Birthday

From Memorial Day Weekend

So far this weekend has been a lot of fun. We cut out of work early yesterday and headed up to the lake to do a little fishing for Jasen's birthday. Blake fell asleep almost right after we got there (which makes boating/fishing a little easier). He is mobile enough that with the life jacket on he kind of falls all over the place on the boat and gets pretty upset about it, so it can be a little challenging...but still a good time. The fishing experience worked out good for my birthday...caught a whopper...check this out...5 lb walleye. Nice! I hadn't caught a walleye before so i wasn't really sure about what it was, but it was big...that's all the really matters. Actually it was pretty huge...good thing we had a net with us. It was a little tough to manage, the way it had been hooked, and it had teeth which makes the whole process a little tricky...i don't want to get bit by a fish :-) It worked out though...got some pictures, weighed in at 5 lbs and put up a good fight.

From 2009-05-29

When talking to the neighbors about it we found out we should have brought it home so they could have eaten it. They were pretty dissapointed that we turned it loose. We don't really like fish, so we didn't want it...but they did. Next time we know.

From 2009-05-29

We got to go to dinner for my birthday while some friends watched Blake for us. It was fun and nice to have some time just the two of us.

From 2009-05-29

Blake is doing really well...getting bigger fast. He is about to start walking...i give him two weeks. He took a step forward yesterday morning and Abby and I were so excited that we didn't catch him when he fell. Pretty crazy how fast they learn that stuff. Otherwise he is saying dada and mama although we don't think he has really made the connections as to what he is saying just yet. We think he might be understanding some sign language that we are doing with him for food stuff, but he doesn't do any of them to us right now. We're really enjoying him a lot. He keeps us on our toes...he's a fast crawler and there is something about the dog bowls that he just can't resist.

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day was nice this last week although a little rainy. We had a few storms roll through that kind of put a damper on the late afternoon BBQ'ing plans (literally). But, it was still a nice relaxing weekend. We spent a little time on the lake early in the weekend before the storm rolled in...Blake likes to drive the boat.

From Memorial Day Weekend

We did a little yardwork on Saturday and fixed up some trees that badly needed trimming. Between trimming trees and putting in a new brick ring around the front tree it turned into a pretty full day experience. We had a fun time doing it. It has been a while since we spent a lot of time working in the yard on projects around the house. Blake seems to really like the dirt. Guess that makes sense since he is a boy :-) He got good and dirty.

From Memorial Day Weekend

We spent Memorial Day taking a bike ride and stopping at a local Memorial that was recently built by the city...actually really nice and a good tribute to those who serve and have served. Then we went up to some friends house up near Loveland, did some fishing...and caught a nice 3 lb bass and then did some BBQ'ing (in the rain) and relaxed. It was a really fun time. Overall...successful holiday weekend. Got some relaxing in, got some boating in, got some BBQ'ing in and had a good time doing it all. Can't complain about that :-)

From Memorial Day Weekend

Cancun 2009 - Swine Flu Survivors

Wow, i've been slacking on blog posts...i just looked as i was getting ready to post and saw i haven't posted since last month...oh well...things get busy i suppose.

From Cancun

We just got back from a much needed trip to Cancun. We almost didn't go with the swine flu scare, but the closer we got to leaving the more we felt that the whole thing was WAY over hyped by the media and we decided to go anyway. We talked to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) twice the week prior as well as our pediatrician and did our homework and kept an eye on the facts of the whole thing and after all was said and done we went anyway.

From Cancun

We stayed at the GR Solaris on the Hotel strip and it was pretty sweet. The hotel had really good reviews online and our experience there was great. With the swine flu scare a lot of people canceled their trips, so some of the resorts closed and combined to keep the ones that were open busy. Fortunately it worked out well for us. The resort was probably at about half capacity and it made it easy for us to get chairs at the pool :-) The food was good, the beach was warm, the pool was nice and the drunk people hilarious. We'll just say some people have no gauge on their drinking nor do they care and they sure are funny to watch try to compete in pool games when they can't hardly stand up. It's kind of sad i suppose, that some people go on vacation just to see how sloshed they can get and stay for an entire week.

