Best Weekend Trip Ever!

Last week our little family spent the weekend in St Louis and wow we had such a good time! This is so strange and unusual for me, but I planned every activity down to our meals -don't worry I'm still me and this won't happen often. I wish I had a few more photos but my blogging is totally crippled without my camera so all these are shots from Ryan's phone.

Of course we had to start out the sight seeing with a visit to the famous arch. We started out at the very bottom then rode in a little 5 seater egg like tram to the top and looked out and down at the incredible view - so cool.

This is Bel at the City Museum - coolest place on earth!

For this part of the trip Ryan mostly hung out with the more mature of his 2 girls, while the other one climbed all over the jungle gym, maze, playground of a museum. If there is any place I could go back to again and again with my kids (so I had an excuse to act like one) it would be here. If any of you are ever anywhere near St Louis and appreciate originality, creativity, playing and fun (or just want to see some amazing and extensive welding) - then this is a must visit!

Bel's favorite part was the giant ball pit, Ryan's favorite part was watching his wife be transported back to her childhood (and getting her back a few hours later) and I simply can't narrow it down to my favorite part - the 7 story slide, maze in the ceiling and walkable skate park really thrilled me though.

I went in this whale's mouth, climbed up into the ceiling (getting a good view from above all those white strips of fabric you see hanging down), crawled through a series of tubes suspended from the ceiling and eventually popped out at the top of a slide that led me back to the floor where I found Ryan and Bel checking out the fish and turtles in the pond.
Okay enough of the City Museum. We of course had to catch a Cardinal's game and can I just say wow - what a view in that stadium. We were 4 rows from the very back and I still felt like I had the best seat in the house and another wow for the hot dogs - Yum!!

Check out that incredible view! If the game gets boring just take in the scenic city around you.
Last but not least some really good food had to be a priority and this one needs a little background. Once upon a time I got to go to fancy restaurants and someone else would pay for it (ahhhh good times). One of those places was Morton's Steakhouse - keep in mind that I like steak but I don't crave it or choose it often in a restaurant, but this is the exception to that rule I crave and dream about Morton's Cajun Ribeye and since Ryan is a steak guy it was time to tap into some fun funds for Ryan's special Father's Day dinner. Everything worked out perfectly! Morton's was a block away from our hotel, Bel fell asleep on the way there and Ryan and I enjoyed a romantic steak and seafood dinner for two (with our little third snoozing in the corner), then we took our desert back to our room and shared it with bel while we vegged out in front of the TV digesting. Absolute perfection!

I don't know why the steak picture is of me, but I promise Ryan was on this trip too. Feast your eyes on that delicious piece of meat!

We can now recommend St Louis as a vacation destination for anyone - a real swell place!

Can it be...

are those pigtails I see???

She is such a big girl with pigtails and jeans and shoes - she looks like a mini adult! oh no!

We ventured to the pool this week and the verdict is... too cold to suck Bel into the water, but my goodness, her itty bitty body looks so cute in her suit!

Despite the chill this little daddy's girl will do just about anything as long as it's in Ryan's arms, so we did manage to splash around and get wet for 20 minutes and I'm confident she'll come around eventually.

Lastly here's the latest Belén update...

-knows 4 signs and uses them proficiently : more, milk, drink, eat/bite

-loves to walk and won't hold our hands anymore

-likes to eat pizza (she can officially hang out with her parents)

-jabbers like crazy

-had her first few falls this week and survived! 1-down the stairs, 2-off a chair and 3-skinned her knee on the gravel road behind our house. Unfortunately, the first two incidents are my fault, but it's just a byproduct of leaving an exploring toddler unattended for 30 seconds - it will happen eventually whether I'm watching or not (that's what I have to tell myself). Tears were shed but I was still pretty proud of her toughness.

-likes to dip animal crackers/graham crackers in milk - it is so fun to watch her do this, often plunging her entire hand into the milk with the cracker

the walking continues

so the first day Bel walked she took a 4 day hiatus, but she has officially taken off. She is a happier girl and way more independent and self entertaining now that she can explore, reach new heights, see new things - she is content just walking from room to room for big chunks of time - then she'll stop for a little attention and as soon as I try to confine her to playing a game with me - she's off touring the house again.

We took this a few days ago and she has gotten even better - you'll have to pardon the shaking and whirring... again.

Also - happy birthday to me! It was a super fantastic day - this handsome guy took our early rising sweetheart while I slept - he made all our meals for the day AND had cake and presents for me too! It was such a good day.

that looks like a lot of candles on that cake and it is missing 3 - yikes - I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20!

I was so excited about my shirt from my sis and my sleeveless bike jersey from my honey I wore them both for most of the day

the moment we've all been waiting for

We knew that one of these days Bel would realize that she was just holding on to our fingers for fun and today was that day!

Bel and I were taking one of our daily strolls around the neighborhood and Bel paused to drum on a manhole lid (behind our house - not in the middle of the street) Then she stood up and walked away without even thinking about it. I went screaming giddily to the house for Ryan to come join us and when he came out she walked straight to him and gave him a big hug. We had so much fun getting her all tuckered out - it was a beautiful thing!

(Note: I dropped my camera a while back and now it shakes whenever it is on. Ryan pointed out that it's just like the old fashioned crank cameras that drown out all other sounds - so my apologies for the low quality cinematography.)

Crawling is still her main form of locomotion but I'm pretty sure she'll be coming around to the idea of walking full time and her lazy mom will be busy keeping her out of the street. Three cheers for our big little girl!

count your many blessings

For any of you that are news watchers you may have heard about tornados in the midwest last week - as crazy as it is - that was our town - the tornado hit just a few miles away from us.

dinner still on the counter in this one

that night ryan went to help - when he came home we made our emergency "where do we go / what do we do in case of a tornado" plan, the next day we got renter's insurance.

Considering the force and the damage, our town is pretty lucky and everyone has really reached out to help and support those in need. It's these kind of situations that make me realize what is really important and how blessed I am.

Tulip Festival

Last week all the Miller girls were in the neighborhood, so naturally I couldn't resist crashing the party. We went to the Tulip Festival in Pella. I dropped my camera and it died in the first 10 minutes (so sad). But honestly it couldn't have been a better time or place to do it. Mandy, Mel and Megs all take tons of fabulous photos, so our trip was documented by them way better than it would have been by me.

cousins - yay

chowing down on fair food - yum

I'm so glad Bel was with me so I had an excuse to go down this slide - yahoo!

Mandy takes to most amazing photos - here is my favorite set...

where's bel?"boo!"

"ha - gotcha! I am so tricky!"

It was so much fun to see the tulips and a bunch of people that I love and enjoy so much.

making memories and headlines

Last week I went on vacation to Abby's place in exotic Iowa. I have to give my husband a lot of credit here, because he is the one working his tail off, but for some reason I was just in a rut. So Ryan insisted that I go spend a few days with Abs - which of course would heal any ailment.
It is here that I have to refer to my life as a musical and share the song I sing whenever I think of my sister...

it has a long intro, but you'll know what I sing when it gets there :)


We had a super fabulous time and even made the front page of the local paper. http://www.thehawkeye.com/viewImage/FEA-Ragbrai-Training-042909-jpg

Last but not least, I couldn't help but laugh at Bel's little bit of mischief...

In other news - this is what happens at 10pm at our house for the last 4 nights...

and Bel is still working up the courage to walk on her own and having a great time learning.