Winter Wonderland

We're up in Milwaukee for Christmas. We decided to leave a day early so that we would improve our chances for not having to drive through a snow storm. I didn't realize all the snow that was already on the ground - we will definitely be having a white Christmas!

bye bye baby bed

This week, we had the chance to catch up with Maia & Patri via the webcam. Maia made us some coffee and eggs for an after dinner night cap. Owen could care less about the virtual meal but was much more into Maia's bed. After we said goodbye, we began the nighttime ritual. As he said night, night to us and every inanimate object, he insisted on sleeping on his big choo-choo bed. We've officially have moved on - now if potty training was just that simple...hmmm.

a little more asian

Last night, we were at our first Christmas White Elephant party of the season. It was with a group of Asian leaders (and spouses) within our company. Tom decided to give himself a temporary new last name for the evening so we were Tom & Wendy Gong for the night :)

The group still is learning what White Elephant gift really means...we walked away with a $25 gift certificate to Beluga, a trendy sushi restaurant in Hyde Park. It's definitely the nicest white elephant gift I've received. I would've like to have seen their first White Elephant party, someone was telling me that people were gifting VERY nice gifts like Mikasa crystals.

Thankful

Thanksgiving has quickly come and gone - As usual, I ate too much but couldn't help myself. We did enjoy the meal the day after as well...but how could you not when we made 4 pies, 20-lb turkey, and the usual fixing was the first to be completely consumed along with the chocolate cream pie.

Favorite Exhibit

We had spent the afternoon at the zoo. It was great to get some fresh air and sun after a week of cold, gray skies and flurries. There weren't many animals out since we were visiting towards the end of the day. Owen spent most the time running from one exhibit to another and took more pleasure in the travel than the exhibits themselves. Inside the Manatee house was a crank where you put a coin in and it will turn it to some picture. Of all that could be seen inside the zoo, this was his favorite. He didn't want to leave and got possessive of it when another kid came anywhere near it.

Jeckyl & Hyde

I had taken a half day off of work yesterday and today. Yesterday, Patri and I had just a girls' day - slowly meandering through the aisles of shoes and racks of clothes. We refueled at a little Thai restaurant in Hyde Park before heading to work. Today was spent with the kids. Owen had decided he was boycotting the car. This made for a very long 20 mile drive to the Children's Museum with crying, screaming, shouting, and fit throwing. Once we arrived, angelic Owen returned fully - holding hands, listening, playing, smiles, the works. This place is awesome and I can't believe I haven't been here before. We spend a short 1 hr 15 min in this place when we could spend 3 hrs. The museum is actual an old train terminal that was transformed to a museum so it is quite majestic as you enter the building. After closing down the museum and an ice cream treat later, it was back to the car and off to dinner. About 2 car lengths away from the car, there was another switch and we endured more screaming, crying, and shouts of 'let me out mommy' until he decided to take a nap. Dinner was a repeat of the same and after the ride home, we decided a nightcap was desperately needed. For those who might think I'm exaggerating, Patri did capture this on tape. We could do nothing but laugh at how ludicrous it was.

let the fun begin

This year it's going to be more like Thanksgiving month rather than Thanksgiving weekend and we have officially kicked if off with the arrival of Patri & Maia. They made it to the 'Nati with minimal trouble.

If last night is a foreshadow of the rest of this month - I know it'll be a good one. The kids had their fun playing together and wrestling toys away from each other. Few tears were shed but overall there was much more laughter, smiles, and chasing each other around the house. But it wasn't just the kids who had fun...Patri and I about peed our pants off last night as well.

We had put the kids in the tub together for bath time. Both are quite proficient of undressing and hopping into the tub. Since they were so proficient, neither one of us were paying too close attention to the process. But the next things we noticed made us both laugh so hard we about peed our pants...our sharp mom eyes caught sight of a floater in the tub along with a skid mark and one that never made it into the tub. And of all things, you might wonder why we are laughing so hard at something that seems so unfunny. I think it was because it was so unexpected (we both proclaimed this has NEVER happened to me before!) and when you become a parent you learn to laugh at these moments vs being horrified by them.

