Sisters!

Abigail is still loving being a big sister ... so much so that if Naomi gets a little fussy Abigail will give her all-time favourite possession (her Monkey!!) and tells us it's "To make Nomi feel better"!! How cute is that?! If you know Abigail and her Monkey ... this is HUGE!!!! As you can see Naomi's name is slowly evolving in our household, she was first called Omi by her big sis but only a few days after she came home from the hospital Abigail renamed her Nomi and that has stuck ever since ... and seems to be a name we're all using!

This month we had another sister in the house as Jenny's little sister, Pippa came to stay/play/help/relax ;o)!! As you can see she soon became a favourite of both of our girls ... and Abigail spent a lot of time playing with Pippa's camera mostly looking at photos and video clips of herself but sometime's attempting to take the odd photo too!!

Abigail had loads of fun playing with 'Popeye' ... if you've been reading our blogs for a while you'll remember this is what Abigail renamed Pippa on her first visit here to the States last spring and I think will be forever known as ... in our house at least!! They were often out on the trampoline or playing in Abi's room ... where Abigail perfected what she calls her 'Superstar Pose'! We have no idea where that came from but here it is ...

Over the weekend that Popeye was here was the annual Hot Air Balloon festival ... so we spent some time at the fairground on the Saturday having fun! Although Naomi was with us in body ... she slept through the whole experience from beginning to end!!!

Abigail really enjoyed having a go on some of the fairground rides ... but of course her favourite thing continues to be the ponies so when she spied those there was no way we were going to be allowed past without stopping off there!

Just like last year, the weather threatened to stop all the scheduled hot air balloon launches but also just like last year the Saturday evening launch was able to go ahead and as we live close to the fairgrounds we got to enjoy it from right outside our front door!!

Abigail and Popeye found a much easier way to watch all the balloons fly overhead without craning their necks ... much to our amusement!!

Just to prove we were watching them from home ... a more 'arty' shot!!

The same weekend as the Hot Air Balloon festival is the Corvette Car Rally in Roscoe Village ... this year there seemed to be even more cars than last year!! Complete with the same amusing license plates ... below is a picture of one we didn't see last year!!

Abigail really wanted her picture taken next to a pink car ... but having walked the entire length of Roscoe Village (which isn't all that long!!) and not finding any, she chose this blue one instead!

Popeye loves thunderstorms and they can be pretty spectacular out here! We were able to oblige with two impressive ones while she was staying with us, although couldn't muster up a Tornado warning like we have for our last two sets of visitors! We also took a trip to the pool at Lake Park ... always a fun time ... not sure who was being more goofy in the water though, Popeye or Abigail!

It's turned into a tradition that every time Popeye comes to visit us she goes home having done something different with her hair ... usually a different colour ... red, purple etc etc. This time though we went a little more dramatic ... as you can see below (the before and after) ... my hairdresser did a great job!!

We had lots of fun and were sad to see Popeye leave ... especially Abigail, as for the first time at the airport she 'got it' ... after all the visitors we've had since living here, she finally understood that when someone says goodbye and goes through security they won't be coming home with us and was wailing loudly for all to hear!

From one sister to another ... our next visitor at the end of July will be Mark's sister, Amy!