Fun in the waves

A little piece of heaven...

Lovin' on Lucky

Monkey man

Ashlyn and Ry at Geenfield Village

The boys playing Sequence for kids

MI fun!

Rylan and I had a great week at my parents house in Allen Park. My mom and nephew Ben picked us up in Midland on Monday. We all went to Bronners Christmas store in Frankenmuth and then ate chicken dinner at the Bavarian Inn. We left with my childhood favorite frosted raisin bread, which I've been munching on all week :).

My best friend Katie, and her daughter Ashlyn, came to visit on Tuesday and stayed through Thursday. We, and the kids, had a great time visiting. Our time together included a trip to the park, lunch and ice cream in Wyandotte, visits with GG and Mr. Gump, and a fabulous trip to Greenfield Village. While at the Village, we rode on a train, Model T car, horse and carriage, and the carousel. Ry and Ashlyn really enjoyed each other and lots of hugs were exchanged.

Rylan also was reintroduced to some of my family that he has not seen since he was 3 months old. He adored GG and Mr. Gump! We were at their house or them at ours each and every day. He was really sweet with GG, giving hugs and kisses, kicking the ball with her in the yard, and thanking her "for this" (chocolate peanut butter fudge that she made for us). We also had a short visit with my Aunt Margaret and Katie. In addition, we were able to spend an evening with my Aunt Janet and Anna from Colorado, and Grandma Honey (my Grandma).

Today we all packed up and headed Up North to what I consider a little piece of heaven. Lucky and the boys have been playing since we arrived and I look forward to the next week and a half!

So far I have enjoyed many of my favorites: Frankenmuth buttered noodles, frosted raisin bread, the Gumps, GG's homemade peach pie (bless her heart), Olga's, my sweet Grandma, and now the best part...Up North! (I love how most of my favs are food ;) )!

~sarah~

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A Busy Week!

Today we concluded our Sunny Days Camp and swimming lessons.  Rylan attended Sunny Days at our church this week.  It lasted from 9-1 each day.  He continued his second week of swimming lessons so we went right from camp over to swimming.  It was a busy week and he has been exhausted, but he has done great! 

Rylan and I leave up north on Monday for about 2.5 weeks.  Unfortunately, J won't be able to join us because he starts his MBA program, but we do have a babysitter for Saturday night so we can celebrate our 7 years together before heading to MI. 

There will be some more swimming videos posted so you can see the progress Ry made in just two weeks!  We plan on continuing with maintenance lessons once a week until next summer so that these new skills stay fresh in his mind!  He should be a pro in no time ;)!

Swim lessons...

Well we just finished our first full week of swim lessons.  It has been really cool to see the progression of the daily lessons.  I just posted a couple of new videos of Rylan going under the water to grab dive sticks with Jason in our pool.  Big progression since a week ago he was not even of fan of really holding onto us in the water because he did not want us to push him under :).

Summer Fun!

Summer is going by decently quick, although there have been some long, hot, smothering days here in Katy.  Thank God that we are fortunate enough to have a pool.  That is the one thing that can get us outdoors during this heat.  We having been swimming LOTS lately.  Rylan will begin his first formal swimming lessons in two weeks.  He is going to be in a class that will meet for thirty minutes every day for two weeks.  After those two weeks, I think we will enroll in weekly maintenance lessons so that we can keep him going.  He does really well in our pool, but we want him to be a little more comfortable if for some reason he finds himself under the water unexpectedly.  So the goal in two weeks is for him to be able to make it to the side of a pool...keeping our fingers crossed.

Tomorrow we attend our third of five Kindermusic classes called the Zoo Train.  He really seems to enjoy it, but what 2.5 year old little boy doesn't enjoy animals and trains?  Each week, the class gets on a train to meet different animals.  We dance around the room visiting the corners where new animals are discovered.  The kiddos have time to play with different instruments and hula hoops, along with making a craft each week. 

On Tuesdays you can find us at Fulshear Library, which is a TINY town west of here.  They have an amazing toddler time hour that includes reading books, singing, dancing, themes, and a craft.  The best part is that it is free and continues throughout the year.  We will continue to go there as well during the school year.

