Hey Bab(ies) let's go to Vegas!!

When you think of the best place to tkae a 5 week old baby, you know what's always on the top of the list?  Vegas! :)  Just kidding, but Grandma's house is, and since daddy needed to work in Vegas, we decided to take the whole family out for some time with our grandparents.

Going to see Grandma!

I'd been planning for the trip since before Alex was born.  Just making a mental list of what we would do and how we would best get there with sanity intact.  Of course, daddy's injury sent that plan a bit out of whack, but we adjusted.  The travel went much better than expected.  The boys did fantastic.  

We packed up the car before we headed to the 4th of July party.  Boy do these kids need alot of stuff...  When Alex woke up for his 3 am feeding, we loaded everyone up in the car and headed out.  As we'd hoped, the boys slept almost the entire way.  Outside of Baker we stopped to feed Alex and let Colin stretch.

Mom needs a break, I'll drive for a while.

It was a huge improvement over Colin's first road trip. Gavin and I regularly debate if Alex really is that much easier than Colin or if 19 months of parenthood have just softened our sense of what's difficult. :)  

New car Toy! "Should I tell you...."

Paci for the ride.

For the drive home, we left at night and both boys slept all the way home! Including a gas stop!!  But even if the drive had been difficult, it would have been worth it!  

Most excitingly, Alex got to meet his godmother Auntie Cheryl!!

 Colin got lots of fun pool play time.

Alex 'saw' his first rainbow.

Colin helped mommy feed Alex!

Our biggest outing of the trip, was a trip to Bass Pro Shop.

Colin still finds racks of clothing almost as much fun as displays of giant stuffed animals, so it was an exciting trip!

Mommy's favorite is the acquarium.  Colin was fascinated by the scuba diver inside.

I love the wonder and fascination in Colin's eyes as he discovers things around him.  He loved watching the fish.

The trip also meant some much needed rest for our family. Mommy even had her first real outting without Alex!

I didn't photograph it, but I snuck away and had a lovely lunch with my friend Jennifer who is moving miles and miles away (we'll miss you !!!)  It was nice to have a break when there were so many people who love the boys around to take care of them.

Sadly, the main catalyst for the trip, the World Series of Poker, didn't amount to much this year, but it was still a great time to spend time as a family.  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for spoiling all of us for a week!

Life is good at Grandma's!

Schlitterbahn!

When my sister decided to move to Texas, she told me she was moving to a little town with a German name. Coincidentally, I'd already been to the town when Gavin and I visited Schiltterbahn in 2007!

While I wasn't sure about the particulars of visiting a water park with an infant, we all really wanted to visit the famous park, so we went for it.

I was fairly certain we'd last a few hours and Colin, Grandma, and I would find ourselves relaxing at my sister's place.  But Colin's love of adventure stayed strong and the little guy made it from opening to closing, a solid 10 hours of outside fun!

Daytime hangout

Rare nap.

Floating the lazy river

Adult Suerpvision not lacking.

"Mama Shark, doo doo do doo..."

Hippo with Aunt Cheryl

Mommy's Happy Summertime Baby

A very special thank you to Grandma for hanging out with Colin so mommy could catch a few slides!

My all time favorite was the wave river.  It's just like the one at Atlantis except you are permitted to swim without a tube.  I could have spent the entire day there!

Aunt Cheryl

Aunt Cheryl came to visit us!  Fresh from Texas complete with her y'alls and all.

It wasn't a long enough trip, although I'm sure there isn't one that would be.  She left us with an adorable gift to remember her while she's away:

My sister's is an incredibly talented yarn artist and I'm trying to convince her to start blogging about her projects.  Stay tuned!

We miss you already, Auntie!

Cooking with Sister

My sister is in town.  She's a fantastic housemate and we've been having a great time.  Last week we made a delicious dinner together.

(Okay to be honest, she made everything.  I just cooked the shrimp because she'd never worked with raw shrimp before)

Grilled Cabbage Wedge Salad

Shrimp Pasta in a Creamy Mushroom Sauce

I would love to share the recipe with you, but I don't understand pinterest.  I mean, I really really don't get it.  So you'll have to get a hold of Cheryl if you want to know!

What's for dinner? Easter Edition

For Easter, my sister came to visit and we cooked!

I was primarily responsible for the eggs (which came out lovely, although I failed to get a picture.  No idea how that happened!)

My sister made green bean casserole.  Gavin made the mashed potatoes and ham.  We didn't want a whole ham so we just bought already cooked sliced ham and fried it.  It was good and saved us having to suffer through weeks of ham sandwiches or the guilt of throwing them away.

My favorite part of our Easter dinner was our egg surprises. 

Last year, Gavin and I made these when we colored eggs.  We both put things inside for each other.  Both of us put things representing our wedding planning.  I wish I had the material to do it again this year, but there's always next year.  I suspect traditions aren't going to really survive this year, but maybe they'll come around again next year.