Ryan and his Uncle David

I assumed when my brother David left for Chicago that Ryan would forget who he was by the time he saw him again. I mean Ryan is only one and still figuring things out. However, when Ryan saw David for the first time in Chicago he got the biggest smile on his face and was super excited, he completely remembered him! Apparently they really are two peas in a pod and that is hard to forget even for a baby!

Trip to Chicago

Ryan and I went to Chicago over the weekend (Saturday to Tuesday). It was the first time that we had traveled without Don. I wasn't alone because my mom and grandmother were there and my brother is currently living in Chicago, but it is a lot more work being the only parent around. We had a great time and Ryan was super excited to see his Uncle David and Great Grandma Gr.

The first night we were in Chicago Ryan and I stayed with Rachel. She has come to visit Ryan in NC 2x (one was for the birth) so it was great that we got to go to her this time. She had a BBQ Saturday night so we were also able to see Jess, Nicole and Courtney. It was a lot of fun to hang out at her amazing new condo and see old friends. Let me tell you, when you have a 1 year old and someone offers to pick you up from the airport, have whole milk and fish sticks ready when you get back to their place and they offer to host you for the night, you should accept and be their friend forever.

(Below: Rachel and Nicole)

After our time with Rachel was up, we went to stay at the hotel with my mom and grandma, the sleeping situation worked out perfectly and it was nice to have family so close. Our first order of business was meeting up with my brother and cousin Erin and going to the Museum of Science and Industry for the Harry Potter exhibit. The museum was a lot of fun and it was great to see Erin.

(Below: David, Erin and I)

(Below: The Weasley's Car!)

The rest of the trip was spent walking, checking out David's office, ordering in food and relaxing.

Though the trip was a lot of fun, it was great to get back to Don last night, Ryan and I both missed him a lot.

Rochester Children's Museum

Every year we try to get together with a few of our college friends, this years trip was to Rochester to see our friends get married. It is always a good time seeing them and I always wish we had a little bit more time.
Rochester has been hit hard by the bad economy but they still have an amazing children's museum, besides the wedding it was the highlight of the trip. I didn't take any pictures at the wedding because I was too entertained with Ryan dancing but if anyone else took some of him that I get any I will post them later. I did however take a lot of pictures at the children's museum, here are a few.

Ryan loved the fish (and he was fittingly wearing his Finding Nemo shirt)

Car Racing, there was a big ramp and the cars would fly into a bin at the bottom, Ryan was entertained by this for like 15 minutes.

This was like the game operation, except Ryan liked when the buzzer went off so I'm not sure he got the concept :)

Giant Legos

Sesame Street Stoop.

Wall Of Mirrors

Ryan loved the "grocery store" he put things into the cart and then went to check out and scanned the food, he even got a receipt.

His favorite thing at the grocery store was the cheese, he cleaned them out. This big one took him a long time to get to the cart but the kid was determined.

Pictures of Rochester to come

We just got back from a trip to Rochester New York where our friends Beth and Brett got married. There are a lot of pictures, but I have to go through them, so before our trip to Chicago I will have them up! This picture is cute so I thought it could tide you over until then.

Berry Picking

We are trying to go out and do things we haven't done before so on Friday we went blueberry/ blackberry picking. It was so much fun! On top of that we have our freezer stocked with yummy goodness.

Weekend Birthday Parties

Ryan had two birthday parties to attend yesterday, luckily they were not scheduled at the same time so we could go to both! It was a very long day that wore us all out but my lovely husband was there to help out. The first was an at home party the second at gymboree, both were a lot of fun. I didn't take any pictures at the first party... too many people to talk to and things to do (and eat). But I caught a few cute moments at the second one.

Summertime

It seems like when the weather warms up, people come out of hiding. All winter it felt like nothing was going on, we didn’t do a lot of traveling and there were more then a few weekends where we had nothing planned. Summer starts in NC probably the first week in May, it gets warm and everything starts blooming. We now seem to have so many things packed into every weekend. I love it, but man we are busy (thus the blog going from 3 posts a week to 1).

We have been traveling, we have had guests, and there are outdoor concerts, weddings, swimming, playgrounds, parades, road races, yard work, beach and so many other things. According to the calendar we are calming down in August, but of course by the time we get there we will probably have planned more.
With a small child it seems like everything we do is a first and he loves the adventure, it makes summer that much more fun. I will try my best to keep up with the blog, but life is for living and that is what we are doing!

