Down by the River

We will miss our beautiful September weather. The heat and humidity of summer was gone, but it was still warm enough to enjoy some evenings out when Dan got home from school. On this night, we went down to the river and did two things the girls absolutely love - swinging on swings and feeding ducks.


Leah is so cute in the swings. She pats the back of her swing and says, "Momma, Momma, push, push!" And now she is really into underdogs, because, of course, that is Annie's favorite thing to do on the swings.

It was a good thing we took fresh bread to feed the ducks, because I think Leah ate most of it herself!

O - H - I - O

Sarah and I were finally initiated as Ohio State Buckeyes yesterday, that is to say, we attended our first football game. OSU football is a religion in this town that seems to make converts of most people who pass through. We have heard a lot of hype about how fun the games are and how crazy and obnoxious the fans are, and that as soon as you attend your first OSU game, you will be hooked and branded a buckeye for life. We figured that all the hype must be worth investigating, and though we can't say that we're truly converted yet, we had a great time.

We got to "The Shoe" a little early to experience some of the pregame buzz. Tailgate parties surround the stadium for miles and the stadium itself is mostly full for almost an hour before kickoff. At about 10 min till kickoff, the marching band comes out to preform 'script Ohio', a crowd favorite where they march out a cursive Ohio and finish it off with a theatrical dotting of the 'i' by one of the tuba players. As you can see below, the sea of red is definitely an impressive sight. (We never thought we'd be proudly wearing red to a football game.)
We have seats together with the other residents in my year. The Ames and Springers made it to this game with us. We look forward to some more good games in the future. Maybe OSU can climb back up the rankings and contend with BYU in a bowl game. We'd go for sure, but you wouldn't see us wearing red.

Shoes and Teddy Bears

Leah is 19 months old today. I can't believe how big she is getting! She is such a sweetheart and is so cuddly and loving. She can also be quite crazy at times. She definitely has her own spunky little personality, so I thought I would write a few things about our little Leah.

-Leah loves shoes. All shoes. My shoes, Dan's shoes, Annie's shoes, her shoes, the shoes at Target, friends shoes, etc. She loves to try on shoes and I will often find her coming out of my closet clunking around in a pair of heels. She also loves untying shoes and taking the laces out. I wish her new pumas had velcro.

-She loves Teddy Bears. The bear in the pictures below is the one Dan gave to me when we were dating. I love that Teddy Bear too.

-She loves puppies. Real puppies (although these days she won't get too close), but especially her stuffed puppies. She goes into this REALLY high pitched voice and says, "Awwwww . . . ." while giving her puppies hugs. She'll then shove it in your face so you can give it hugs too. Make sure to use your high pitched voice. Oh, and I got her a puppy book and she loves to hug that too.

-She loves to give hugs.

-She now sits at the table with us when she eats. I'm always so happy to finally ditch that high chair tray. Washing it four times a day gets a little old. She thinks she is such a big girl now! Although now we have to keep her from crawling onto the table. Hmmm . . . . should I go get the tray?

-She thinks she should be able to do everything her big sister Annie does. And most times, she can.

-She has to buckle herself in when I put her in her car seat. If I forget and accidentally do it for her (or if we are in a rush and I just buckle it hoping she won't realize), she'll look at me with a stern expression and say, "I do da buckle!" Of course I always give in and unbuckle it for her. Sheesh.

-She is a great little talker. She can say so many words and phrases, and will repeat anything you ask her to say. Her first sentence was a few weeks ago while we were in Washington DC. She wanted to see a fountain we were all looking at and so she yelled, "I see da water! I see da water!" Hey, it's a sentence to me!

-She says "thank you" and "your welcome" clearly and correctly. She's a polite little girl:)

-She loves to sing songs and is starting to sing along to some. Her favorites are I am a Child of God, and You are My Sunshine. We'll sing You are My Sunshine and leave the last word off of each phrase for her to sing. The other day we were singing it and came to the phrase, "You'll never know . . . . " she sang: "dear!" "How much I love . . . . " and she sang: "Fish!" Well, of course Annie just thought that was so hilarious, and died laughing, and so now Leah will always slip in the word "fish" somewhere in the song to make Annie laugh. "You are my . . . . Fish!" silly girl.

-She considers herself quite the little comedian, and loves to make Annie laugh. No one can make Annie laugh the way Leah can!

-No one can make Annie cry the way Leah can. She pulls her hair, pinches her skin, bites her arm, takes her toys. And Annie just takes it. And cries.