Today we've started the day with some pancakes and grocery shopping. The kids were wonderful and ate their way through the store. Tonight we will add Owen's girlfriend to the mix and have some more widget fun! But for now, it's time for Patri and I to hit the stores a bit :)

enforcing house rules

Yesterday, I had a late work thing so I didn't get home until close to 8pm. By then Owen and Tom already had dinner and Owen was in his PJ's releasing the last of his energy before bedtime. Owen was excited that I was home (as he always is) - hopping across the entire kitchen like a bunny and shouting "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!". That's his new thing - not ma or mom - it's mommy. He gets all the way over to me and I ask him if I can get a hug. His answer, "No - shoes off!" It was said with gusto and the index finger pointing at my new Nine West boots I was doning.

Monkey See Monkey Do

Halloween arrived too quickly this year. I didn't have the chance to decorate or carve the pumpkins we bought. Owen was a monkey again this year - figured why not re-use last year's costume since he still fit and I figured in the future, he might have more of a say of what he'd like to be for Halloween. Til then, I'd take full advantage of getting the most miles out of the costume he has.
We had our cualdron full of candy. Owen, to no surprise, didn't want to get into his costume but after seeing a couple kids come by for trick or treat decided to join in the festivities. After seeing how it's done, he decided to participate fully - dragging either Tom or I down the street to hit up more houses. We were out there for the entire 2 hours! I think by the end of the evening, we hit more than 2/3 of our street, both sides!

practice makes perfect

As of late, owen's new favorite activity - golfing in the back yard....enjoy.

bridal shower gifts

Last weekend we attend a couple's shower for my friends Jon & Joyce, whose wedding Owen will be standing up in as a minature groom/ring bearer. Joyce is still trying to decide if she wants a 2 year old running around with the precious wedding rings.

The set up with nice and not too many shower games. Owen had a blast even though the party didn't start til 8pm. I think he ate his way through the entire party. He got to meet the little girl who he will be walking down the aisle with - Audrey. First impression he left on her is reaching over to her plate and eating off of it - she kept giving him dirty looks for wanting to eat the M&M's off her plate.

Not attending a bridal shower in over 2 yrs, I forgot how everyone usually receives 'that special gift' amongst all the other gifts off the registry. Jon & Joyce were no different. It came from Jon's grandma - Jon's dad made sure they opened that last because at he put it - it would take a while. It was 2 big boxes that within it were an assortment of stuff - christmas ornaments, halloween napkins (paper), other seasonal decor, etc. - that were all individually wrapped in tissue paper.

really?

I'm off to Altanta for the week. I had a girl's trip planned for this weekend and coincidently work had scheduled something for Atlanta on Mon-Wed next week. I've looked forward to this weekend for a REALLY long time but of course the guilt kicked in super hard so I'm running around this morning trying to do some house errands and setting up Tom for dinner.

I made it to the airport about 30 minutes before my flight takes off which is normally fine for the Dayton airport. I check in without a problem but as I was pulling my ID out for the ticket lady, I realize it is Oct. 9 and my birthday is Oct. 1 and on my birthday this year, my license expired. Needless to say, I missed my flight since I didn't have my passport. The ticket lady points me in the direction of the nearest BMV...which was in absolutely wrong direction of where the BMV really was. With help from Tom, I find it and to my surprise NO LINE! I walked right up to the counter and the lady is even friendly. As she looks me up in the system, she tells me that her computer system just went down. After 5 min, it comes back up and I now have a valid license with an blurry, ugly pic. I am now back at the airport, had to get rebooked for another flight, and waiting here for the next 2 hrs.

I called Allison and told her I think we need to head from the airport to a bar.

lesson learned

I declare that I will NEVER forget to take out the trash EVER AGAIN! It is not like to me state such an extreme statement but the consequences of ignoring my declaration are far worse. On Thurs, Tom and I had some miscommunication and we both left the house for work with a garbage bag full of trash sitting next to the garbage can in our kitchen. Needless to say, we came home from work to find a remorseful dog and trash strewn around our kitchen. I can say that I am thankful to have people who pick up our trash week after week.

