Brielle Visits Bandon and Meets Cousin Stella

Brielle turned 15 months old today! Yesterday we returned home from a wonderful family visit in Bandon, OR. Although Grammy and Kelly have come up to Portland numerous times, we hadn't been to their house in Bandon for 10 months. We packed up Brielle and a bunch of supplies (mostly hers) and set off for the 5-hour drive.

Brielle is always good about getting into the car seat. In fact, she tries to help out by fastening the buckles herself! But at some point she started to wonder why we hadn't reached our destination and got a little fussy. Luckily she fell asleep for a couple hours of the drive. As soon as we arrived, Brielle realized that getting to see Grammy for the weekend was worth the trip. Other family members weren't arriving until later, so Brielle had Grammy and Kelly all to herself.

However, Brielle immediately found herself distracted by two very exciting residents in their home - Rosie and Sophie. She's seen a couple dogs before, but this was the first time that Brielle was able to run around and interact with them. She'd stand before them and lean over with a huge grin as she checked them out.

Then she chased them around.

It was an unexpectedly gorgeous, sunny day in Bandon, so we enjoyed spending time on the back deck, overlooking the lake.

Aunt Kelly and Uncle Tim arrived from Los Angeles and joined in on the fun.

Brielle was fascinated with being up high on the deck. She wanted to see what would happen if she threw her toys over the edge, but the deck wall prevented that. She managed to throw her bottle through the slats, though, and enjoyed watching Daddy retrieve it for her.

Back inside, Brielle updated her relatives on her new skills. She ran across the floor, pulled herself up into chairs, babbled, and demonstrated her increasing ability to understand language (e.g., "pick up the ball" versus "pick up the baby"). The vocabulary (that we understand) is still pretty small, but she's learned (or developed on her own) signs to communicate her wishes (e.g., "feed me", "more").

This weekend she demonstrated over and over that when we say, "How big is Brielle?", that she should throw her arms up into the air to make us say, "SO big!".

The next day while we waited for Aunt Amy and Cousin Stella to arrive, Grammy showed Brielle the beautiful landscaping they've done to their front yard. Brielle picked up a sprinkler and carried it around with her.

Saturday was another gorgeous sunny day.

"Where's that Stella...?"

After hearing so much about little Cousin Stella and getting glimpses of her on Skype, Brielle finally met her cousin in person.

"So...this is the OTHER baby that Grammy goes to see..."

This was our first time meeting Stella as well. She greeted us with enthusiastic smiles, with the tip of her little tongue sticking out and a quick wrinkle of her nose. Stella was 6 1/2 months old, and it was fun to hold a small baby again.

Here's Stella with Aunt Kelly.

Soon after their arrival, we headed off to the beach to enjoy the beautiful weather. It was Brielle's second visit to the beach at Bandon, but during the first visit it was windy and cold and she was too small to get out on the sand. Not this time...

The beach was empty, and Brielle ran and squealed with delight.

"SO big!"

"SOOOO big!!!"

Stella enjoyed her first views of the beach too.

Grammy brought some sand toys for Brielle to try out.

"Let me play with my toys, Mommy!"

She figured out how to use the shovel on her own.

And she got nice and dirty.

Brielle was fascinated with seeing the sand coating her hand. Luckily she's been getting over the urge to put everything in her mouth, so she only tasted the sand twice.

Time to explore the beach with Daddy...

Back at the house, Grammy surprised the cousins with matching outfits and matching "sweet pea" dolls. Brielle wondered if maybe she should take both dolls for herself.

It was a nice outfit to wear while helping Grammy water the plants on the deck.

That night, the cousins, aunts, and uncles went out to dinner...

...to celebrate Father's Day with Grandpa Taylor. Grandpa gave Brielle a large pile of great books that he and Linda had collected for her.

Stella enjoyed the view from her Daddy's shoulders (Brielle's Uncle Todd).

Todd brought Stella over to visit with Brielle. The two cousins lit up immediately whenever they saw each other.

In a really cute moment, Brielle leaned in close to Stella, took her hand, and babbled a couple sentences of advice that only another baby could understand.

And in a less cute moment, Brielle tried to touch Stella's eyeball.

We're not sure where she learned it (probably Grammy), but when we say, "Oh my goodness!" Brielle puts her hands up to her cheeks.

The next morning the cousins enjoyed some more play time together.

Brielle was slowly learning that she needed to use "soft touch" and not put her finger in Stella's eye. So instead she leaned into her carefully to touch foreheads.

And she gave her a hug.

"Oh my goodness!"

"Thanks for a fun time, little Stella!"