The Thursday and Friday of Father's Day weekend, the three of us took a trip to Sea World San Antonio.  It was an absolute blast!!!!  Rylan had so much fun!  We arrived around 4 p.m. on Thursday and attended three different shows.  The look on Rylan's face when he first saw Shamu was absolutely priceless!  I have never seen so much amazement in his eyes before!  It was really touching.  Friday found us at a couple of different shows, the waterpark, and the log ride.  The log ride was hilarious as Rylan screamed happily going down the hills and getting wet!  We exited Sea World to have a late lunch at the famous Rudy's BBQ and then headed back to our hotel and took a river cruise around the River Walk that evening.  We returned home on Saturday and went to our favorite restaurant for Jason's birthday and then had a nice relaxing Sunday/Father's Day/birthday.

So long from Texas...keep smiling! 

Check out the new pics and videos!

A Milestone Week!

I am knocking on wood right now, but I think that I am totally out of baby mode parenting and beginning to raise a little boy.  Many changes have taken place in the month of May, the newest which is a successful potty training week!  We have officially been in big boy underpants since last Saturday, wearing only a pull up at night time.  Last Friday we were at a birthday party and another mom told me that when she did potty training with her little boy, they stayed home for three days and let him run around naked.  I at first laughed, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense that it actually might work for Rylan.  For the past month or so, every time that we are in the pool, he will get out and tell me that he has to go potty.  He was told that he wasn't allowed to pee in the pool or in his bathing suit, so he didn't.  So I figured that he knows he is not allowed to pee on the floor, or on his toys, or in his bed, and I gave it a try.  It worked!  I swear, it was like magic.  We even ventured out to a birthday party on Saturday with no diaper, went to church on Sunday with no diaper, and there were not accidents!  We stayed at home for a few days, but then ran errands all morning on Wednesday and Thursday and he did excellent, even telling me when he had to go.  He is doing an amazing job and I hope it continues.  Here's to luck, good timing, and a smart little boy!

We have also already switched to a big boy bed.  He took to his bed almost immediately and we have had no problems.  The two goals I had for the summer are already checked off of my list and June hasn't even begun!  Guess I need to find some other things to do!

Today was also a good moment for me because it was Rylan's 6 month review with the Katy ECI program.  One goal that we had 6 months ago was for Rylan to be using words in phrases and talking more than gesturing...check!  The other goal involved large motor skills and walking upright up the stairs instead of crawling...check!  I decided to do what is called case management status, which will still keep us in the program just in case there are setbacks, but they will just meet with us once a month for 30 minutes until he is 3.  His articulation is getting better each week and he is definitely comfortable talking now! 

So things are going really well for our little boy.  We have a 5 week music class planned for the summer and I am going to be looking into swimming lessons soon.  Rylan and I will be heading to Michigan the end of July for a couple of weeks as Jason stays here to begin his MBA program.  Besides that, we have a pretty low key summer.  I guess a couple of months to relax before the chaos begins all over again is a good thing :).

Enjoying a lazy Saturday!

It has been raining here nonstop since yesterday afternoon...and I LOVE it!  Rain is great every once in a while.  The sound of it against the rooftop can be so soothing.  I think we are finally getting healthy around here.  Jason and I both had nasty stomach bugs and Ry had a fever for a few days.  I am so glad that Ry seemed to deal with the virus only through fever.  We just laid low for a few days and he seems to be back to normal.  Since J was sick on Mother's Day I have gotten my make up Mother's Day today.  I met Jason and Rylan at McDonald's (Rylan's choice :)) after a friend's baby shower.  Then I came home to be surprised by the cutest little computer ever that I am typing on right now.  I mentioned to J last week that I needed a new battery for my laptop cause it always has to be plugged in, and instead I got this little 10" little thing that weighs like 2 pounds and has a 9 hour battery life.  So excited!  J made a joke that he was lucky he was only a week late cause what would he of had to buy if it was even later.  Ha ha!  He and Ry found a great little deal today at Best Buy so I got lucky!  Tonight we are going to head to our favorite restaurant Karl's for some yummy German food that we miss so dearly :).  Happy Saturday!