-Leah doesn't respond well to time outs. She just looks up at me while I'm saying NO! in a stern voice and smiles. I'll make her sit there for a minute while she is trying to wriggle away.

-Leah is good at saying "sorry" and giving hugs to make things feel better.

-If Leah gets hurt, she'll want you to kiss it better.

-She loves bath time. I'll yell, "Bath time!" and the girls will repeat me, "Bath time!" and run up the stairs into the bathroom. They play great in the tub together.

-She loves to dress up in her princess skirt and twirl around to show you what a beautiful princess she is! She used to say, "wella" for princess (like Cinderella), but is recently learning how to say "princess" better.

-She loves to play with Annie's dollhouse. She'll sit there and try to put the little babies in the swings for hours. Well, not really hours. But for awhile!

-She also loves to play with Annie's baby doll. Why do we still only have one doll? I bought the girls some play bottles and Leah loves to feed her baby milk. She'll be a great big sister. (Not an announcement.)

-She loves to read books. While sitting in my lap.

-She is not shy at all. She'll go up to complete strangers. I can't decide if this is good or bad.

-She does great in nursery! This is definitely good. She'll run right in and not even look back.

-She loves milk. This is definitely her favorite food. Is milk a food? She'll ask me for milk and when she sees me getting it, she'll get excited and start saying, "Milka, milka, milka, milka, milka, milka, milka, milka, etc." until I give it to her.

-When she drinks milk she has to have her Fee Fee. (Her blankie. She made up that word for it. Now we even call it her Fee Fee. I think it's adorable!)

-She loves to play outside on the swing set. She likes to swing on her tummy on the big girl swing.

-She loves to play with balls. I think she is going to be my little sports girl.

-She runs REALLY fast! That was confirmed the other day as she was trying to escape from the mall playplace.

-She loves it when Daddy comes home. Let's face it. We all do. The girls love to yell "DADDY!!" as he walks through the door.

-Oh, she loves popsicles. That's her other favorite food. And grapes.

-She had her first real tantrum at Target the other day. I'm talking screaming at the top of her lungs, everyone staring at me, nothing I could do, not even milk would calm her down, kind of tantrum. It was really the first time I've had to deal with that. Good thing Annie was with me to retrieve everything Leah threw while we were standing in line. I really wanted those dumb brown shoes for the girls, otherwise I would have left the store immediately.

-She knows a lot of animals and the sounds they make. My favorite one she says right now is, "Chicken! bok, bok!"

-She knows a lot of body parts and likes to point them out. She likes to squeeze my nose really hard.

-She's a pretty strong little girl. I don't think she's lost a toy battle yet.

-She really is a good girl most of the time and I have to say, her cheeks are so kissable!

-When she sees the camera, she smiles and says, "Cheese!"

Oh, how we love you Leah Lou!!

Leah sat the teddy bear down next to her, looked over at us, and said matter-of-factly, "I sit him dere (there)."

Celine Concert

Dan called me yesterday morning and asked, "How would you like to go to the Celine Dion conert tonight?" "Ummm . . . . . Yeah! " He then explained how he had snagged me a ticket from some of his fellow residents who had gotten FREE tickets from OSU. Yay! Another resident in our ward, Darin Lunt, grabbed a ticket for his wife, Sarah. So thank you husbands for arranging this great Girls' Night Out for us! We had a great time and the concert was AMAZING! Celine Dion is a true DIVA. Her voice is even more incredible and impressive in person, if that is even possible! My favorite song she sang was The Power of Love (I love that song!) She sang all her old hits as well as some of her new stuff. The whole show was just so awesome! I'm so happy I got to go!

Gettysburg and the Drive Home

Sunday morning we woke up to absolutely gorgeous weather and, not wanting to leave, took one last walk around the resort's piers. We finally hit the road and decided to stop in Gettysburg, adding on an hour to our already 8 1/2 hour drive. But I am so glad we did! Gettysburg is such an amazing place and we could have easily spent all day there. We only got a small taste of the area. They just built a huge new visitors center and downtown Gettysburg looked really fun to walk around. And there's a 3 hour audio car tour around the battlefields that I'm sure is really cool. Sometime we'll go back and do all that. We did go to the Gettysburg National Cemetery where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, and we drove around the battlefields for a little while. What a neat place to see.





