We should have named her Katie

If you've seen "Horton Hears a Who", you'll understand. Katie is this funny-looking, random little creature who does silly things for no reason. So far, that's Megan!

Before Megan was born, Ryan and I were seriously considering naming her Katie. Now that we've gotten to know her, Katie might have been the right choice.

Very often, Megan makes these open-mouthed squeals for no reason. It's a lot funnier when you picture that the teeth she has grown in so far are only on the right side of her face.

And here (pictured above) is what Megan was doing at the indoor park on Saturday. This was not a fluke picture. She was standing like this for a LONG time. What a wierd-o!

Daddy's New Office

Daddy's hit the big time! ...for a few months, at least. Bank of America is renovating Ryan's office space with more environmentally friendly cubicals and lighting, etc. In the meantime, Ryan's got an office with floor to ceiling windows of the city.

Megan likes the view!

Helpful Big Brother

Have you ever pushed an umbrella stroller? For an adult, they are just 2-3 inches too short. A perfect height for William!

Avenue Q

For the past few years, our birthday tradition has included getting a babysitter and going into the city to see a show. Ryan and I both enjoy theater, and birthdays give us an excuse to go twice a year.

This weekend, we saw Avenue Q! It was very funny. Kind of a twisted adult version of Sesame Street, complete with puppets!

Although we did enjoy the show very much, we happened to be sitting in front of two girls who had obviously seen it many times. During the first half, they said all the lines a split second before the actors did. When they weren't doing that, they were prefacing scenes with comments like "oh - this part is hilarious" or "this is funny as [bleep]". Why do Ryan and I always get seated next to these people??

Anyway, aside from the annoying peanut gallery, we did have a good time.

Happy 30th!!

Ryan may have turned 30 today, but our Wii Fit says he's got the strength of a 25 year old. Go Ryan!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RYAN!

Need I say more?

Click for more: Pictures of Cute Shoes

Shhh... Quiet Time

Quiet time is a special moment.. maybe twenty minutes, maybe only three, but it is a mother’s dream while it lasts.

This most recent moment was a weeknight after bath time. For the first time in a long time, we opened the toy cabinet under the television. Hair still wet and smelling of lavender, both kids played quietly for nearly half an hour.

Megan Likes Mashed Potatoes!

Megan is a stubborn little girl. She likes what she likes and she doesn't like change. Remind you of somebody?

Megan is almost 1 year old, and with that birthday comes a transition into the Twoddler room at daycare. Before she can move up, she needs to walk (check), drink from a sippy cup (check), and eat solid foods (not checked).

Ryan and I have been doing our best to ease her into new foods at home, but so far very few things end up in Megan's tummy. The short list includes: Graham Crackers, Bananas, Baked Beans, and Mashed Potatoes.

Tonight is sloppy joes! How much do you want to bet that Ryan and I will be cleaning sloppy joe off the floor?

Megan... well you'll see

I think that about says it all.

The Best $15 We’ve Spent in a Long Time

Kids have a lot of energy. When it’s hot out, like it was this weekend, usually the energy gets pent up in our air conditioned house until all of us are frustrated and miserable.

Last week, I got an email from the Gymboree advertising 90 minutes of “Beach Party” play for $15 bucks. This is where William had his 3rd birthday party, and he had a blast then, so we signed him up. The best part? Both kids had so much fun, they fell asleep on the way home and slept for two hours after that! Never has $15 given us so much value.

Click here: For more pictures of the beach party.

Playing Together

William and Megan are siblings (duh, right?). But so far, they really don’t act like it. Most of the time, they’re on separate paths. William wrestles with Daddy on the floor, while Megan goes to the store with Mommy. William plays with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while Megan sucks on the remote control.

Lots of time, they’re together in the same room, but they don’t even seem to notice each other. Until now.

Now that Megan’s starting to walk, she’s starting to try to keep up with William more. And William’s noticed that Megan makes a great audience for his silliness. Let’s face it… even Ryan and I get tired of William pretending to fall down. Megan can’t get enough!

Click here: For more pictures of William and Megan playing together.

A Surprise Visit!

Good friends are hard to find. When you move around, they’re even harder to keep. During the course of our lives, Ryan and I have found a handful of really good friends that we’ve been able to keep in touch with over the moves. One of them is Teddy.