The clincher in this lesson actually came the next morning. I once again find a remorseful dog outside my shower door. Silly me thinks Rocky is still being sorry for yesterday's 'dumpster dive'; however, the truth smacked my senses as I came downstairs to the kitchen. Rocky had gotten sick during the night and left my kitchen smelling like a pile of dirty diapers. Had I been pregnant, I might've lost the breakfast I had not yet eaten.

We took Rocky to the vet to be sure nothing else was wrong and was diagnosed with Colitis. He needed to be on a strict diet of Rice and protein for 3 days. Rocky thoroughly enjoyed his strict diet and much prefer it to his normal diet. I, on the other hand, could not believe that he was getting 'rewarded' for his dumpster diving escapade!!

Yikes Ike

Last weekend Hurricane Ike decided to stop by, not that we needed to be graced by it. The house shook, shutters flapped, and we sat in the dark for a while. We were lucky in that we probably had the least damage compared to our neighbors who either were missing few dozens of shingles or lost the siding off their house. I still can't believe that our shutters folded in half!

But before the winds got out of control, we made our yearly visit to our amusement park, Kings Island. This year, we spent it in the kiddie land - getting run over by little feet and strollers. Cautious Owen loved the idea of the rides as long as he didn't have to get on them. Maybe next year, we'll warm up to actually riding them.

good bye stinky dogs

After our trip to sodus, I declared Owen needed some new shoes because I was ready to burn his current shoes which he loves. You'd agree if you had to sit in an 8 hr car ride with Owen. As his aunt Deetz can confirm, he had some stinky dogs. He quickly adjusted to his new shoes and I'm thankful for all the holes.

happy anniversary

Tom and I can not believe it's been 4 years! Our anniversay has snuck up on us and so we haven't yet figured out how we will celebrate. So our anniversary was celebrated by a game of soccer (we lost) and dinner at culvers - butterburgers and frozen custard...mmmm!

happy birthday Owen!

Yesterday, we celebrated Owen's birthday with a little grill out and Olympic TV watching. I know it sounds like we used his birthday as an excuse to have people over and that might very well be true; but, I figured he's been celebrating the Big 2 since the first of the month...

Aug 1-3: Lisa & Bob dropped by along with a gift for Owen
Aug 3: Julia had a gift for Owen since she wouldn't be able to celebrate his birthday with him
Aug 13: Owen gets a gift in the mail from Nana & Papa

Aug 14: Owen gets more mail - from Ryan & Dave Schnitter and from Gung Gung & Pau Pau. I think no more singing cards although it entertained him for a while.

...and of course yesterday there was singing of happy birthday (which he didn't appreciate) and cake eating! Then it took 3+ adults to get Owen's toy out of its box!!

riker-singerman drive by

The weekend passed too quickly! But in the short period of time, we did manage to create some driveway art...

...and enjoyed Dim Sum with a small group of 30 people! My initial thought was that Dim Sum (chinese version of tapas) was best enjoyed when there were a few more people, say 8-10. So I invited a few people to see if they'd be interested in joining us...I guess there was a Dim Sum craving amongst the group. On Thurs before Lisa and Bob arrived, I had 18 RSVPs and by Friday we were up to 30. I didn't know about a third of the people that attended.
We ended the weekend with more eating and invited our friends Kristi and Julia over for dinner. Julia and Owen are best buds, she can do anything to him and he'll let her get away with it that otherwise he normally wouldn't allow. Here they are hanging out in the tent together...

a taste of fame

A friend forwarded me an email where her group was looking for people with kids between 0-24 months to apply and have the opportunity for their child's picture to be used for something in the future (ads or package, etc). You had to submit a picture of yourself, your child, and the two of you together. If chosen, you compensation is a pack of diapers and a small gift card to Target. Of course, we know how cute Owen is so I submitted his pic (and mine too)...what I did forget to do is submit the application but nonetheless we were chosen to partake in a photoshoot.

The photoshoot was quite painful because Owen still becomes stoic in front of the camera as well as the last thing he wanted to do was sit still or listen to directions when we had this new place to explore. At the end of the hour (which felt like 8), I was ready to get out of there and I wondered how they did this all day long! I left there knowing, our pictures weren't going to used and knew when they said 'Owen did great today!' - it was probably something they said to all the parents that day. Last week, the photographer sent out a CD with some pics and they were actually kind of cute but I know we don't have a future in this industry!

dancing to your own beat

Owen's dance move resembles cow milking motion ... he balls his little fists together and pumps them vertically up and down to the music. He's trying to mimic us snapping our fingers to the beat.

