Clips

So I had the day off this morning before our big trip to Costa Rica. We are pretty excited about the trip but I decided to take today off even though we don't leave until 7pm tonight. Our nanny still came so I could get stuff ready for our trip since Kristin had to work but I took some time to make a fun video of some random clips of the family this morning. I hope you smile watching it as much as I do.

Ellie's Growing Up!

So Elyse has been having so much fun lately. Kristin and I (Mostly Kristin) have been taking her to the park almost everyday. She loves watching other kids. She probably inherited that from her parents who tend to people watch way to much. Ellie hasn't figured out the whole staring thing though. She has recently figured out how to climb the steps and probably would climb steps for hours if we would let her.

We also took her to get her first taste of ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. It was one of our birthday celebration outings but really it was for Ellie to enjoy her first cup of ice cream. No hands just dive right in. I can't wait to see her eat spaghetti. This reminds me of one thing I've learned about myself lately. I don't really like messy things when it comes to the kitchen or eating. Krisitn laughs at me but Ellie is breaking me of that because I think we have at least three layers of banana, cottage cheese, yogurt and who knows what else below her high chair. So much fun to see her learn and experience new things though. Enjoy the video of some of her fun times.

Birthday!

So last week was my 28th birthday and yes that feels old to me. Kristin surprised me and took me out to eat and to a concert. It was so much fun to go grab dinner and just hang out and listen to music. We saw Carolina Liar, One Republic and Rob Thomas. They were all really good but we had fun listening to One Republic the most. These guys were so talented. All that to say my wife is so thougtful so make that happen.

Then of course we had to celebrate with one of my favorites. The beautiful chocolate eclair cake. So tasty. Many of you know I love to bake to I ended up making the cake for fun so Kristin didn't feel like she needed to but of course she helped.



Birthday's are so much fun. We started a fun tradition by celebrating a birthday week. Why settle for one day? Birthday's are so important because for at least 12 hours before you are born people are getting ready and celebrating and after you are born "the baby" is all anyone can talk about for a week so we decided why not keep that thought process each year and celebrate a birthday week. Kristin and Elyse made this an extra special year, Love you ladies!

More pictures from our Houston Trip

This blue dress Elyse is wearing was mine when I was a baby, thanks mom for holding on to it!





Bath Time



Grandma



Happy Girl!

Houston Bound

Elyse and I decided to go to Houston to hang out with my family these past two weeks. It was a treat for me to get some help with Elyse and for my parents to get to spend time with Elyse and get to know her. It was such great time for me, but hard because we were away from Paul for a long time. The first weekend we were there we took a road trip with Kevin and Ginna up to Dallas to see some of my friends and family. We stayed with my friend Alissa and she was so sweet to have our friends over to her house so they could meet Elyse. Then I got to see Shelby and Cade and the Masons, and Grand Martha. I loved getting to see so many people and for them to meet Elyse. Houston was so relaxing for us and my mom throw a little sip and see so we could show Elyse off to some of her friends. I also got to see my friends Angela and Jacob & Meredith. Elyse did so great traveling around with me, I was worried it would be too much for her.

My Dad with Elyse


Alissa and Elyse


Cade is such a great cousin!


Julie and Elyse


Friends in Dallas

Uncle Sam came to town

Well the past three weeks have been so much fun with a lot going on. A few weeks ago Sam came in town. It was so much fun to have him here and for him to meet Elyse. When he first got in town we went up to Red Rock Theater which is where bands come to play, amazing place. Then over the weekend we all went up to the mountains to go snowboarding (well not Elyse or myself) and to hang out. It was Elyse's first overnight adventure. The first night was really rough with the sleeping, but other than that she did great and we got to hang out with our friends Andy, Jillian, and baby Pheobe. Paul got to enjoy snowboarding with the guys. The next week Sam, Elyse, and I went up to Boulder and hung out with Ray and Shauna. It was great to see them and to show Sam around Boulder. I have put some pictures below from this week.