We love this picture. Dan took this right after we discovered we were on the wrong freeway home. Yep, that's right, we drove an hour and a half in the WRONG direction! We were on I-70 E and thought it was just a straight shot home, but between Ross talking on his cell phone, Dan trying to study for a test, and Katy and I gabbing away in the back, somehow we all missed when we merged onto I-76 instead of staying on 70. Good thing we finally hit a toll booth we knew wasn't on I-70, or who knows how far we would have gone! haha . . . . I love our expressions in this picture and also Annie's cute little face popping up from the back. The girls were such troopers. I think they went through two whole bags of goldfish crackers! Anyway, the wrong turn added another hour to our drive (so 10 1/2 hours total, we think) and we laughed about it (kind of) the whole way home!

The Chesapeake Bay

We were all so excited to get to the Chesapeake Bay! Friday morning we woke up, checked out of our Grand Hyatt in DC and hit the road. On the way to our hotel in Cambridge, Maryland, we decided to stop in Annapolis for a few hours and walk around. I'm so glad we did! Annapolis is such a cool seaport right on the bay, and very rich in history (it was at one time our nation's capital) and 18th century architecture. We walked around the docks and I could just imagine myself cruising the Chesapeake Bay, going from seaport to seaport in a luxury yacht. Maybe when we retire? Well, a girl can dream . . . .

Look who we ran into in Annapolis! They were so nice to be willing to take a picture with us!

We got some fish and chips for lunch and ate outside in the gorgeous weather. It seemed to be the thing to do in Maryland! And man, was it good!

The boys had a tee time of 2:30 at the hotel, so we left Annapolis after lunch and drove across the Bay Bridge to Cambridge where the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Resort is located. The Storeys have been wanting to check this place out for awhile now, and we were just so happy they invited us to do it with them!! We made it there just in time, so we dropped the boys straight off at the Golf Club.

I took this picture of them golfing from our hotel room balcony. I think this was the last hole.

In the meantime, Katy and I took the girls, checked into the hotel, got all our stuff up to our room (actually we greased someone to do that for us:), threw on our swimsuits and hit the pools.

We also took a walk down the pier to a pavilion where they have rocking chairs and tables for people to just sit and chat and enjoy the beautiful scenery. It was getting pretty overcast at this point. Tropical Storm Hanna was supposed to be rolling in soon.

After we met up with Dan and Ross, we got ready and then headed out to dinner at a restaurant on the hotel grounds (so 50% off!) Dan and Ross both ordered the rockfish (which was SO good) and Katy and I got the steak caesar salad. We always do that . . . . :) Anyway, I don't think I mentioned that it was Ross's birthday that day! Happy birthday to Ross! The restaurant gave him a huge slice of chocolate cake . . . . which was plenty for all of us:) It was a great day! Saturday was our full day at the resort - and it was rainy and gray. Bummer! But we weren't going to let it dampen our spirits! So we put on our swimsuits anyway and luckily the hotel had a pretty nice indoor pool. Nessie is right in between my two girls in age. Of course they had their moments of bugging one another, but for the most part they all got along really well, so that was nice. Here they are hanging out in the hot tub! After swimming in the indoor pool for awhile, Dan and Ross thought it would be fun to brave the elements and take a dip in the pools outside. They came back to get us, saying one of the outdoor pools was way warmer than the indoor pool . . . . and it was barely even raining. So although the pool sign said, "Closed," (which made us feel even more adventurous) we all went outside and got in the pool. It was totally warm water, we had the whole pool to ourselves, and the fact that it was stormy outside made it even more fun! We had a great time laughing, trying to stay hidden from the hotel staff and not minding being rained on at all. At one point it really started to rain hard and that's when we thought we'd hit the waterslide in the other pool! (And that's why we have no pictures of the waterslide . . . . it was raining way too hard for cameras to be exposed). So don't worry Hanna, you did not ruin our vacation . . . . you gave us some great times and lasting memories! When the girls were exhausted from swimming, we took them up to the room for a nap, just in time for the BYU/Washington game to start. Ross and Katy are also huge BYU football fans, so we really enjoy watching (or in this case, listening) to the games with them. Wow, what an exciting game that was! Dan and Ross were nervously pacing the hotel room and when BYU blocked a kick in the last seconds of the game to win 28-27, we were screaming, high-fiving, jumping on the beds, going crazy, really. Good thing the girls were all awake by this point! To celebrate the win (and cause we needed to eat) we went out to dinner to a restaurant in Cambridge called Snappers. The area next to the restaurant was flooded due to all the rain that day!

