photo: Bella Visits Lola and Granddad

We had the most wonderful three + weeks with our beautiful granddaughter, Bella and wanted to capture the memories for us and for her.

Bella seemed to enjoy everything we did together and thanked us all the time . She said she knew we were spoiling her and was lucky we were rich.

We explained we were far from rich but she then said "But you are over-comfortable, right ?"

A new financial term : "over-comfortable"

On her first Saturday with us, Bella got to sit on the stage and watch Peter and the Dream Catcher at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton VA. She stared down the evil pirate who menacingly told her kids would be needed for his boat. She did not like the fact he took a swig from her soda and did not drink it after that , perhaps fearing pirate germs.

The very next day, Neil and his daughter Sophie came to visit. It was so nice of Neal to take the two hour drive down to C'Ville , especially since it was Father 's Day. We had lunch, followed by Sweet Frog and then went peach picking at Carter's Mountain.

We made quite a few trips to Sweet Frog. Bella made the most colorful combinations of frozen yogurt.

The following weekend we drove to Busch Gardens and visited both the Waterpark and the Amusement Park.Nicest of all, Bella got to see her best friend Sienna.

The week before, Bella attended a camp at ACAC and got to go swimming for at least two hours a day . Somehow, I neglected to take photos at the camp which she enjoyed tremendously. She made a good friend, Julia and that led to three play dates.

What could be better than one best friend than two great friends! It just so happened that Rosie, her friend on our block, was going to the Amusement Park the next day and she joined Bella and Sienna. They had a ball.

Here they are again deciding what to do next : really scary roller coaster or not.

Bella's friend Lucy went with us everywhere . Here she is resting after a day long outing at the park. She actually had much more energy left than did Lola and Granddad.

Bella and Sienna discovered Bubba's General Store and Ice Cream Parlor on Saturday night.

Bella got to visit Lindenhurst the next weekend. It is our ancestral home on the Island of Long. She enjoyed playing with Theo who sought out her attention .

He had tough competition next to this little cutie, Annabella. So adorable.

The best part , of course, was meeting all her cousins. For some reason, she referred to cousins Kevin Kyle as Billie & Bob . Not quite sure why but she always laughed when she did. Here we are at Ihop's on Saturday morning.

On a Sunday afternoon, we visited with Marty & Maureen , Uncle Eddie and Megan. Bella got to swim to her heart's content. We stayed util 5 pm and then left to attend the twin's birthday party which was just starting.

She loved seeing cousins Alex, Ben and Brandon. It was the twins birthday. She had presents for all her family members who in turn could not get over how thoughtful they were. For example, Brandon told he just started playing chess and she gave a chess set as his present.

I am not sure Bella played with Brian's Great Dane . It was the size of a small horse and still growing. But I know she was thrilled to see it.

Cousin Marie and Aunt Helen, who Bella calls Grams, were particularly delighted to see Bella

Bella also got to see Emma Kate with her parents Kaitlin and Mike. We attended Rocco's christening Saturday afternoon.

In between an Ihop breakfast and the christening, we went to see Despicable Me 3

My favorite picture. How can you not be crazy about this beautiful girl.

Bella and Lola in front of the lovely flowers.

One of the fun rides at Hersey Park

One of the most fun things Bella did was to see the seals perform at the Hershey Aquarium.

One of the four performers . MC said if you clapped harder they would perform better as they loved applause. (oh, please) Everyone clapped and cheered enthusiastically (oh please)

I almost wrote that the seals were the best thing about the visit when I remembered Chocolate World where we saw how candy was made and even made our own candy bar.