Elyse with her friend Pheobe







Red Rocks Theater

...And then came the swing

So we hung out with our friends Becca and Justin Rounds a few weeks ago and they brought over this travel swing. Paul and I have tried to keep it simple with things we have for Elyse around the house, so we didn't get a swing. However, when they put Elyse in it she was out! It was amazing! Elyse is a great sleeper at night, but doesn't like to take long naps during the day which makes it hard for me to get things done or even take a nap. So we decided we should look into one. We got on craigslist and bought one the next day. Definitely worth the money. We love the idea of keeping it simple, but when it comes to making our lives a little easier we have decided it would be worth it! See the picture below of Elyse in her new swing and I have put some other fun ones from the past couple weeks. Oh and Elyse's neck is getting stronger so I have put a video of her lifting up her head, how exciting!

Strong Baby!

A couple days ago I put Elyse on her baby gym that has stuffed animals hanging over her head. She reached up and grabbed the parrot and was holding on for awhile swinging her arm back and forth. I was really impressed and definitely think she is advanced for her age. I mean I really have nothing to compare it to, so I have no idea if she really is, but I am just going to say that since I am her mom:) I put a picture below. She is also starting to smile at me, which is so exciting. When I say "WOW" really big I can almost always get a smile. I loved her when she was a new baby, but it is so much fun to have her now smiling at me and starring at me when I talked to her. I can't believe she is already 6 1/2 weeks old, it really does go by so fast. Anyway, I hope you all are doing well. I will hopefully start posting more often now.

SNOW DAY!

Thanksgiving weekend for Kristin and I was such a great time. We spent the majority of Thursday at some of our good friends' parents' house. They were gracious enough to invite us to spend the day with both sides of their family. We played a little street football, watched the Cowboys, and ate lots of good food. It is hard to beat a day like this. I missed home and my grandma's amazing stuffing but it was fun to have a relaxing day with friends since we aren't able to travel.
The rest of the weekend was filled with relaxing time together, running errands, making some tasty food, and getting our house ready for an addition to our family. On Saturday morning, We woke up to a beautiful morning. It was the first major snow of the year. Kristin and I went for a long walk around the neighborhood to a nearby park and enjoyed having a little snowball fight and walking through the snow. Below are a few pictures.

I'm HUGE!!!

That's right, some more prego pictures for you guys. I know alot of you are requesting more, so here you go! Oh, I am going to start talking in weeks. So from what I have learned, you are really prego for 10 months/40 weeks, so right now I am just over 8 months/32 weeks (crazy!!), but I still have just under 8 more weeks to go. I feel huge right now with my belly, but overall I feel really great which is such a blessing. Paul and I are getting more and more excited as time gets closer, we can't wait to meet her! Anyway, enjoy the pics!

24 weeks



28 weeks



32 weeks

Fun Project

Sorry it has been so long since we have posted on our blog, but we have alot of posts coming. This first one is a fun project Paul and I decided to take on a month or so ago. We had a grape vine that was falling over, so we decided to make an arbor for the grape vine. It was a really fun project for us to do together and it turned our better than I thought it would. The arbor is the entrance to our backyard.

Belize Part 2:

So after the trip to Western Belize we traveled back to Belize City. This time we were able to get on an express bus after 2 1/2 hours waiting that took us to Belize City much quicker than the first bus we took. Once dropped off in Belize City we took a ferry over to Ambergris Caye, the largest island off the coast. We stayed in the biggest city on the island called San Pedro. By big I don't mean that big. There are limited cars on the island and the major mode of transportation was golf carts with off-road tires and bicycles. After getting settled into our hotel we explored a bit and relaxed in the pool. A much different experience than the first three nights in a tree house.
The first day on the island was a day of relaxing and finding a fun place to snorkel and swim. We walked for a bit up and down the beach and found a fun dock to swim from. The beaches aren't like the beaches of Cancun with long stretches of white sand. The reef doesn't allow surf to take the seaweed back out so the best swimming is off piers that extend in the clear water.
When we got to the dock there were some local boys and girls swimming and jumping off the pier into the water. Krisitn and I swam for a bit and snorkeled around. Then I took the opportunity to play with the local kids and let one of them snorkel with our equipment for a bit. Then I started showing some of the younger kids some fun stuff my dad did for us when we would go swimming when I was younger. I had this little boy curl up in a ball and I would throw him high in the air. He loved it! I next had him stand on my shoulders and hold my thumbs as I went under water. I would count to 3 with my fingers and jump and the little boy would shoot of my shoulders. He loved this one as well. It was such a fun time. Below are some pictures of us having some fun. He wanted me to move up to throwing him off the pier. The pictures show the fun!