Trucks and cars and trains oh my!

We had a very exciting day today.  My MOPS group was able to meet up at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Sugarland to check out the Memorial Hermann Life Flight helicopter.  The kids got to look around and even get inside of it.  It was of course a huge hit for Rylan.  He is still big into any type of vehicle.  Almost every time we get into the car he asks, "Mom, me see a dump dump truck, school bus, po po, fire truck, ambulance?"  I keep telling him I wish I could do magic and make them appear out of nowhere!

Afterward, we picked up some lunch and headed over to a Parkway UMC park.  It is very pretty with a great pond, beautiful flowers, Jesus' tomb... :).  I was cracking up cause some of the boys were saying it was a bear cave.  Well, you know, little boys are little boys!

We had neighbors over on Saturday for crawfish and pool fun.  Around all of that, J and I had a nasty stomach bug yesterday and Thursday respectively.  I am praying and keeping my fingers crossed that Rylan will stay clear of it.  Happy Mother's Day Moms!

Sooooooooooo good to be home!

We have made it home, I think we are caught up on sleep, daily routines are back in action, and pictures and lots of new videos are updated.  Enjoy!

News from Frankfurt...

Our couple of days in Fussen were fabulous.  The castle was very neat, but the scenic backdrop was absolutely amazing.  I could not have asked for a more beautiful and relaxing last couple of days to our vacation.  We left Fussen late morning on Friday and started making our way to Frankfurt.  We ended up getting off the main drag and taking the "Romantic Road" for part of the journey north.  The "Romantic Road" is a 320 km journey that leads you north through small German towns.  We probably were only on it for about 75 km or so, but it was absolutely beautiful.  The German countryside and small roads winding throughout it were very quaint and peaceful.  It was a lot of fun to just take our time.  We stopped in a couple of small towns along the way.

Upon arriving in Franfurt we checked into our hotel, returned our rental car, and went to eat at one of the hotel restaurants.  They had a German buffet that was SENSATIONAL!  I don't think I have ever eaten so much at one sitting in my entire life...salad, weiner schnitzel, pork, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, spetzel, some root vegetable I have grown to love here that I can't think of the name, an second plate of all of that, dessert, dessert, and more dessert.  It was SOOOOOOO good, as was all of the other German food we consumed this past week.  Jason and I definitely have some working out and dieting to do when we return home :).

So here we are on Saturday at noon in the Frankfurt airport.  Our flight was scheduled to leave around 1:50 and has been delayed to at least 8:00.  I have already expressed my annoyance and discouragement but what can you do?  We are scheduled to land now around midnight which will make our awake time near 23 hours or so.  It is going to be a LONG day.  Can't wait to peek in on my little angel tonight as he sleeps peacefully.  I keep thinking about that moment...that will help me through!

Love from the European travelers.
~s

News from Fussen...

What a week it has been!  It is hard to believe that I updated the blog an entire week ago!  I guess I will pick up where I left off...

On Friday, J and I visited the Army Museum and Napoleon's tomb.  I can say that the Army Museum's WWII exhibit was one of the highlights of our Paris trip.  It was a great exhibit, very thorough, and interesting.  J and I both really enjoyed it.  After that, we headed over to Rodin museum to see "The Thinker." Can't wait to show you all some of these pictures.  I have a great one of J posing just like him...very funny.  We then headed over to the Conciergerie Prison and Sainte Chapelle.  That evening we went up to Montmarte and saw the Sacre-Coeur, the square, and had dinner at Moulinde de la Galette, which is one of two windmills left (used to be 30) in this particular area.  After a fabulous dinner, we walked down a few very steep streets to attend a show at Moulin Rouge.  It was very entertaining and I am glad we went, but it was humorous and not Broadway by any means :).

