The BIG 3-0!!!

In September I celebrated my 30th birthday in Cali!  Such a fabulous vacation it was and I am so fortunate to have been able to celebrate this big milestone birthday in such a memorable and relaxing way!  I did miss the little guy, and was a bit sad not to have his sweet kisses on my birthday, but we were able to Skype and received several sweet recorded video messages from him, so it was alright!

On our vacation, we visited San Francisco, Monterey, and Carmel... the weather was perfect, the sites were beautiful, and we thoroughly enjoyed the time together!  Here are a few pictures summarizing the highlights of our trip :)

 Wine & Cheese HH at the hotel on our first day

 The Inn at the Presidio!  We only stayed here our first night but it was our trip favorite.  If we make it back to SF, we will definitely stay here again!

 Our first day in Monterey: Our hotel is in the background... right on the water!

Saw so many of these sweet little sea otters + babies while kayaking

 Kayaking in Monterey- so much FUN!!!

An enormous colony of sea lions! What a bunch of funny (& noisy) creatures :)

My BIRTHDAY picture!  On the beach in Carmel By The Sea

 Troy climbing the rocky coastline of 17-mile drive.  The views along this stretch of road were just absolutely stunning!

We got a sweet rental car upgrade for my birthday :)

Lunch with amazing views at Nepenthe along Big Sur

One of the stops along the Big Sur- Bixby Bridge

Cable Car ride in San Fran

A blog post wouldn't be complete without at least one picture of sweet Ethan, so here it is!  After we got back from our trip we had a little garage sale in Dallas.  Ethan had fun rummaging through stuff, got some "new" toys from the neighboring garage sale, and enjoyed walking his dog!

Later this week, I hope to tackle his birthday, birthday party, and pumpkin patch festivities!  October was SO BUSY!!!  XOXO

August...

Seems funny posting about August in November... I knew I hadn't posted anything in a while, but WOW, when I realized it had been since July... it hit me how busy we have been!  Things will be slowing down for me a bit at work and I hope to have time now (at least for the next few months) to catch up and stay current on what we are up to around here.

So, going all the way back to AUGUST:
Troy took a vacation day for his birthday and were planning to go to the zoo, but it turned out to be a really yucky day with lots of rain, so we ended up at the Austin Children's Museum.  Yes, this probably seems strange since it was Troy's birthday and not Ethan's, but Troy and I celebrated the weekend before at Top Golf which was a blast.  So, since his birthday was on a day I was home with Ethan anyways, we just made it a super fun family day :)

The Austin Children's Museum has since closed as they are building a new and improved facility which we definitely plan to check it.  You could tell this place was old, but it was absolutely enriching and educational, and provided hours of fun for all of us.  I have just a couple of pictures of a little ramp thing, where you build something with wheels out of tinker toy type things and then test on the ramp at different angles.  That was fun!  Then there was a little work shop with various nuts and bolts and a vacuum tube (like the bank) where you can send the bolts up to the "workers" and then they match the shapes/colors to the holes (like a shape sorter) and they fall down to the first floor!  Ethan's favorite thing there was sending lots and lots of nuts/bolts up the pipe!  A close second would be the ball room which I don't have any pictures of... but it was full of different ramps, roller coasters, buckets, etc for golf balls to roll on and bounce into.  A true way to test physics, and an easy way to get knocked in the head with a golf ball if you aren't paying attention (hence no pictures!)

 Tinker Toy Ramp

 Help from Dad!

 Busy "working"

 Playing in a honeycomb :)

Then, my step-sister, Amber was married at the end of August so we of course went to that.  Ethan was so good and almost made it through the entire ceremony.  He had fun at the reception playing with my Aunt Sherrie's phone, hanging out with Pop, climbing up and down the staircase, and trying to figure out how to get to the DJ's disco ball.  He was certainly a handsome little fellow in his new suit!!!

 Ethan & Pop

 This is the best pic we could get of our family... someone was very squirmy!  

Splash Pad

(Last one, I promise!  Trying to catch up from all the fun we've been having lately!!!)

Over the long weekend, we also packed a picnic and our swim gear and headed out to the Quarry Splash Pad in Leander.  This place is awesome and all three of us had a great time.  We got there pretty much when it opened so Ethan had almost the whole place to himself for a while until the kids started trickling in.  After lunch we headed out and by then it was pretty crowded, but this place is only $1 per person and it is fabulous... we will definitely be going back!  Here are a few pics and a couple videos from our fun day in water!

