A Special Package

A few weeks back, Elle received a package in the mail. We opened it up to find this:

Inside was a letter from the best swimmer in the world, Michael Phelps:

Along with a lot of cool stuff from the Beijing Olympics:

There's some neat stuff there, including a swim cap that Michael got from a Hong Kong swimmer (they exchange caps the way soccer players exchange jerseys), some Olympics pins and a lanyard that Michael used for his credentials.

Elle loved all of it...heck, we all did. Beth and I stayed up all hours of the night watching Michael win his medals. And to have something like this come in the mail was just amazing. Suffice it to say, Elle has a new favorite athlete (sorry, David Ortiz). And she wears the baseball cap all over the house yelling "I'm an Olympian!!"

This was made possible by Marissa Gagnon, a Saco resident who works for the Michael Phelps Foundation. So thank you to Marissa for doing this. And thank you to Michael Phelps as well for taking the time out of his busy, busy schedule to do this for Elle. It was incredibly kind of both of you to put this together.

We Got Hats!

Today's hat photos are courtesy of the wonderful people at the Surgery Center Of Fairfield County in Connecticut. We received from them a box full of hats for Elle. All of which she tried on and modeled for us. If I had taken a photo of all of them, this page would run on for five minutes straight. So thank you very much to our Facebook friends, and here are a couple of photos for your enjoyment.

This is for the beach. She wears the sunglasses everywhere, inside or out, rain or shine.

Every girl loves Hannah Montana...

This is more for those times in the garden. Elle is already planning the many flowers she will plant (and pick) as planting season approaches.

Pictures!

First, Elle doing the Sprinkler...

And now...hats!

Finally...Elle making sure we all know who is the best mom in the Universe.