Teddy lives in California. (VERY far away!) So when he called us up and said a business trip had brought him to our town, we were super excited. It was a short trip, but we all met at a local restaurant where Teddy met Megan for the first time.

I know this picture isn’t great, but it was the one split second Megan reached out for Teddy before she wanted to come back to us.

Thanks for the visit!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Kelly!!!

Trying to get this picture was a riot. To see the other (failed) shots, click here.

Happy Birthday, Kelly!

Sprayground

Maybe we never noticed parks before, because this is the first place we’ve had children, but some of the parks in our area are really nice. One of our favorites is the sprayground!

The sprayground is a massive sprinkler system for children to run through and play in when it’s 90 degrees (which is pretty much from Memorial Day to Labor Day around here). We’ve gone a few times before and we always get really good pictures.

Click here: To see pictures of the most recent visit to the sprayground.

Barenaked Ladies for Kids

Ryan and I have been a BNL fan for years, so maybe this post is a little bias, but hear me out.

Anyone who has children knows how difficult it is to listen to the radio with kids in the car. Now-a-days, you never know what inappropriate lyrics your child is going to pick up from a seemingly harmless pop hit.

Anyone who has children also knows how horribly annoying children’s music is. Most songs have simple tunes and are dangerously repetitive. These are the songs your child can sing (over and over and over and over again) after hearing it just once. These are also the songs you can’t get out of your head at 3AM when you can’t get back to sleep. When we hear “children’s music CD”, normally we run… and run fast.

A Barenaked Ladies children’s CD, however, intrigued us. On an impulse, we downloaded the album. Turns out, while there are a few campy tunes, most of it sounds like normal music! If you weren’t listening to the lyrics, you might not know you were listening to a kid’s album. And, of course, the kids love it!

Download the song 7-8-9 here for free: http://www.bnlmusic.com/snacktime/

Bonus Trip!

As if a trip to ADK wasn’t enough, we took a bonus trip up to New York City to visit Aunt Tarra, Ryan’s sister. We were only there for one evening, but Tarra met us at our hotel and was prepared with an agenda of kid-friendly activities for us to enjoy.

We started off at the coolest playground ever in Central Park. Tunnels and stone pyramids with a mini river on top?? There’s no topping that.

William got his first NY subway ride as we went one stop from the playground to M&M World on Time Square. M&M World was three stories high and you could fill bags of M&Ms in any color you wanted. Can you guess what color William got?



After that, we walked around Time Square and looked at all the billboards. Megan was on my backpack waving to every person that walked by.



As I said, we were only there for one evening, but we were so glad to have had the opportunity to catch up with Aunt Tarra. :)

To see more pictures: Click here for a full gallery of Aunt Tarra and NYC

Caving, Take 2

The second cave tour happened as a result of being frustrated on the way home. The 10 hour drive from NYC was making the children edgy, so we stopped at the Natural Bridge Caverns in VA.

Known as the deepest caves in the east, we were able to take a guided tour through the cavern. It was really neat! Although in one of Megan’s many attempts to ditch her strawberry sandals, Megan threw her shoe into a cave pool. Luckily Ryan was able to fish it out.

The coolest part, was at the deepest point, the tour guide turned the lights off. We couldn’t see our hands in front of our face! He then proceeded to tell us that some people thought the cave was haunted. Those who know me well, know that I did NOT appreciate that juicy little tid-bit of information. We did make it back to the surface alive and with no supernatural sightings. Thank goodness!

To see more pictures: Click here for a full gallery of the Natural Bridge Caverns

Spelunking Cunningham’s

What is it about caves? They’re scary, they’re dark, and they’re home to creatures I wouldn’t want to come into contact with, but for some reason Ryan and I can’t get enough.

To us, caves are neat. So when we go on road trips or plan vacations, the first thing we do is look up what caving opportunities are available.

This past Adirondack trip we were able to take two caving tours! These were the kid’s first exposure to caves. So, of course, when we told William he was going to see bats and he’d be able to crawl on rocks, he was totally in.

The first cave was in Pottersville, NY. The Stone Bridge and Caves in the Adirondacks was a self-guided tour, mostly around the cave. It was beautiful scenery. We didn’t actually get to enter too many caves here, but the walk around the river was a lot of fun.

They also had a gem mining station set up for the kids. William got a bag full of gems, or “crumbs” as William would say. All of which he threw in Fourth Lake.