Every night we would walk through town and look for a fun local place to have dinner. Most tourists would eat at the more expensive places on the beach which we had to try once but we were always looking for some locals to recommend a good place to eat. The first night we ran into a guy that asked what we were looking for. We told him and he recommended some great places. This guy also took the opportunity to see if we needed any weed for the week. We politely told him no as Kristin was pregnant. As we left to go to the restaurant he recommended he told us to tell them that the 'Rasta-man' sent us. The rest of the week we began to see just how big of an island we were on. We saw 'Rasta-man' everywhere we went. Every night he would see us out somewhere and recognize us and chat for a bit. Such a friendly guy. I finally told Kristin that we had to get a picture with this guy so the last day we were on the island we saw him riding his bike on the beach and took the opportunity to grap a photo for our memories.



Our first trip we planned on the island was a half-day snorkeling trip to Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley. We snorkeled just on the inside of the reef at a break in the reef that is a natural highway for marine life. We saw so much life. Eels, sharks, spotted sting rays, turtles, and tons of beautiful fish. It was so amazing. The next stop was Shark Ray alley where they chum the water for nurse sharks and sting rays. We were in such close proximity to the rays and sharks. It was so cool.


Less and less hair daily.



Along the way back to Belize city from the west we met a couple from New York who we kept in touch with on the island and met up with periodically during the week. We decided to charter a boat with a guy name Chito. We got connected with him through a random connection of someone we met at the Rio On Pools in Western Belize. Chito picked us up at our hotel in his boat named Bianca Michelle and we traveled for some time to the north part of the island. We proceeded to cast nets in the shallow water to catch minnows and other fish as we were going deep sea fishing for the first part of the day. After catching our bait for the day we drove outside the reef into the deep waters. The water was rough but on this day calm compared to usual. The morning of fishing was amazing. We caught multiple fish. The first fish I caught was a horse-eye tuna. Put up a fight and was fun to get in the boat. Kristin caught a yellow-tail snapper and was the first time she ever had been fishing. Unfortunately the waves were a bit much for her so she didn't get to do as much fishing as she wanted. Below are a couple pics.





The next events were extremely fun. The first big fish that our friend Glen hooked was a large barracuda. He was trying to work the fish in as it pulled some line out and then he would bring it in a ways. This went on for a minute or two and then it got a little harder to reel in. The fish kept fighting and fighting pulling more and more line out. Then it got really easy. Glen thought he lost the fish. When he finally pulled the hook all the way to the boat we saw something rather crazy.



Only the head of the fish was left. Apparently the reef sharks are so abundant that if you are fishing off the reef and don't get the fish up to the boat fast enough you are left with the entrails. It was entertaining anyway.

The next fish I hooked was a fighter. I was using a bigger real with the last bonefish we had as bait. A foot long bonefish had to bring in something big. A big hit and I heard the line run out. He finally stopped running and I began the fight. It was a tough fight, nothing compared to my marlin, but a big fish. I would bring him in and he would pull line out multiple times. I fought him for 15 or 20 minutes and finally wore him out. As he got closer to the boat we realized what kind of fish I had hooked. It was a reef shark. It was about 4 or 5 feet long and was such a fun catch. It was definitely one of the highlights of the day.