Today we were filling up the big red beast at the gas station as part of our weekly shopping routine; Owen's dancing in his car seat and humming along to some techno music. Tom is standing outside Owen's window mimicking him and making silly faces. Well, the nice old grandma pumping gas behind our car is not aware that Tom is mimicking Owen and believes the guy has gone crazy making funny faces at his tinted window and dancing oddly (doing the Owen and transferring weight from side to side like he has to pee badly) to no music while pumping his gas. Eventually, she realizes that there is a child in the car and is relieved knowing she is not pumping gas next to some insane person...yes, kids have a way to make adults do silly things.

Rough Morning

Yesterday morning, I'm getting ready upstairs in our bedroom when over the noise of my hair dryer, I hear Rocky excitedly take off out our backdoor onto our deck and shortly after some more dog paw noises followed by lots of yelping...as if someone was trying to kill him. I quickly run over to the window to see what was the matter and all I see is Rocky's neck stuck between the spindles of the deck. He's freaking out (he literally pooped his pants, but luckily he wasn't wearing any) and Tom is trying to wrench his head back through the bars. I quickly run down there to help - eventually, we had to take a hammer to knock one of the spindles out of place to widen the space enough for him to dislodge his head from the deck. We have no clue what got into him, he's chased many animals in the past and each of those times, he had remembered to exit the deck via the stairs. Below are his battle wounds...

old friends

I can't believe that Tom has not seen one of his best friends ever in 10 years...especially since they only live about 90 minutes from us for the last few years. Yesterday, Wes Dubois and family made the big trek from Columbus, IN to visit us. The boys had a great time playing together. They have 2 boys - 4 yrs and 18 mo. Owen, normally a passive guy who willing always shares his toys, actually was possessive about them and actually got into a tug of war over the pooh car. As I thought about it, he usually plays with girls so i'm sure that's why he has no problem sharing, that's his lure tactic. But by the end of the night, they were very good buddies. Here they are watching their dads play Wii Sports.Hopefully, it will not be another 10 years before we see them again...

leave your message after the tone...

IT'S FINALLY HERE!!! Yesterday, I was greeted with a box from Amazon, containing the newest 2 Stephanie Plum novels. I'm going to have to rethink this pre-ordering thing next year. I'm sure some people have received their book and finished in the time it took Amazon to send it to me. Anyways, I like to think I've got self control since it's been 24 hours and I haven't yet teared into it...actually, I had a soccer game last night. I hope to get reading on this book sometime this weekend so if I don't answer the phone or your email...you'll know who's got my attention.

First Trip to the Zoo!

We bought a season pass this year since we figured it was a good way to tire Owen out and enjoy some fresh air. I have never visited the Cincinnati Zoo before and was excited. New this year is a giraffe exhibit - I guess they haven't had giraffes in a few years. The neat thing is that they had elevated the platform so you can almost see them eye to eye!

One of Owen's favorite exhibits yesterday was the polar bear. Since he could go right up to the plexiglass and the polar bear did walk right by him to the pool, he got see him up close!

traveling carnivore

Lately, Owen's been eliminating everything meat out of his diet. When we were in Sodus over Memorial weekend, I don't know what got into him but he ate meat like there was no tomorrow and ofcourse, made a liar out of me. Of course, I was quite happy we were able to round out his meals with some protein and had hoped that he would bring this back to Cincinnati but no go...since we've left Sodus, we also left behind eating meat...cherries are his new favorite thing and so he constantly has something dyed red.

Manners?

We went to our last Broadway show for the season - Jersey Boys. For the last 8 years, I've gotten season tickets to the Broadway shows that come to town. We have a good time - it's a good excuse for the girls to get together grab dinner, catch up on what's going on and then watch and critique the performance.