Saturday was a pretty low key day.  We slept in late and then headed out to the Versailles Palace.  It was absolutely huge and the gardens were beautiful.  It was funny though, now thinking back, because J was not all that excited about it.  He kept telling me that he liked some of the German palaces better because they were actually furnished with original pieces instead of Versailles, where you walked through several rooms with "simply" art on the walls.  We stayed a few hours and found an adorable little sweater and shirt for Rylan in one of the kids stores on a quaint little avenue before leaving.  That evening we headed over to Ile St. Louis for dinner at Auberge de la Reine Blance and Berthillon ice cream.  Both were fabulous on this classy street with little boutiques and apartments everywhere.  It was one of my most memorable evenings because it was very romantic in the evening with all of the lights.  We walked over a great little bridge to Notre Dame, which was also illuminated beautifully at night.

Sunday we did the Marais neighborhood, which winds you through the Jewish area of Paris.  It is dotted with lots of high end boutiques and restaurants as well, but is very charming and hopping on Sunday, when most of the rest of Paris is quiet.  (BTW, I used Rick Steves' Paris book to kind of plan the areas where we headed).  This walk took us through Hotel Sully, which had two beautiful courtyards.  The one courtyard was so peaceful and quiet that you would have never thought that you were in the middle of Paris.  After that, we took the Metro back up to Montemarte and walked around some more.  It was a little too crowded and touristy though, so we did not stay extremely long.

Monday brought an interesting day.  We really did not have much left to do, but we were also a little anxious about finding out whether we would be able to go home.  We did walk down to the Seine and took a river cruise.  It was a perfect day for doing so.  The weather was perfect and the cruise not too crowded, so it was very peaceful.  Things got a little hairy though soon after because we found out we weren't going to be coming home, which we figured.  We kind of put our heads together and decided that neither of us could possibly stay in Paris any longer.  Not only had we run out of things to do, but we were tired of the food and how expensive everything was and were just tired of the city life.  We decided we were getting out, since our new travel plans had been extended until the following Monday.  With that being said, we realized that we needed to do laundry because we had pretty much run out of clothes.  So I was able to have the Parisian laundry experience at a laundromat right up the street from our hotel.  Not many people can say that they have done laundry in Paris :).

On Tuesday we got a cab and went to Charles de Gaulle Airport to rent a car.  We had a reservation, but were extremely nervous about actually obtaining an automatic since so many flights had been canceled.  We got lucky though and were able to get one.  It felt awesome to get on the road and just drive in a car like normal. We stopped at a gas station and got some snacks and it was just so normal...so nice.  We drove from Paris to Heidelberg, about five ours and walked through the old town.  Jason was in heaven because he was able to eat "real" weiner schnitzel.  I have some great pictures of that as well...him savoring every last bite!

Wednesday we woke up and went back into the old town of Heidelberg and toured the castle and ruins.  That as well was very peaceful.  We then got in the car and headed over to Ludwisburg to tour their palace which was a furnished version of Versailles (that J had said he loved).  It was very cool, even though we were on a German tour :), and the gardens there were beautiful as well.  From there we headed to Fussen.   I drove this lag of the trip and had a blast on the autoban.  I got us there in no time.  We had another great German meal, weiner schnitzel, and had decided that we would stay here a few days.  THEN, we made the call to Continental that told us we could fly out Saturday from Frankfurt!  So we decided we would stay here two days and then head to the airport Friday.

Today we toured Neuschwanstein castle.  All I can say is breathtaking.  A castle next to the Swiss Alps...we will definitely be back to Fussen someday.  No doubt about it!  We can check Paris off of our list, but this place is worth a revisit!

We'll be home soon...

News from Paris...

It is Thursday evening and we are resting our tired feet at our hotel.  I have never done so much walking, nor walked up so many tiny winding staircases in my entire life!  My feet hurt even after religiously using the public transportation system!  The Paris Metro and Bus system are awesome and easy to use once you figure it out.  Our week long passes allow us to be able to just wave them in front of a little scanner for unlimited use.  We are having a blast and reports from home concerning Rylan are all good, so that makes us even more able to enjoy ourselves.

We flew out on Sunday at 3:30 pm Houston time and arrived in Paris at 8:30 am on Monday.  By the time we got off the plane, bought our six day museum passes, got small pictures taken for our week long Metro and bus passes, and figured out how to take the Metro, I think we arrived at our hotel at 11.  We walked around a bit before checking in and found a bite to eat.  After checking in, J would not let me sleep, so we headed down the Champs Elysees and over to Notre Dame cathedral...spectacular.  We walked up the 400 steps in the small, winding, staircase to view the city of Paris.  I am in awe at the scale of all of these famous museums, monuments, and historical places.  They are unbelievable!  After being awake for more than 30 hours straight, we finally crashed about 8:00 that night.