From Cancun

We enjoyed the sun and the entertainment. Blake loved the pool and the ocean and we think he is going to be a water kid. He had one day where he was teething and it was a bit of a difficult day that day, but he woke up the next day feeling fine and the rest of the week was great. We had a REALLY fun time with him and it was good to get out and travel and see how he would do in a different environment and he did great. He made lots of friends at the resort (including a lot of the great entertainment staff) and many of the other vacationers. They deemed him the cutest baby to visit the resort that they could remember :-) What could we do, but agree?

From Cancun

Check out some more pictures from the trip here...

Easter Surprise!

From 2009-04-16

So last Friday night we were going for a family walk after work and were talking about what our plans were for Easter weekend and concluded that we really had no plans for the weekend at all. We were kind of bummed since it is nice to do 'something' on a weekend that everyone else has plans with family. We thought about how it would be fun if we were able to spend it with family, but given that we were thinking about this on Friday night of Easter weekend this probably wasn't really a possibility. We had prayed about it and if God wanted it to work out then we would go, if not, then we'd stay home. Well, we decided to check and just 'see' what the plane tickets would cost to do it just out of curiosity. They were pretty expensive (~$450/each), so disappointed we thought we would start figuring out other plans. As we gave up we thought we would check and see if there might be any tickets available using our miles (usually booking these require months of advance planning to actually get them to work). There were TONS of flights available on miles. Crazy! So, we called up Grammy and Grampy and asked what they were up to for Easter and if they had any extra room for a few more at the Easter table. We'll just say they were excited :-) So, booked the flight, booked the rental car and went to bed to leave in 6 hours. Kind of a spontaneous trip, but worked out well. Blake was a great traveler on the the plane and aside from the airline busting a wheel off one of our bags it was a pretty smooth trip.

From 2009-04-16

It was great to see family and enjoy a few days with them. Definitely worth doing even though it was a bit last minute planning packing and going, but was really fun to make plans that quickly and just do it. Blake was excited to see everyone and he got a cool new hat from Auntie M. Thanks Auntie M!

From 2009-04-16

And we got to make a trip to an important place while we visited as well...see if you can tell where from the picture :-)

From 2009-04-16

AND did I mention Blake has two teeth now? He does, on the bottom. We'll let you see if you can find a picture that shows them (clue: swing pictures)

Concert with Small Group

A couple weeks ago we got to go check out the Rock and Worship road show tour (http://www.therockandworshiproadshow.com/) It was a lot of fun and a great show. If you have the chance to check it out when it comes through your area you should.

From 2009-04-09

Blake didn't get to go to the show. Too loud for him :-) Maybe next time...

We did however make a trip out for lunch to the Spicy Pickle and Blake got to eat his own version of eating out food....sweet potatoes :-) He like them...can you tell?

From 2009-04-09

He likes those potatoes and doesn't care what anyone else thinks. We also discovered that he has learned that whenever he sees the red light from the camera that is his cue to smile. Pretty funny. Doesn't work everytime, but if he's in a good mood he seems to do it every time.

Nana and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Visit

From 2009-03-29

This last week we had the first visitors we have had in a while and Blake was excited! Since he is able to crawl around pretty well now and likes to do a lot of smiling and laughing he can be quite the center of attention. Blake hadn't seen Nana or Great G & G since Thanksgiving so he had quite a few new things he had learned since then to show them.

From 2009-03-29

From 2009-03-29

The girls, and Blake, spent a good part of the days hanging out, shopping and enjoying time together. Then Thursday (when great grandpa was supposed to arrive) we got the biggest snow storm (blizzard) of the season. check out some of these pictures. It was fun! We got to shovel a little snow together, enjoy the 2 feet of snow and then watch it melt...it's almost completely gone now (about 5 days later). It was nice to have a good snow storm since we haven't had any this year.

From 2009-03-29

Great Grandpa arrived Saturday morning and then we all met up at Keystone and did a little skiing/snowboarding. Blake was jealous, but had a good time hanging out with everybody at the lodge.

From 2009-03-29

Blake also got his first experience in a pool. We went over to the hotel one evening and did a little swimming. He really seemed to like it a lot. Makes us excited that he will hopefully really like the water as he gets a little older.

Getting Around