Sorry this post is so long, but we had such a great time on the Chesapeake Bay and I wanted to remember all the details! We all wish we could have stayed at this hotel longer . . . . 1 1/2 days definitely wasn't long enough to enjoy all it had to offer! So much to do and see, so little time. Anyway, stay tuned to hear about our drive home!

DC with the Storeys

On Wednesday (September 3) after Dan got home from school, we packed up the van, moved the car-seats to the back, filled up with gas, picked up the Storeys, and drove 7 hours to Washington DC. We had been planning this trip for awhile and were so excited to finally be on our way! Ross works for the Hyatt in downtown Columbus, and so taking advantage of his employee discounts, we got to stay in the Grand Hyatt in DC for FREE!! It was a sweet hotel and in walking distance from everything we wanted to see in DC. It was awesome!



So Thursday we spent the whole day in Washington DC seeing the sights. I love walking around DC. I love all the smithsonians, the monuments and memorials, the patriotism I feel, the desire to know everything about our country and its history. There were a few things I especially wanted to see this trip that we didn't have time for during our trip to DC last year. One of those places was the Holocaust Museum. We spent a few hours there in the afternoon and it was quite the experience, very moving.

Another place I really wanted to go was Arlington National Cemetery. Wow, what a beautiful and peaceful place this is. It's huge . . . . and it's amazing. Here we are in front of Kennedy's grave.


We had grand plans of getting something for dinner and having a picnic before touring the cemetery. So we bought some yummy Philly cheesesteaks, chicken quesadillas, and cobb salads from our hotel (we got 50% off all the restaurants) and drove to Arlington during rush hour. We finally got there at 6:30, and found out it closed at 7:00, and to walk up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers took at least 20 minutes. So instead of sitting down and eating, we decided to book it and see if we could make it to the Tomb before it closed. Well, after 25 minutes of pushing our strollers uphill (seriously, I was exhausted, and I have no idea how Katy did it being 34 weeks pregnant!), we finally succumbed to our growling stomachs and gave up seeing the tomb. We found some benches in the middle of the cemetery and opened our now cold, soggy, and wilted dinners. Oh well. At least we could laugh about it . . . . and it was hard to be too disappointed when we were eating in such gorgeous surroundings.



After Arlington, we met up with some good friends from San Francisco that recently moved out to Baltimore - the Jergensens. It was fun seeing them and getting caught up. Annie and Carter were good little buddies back in San Fran, and after seeing him, she said, "Oh, NOW I remember Carter!" They spent the rest of the evening with us . . . . going to the Jefferson Memorial and then back to our hotel where we got virgin strawberry daiquiris and talked until it was late. (I wish I would have gotten a picture of all of us!)



The Jefferson Memorial

King's Island

For Labor Day yesterday, we went to King's Island, an amusement park about an hour and a half south of Columbus. We were joined by Brandon and Sara Hicks for the first half of the day (for our family members who don't know the Hicks, this is the guy that Dan team teaches seminary with:). Anyway, we had a great time going on some of the big rides with Brandon and Sara. They even watched our kids for us so Dan and I could go on a few roller coasters together . . . . thanks again guys!!


Sara and Sarah on Delirium. This ride was crazy!


It was such a hot day - in the low 90s. So after the Hicks left, we decided to cool off and hit the water park. What a great idea to have a water park in an amusement park! The best of both worlds.

Watch out! Don't let Daddy the Shark get you!

We changed back into our clothes, and spent the rest of the evening in the kiddie section. The girls had so much fun. They both love rides! Leah wanted to go on every ride Annie went on, and would cry if she wasn't tall enough. She thinks she should be able to do everything her big sister does!

This ride whipped the kids around the corners . . . . Annie loved it, Leah was just trying to hold on!

Annie says this ride was her favorite!

We finally convinced her to ride this little roller coaster, which she loved and wanted to go on again immediately after she got off. She was so proud of herself!


Taking advantage of her courage and pride (and because it was pink), we got her on this small-scale wooden roller coaster. It was a little faster and the hills were a little steeper than even I was expecting, and she was definitely holding on tight! After it was over, I said, "Wow, Annie! You were so brave! Wasn't that fun?" Barely catching her breath, she replied, "Yeah! But it was a little bit scary!" She did not want to go on it again.

We stayed until the park closed. We were exhausted after a long day of playing hard!