PS- He didn't fall down... just crashed into Daddy! :)

4th of JULY

We had a great time celebrating the 4th this year!!!  We saw part of the parade in downtown Round Rock and then Ethan played in the spraying fountains at the square while Dad held our place in line for airbrush tattoos... which we eventually abandoned, but I wanted to get Ethan a heart that says "MOM" since he was wearing a little muscle shirt.. haha!  Oh well, maybe next time :)

Then after nap time we went out to the celebration in Georgetown where they had a petting zoo, "train" ride and lots of food.  Ethan really enjoyed the petting zoo once he got comfortable.  He was definitely more found of the animals that were smaller than him (ie: piglets and bunnies!)  In fact, the piglets are what finally eased him out of Troy's arms.

 "Bunny!" :)

After the petting zoo little buddy rode the train and boy did he love that!  He was on the verge of a meltdown when he had to get out after our turn was over, so after we all got a bite to eat and a snow cone, he got to ride again with Daddy!  Then we headed home to get Ethan in bed and we watched the fireworks from our balcony.  An absolutely perfect day with our sweet family!

Little Fishie

Last Saturday, lil buddy had his first swimming lesson and seemed to really enjoy it!  Normally there will be 6 kids/parents in his class, but since it was a holiday weekend many of the other kiddos were gone.  At his age they mainly focus on safety and getting comfortable in the water.  Daddy went in the pool with him last week and I will go with him this week! They started out by gathering up a bunch of floating toys and putting them in a bucket.  Then they "swam" under a little waterfall to get used to getting their head wet, and swayed back and forth in the water to get their ears wet.  Then they laid back and looked up at themselves in a mirror, climbed up on the side of the pool and "jumped" off, and finally they climbed through a little jungle gym and practiced reaching for help.  So much fun!!!  I can not wait for tomorrow morning :)

Gathering toys

Reaching to put them in the bucket

We were supposed to be paddling in the water with our arms ;)

Jungle gym fun!

On the wall

Video: Alligator on the wall

Video: The Waterfall

One + 3/4

On July 3rd Ethan was 21 months old (or 1 3/4)!  I can't believe he is almost TWO... Crazy!  We are already getting things together for his second birthday party, a construction themed affair that will be on October 5th.

I don't have any growth stats to share for this post since he doesn't go back to the doctor until his 2-year visit, but I can tell from my biceps that he is getting big... and heavy!  And cuter by the day!  We just love this little guy so so much <3

What is he up to these days?  Well, he is fascinated with going up and down steps, stairs, curbs, etc.  He loves to climb on everything and throw everything.  He is a rock hoarder... uh, I mean a budding geologist ;)  But seriously, we have rocks stashed everywhere, in every room, and a whole slew of them outside.  He likes to watch tractors and big trucks.  He likes playing in the water, sliding on his slide, riding his tricycle (we push him!) and reading books.  He LOVES these Llama Llama books now!!! He still likes to push his ride-on toys (and stand on them) and of course, play with Molly!  In fact, he has his first "chore" already which is feeding Molly her dinner.  He really gets a kick out of that.  When we go jogging he loves watching the bunnies hop through the grass... he says "hop hop hop."  And... he gets very excited to sit on the potty!  Fingers crossed that will translate into an easy potty training experience a bit later.

His vocabulary is growing every day and he can repeat almost the entire alphabet.  He likes when we sing songs and can do the hand movements for Itsy Bitsy Spider, which is too stinkin cute (still need to get that on video)!  He is still a picky eater, and he mainly likes to smash, tear, dissect and throw his food.  He loves cold water with ice and even more so if it is in Mommy or Daddy's cup.  He makes a funny face anytime he eats/drinks something cold.  I guess since he is "big" now he needs less sleep too, because for the last couple of months he has been waking up at 6:30 almost every day...

 "Nevermind the bear... Look at me!"

 "I'm how OLD???"

"Cheeeese!"

"Isn't it hilarious when I act like I'm going to stand on here?!?"

"Am I a bird? A plane?"

"Look what I can do!"

Mom & Dad go to CABO!!!

At the end of April, Troy and I were able to go on vacation to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for FREE thanks to Troy's many years of hard work and success at NI!  It was definitely earned by him, but enjoyed by us both. 

Ethan stayed with my Mom & Cliff for the week and also had a great time!  This was the first time we have been away from him overnight... ever, so leaving him was difficult, but the time away was much enjoyed!

Many have asked us what we did on our vacation... to which our response is MOSTLY NOTHING!  We were lazy beach bums for a whole week and wouldn't have had it any other way :)

 Our view from the pool most days (and some evenings!)

When not at the pool, we were probably on the beach...

 

 One day we went snorkeling on Pirate Ship... Ahoy Mate :)

Troy fearlessly jumped in to the frigid sea... I timidly eased in about 30 minutes later.

 (An obligatory fish photo with our newly purchased Nikon underwater camera)

 And one night we took a Dinner Cruise to the Lands End rock formation

This Sea Lion colony is a perfect portrayal of the laziness of our vacation :)