Tuesday morning we headed over to a little area called Rue Cler, a typical Parisian neighborhood.  It was so fun to see what life would be like living here.  The fresh meat markets and fruit stands were really neat.  We then sauntered over to the Eiffel Tower where we dined for lunch on the second level restaurant called Jules Verne...fancy and fabulous.  Neither of us has ever eaten in such a classy restaurant.  It was awesome and even better, we got to skip the lines!  After our 2.5 hour lunch, we headed back to the hotel and took a nap!  Vacations without itineraries rock!  Tuesday evening brought a full walk up the Champs Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe.  We ate at a little cafe and then trekked up the 284 winding steps to take in the beautiful nighttime views of Paris...one of my favorite things so far.  We ended up back at our hotel just in time to see the Eiffel Tower twinkling during its' nighttime hourly display.

Wednesday we toured the Louvre.  Once again, the size and scale of that place is absolutely amazing!  We spent a couple of hours there really looking at the things that most people weren't looking at.  So it was fun to kind of be in a different area than all the tourists.  We also went up to the the huge department store near the Opera, Galleries Lafayette.  If you shop by designer, it is the place to go!  I don't, but it was fun to see.  We walked around some more, and took a bus back to our hotel where we took little naps before taking the train out to Disneyland Paris for J's business meeting.

J had more meetings today back at Disney, so I took on the Left Bank of Paris by myself and had a blast!  I shopped around at Bon Marche (another department store) and all of the boutiques around it.  I visited St. Sulpice, Luxembourg Garden, saw Montparnasse, St. Germain-des-pres, Cluny Museum, and then met J at Orsay. 

So now we are up to date...  Where are we having dinner J?

Paris

Off to Paris tomorrow with my very best friend!  J and I are so excited to be able to spend some time together.  I promise that when I get back there will be more pictures than you will know what to do with to sort through :)...two months worth, including a holiday!  Whew!

Happy Easter!!!!!!!!

What a great day we all had today!  We started the day by going to church where the boys were able to participate in yet another Easter Egg Hunt.  That puts Rylan's count up to THREE!  We have so much candy around here my teeth hurt just looking at it.   We then came home to find that the Easter bunny had arrived and brought all kinds of goodies for the boys.  It was very much like Christmas around here as I am sure you can imagine.  The day continued on with lots of playing, delicious appetizers, drinks, dinner, dessert, playing, baths, naked cousins giving hugs 8}, and a 2 1/2 year old that has learned how to delay his bed time as much as he can (the last two nights the stall tactic has been to call me in after being put down to tell me he needs his diaper changed because he peed in it...and he is not lying!).  Tomorrow is Ben's fifth birthday.  We are headed to the zoo in the morning and will celebrate birthday in the evening.

...

Life feels like a whirlwind right now so I apologize for no recent updates.   Honestly, I don't think it will be until the end of April before I can sit down to write a thorough one.

Between our 10 day stay in Cinci, preparing for Easter and my family to arrive, and Paris a week from Sunday, I am literally running around like a chicken with my head cut off!  It is times like these, at 11:25 at night, that I sit back, make a list of everything going on in my head, and then realize that life is good, God is always with me, and I need to enjoy it all and breathe....

Our lives are filled with excitement, anticipation, family, and laughter.  What more could we want?

Go Green, Go White, Go State...as Rylan would say!

P.S.  Butterflies are all around!  This background could not have been more perfect.  Rylan had his Easter party at school today and they released butterflies that they had been observing in their room.  He was ALL ABOUT listening to Mrs. Georgia talk about them.  Then I looked up the Kids Craft at Home Depot for this Saturday to see if they were still having it because of Easter, and it is a butterfly house!  Rylan is going to be sooooooooo excited!  There is something about new life this time of year with all of the blooming flowers, butterflies, friends having babies, that makes your heart just...SMILE!  God is awesome!