Ready for the trails...

A good family friend, Patrick Dickson, recently returned these Alldredge-family hiking boots after a long-time loan and Ella just had to try them on... In the great tradition of All-trudge hikes, they came with lemon drops, which she's ready to share with anyone who wants to help her heft these amazingly heavy kids' boots up a mountain!

With the doggy

Here's one more shot for today - of Ella with her dog, probably her favorite possession. This dog gets loved, squeezed, dragged and run over by the stroller on a daily basis. What a great gift it was from the Shapiro family! Will write more soon - and publish some of the most recent and best photos yet! xoxox H

Four cousins

We had two great weeks of cousin time with Matthew (13) and Robert (9), from Alaska, and Hero (4), who lives here in Ballard (part of Seattle). Ella loved watching her cousins, listening to stories, napping, playing nose-squashing games of peekaboo, going for walks, etc. It was a lot of fun.

Finally! Out West...

Now that I have caught up a bit on posts that are long overdue, it's time to focus on our travels out in Washington and California. We shared our time between Seattle and Whidbey Island and are now packing up for the drive down to California, with a quick stop in Oregon to see some friends. Here are photos of Ella exploding a wallet, her favorite pastime, and discovering the wonder of a sprinkler.

Belated Posts Part III: The Morrises moved to Mead!

After the Ironman was over, we turned all of our energies back to the packing and moving process and, with the help of a fantastic moving crew, were able to get mostly settled into our new house, Mead, before taking off for our adventures out West. We absolutely love the new space - especially the backyard, which is really large and includes a swingset/slide play structure. It is hard to tell who is more excited about it, Ella or Bianca. We all feel pretty lucky. Here are a couple pictures from our new home... The last is of Ella playing with her bee, a gift that I was given years ago by Nicole and Khadija, former Choate students, that Ella absolutely loves to snuggle with...

Belated Posts Part II: IRON-ELLA!

Ella experienced her second Ironman triathlon on Sunday, July 20th and it was quite a day! We were in Lake Placid from 6:30 am until about 6:00 pm and in that time it rained for about 10 hours with only 15 minutes or so of a reprieve! We kept Ella dry in her little cocoon-like stroller, and though she wasn't wild about the confinement, she was a real trooper. She certainly earned the title of "IRON-FAN" and is already in training to head back next year to watch her uncle David compete in his third... this time, with her dad by her side to hold her hand and help her cheer!

Belated Posts Part I: Playing with Grampa & Bianca

This is a long overdue update... In these photos, Ella is playing in the sand up in the Adirondacks with her Grampa Bill and her trusty pal, Bianca-dog. He built up columns of sand, one for each, and E and B took great pleasure in knocking them down. It was a very sweet sight.
Then she's playing at the new community playground in Jay, NY with her Grammie Sue on a very warm Adirondack day!