For this show, the audience did skew older which was expected given that this show is about the Four Seasons and how they came to fame & friendship. The ladies sitting next to us were really excited - oohing and aahing as they looked over the music that was in the show and commenting what song was a favorite of theirs. It was funny to see because it was like sitting next to Jennifer Garner in '13 going on 30' except it was more like going on 55. However, the fun ended as soon as the lights went down. I think they forgot where they were - they were singing along aloud to ALL THE SONGS!!!

**PEOPLE, we are at the theatre, not a concert!!**

I really wanted to lean over and tell them to leave singing for the professionals. I think at the beginning of the show, in addition to asking the audience to turn off the cell phones, they should ask people to be quiet like they do in the movie theater.

live and die by your work

I like what I do but I'm not sure if I ever will be this committed to my work - I guess it depends if my work would ever become famous...

CINCINNATI (AP) — The man who designed the Pringles potato crisp packaging system was so proud of his accomplishment that a portion of his ashes has been buried in one of the iconic cans.
Fredric J. Baur, of Cincinnati, died May 4 at Vitas Hospice in Cincinnati, his family said. He was 89.
Baur's children said they honored his request to bury him in one of the cans by placing part of his cremated remains in a Pringles container in his grave in suburban Springfield Township. The rest of his remains were placed in an urn buried along with the can, with some placed in another urn and given to a grandson, said Baur's daughter, Linda Baur of Diamondhead, Miss.
Baur requested the burial arrangement because he was proud of his design of the Pringles container, a son, Lawrence Baur of Stevensville, Mich., said Monday.
Baur was an organic chemist and food storage technician who specialized in research and development and quality control for Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co.
Baur filed for a patent for the tubular Pringles container and for the method of packaging the curved, stacked chips in the container in 1966, and it was granted in 1970, P&G archivist Ed Rider said.
Baur retired from P&G in the early 1980s.

copyright: The Associated Press

An Appetizing Review

For our asian community at work, I am the editor of a quarterly newsletter that is used to keep the community aware of items going on at work and in the city. One of the new things we are wanting to incorporate are asian restaurant reviews. Asians are tough critics of asian restaurants and word of mouth is the best source of PR. As I read responses to my request - it gave me a list of places I wanted to try. The following review gave me a chuckle...

Here is my review for Casual Wok & Grille.
-Good and authentic Szechuan food
- We loved the intestine in hot plate (it was a pot on fire with intestine and tofu in a yummy red sauce)
- We had to order something not spicy for our 2-year old son, we loved (and our son loved) the salt and pepper tenderloin they recommended
- Our visitor who is an Asian from Los Angeles told me the intestine in hot plate is comparable to the best asian food they have in LA
- Our visitor is quite intrigued with the spicy rabbit and said he will want to try it next time

...Some things are probably better not translated. Who wants to join me in checking out Casual Wok??

Spring is here!

We are excited that it is actually getting nice outside we are able to enjoy the weather and perhaps for the first time since we moved into the house, get our yard looking nice. Today, we went out to buy some Mulch, tree spikes, and topsoil to begin the process. Owen thought it would be fun to help and so we gave him his own shovel and let him have a go at aerating the flower bed...

Wii Play

I think Tom was having game console withdrawl (his 360 is getting fixed right now) after not playing anything for the last 3 weeks. We went to Target yesterday as part of our weekly shopping trip with the intention of buying new toothbrushes, diapers, and loofa spongy thingy and walked out with a new game console, extra controller, and a second game for the Wii. (Target is a dangerous place to shop!) To be fair, I wasn't against the purchase at all and we warmed up the console by creating our own characters (Mii) and testing out all the games.

My guess is that this will ride up to Sodus with us in May along with golf clubs and Owen toys so ... Everyone get warmed up because we'll probably be having a Riker Wii Game Night.

Little Taste of the Past

Our hiring process at work is a bit unique, in addition to applying (uploading resume, etc.) you also are requested to take an assessment in which determines if you are a fit with the company. This was created after I joined the company and so I have not taken it. When I joined, they gave us a reasoning test which reminded me a bit of a shortened HS standardized test. I guess they have decided to go back to this standarized reasoning test and away from the general assessment. They also needed guinea pigs to test drive it. I received this email stating how I've been among the selected few to help qualify the new test. (i think they were trying to make me feel special). The email also make a very clear note that stated the results of the testing would not be part of my personal record.

