A Brief History of the Zoll Family, Part I

OK, so clearly I have been delinquent in posting. This has been a hectic time for our family, with multiple trips, a month for Dad in Singapore, and the sale of our house in Rockville. So to make up for lost time, I'm going to do several posts over the next few days to catch up.

The first post takes us on our trip to Florida. We all flew down to Naples for Labor Day weekend to visit our Sunshine State family.

It was great getting back in the pool with Meme.



And hanging out on the beach with Baba.



We went to a really nice waterpark with our cousins Grayce and Maddy.





There was a great cupcake cake for Ida Jane's birthday:



And Dad got one more trip to the beach before he left for Singapore.



Uncle Tim gave Ida Jane a golf lesson, which has her asking for her own clubs already.



Nice swing!



The girls put on a fashion show before heading back north.



Meme was nice enough to come back north with Amy and the girls, where they went apple picking:





Finally, a train ride around the Rio.



Stay tuned as we keep catching up over the weekend!

Two birthday parties, and one big move

August was a month to be remembered here in Rockville. The biggest news is that the Zoll Family will be relocating - to Singapore! It's quite a move for everyone, and it's happening very fast as well. The NGO that I work for, Conservation International (CI), has asked me to serve as the Director of Corporate Relations at the new CI Singapore office. Amy and I got the news while on a 5-year anniversary trip to New York.

Here I am, relaying the news to Aunt Sarah from Central Park:



And here Amy and I are, relaxing after a long day of walking about, digesting the news (Columbus Circle).



Ida Jane has been very enthusiastic about the move, although some toys and furniture have suddenly departed. The move has allowed her to be, shall we say, adventurous.



When we came back from New York, we had the first of the aforementioned two birthday parties with Nana and Papa. Unfortunately, Ida Jane is on a "Happy Birthday To You" strike right now, so no movies of that song.



There are pictures of cake eating, of course, but from the less-tearful member of the family. Harper will never cry when cake is involved.



Ida Jane did love the beautiful umbrella that she got from Nana and Papa, which will come very much in handy in the tropics.



Later that week we had a tearful farewell to Ms. Addison and Brandon, our day-care providers who treated Ida Jane and Harper like their own kids. We will definitely miss them.





I did say two birthday parties, didn't I? The second birthday party a week later, for Ida Jane's friends. It was a nice turnout! There was Leo, Annie, Quincy, June, and Rocket:



The diner was hopping - Samuel, Fia, and Avery were enjoying themselves.



Fia was resplendent in a Princess outfit that Harper loved, including "Rella" shoes (Harper is obsessed with all things Cinderella at the moment).



Harper does love our next-door neighbors very much, and we will be lucky if we have any who are half as nice as the Smiths in Singapore.



And we also love Auntie Becca. Read to us!



Finally, Ida Jane was pleased as punch when her potty progress finally landed her at "Build-A-Bear" today. She was very proud of Mia. Can you tell?



Wish us luck as we pack our bags! More to come before we go, of course (departure date is looking to be end of October/early November). And, if you know of anyone looking for a house in the DC area, you can point them our way. :)

Strikes and smiles

Can it be August already? We've had a busy few weeks here in Rockville. Harper has reached that critical developmental stage when you learn to say "Cheese" and pictures are never the same again.



I didn't say they weren't good!



Ida Jane is onto bigger talents - like medicine. Quoth the doctor: "What I can do for you?"



A lot of special events have happened here lately, too. Uncle Steve came through on his way from Florida to Iceland (DC is a natural stopover for this journey). Harper was a big fan of Uncle Steve's narrative skills.



And our best friend Fia celebrated her birthday. Here's a picture of the girls before the "big day"




Ida Jane and Fia at "party central" aka Fia's playhouse.



Scarfing down some birthday pizza:



Uncle Jeff, Aunt Kris, and Cousins Ryan and Katie came down to Baltimore, and we spent a great day with them at Chad, Jen and cousin Sami's house. Here's the brother and sister family shot. Yes, our kids are the ones making raspberries.




Here's Ida Jane with her Uncle and Auntie. It'd been way too long since we'd seen them both!



The girls were hanging off of Auntie Kris all afternoon. Here's Sami and Ida Jane sitting with Kris.



We've also been exploring the multiple offerings of Rockville. Here are the girls cutting a rug to the point of exhaustion at a town square kids' night.



And getting cool in the kid's pool:



Finally, this morning we went bowling for the first time. Harper was a bit too small to do anything other than run around and say "cheese".



But Ida Jane loved rolling the ball.



Strike!

To the lake and back

The girls had quite an adventure going up to Lake James in Indiana to visit their Nana, Papa, and lots of family.

Let's tee this one up with a popsicle shot:



This was Harper's first trip up there as a walker, and she didn't do much walking. It was more along the lines of running:



swinging:



and, of course, reading:



Ida Jane and Harper both enjoyed the new toys like intertubes and rowboats.







And our cousins Evan and Hayley were there as well!



Here's Ida Jane and Evan decorating the patio for a party.



And what would a trip to the lake be without a morning boat trip to the donut shop?



It's a great place to relax.





Of course, Olivia was with us, and she was chasing tennis balls for the kids pretty much every day. She's still sleeping that week off.



Then it was party time. The Zolls came up one day, and the girls had a blast. Here's Papa and Granddad with "The Hs" - Harper and Hayley.



Hayley was really cute, and a very good girl the whole time we were there.



Fortunately for her, she was the only kid who wasn't hit by a terrible stomach bug that knocked Ida Jane and Harper out for the second half of their trip. No pictures from that! (And no pictures from the Gerber day, either, which I have no excuse for. But I found out today that Nana forgot to break out her camera as well on that day, so I'm not the only one!)

After some much needed rest, the girls are settling back home in Rockville well. Mom took them to a garden play area at Brookside gardens, where they got to get in the dirt.





And, of course, there's the fountain at City Center, a great place for scampering and splashing:





On Sunday we went into the district for a morning trip which included a lovely sunny walk on the mall. Can you believe some tourists asked to get pictures of the girls as they trooped around on the grass? I bet you can!