Heidi's visit

We had a wonderful weekend with Heidi. We're so glad that she was able to come out to meet Madeline and spend some quality time with us. I was especially glad to have her here so that I could have an excuse to try out some new local eateries and return to a few favorites...




Foster's Market - Simple, fresh food and plenty of outdoor seating for some highly entertaining people watching.
Bullock's Barbecue - Down home cookin' and Eastern NC BBQ
Fractured Prune - Create your own donut flavors!
Nosh - Inventive soups, salads, and sandwiches at a restaurant that provides water bowls for dogs, books for kids, and board games for all ages.
Alivia's - A new eaterie at our beloved Brightleaf that seems to be another great location for people watching (especially your fellow diners, right Heidi?)
Cookout - The only place we know of where your burger comes with a side of corn dog and a side of chicken nuggets, if you so desire. The milkshakes here are reason enough to give this fast food joint a try.

There is never a shortage of interesting, delicious and unique places to eat while here in Durham!

Two Months

Such a sweet smiling face....

Her two month checkup measured her at 12 lbs, 14 oz and 24 in long -- still in the 90th percentile on the growth chart.

Madeline also got her first round of immunizations during this visit. She definitely did not smile when that happened. I tried to explain to her that getting the shots would be better than getting polio, but she cried anyway. You just can't reason with babies.

Lingenfelser Family Gathering

This weekend marked the first time in a few years that all of Josh's siblings were able to get together in the same place. The reason for this momentous gathering? Cameron and Peyton (Josh's sister Natalie's two youngest children) were baptized on Saturday morning. The rest of the day was filled with swimming, swinging and playing games.

Upper Left (L to R): Rev. Mark, Sara (Jeremy's wife and Peyton's godmother) holding Peyton, Phillip (Natalie's husband), Jeremy (Josh's brother and Peyton's godfather), Natalie (Josh's sister), Cameron and Phillip's aunt (Cameron's godmother)

Upper Right: Cameron catching some air on his way into the water

Lower Left: Sara and Dan (Josh's dad) giving Will (Josh's brother Jason's son) a turn on the rope swing

Lower Right (L to R): Noah (family friend), Josh, Dawson (Natalie's son), and Gabe play Settlers of Catan

Jane, we missed you!

Madeline & Linus

Adrian & Abby welcomed Linus Elliott into the world last Friday. We're so glad that everyone made it through the experience without complications (we were a little worried about Adrian - ha). We welcome them with open arms to the world of no sleep.

Yesterday morning Adrian invited Madeline and me to lunch at Panera for some high quality cousin time. Bacon Turkey Bravo or Bust! Below on the right is the first Madeline & Linus picture. I'm sure there will be many many more in the months and years to come. For a blast from the past, the picture on the left is of Adrian and me the summer before we each turned two.

Happy 28th Birthday!

We celebrated Josh's 28th birthday today with dinner at Red Robin (bottomless fries) with Josh's parents, his sister Natalie, his brother Jason, and Jason's kids Dani and Will. We're looking forward to spending more time with the greater Lingenfelser clan this weekend when two of Natalie's kids are baptized. Hopefully we can get all of the grandkids (Madeline brought the count to 7) to sit still long enough for some photos!

We're grown-ups now

On our way to pick up Josh's new suit (buying yourself a suit is very grown-up), we had very grown-up conversations about who we thought would emerge from the Democratic and Republican parties as their presidential candidates, the status of our neighborhood elementary school, and what we should be doing to help Madeline reach her next set of developmental milestones. Then we reminisced about our trip to Spain last summer. Being chased by bulls is definitely not a grown-up thing to do. Amazing how much we can change in a year...

July 4th

We celebrated Independence Day at our place with Gabe, Curtis, Adrian & Abby. We grilled pork chops and marinated chicken skewers, and rounded out the meal with typical All-American summer fare: corn on the cob, Vern's baked beans, and chocolate chip cookies. Since the weather was so amazing we spent a good portion of the afternoon and evening playing Kubb in the backyard. Abby, Adrian & Josh will be the team to beat come the next Bartel gathering!

Abby & Josh vs Gabe & Curtis

Adrian & Curtis vs Josh & Gabe

Amy & Madeline watching from the sidelines

Grats to Neil & Tanya Riley!

The Lingenfelser girls held down the fort this past weekend while Josh flew back to KS to attend the wedding of his college roommate, Neil. Neil and Tanya started dating a few weeks before we did, so we are extremely happy that they have finally taken the plunge and joined the ranks of the married folk.

Josh also got to hang out with "The Boys" at the wedding. The last time they were together was at Jeff's wedding in Dec 2005 so they did their best to catch up for all that lost time.

The Boys at Jeff's reception in 2005 (L to R): Dan Gruman,
Trung Trieu, Jeff Gardner, Neil Riley, Mike Stewart, Josh

Even though it was a short weekend trip, Josh also got to spend time with our families back in KS and was especially glad to see both his Grandmas in Leavenworth.

Thankfully, due to plant shutdown for the July 4^th holiday, Josh will get to spend this next week at home. I’m looking forward to having him around (yay for adult conversations!) and hopefully I’ll get to catch up on all the sleep I missed while I was a single parent for the weekend.

One month and counting...

We’ve been negligent about posting in a timely fashion, so here are a few recent photos of Madeline as she passed some milestones…

One month birthday photo …

She’s been sporting the “George Costanza” look since she lost all the hair on the top of her head a couple of weeks ago. It’s growing back (very slowly) and looks to be just as dark as the hair that was there originally.

One month doctor’s appointment – 10 lbs, 11 oz and 22.5 in long (90^th percentile)