On Friday, I had taken the test...I had forgotten what it was like to take ACT/SAT or even college exams. They must've realized we would've all forgotten as well...When I walked into the auditorium, there were people seated 3 seats apart. Each place had 2 -#2 pencils, the booklet, scantron sheet, scrap calculation paper, and a basic calculator. We had 65 min. to answer 40 Q's. At the end of the time (which I did finish the entire test) - my brain hurt! It's been a while since I had to balance equations or solve logic puzzles. Luckily, I was able to convince Tom to join me for a quick Friday afternoon beer before picking up Owen - that made it all better.

I'm not sure if I want to know how well I did or not...

Traitor Dog

This weekend was the first nice day we had this year and like the rest of our neighbors, we spent the time outside soaking up the sun and warm air. We were looking over the lawn and garden and even began planting things. We can't quite keep up with our neighbor, 'The Jones' - Anna has mowed the grass twice this year already! But I digress...I'm painting our new mailbox, Tom's planting some flocks, Owen's digging dirt, and Where Is Rocky?!?? He is chilling on the lawn taking in the scenary, but not our lawn ....in Anna's!

we got graffitied

it was only a matter of time before we would be hit, but didn't think we'd be hit this hard! the suspect marked 4 walls and 3 doors. we believe he is no taller than 3 feet and very quick on his feet....
The Evidence

The Witness
Tom said that he was only left alone for 5 min max and when he came out to the foyer area, he noticed some black marks on the wall as he continued investigating and looking for the suspect he came upon a few additional findings, but not all. We were finding places through the evening and even the next morning!

All I can say is Thank You Mr. Clean Magic Eraser!

Good Friday - Not a good travel day

We just could not catch a break...

11am PST (1pm CST) - we check out and request the shuttle to the airport. bellman says, we can't use the shuttle without a car seat - but yet, we did it twice before without problems.
11:15am PST - Bellman Tony says he's got it all worked out and will call a taxi with a car seat to take us to the airport (which is a short ~3miles away) and hotel will pay.
11:30am PST - no taxi yet - carport people try to help and there is confusion on needing a car seat when using the shuttle.
11:45am PST - mom is getting worried that we'll miss our 1pm flight to Chicago. Very nice carport Kevin helps gets things cleared up. Bellman Tony gives him and us some 'tude.
12pm PST - taxi finally comes. we hope in (no car seat) get to the airport 5 min. later and WE end up paying for the taxi...Bellman Tony screwed us! If I could ring his neck, I would...better yet, I would like to write a review on his performance. (i've really gone corporate now!)
12:15pm PST - we check in only to find our flight is delayed and will not leave til 3:15pm due to the bad weather. Plus nothing really to eat. Great!?! We'll munch on snacks til Chicago where we can grab a quick bite.
3:15pm PST (5:15pm CST) - we get on the plane and sit there for a little while til 4pm before leaving. Flight time = 3hours and we land about 9pm CST. Owen falls asleep at 3PM and takes a 2 hour nap - YEA!
9pm CST - we land and then sit on the runway for another 45 min until our gate is available to us
10pm CST - we book across O'Hare to our connecting flight. All we want is to get home. Just imagine me running in flip flops with my computer bag and purse over my shoulder pushing Owen in the stroller...
10:30 pm CST - we have made our connection, gotten on the plane and then told we are currently without a pilot who should be here 'any minute'
11pm CST - 'Pilot should be here in the next 5-10 minutes'
11:30pm CST - 'This flight has been cancelled, the pilot is flying another plane to Columbus' If you could only hear all the words floating in my head - none are very nice. We get a room complementary of American Airlines. We think we have a better chance with driving home on Sat. so we didn't rebook. We were told to pick up our bags at baggage claim.
12:30 am CST - no bags, we found out their policy is that if the flight is cancelled, they do not unload the bags - this would've been helpful an hour ago! Instead the bags will take the first flight out to Cincy the next morning. We run around in the snow outside (in flip flops) trying to figure out where to catch the stupid shuttle
12:45 am CST - we catch another shuttle to the hotel. Owen has been awake since 7pm CST and looking like someone just stole his best friend.
1am CST - we are in our rooms with no clothes but the ones we have on - which is t-shirt, jeans, and flip flops - how fitting for 25F Chicago snowy weather. When we first get in the room, Owen is wide awake and eating everything in sight. Owen falls asleep shortly after filling his belly and we start doing a search for cars only to find pretty much everything is booked online. Owen's been up for close to 16hr with a 2 hr nap.
2:30am CST - we call it a night and decide to get up early to do some calling around. we've been up for way too long.
--------
6:45am CST - we can not find a car but American is able to get us on the 9am flight to Cincinnati. We quickly tare down and get ourselves back to the airport.
9:05am CST - we are on the plane - hungry and tired. Owen throws a tantrum. Tom is sitting in a separate row and Owen & I look like a piece of art with yogurt, granola, and chocolate all over us, including my hair!
Noon EST - we arrive in Cincinnati, only to find that our bags didn't...argh! but we do have car keys and a home to go to!!