Out of Towners

We have been very busy with guests the last two weekends. The first weekend our friend Jay was here (we went to college together). We explored the area with him and had some yummy NC BBQ. Last weekend our friend Jess came to visit (I went to law school with her). We went to an outdoor symphony concert and explored more of the area :)

We are pretty sure both of them are coming to live here, we are SUPER excited! It's wonderful to be surrounded by great friends.

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to Don the BEST dad ever. Ryan is a lucky guy.

How We Beat the Heat

We decided to fill up the sandbox with water, way easier to keep cool that way. Ryan was a huge fan, I gave him sippy cups and it provided a solid hour of fun. Goofball

We had fun with Kleenex :) Such a good time!

Eating Healthy

I have some new pictures, I will post them Tomorrow :) We have been creative in trying to beat the heat and have pictures to prove it.

Until then, here is a little update on what Ryan is up to. He has gotten pretty picky with food, this is what he is willing to eat now:
Whole Wheat Crackers, Peas, Spicy black bean burgers, cottage cheese, fish, eggs, carrots and apple sauce.... Apparently if it doesn't taste healthy he won't eat it. Sometimes I wonder here he came from :)

A Week in the Life

We have been a little crazy lately so there hasn't been a lot of time to blog. Let's see what have I missed in the last week.....

Well Monday was Don's birthday, we had a quiet night in (his choosing) We rented a movie and got sushi from one of his favorite places.
Tuesday through Thursday Ryan didn't sleep... usually he is a 12 hours at night then 2.5 hour nap sort of kid. But he got on a schedule where he didn't nap at all and was sleeping 9 hours a night. I was losing my mind, I fell behind in everything and on top of simply having no time where he wasn't right there with me, he was so cranky that he would just walk around the living room crying. Finally on Friday he fell asleep in the car at around noon. I didn't want to wake him up by taking him out (this is where it had fallen apart the last few days) so I unhooked the car seat and he napped sitting in his car seat for an hour and a half in the living room. I have learned since being a mom: flexibility is important, what you are doing might not always be the prettiest way to do something but if it works go with it.
Saturday we did the Race for the Cure in Raleigh. We had to get up at like 5:15am but it was worth it. They said about 22,000 people were there. Ryan was so worn out after the race (and after that we went house hunting with a friend of ours) that he took a super long nap and we hope that this is him getting back on schedule.
We also had a little get together last night for Don's birthday. It involved Steak/ Mashed Potatoes, Beer and Guitar Hero.... it was a guys birthday if ever there was one.

This is the life of my crazy family at the moment. Just wanted to give a quick update, now off to enjoy the rest of my weekend!

Trip to DC

We just got back from a wonderful trip to DC. The trip itself was super short (shorter then I would have liked). We went to visit my friend Tara and her boyfriend, Tara was my roommate when I studied in Costa Rica.
We tried to pack as much as we could into a 24 hour period. I swear Ryan didn’t sleep the entire time we were there… he didn’t take nap on Saturday, then he only slept 9 hours that night (usually he sleeps 12), then the next day he only napped for like 45 minutes and then got about 10 hours of sleep last night. Poor kid didn’t want to miss anything.
The highlights of our trip were going to the Air and Space Museum, the Natural History Museum, WWII memorial and BBQing at Tara’s house.
The car ride itself was only about 4 hours so I can see us making similar trips in the future. Tara and David were great hosts and we had so much fun. Here are a few pictures of the highlights.

Air and Space Museum- Ryan flying the plane

Ryan checking out the little skeleton (Natural History)

Ryan decided he was done with the stroller and would walk

M om and Ryan (Natural History Museum) World War II Memorial- Ryan really wanted to go swimming Ryan "helping" to cook, notice the dog is hiding from him "Tough Guy" On the car ride home

What Can You Find Under The Couch?

Ryan has a new game he likes to play. He likes to hide everything under furniture. Sounds innocent enough right? Well it’s all well and good until he gets a hold of my keys or cell phone. I find them under the couch, crib, fridge etc. Today I found the Netflix movie we needed to send out under the TV stand. I advise you leave nothing around in my house, it is possible you will never find it again!