We finished fishing about 3 o'clock and moved back inside the reef. Chito took us to a snorkeling spot with some amazing coral. We spent a little bit of time swimming around and looking at some different formations. The reef is so beautiful. After we got back in the boat, Chito took us to a random house on the far north side of the island near where we had been snorkeling. We docked the boat and went ashore. Chito went and talked with a local woman who lived here. She had to be 20 miles out of town. Chito started a fire and cooked 3 of the yellow-tail snappers we had caught that day with vegetables and spices. When it was done we all sat around a picnic table at the lady's house and had fish tacos with fresh tortillas and homemade salsa. Some of the best food we had all week. Kristin absolutely loved the tacos and she typically doesn't care for seafood. It doesn't get any fresher than this.


The dinner feast.


A picture of us and Chito, our guide.

This day was one of the best days and a perfect way to cap off our trip to Belize. The food, people, and company were amazing in Belize. This is just a glimpse.

I can't wait until our next adventure. We are planning one that starts on December 17th. We'll keep you posted!

Here are some other fun pictures to leave you with. Enjoy!

Belize Part 1:

Kristin and I got back from an 8 day vacation to Central America. We visited the country of Belize and had an amazing trip. The first part of the trip we went to Western Belize and stayed 4 miles from the Guatemala border in a tree house. The adventure began right away as we took local transportation for 3 hours to Western Belize. We read that many tourists would take these buses to this part of the country but we were the only Gringos on the bus. We got nervous as we rode at the back of the bus with our bags and had some interesting characters getting on and off the bus through the door in the back. This was a great ride and 3 hours Kristin and I won't forget.

We spent 3 nights outside of the town called San Ignacio in an area called Bullet Tree. A small community that hosted some crazy parties, at least the noise coming from across the river seemed vibrant.
Here are a couple of pictures of our tree house.





The first full day we were in the west we rented a trusty 4wd Suzuki which we took to the Mountain Pine Ridge Region of Belize. We drove through multiple small villages as we traveled through jungle on our way to caves, river pools, swimming holes, and waterfalls. We first stopped at the Rio Frio Cave. We hiked around the cave and grabbed some quick pictures. There are multiple army soldiers in this area as in the years past thieves from Guatemala would come and attack tourists. Two of the guards asked for a ride back to town. It was great getting to visit with the soldiers on the way back but was a little uncomfortable at first with the rifles they were holding. It made Kristin a little nervous to say the least.
Below is a picture of the Rio Frio Cave



The next stop we went to the Rio On Pools. It is a river system with a series of small pools and swimming holes. It was a great place to relax and swim a bit. We met some really nice people having a picnic and talked with them for a while. The gentleman was a pilot who lived in Belize and commuted to fly. He was generous enough to offer us a Coke which never tasted so good. There was something about the old fashioned glass bottle and a foreign country that made it that much tastier.



We then went to one of neatest waterfalls I've seen named Big Rock falls. It was so cool in that it had great swimming areas leading up to the falls and then a deep swimming hole just at the base. It made for a nice landing pad for some cliff jumping. Unfortunately Kristin couldn't partake. We were the only ones at the falls for some time. Almost unheard of here in the states. This was the highlight of the day along with just hanging out exploring another country.







In the evenings we would hang out in San Ignacio and eat at a local restaurant and enjoy a nice Belikin beer. They own a monopoly and is the only beer served in Belize. The food was amazing and we enjoyed the Belizean staple which is coconut rice and beans with stew chicken. We also got to try Sri Lankan food which I thought was great as I had a neighbor from Sri Lanka growing up. Great food!

The next day we went on an excursion where we rode a tractor from the outdoor adventure lodge and took inner tubes down a river through a series of 5 caves. We were in and out of caves as we drifted down the river with head lamps on. There were natural breaks in the caves where light would pierce through. It was beautiful. We stopped for lunch on the river bank and I found a natural rope swing. It was a tree root that was hanging down from the caves top. It was perfect and made for fun entertainment during our lunch stop. The local guide and I also found a rock to jump and flip off of into the river. Kristin and I had a blast experiencing this together. We also hiked for a ways through intense jungle through an impassable section of the river. Our guide cracked some Cohune palm nuts from the Cohune palm. It was fun to try some things the local kids would do growing up.

Some other fun pics:








Kristin and I had an amazing time experiencing a glimpse of the culture from Western Belize and after three and a half days we were ready to head to the beach.

to be continued....