Home Sweet Home - I have never been so happy to be back in Cincinnati!

Vacation coming to an end

Today's our last day in Palm Springs and we spent it doing absolutely nothing which was great. The other days we were doing all the touristy things. We ...

...went up the Aerial Tramway. The 10-min tram ride takes you up to 8,516 ft up into the mountains. Owen was so excited that he fell asleep on the ride up. The tram was standing room only in which the entire platform rotates 360 twice in one trip. The guide instructed people to not grab the rail too tightly as those are stationary but you still needed access to the rails because as you go over the 5 sets of posts, it will cause the tram to swing as you continue to proceed upwards. The temp at the was in the upper 40's and sunny. We only took a short hike since we weren't quite prepped for trekking in the slushy snow.
...drove through the Joshua Tree National Park. It was pretty awesome to see how quickly the vegetation can change as you drive through the park.

Enjoying Palm Springs

In case people are curious how our vacation is going...

Our flight was quite uneventful although long - thank goodness for ni-hao kai-lan DVD. Owen adapted to the time change like a champ. He woke up 7am (EST) and did not go bed until 8pm (PST) - He really is living up to the motto ... sleeping is for the weak! It was a bit chilly the first couple days here (60's) but tomorrow should warm up. The sky is so blue and the mountains in the background are neat to see.

My parents came out yesterday afternoon so we just spent Sunday relaxing and checking out the shops of Palm Springs. What I didn't anticipate is finding our souvineer already - we walked into a gallery where this photographer had some of his work up - very cool. All his pics are taken at night and in the picture below, the white lines in the background is actually the path of the stars that travel. He takes great pains to provide just the right light to get it to light up. (the picture below does not do it justice)

We visited the 'zoo' out here but I think the adults got a kick out of it more than Owen - he nodded off for a short nap!

Yes, we ARE taking Owen

I've been getting excited all week to hop on the plane tomorrow that will take me away from Cincinnati, work, and residual snow. But ofcourse they know you want to go on vacation and so they throw all the curve balls that can happen and ofcourse it all needs to be completed prior to hopping on that plane!

Along the way, people do ask where we are going and why we chose to visit Palm Springs. But the oddest question that people have been asking me is "Are you taking Owen?" I wouldn't think much of it if it were just a person here and there but literally over the course of this week I've been asked closer to 10+ times. So I wonder is it that I work with some crazy cats who vacation without their children on a frequent basis or do people think I just jet on my merry way and leave behind Owen...Hmmm...where did they think we'd leave him??

I've made it through work and now I'm off to pack!

What's going on?!?

Looking out our window today, you would not think it was March in Cincinnati - I took a picture to share...
We easily have 12" right now and the forecast says it is suppose to continue the heavy snowing until 4pm this evening. In fact the snow fall is getting heavier than it has been yesterday. The last time it snowed like this was in 1978 according to the weatherman. It's kinda cool to see since it reminds me of home and when we were little however, i'm now not equiped to really enjoy the snow (no boots, etc). I love snow and we did get a snow day out of it on Friday - but it's March and I'm ready for warmer weather and sunny days! I can't wait to get to Palm Springs next weekend!

Owen is loving the snow and now really appreciates hats and mittens.
Yesterday, we had our 18mo check with the docs - he's 31" tall (30th percentile) and 21 1/2 lbs (10th percentile) - I have no clue where all the food is going, he's constantly eating and eating a lot.

