on the beach and getting pampered by everyone. We have around 1000 pictures from this trip and it is impossible to even attempt to pick the best of them. Here is just a few of Split, Maslinica and family.

Leaving for Croatia

We are leaving for Croatia on Wednesday, and we are very excited. It has been 3 years since Karen and I went there, and of course, this will be Olivia's first trip.
We'll be spending a lot of time on the beach, so here is how we practiced for that.

Summer activities

We haven't posted anything in a couple of weeks, but here is a glimpse of what we have been doing:
Posing for pictures

Spending time by the lake

Enjoying the water park

Taking walks

Laughing

Occasional photo shoot meltdown

How far we've come

July 12th is sort of Olivia's other birthday. That was her original due date, but she had other plans. Plans that involved a lot of drama, worry, sleepless nights, and trips to the hospital. But thanks to God, luck, friends, family and modern medicine, everything turned out great. So every now and then we remind ourselves of how far we have come.

Playing with Tanja

Olivia and Marica, our au pair.