settling in and living it up

We got our first taste of home just a week after moving in when the Grupp clan stopped over for a quick trip. GG and Papi and Great Grammy Peace are doing great and got to see Bela and Emma for a couple of hours on the way home from their vacation in Florida and Savannah. We are so glad that they did- it was nice to see a little family for sure! And they were all a little tan too :) And Emma is still enthralled with her little toy- she loves her grandparents!
Aunt Nancy and Uncle Sig stopped by too, a few days after the Grupps to visit and take us out for a really yummy dinner! Really, how many people would look us up on Google Earth satellite (since we had no phone and couldn't be located on mapquest) just to stop by for a visit?! I can't tell you how much it meant to us that they went through all they did just to give us some wonderful company. Emma especially enjoyed the "treat milk" that they got her at dinner! Thanks a million for the wonderful evening out! You both are so sweet!
We also got to see Grandma and Grandpa Cobb on the big screen (we have our webcam hooked up to our tv so Emma can run around while watching them!). Emma was so wound up- she gave her monkey, her purse, and all sorts of toys to the tv. How funny! Now, instead of requesting George 300 times a day, she only asks about 250 times, the other 50 she reserves for "Gwampa tv". How funny! We'll have to figure out why it's not working as well with the Grupps, once we do, we'll chat a lot with them too!
As for our South Carolina experiences, we're really settling in (finally) and slowing down a little. We FINALLY have a phone and internet! WOO HOO!!! And the boxes are slowly being emptied and put away. We have found the local farmers markets and parks (which we visit usually once or twice a day at least), and have made approximately 300 trips to Target (Aunt Nancy has informed me of the fact that the South has Supertargets-I will be on the lookout for these). Can you believe people do their GROCERY shopping at Wal-marts down here? They are HUGE MEGA-Walmarts! And we're scoping out fun things to do every weekend. There are plenty of festivals, historical sites, beaches, paths, mountains, zoos, museums, botanical gardens, and so much more, all within day-trip driving distances!!!
We checked out the South Carolina zoo (can't remember the name of the one we went to) on Saturday and Emma had a blast. The entire hour drive home she listed all of the animals she saw, without stopping for breath. This was the highlight no doubt of her little life. It sounded a little like this:
"and animoes(animals), and girapps, and animoes, and elphents, and animoes, and quee-ford (Clifford- no the big red dog did not make a special appearance, Emma just added him in!), and animoes" She was so excited about the whole thing. Now, she requests "zoo" CONSTANTLY. Too bad it's an hour away.....
The park however is only a minute away, and she requests this also (about 100 times a day). We go quite a bit, but the funny thing is, this little jumping bean uses almost NO energy at the park. Instead, she puts her little sunglasses and hat on, climbs up the stairs and "drives" for hours, literally. Yes, they have a wheel that she likes to twist wildly while saying "beep beep" and "vroom". This whole park thing is getting slightly boring to mom and dad, especially since the park is SoOOOOOOO huge and nice and could be way more exciting if the toddler actually moved once in awhile. Ah well, hopefully it'll lose its luster pretty soon.

Emma is really into saying "hi" to everyone. And if they don't hear her, she keeps on trying, getting louder, and LOUDER, and saying "HI PEOPLE" until they acknowledge her. I guess it beats the awkward staring stage she was in for awhile, but it is still embarassing. What's more, she thinks all little girls with dark hair are Dora the Explorer (and mentions this to them) and any little kids with darker skin (and we're in South Carolina where the sun darkens everyone's) is Curious George. Now this can get really embarassing and make for some pretty awkward situations, so we're trying to fix this.
Emma also got a new flashy tricycle, but enjoys using it as tv atcing seat more than anything! I'm sure she'll get the hang of it soon enough.
Bela is still a crier, but our tiny thumb-sucker is such a lover! She snuggles, and talks, and is starting to learn how to laugh!
Emma met and then became Cinderella the other day. We took a trip to the park and she spotted a little girl in a dress. Immediately, she froze and said in awe "Cindawewuh!" Okay, maybe the girl needs to wear a dress once in awhile so she doesn't just think they are a thing of princesses on tv! Later on that night, we got a special package from Grandma and Gramdpa and in it was a pair of brand new monkey slippers! She shoved those things on and strutted her stuff, saying "I'm Cindawewuh!" Nice. I'm sure Cinderella wears monkeys! And you can bet she wasn't going to bed without taking the slippers with her! But after being unable to keep her feet perfectly still enough to keep them on, she settled on hugging them like a stuffed animal and falling asleep that way! HAHAHA! Cutie!
The pictures are from all sorts of things: Grandpa and Great Grandpa at the going away party, the Grupps when they visited, Emma in her last timeout in Westland (yes, our house was totally empty and she STILL managed to sneak one last visit in), our trip to the zoo, and Bela just being cute and sucking her thumb!