Gifts Galore

This week has been concentrated on shopping and opening toys. Ryan has opened over half of the new toys he received for his birthday. He is having a blast. By far, his favorite inside toy is the tool box that he received from Aunt Amy and Uncle Kevin. Outside, he loves his lawn mower. Today we put his easel together but have yet to use it.

Besides the toys, we have been doing a great deal of shopping. Thursday we actually returned more than we bought! But we were in need of new sheets and mattress pads (for our new bed), sheets for Ryan's new big boy bed (no, he's not sleeping in it yet), a lamp for Ryan's room, etc. I am glad we are at the end of this shopping week. We did get Ryan's pictures taken for his 2nd birthday this week, unfortunately they will not be ready for pick up until the 8th.

Today we went to the park and now Ryan is outside with Daddy. He's going back and forth between helping pull weeds and using the lawn mower. Now its onto house work.

Happy Birthday Ryan!!

Ryan celebrated his second birthday on Saturday, even though his birthday is today. We had a great day for the celebration which was held at a park near our house. We had a lot of family come out - Nana, Buppa, Aunt Robin, Grammie, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Amy, cousin Katelyn and Doug. It was so nice for them to travel all the way here! We also had several friends join us - Max, Mason, Julia, Elly and Shelby - who made things a lot of fun.

Everyone played well on the playground and with the cornhole games that Daddy made sure to get. We had a wonderful barbeque and a Sesame Street cake. Ryan got so many wonderful gifts and was very thankful for all the help opening them :-)

For his birthday, today we relaxed at home after sending all our family off this morning. We opened a few new toys and will continue this forever it seems! Kris and I sang to him again today and let him have more cake - he was confused by the candle though!

Overall, it was a great weekend. We are so thankful for everyone that helped make it that. Here are a few highlight pictures from it.

Coney Island

We had our first visit to Coney Island this past Friday. No, not the resturant that Robin works at! Or the place in New York. Cincinnati has its own Coney Island park which we took our family to. We visited the water park in the morning and rode the rides in the afternoon. Even Katelyn went in the water (just her toes!) Ryan napped just long enough for us to go on some of the adult rides without his being upset about not being able to ride. Then he got to go on all the little kiddie rides. So here are some pictures from that day!

Some Days Just Suck.......Or Maybe Not

And today is one of those. First, I'm having trouble getting Ryan to do anything I want or need to do without a struggle. Talk about the terrible twos. Now, the mattress company just called to tell me my new mattress that we ordered is delayed from Wednesday till Saturday. We ordered this because we have family coming in for Ryan's birthday and we wanted to move beds around our house. We wanted a new bed anyway. So I called to cancel the order.

Oh my - Update!! the mattress company just called back to say I will have my mattress after all. Thank goodness. I was about in tears. Now if I could just get Ryan down the stairs so we can go grocery shopping.

Zoo Days

Julia and Ryan ----------Mason, Elly, Julia, Shelby, Ryan and Shawn Kayley



Ryan and Max petting the goat.------------------ Ryan on the train.

Ryan climbing the web.

This week, Ryan and I have been trying to get back into our groove. Kris has helped out by working late which makes it even more normal!!! We had a playgroup on Tuesday that wore Ryan out so much that he actually slept for almost 3 hours at naptime. Wednesday, we met friends at the mall to play and go out to lunch. Yesterday, we got in the car to go to the park and post office and my car wouldn't start. So we didn't end up going anywhere. But at least I got to go out to dinner for a Mom's Night Out - which I went to the wrong mall. Instead of the correct one that was only 10 minutes away, I drove 25 minutes and then figured out I was wrong. I was embarrased, but big deal! Today, we went to the zoo. We had a big group today, so it was hard to keep everyone together, especially with a bunch of 2 year olds that want to walk or push their own stroller - it is sloo moving then. So I'm posting a bunch of pictures from the zoo since I finally remembered to take my camera. We got to pet the goats and ride the train and merry go round and had a great time.

In other news, Kris's cousin Matt and his wife Tammy had their baby on July 3rd. She is a beautiful little girl named Clara Grace. She was 7lbs, 9oz . We are very happy for them.

Week of Vacation

Over the week of the Fourth, Kris and I took a wonderful vacation to Traverse City and Mackinaw Island. My parents agreed to watch Ryan, so we took off. Every day in Traverse City said it was supposed to rain, but it never really did. We went on a winery tour on Tuesday where we came home with 8 bottles of wine. Wednesday it was cold in the morning so we did a little shopping and when the sun finally came out we ran to the beach. Thursday they called for thunderstorms, but the sky was clear so off to the beach we went again. Friday, we drove to Mackinaw and after checking into our hotel, we took the ferry to the island. We rode a tandem bike all the way around the island (its only 8 miles) and visited the fort. By the end, we were so tired of reading, so we were glad they were closing. We had dinner there and bought some fudge then took the ferry back. Saturday we did a little shopping in Mackinaw City, then Kris wanted to drive over the bridge so we went to the UP got lunch and sat by the water with a fantastic view of the bridge to eat. I didn't get the camera out until then, so that's the only pictures I have! Then we went back to my parents and came home on Sunday.

My parents had an eventful week with Ryan. The first day he managed to get his shorts and diaper off during his nap and pee all over the crib. Robin was sick for a day or so and I think Ryan caught a little of it before he came home. He's finally getting over it.

I'll post again with this weeks agenda later!

Kristin