To see more pictures: Click here for a full gallery of the Pottersville Bridge and Caves

White Water Rafting

Who likes rapids more than Brian? Nobody. But because we go to ADK in the summer months, the rivers are usually too low.

This year Brian discovered that the Hudson River Gorge is controlled by a dam. They release water for several hours each day, and during that time rafting companies guide white water rafting tours.

Nine of our bravest family members signed up to tackle the Level III & IV rapids: Brian (of course), Ryan, George, Jenna, Dean, Margaret, Robert, Jack, and Mark. Take a look at some action shots! Looks like fun, doesn’t it?

To see more pictures: Click here for a full gallery of the Rafting Pictures

Enchanted Forest

Enchanted Forest Water Safari is an odd combination amusement park that blends story book statues and miniature houses with a petting zoo and a water park. Add a small section of kiddie rides and a few random circus performances thrown in for good measure, and there you have it. Dare I say a competitor for the Happiest Place on Earth?

For us, it is always the highlight of the week. This year was no different. Ask William, and he will tell you it’s “a biggest fun place”. Indeed.

To see more pictures: Click here for a full gallery of the Enchanted Forest experience

Megan’s First Cone

Rocky Point is located in the little town of Inlet, NY. Like any touristy little town, Inlet is filled with souvenir shops and parks and fun things for us tourists to do. The one-screen movie theater is quaint, and the playground area is clean and well maintained, but the biggest line in town forms outside the Soft Serve Ice Cream Shoppe.

Who can resist a twist cone with chocolate jimmies? Certainly not us. And now, definitely not Megan! She had her first ice cream cone ever this week. Can you tell by her face if she liked it?

To see more pictures: Click here for a full gallery of Inlet’s Ice Cream Shoppe and Playground

Mr. Guy Smiley

The ’08 reunion trip was especially fun because we got a chance to hang out with my brother’s family, including their new baby, Ethan. I know I’ve mentioned that this kid was a happy baby before, but after spending a week with him, I’m beginning to think he is THE happiest baby.

Look at this face! He is the most laid back child I have ever met. What a cutie!

To see more pictures: Click here for a full gallery of Brian, Crissy, and Ethan

Hiking Moss Lake

The first day there, Ryan, Brian, Crissy and I decided to take the kids on a hike around Moss Lake. It was a 2.6 mile walk on a well marked path in the middle of the woods. Though we walked around Moss Lake, we really didn’t see too much of the actual lake. But it was a fun hike anyway.

William stopped to pick up just about every rock he found, which slowed us down a little bit. But Ethan and Megan hung in their packs like troupers and seemed to enjoy the scenery.

To see more pictures: Click here for a full gallery of the hike around Moss Lake

Adirondacks – A Family Reunion

We’re back! And we’re covered with bug bites from this last vacation. I love the North East, but those pesky mosquitoes need to be dealt with.

Aside from the bugs, we had another wonderful family reunion. For anyone who doesn’t know, every year my Grandmother arranges for a family reunion in the Adirondack Mountains. We hike, bike, swim, and enjoy the company of our extended family. It’s great to catch up with my Aunts & Uncles and to see how my cousins are growing into their own.

Due to the enormous amount of pictures that were taken, I’m going to break this blog into several sections. Stay tuned for postings!

In the meantime, I’m going to leave you with a few images of Rocky Point (see below for links).

To see more pictures: Click here for a full gallery of Rocky Point

ALSO: Click here to see some pictures of the clan

William’s First 4th of July Celebration

North Carolinian’s are CRAZY!

It’s Independence Day and this year we thought we could wake William up around 9PM so he could see fireworks for the first time. Being the responsible father, Ryan purchased his “fireworks” from the local grocery store. I say “fireworks” because a few pop-snappers and a couple of sparkers might not actually qualify.

In the meantime, every neighbor on our street drove to South Carolina and purchased professional grade TNT that emits a spectacular fire show, illuminating the rooftops of every house in our development.

We heard no screams, so we assume that everyone made it through the evening with all their fingers still attached. With so many people setting off fireworks at the same time, the sounds and smells of the area is like the Battle of Saratoga. Pop! Pop! Squeeeeeel! BANG! And, of course, there’s smoke everywhere.

Ryan’s little sparklers barely made a dent in the noise, smoke, and light pollution that was already happening, but William enjoyed all the commotion.

Happy 4th of July!!