We are signing...

Owen's finally caught on to signing a few words which is great since he still doesn't say a whole lot. Wouldn't you know that the 2 signs hehas mastered are: (1) eat and (2) more! We also finally got rid of the bottle a few weeks back. He didn't really mind too much, I think he was more excited about drinking milk out of a big person's cup (sippy cup minus the sippy).

Clean Plate Club

Earlier this week, Owen was working on his status at the Clean Plate Club - his goal is to gain Rocky's VIP status :)

FYI...we added a few videos on YouTube under Tom's user name (trike11) if you haven't seen them yet. I've got a few more to add in this weekend.

It's a date!

Yesterday, I had off for President's day and so we had decided that Tom would take off as well and we would still take Owen to Barb's house for most of the day so we could go on a lunch and movie date. It was great to have adult conversation through lunch without having to turn half of your attention to the little man who can create the largest messes in the shortest time.

We saw Fools Gold in the theatre. Pretty good movie and of course there was McConauHottie in the movie.

Then we ended the night playing with a visit from Vicky and her Wii. Owen loved watching us play and desperately wanted his chance as mastering Guitar Hero. By the end of the night, we decided we needed a rematch on tennis - Vicky kicked our butts!

Coaching from the couch

I must say that Tom only screamed at the TV a handful of times while watching the game last night. His objections were not heard by the ref and Syracuse, in the end, still lost to UConn.

Melts in your mouth AND in your hands

Owen tested out M&M's tagline and found it to be inaccurate. I was able to capture it on film and extract the peanut m&m from his hand but not before he created a little art project on our black leather chair!

oh...just to finish out the e series story - I did get my car the next day after work but before i get rid of the flintstone mobile, the stupid battery died on me and I had to get a jump before returning the loaner!

When does the lifetime of a car really end?

My BMW needed a little work and we decided to take it the place that specializes in working with BMWs - Just BMW. The guys were really nice and even hooked me up with a Loaner - at least that's what I thought until I saw it. It is a 528e and looked to have been around the block many times. When I got in, I felt like I was in a museum, sitting in a historical piece of work. I checked the odometer - 215,643...Wow, I thought to myself, please don't fall apart on me today.

The Loaner got me to work ok, then I realized I had to go out and do some emergency shopping. Of course, I needed to visit a store about 25 miles away. Into the loaner I went and headed onto the freeway - that was when I realized how much I took heat for granted. As I started picking up speed - 30 mph, you could start to keep the car cool off, as though though someone shut off the heat. Then, I climbed to 50 mph - and I thought someone had rolled down my window and it was only 25 degrees out today. By the time I got to my destination, I could not feel my fingers or my toes - this wasn't helping the fact that the Flinstone BMW didn't have power steering. I promised myself once I was done shopping, I would swing home to grab a scarf, socks, and boots before driving the 25 miles back to work. It was helpful but I could still not feel my fingers and toes when I returned.

I was sad to find out at the end of my day that they had not finished the work on my car so I had to drive the Flintstone BMW back up to Mason. I wasn't used to a toogle switch to turn on my headlights - I kept thinking how I missed pushing buttons? digital display? temperature control? cup holder? and then I was actually welcoming rush hour traffic so that my fingers and toes could get small blasts of warm air every so often to revive it. As I neared home, I was curious to see how many miles I had put on this poor car and all I could do was laugh. The odometer still read 215,643....I can't wait to get my car back!

Off to a rough start

January 2 - the newness of the year is already starting to wear off. Last night, we both were dreading having to go back to work. Things didn't help when Owen threw a temper tantrum around 12:45am. I have no clue what set him off but nothing we could do to calm him down so we let him throw his tantrum in his crib which lasted only 15 min. I guess he realized that vacation was coming to an end and he wasn't ready for it either. He did let us know a couple more times through the night with a few more screams. That ofcourse made me not want to get up this morning only to look out the window and see all the snow we got in Cincinnati (a few inches with drifts) - you know what that means, sucky roads and lots of school closings or delays. Lastly, the Beemer wouldn't start up today so Big Red because Bus Riker...all before 7:30am!