On the Move

When last we spoke, our precious little girl was beginning her quest for mobility. Nine days later here is how we are now greeted as we enter her bed chamber. (Wait, isn't it our chamber too?)

The past month we have all been on the go with wedding after wedding. Here we are in our wedding uniforms. Hey, so what if we wore the same thing; there were different people at each of the 4 weddings we attended!

We managed to sneak away for the one Saturday when we didn't have a wedding. We needed some family time. What family fun activity involves hay (or is it straw?), honey, apples, and donuts? Did you say apple picking? How did you guess?!




Well all that gumming of apples must have frustrated Thérèse because the next week she popped out her first tooth! We didn't even realize she was teething until the tooth was through.

After all this moving and growing Thérèse can't get enough of her naptime. Neither can daddy.

And she's off!

Becoming mobile has been quite a fun experience at the Bursa household. For the past two months Thérèse has been a roller. Although not always the most effective means of travel, she has always gotten where she wanted. There had been debate as to whether or not this was in fact her form of crawling.







Yesterday Thérèse ended that debate forever!



This was actually her second official time of crawling. The first was thirty seconds previously and mom and dad were soaking up the joy too much to grab the camera. Did I mention the entire family was on the ground crawling at this point?

Firsts

Well this being the First Bursa Family Summer we are having a lot of firsts.

This past weekend we took our first road long road trip. We made the 7 hour drive to South Carolina to visit some of Katie's family. Thérèse was such a trooper. It is honestly harder on us worrying how she will react to the new experiences than it is on her. She was great in the car, did awesome with meeting family and just went with the flow all weekend.





It was the first time Thérèse met her Great-Grandma and Grandpa de St. Aubin. As you can tell the excitement was mutual!


First time using a spoon...to feed someone else!




It was the first time for Thérèse to be in a pool. She was kickin' up a storm.



It was the first time for the whole family to be in a pool together. As you can see this was because it was also the first time we had been in the sun all summer.



Present opening was another first. A new tea set is now a new favorite toy.



Thérèse also met a second cousin. This was the first time playing with a boy. They are almost exactly a month apart. The way the Everette was moving you would never know he was younger!



Sharing, another new development.


Still a work in progress...

Battle of the Balloon

So when Thérèse was a few months old we used to entertain her for hours with a balloon. Now she has learned usually when she pushes things away they go away. The balloon however always comes back. This sometimes upsets her. Watch the struggle in action...









And the balloon comes a little closer....






Let the battle begin!

Summer is flying!

Wow we can't believe how quickly summer is going. We thought that the summer would slow down. Let the lowering number of posts in the previous months be an indication of what really happened...

Check out these great summer moments!


Parish Festival...We were all working so hard at the ice cream booth for the youth group...oh wait that was just Brad and the rest of us were just hanging out BY the ice cream booth.

First Red's Game...Thérèse got a certificate and everything. No really, it is hanging on our fridge. Since Thérèse didn't have any Reds gear, Brad thought it would be a good idea to dress her in the Indian's onsie he bought her. As you can see Mom stepped in and saved the day.

All the excitement really wore her out.



A new trick has been to roll everywhere she wants...Hence this picture was difficult to get!

We had visitors for Father's Day.
Thérèse with two generations of fathers!



She had fun playing with her auntie Kristin.


In her free time Thérèse has taken up reading,


talking,



and eating...


Did we mention she is a quick learner?


We were in Tiffin for the weekend of the 4th and drove back to Cincy on the 4th.

Here is Thérèse with her Great-Grandma Kimmet. That was a fun day!

Matching Cousins...too cute.



Well we've got just a few more weeks to soak up those last summer days of

crusty smiles

stroller parades and of course

bucket swings.


Have a wonderful day!

We will leave you to ponder this latest sleeping pose of Thérèse. Yes, those legs are fully extended. Sleep on that.

Stay Cool

This message is for my Grandpa Bursa. It's a hot one out there Grandpa, so stay cool and have a Happy Birthday!




Can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

love,

Thérèse

1st Annual Bursa Family Vacation

So our first every family vacation was a huge success! We had a relaxing 4 days in Southern Indiana. What you may be asking is in Southern Indiana?


Adventure!

Day one: We arrived at St. Meinrads a beautiful Benedictine Archabbey and Seminary. The guest house where we stayed was very nice and the staff loved to see Thérèse. Check it out!

Saint Meinrad Archabbey


We enjoyed the beautiful grounds and scoped out the nearby town of Ferdinand. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at the guest house, took advantage of the chapel, and spent a quiet night drinking bad wine from a local vineyard and watching episodes of the office on our computer.

Day two: We spent the morning and early afternoon hiking at Hoosier National Forest. This is us before the hike. Thérèse enjoyed time in her Ergo Carrier and eventually just watched from mommy and Daddy's arms. It was so peaceful in the woods.



This is Thérèse being curious during the hike.



Here we are refreshed and ready to head back to St. Meinrad.


Day Three: (picture taken when we got back)
Thérèse turned 7 months today and in honor of the occasion we found adventure in the nearby towns. Here is what we saw...

Jasper, Indiana

We toured an old church called St. Joseph's. It was beautiful! They don't have a website and unfortunately we forgot our camera in our room that day, so just imagine...

Then we went to eat at an overpriced but delicious German Restaurant. Go to the website just to hear this great music which we heard our entire time there. Reminds us of the good ole days in Europe....Schnitzelbank

Huntingburg, Indiana

We did some great shopping here. Turns out if we ever want to be antique dealers we know where to come.

This is also the home of the baseball field that hosted the Rockford Peaches in the great 90s flick A League of Their Own. This was a sweet find!

Here you can see us right behind the dugout in this shot...League Stadium

Santa Clause, Indiana

We drove through the "town" twice just to be sure we didn't miss it. We didn't miss it we just happened to blink when we drove by. If you really want a good time though, check out Holiday World.

Lincoln City, Indiana

We went to Lincoln's Boyhood National Memorial. This was cool. They have a working farm where Lincoln's family lived.

After that long day we were exhausted.

Day 4: We enjoyed our last moments at St. Meinrad. We visited the grave of Brad's Great Uncle, Brother René Bouillon O.S.B., who is buried on the grounds.

Then we all said goodbye to a great family vacation.