Grandma and Grumps Visit

Last week my parents came for a nice week-long visit.  Matthew took his first overnight trip away from the girls (a work trip to MI) so I enlisted their help.  The girls were thrilled to have company and I don't think that they hardly looked at me for the first few days.  They were having too much fun!  They actually got to go grocery shopping with us on Monday and rode in the double cart for the first time.

 

Can you tell that they enjoyed it?  Leonie on the left.

 

We also spent lots of time outside including several trips to playgrounds because of a renovation project happening at the house (more on that in the next post).  Here they are on the slide with Grumps and Grandma.  I'm not sure who is having the most fun!

Slide fun.

 

Surprisingly, Elsie even quickly figured out how to climb up the stairs to the top of the slide.  She wasn't fast but was very careful.

 

Grandma and Elsie at a different playground.

 

Grumps and Leonie.

 

 

Story time.  Both girls are really starting to love books and will bring books out from their room to read.

 

Double wagon ride from Grumps! Leonie on the right.

 

The fascination with shoes continues.  Here Elsie is wearing Grandma's shoes while Grumps helps her walk.

 

Another first this week - their first horse ride!  Elsie loved it and Leonie was a little cautious.  My old horse, Rabi, was the perfect gentleman.

 

Leonie.

 

Elsie

 

Leonie and I.  She was a little more confident when sitting with me.

 

Elsie and I.  Elsie wanted back on every time we took her off!

 

 

Finally, a couple of videos from the playground.  Elsie on the slide.

 

 

Leonie had a little mishap on the slide.  She was just fine and went down again afterwards though!

 

 

September

Now that we are no longer doing the monthly photos I am going to *try* to post about what's happening at least once per month.  We'll see how that goes!  First, here is a photo of the girls with most of their birthday gifts (a Bertch tradition).  The photo is a little late because some of their gifts didn't arrive until we met my parents in NC.

 

On a disappointing note, at the end of August my horse Mow stumbled while we were out training for our next race and has torn a ligament in his front leg.  He'll be out of commission for about five months while it heals.  We did shock wave treatments (photo) and he'll be confined to a small pen for a while until we slowly start rehabbing the leg.  The up side is that he should be 100% after it heals.

 

This month has been all about walking!  Once the girls started walking (and climbing) we had to release them from the baby pit.  It took them a little while to get comfortable with roaming the whole house but their walking skills have greatly improved.  Here they are leading daddy around. Elsie's on the left.

 

No baby pit also means that we needed containment for snacks.  They figured out these snack cups right away and, hopefully, we'll find fewer stray cheerios around the house. Elsie's on the left.

 

The cats are still adjusting to free babies.  Bagheera cannot jump over the gate into our room so she is often within reach.  Here is Leonie gently petting her.

 

Leonie and Elsie giving Bagheera some love.

 

Bagheera waiting to escape outside.

 

The girls also now enjoy going for "rides" on any willing adult.  It's Leonie's turn here.

 

Our washing machine (barely over a year old) broke and we had to buy a new one this month, which means the girls got a play house!

 

Bedtime stories with Daddy.  Leonie on the left.

 

Improved walking skills and slightly cooler temps has made some trips outside more feasible.  The girls have been enjoying their birthday gift from nanny and pop - a pool!

 

We put the pool in the garden where it won't kill the grass and we can keep it fenced off.  It is a huge hit, if you can't tell by these smiling faces. Elsie on the left.

 

Who needs fancy water features when mom has a watering can?

 

Elsie exploring the flower beds.  I'll have to start teaching her how to weed.

 

Mow has been living up to his name and mowing the lawn for us one little section at a time.  The girls discovered his water bucket one day and had a ball.  (Don't worry, the fence is not electric).

 

As always, the girls still love meal times.  One new thing they had this month, and loved, was sushi!  We made some veggie sushi at home and Elsie ate it so fast I could barely get a photo.

 

Leonie explored hers a little more before devouring.

 

Also, both girls leveled up their eating skills by adding forks.  Some things are just better when eaten off of a fork!  Here's Elsie.

 

And Leonie.

 

Finally, a cute video of Elsie walking (and falling down) while Daddy gives Leonie a wagon ride.

 

 

 

 

World Equestrian Games

 Last weekend we drove up to North Carolina to attend the World Equestrian Games near Tryon.  We met my parents at an AirBNB Thursday night then my mom and I headed to the games Friday while Matthew and my dad played with the girls all day at the house.  Friday was the longest I've ever been away from Leonie and Elsie!  They, of course, were fine and didn't even notice my absence.  Here's Mom and I near the entrance to the show grounds.  This international event was a little chaotic but we managed to park and ride a bus to the event with no issues.

 

 

We bought tickets to watch the combined driving event at WEG, which lasted three days.  Day one was the dressage test.  All 19 drivers took their four-in-hand hitch of horses around the arena and executed specific skills.  It was very impressive to watch!

 

Due to some necessary venue changes from hurricane Florence the seating at the dressage testing was less than adequate and the event time change made some people miss the action.  As a consolation, we were allowed to use our driving tickets to watch show jumping later in the day.  That suited us very well and we were able to watch the first half of the four-person gold medal USA jumping team.  Here are the two Americans that we watched.

 

Back at the AirBNB Nanny and Pop came by for a visit while they stayed with the Makas' for the weekend.  Nanny and Elsie.

 

Leonie trying to wear mommy's shoes.

 

A rare photo of me and the girls, I'm usually taking the photos!

 

On Saturday Matthew and my dad took the girls to a library where they met Nanny, Pop, Emily, and Henry for lots of play time.  The girls had so much fun they didn't even take their second nap!

 

Meanwhile, Mom and I thoroughly enjoyed day two of combined driving.  We've never seen any of these competitions in person so it was quite a treat.  Here we are at obstacle six of the marathon stage of the competition.  Each driver takes their team through eight obstacles (basically weaving through a maze) over a several mile course.  They are timed within each obstacle and accrue points based on the time.  Lowest points wins!  These points are also added to their penalty points from day one and day three (another obstacle course of cones where they receive penalties for time and knocking over cones but we did not stay for that) and the overall lowest score is the champion.

 

 

This team is navigating part of the water course at obstacle six.

 

Another team completing obstacle five.

 

Here's obstacle four.  We ended up going backwards to watch, just the way it worked out!

 

Obstacle two.

 

Obstacle one.  This is the American that ended up a silver medalist.

 

Netherlands team on obstacle one.

 

The gold medal team on obstacle one, from Australia.

 

 

Selfie with the winning team going by in the background! What a great weekend.  We even managed to watch the remaining day of competition on TV once we got home.