Care to take a guess?

Well, we found out at the doctor today what we are having. Take a look at this first pic and see if you can figure it out:


There is a white arrow in the middle (it looks more like a spot on here) that points to where you should look. You are looking at the rear end and the legs are wide open!

Well, if you haven't guessed....It's a girl!!!! You can tell by the absence of boy parts! Okay here are a couple more pics. I call this "skeletor" (we had a skeletor pic of B, too):



And here is one that the sonographer outlined her eyes and nose. You can also see her waving at you (the baby, not the sonographer!):



So Bethany is pretty happy to be getting a little sister. She's told us all along that she wanted the baby to be a girl. She was simply not interested in having a brother.

So that's it! No more suspense. And we can finally start saying "she" and "her" instead of "it". I hate the "it" stage. And when we decide for sure on a name, we can start calling her by her name.

----------------------
We plan on moving Bethany to a twin bed before the baby comes. She is currently in the day bed stage of her crib. So since we'll need the crib again, we'll be moving her to a twin. Bethany has the CUTEST curtains (made by Nahna) in her room, but they are really hard to match stuff to.



Well, a couple of weeks ago I saw these sheets at Target:



And I fell in love with them! Which is hard for me because I am really picky. So, even though we don't have a mattress yet, or the bed painted (it's Nathan's old bed, dark stain, I want to paint it white) I went ahead and bought them because I like them so much! Bethany likes them, too, it wasn't just me deciding! :) I plan on getting a solid color comforter (probably pink or purple) to go with it. We also need to paint her walls still. Again, hard to decide on a color with so many to choose from in the curtains.

I don't think I've made a post this long in quite awhile!

Don't get used to it. :)

"Dear God,..."

Bethany has been discovering the meaning of "missing" someone. It really started to become evident toward the end of our vacation when she started talking about people she missed. Today in the car she says, "I love God".
Me: God loves you, too.
B: Does Jesus love me, too?
M: Yes.
B: Oh. I miss God and Jesus.
M: Well, they're always with us, even though you can't see them. You can talk to them whenever you want.
B: Dear God, thank you for the trees and the car, and thank you for the street and the sticks that we pick up, and thank you for dresses that I can wear, and thank you for bugs that bite me (a child's understanding of Grace?), and thank you for fruit and thank you for making us. Amen.

This is the first prayer I've heard her say. I don't know if they ask the kids if they want to pray in Sunday School or not. We've asked her on occasion when we pray at dinner if she would like to say something and she always says no.

Then inside before we did naptime:
Dear God, thank you for our house that you made, and thank you for my frog (a stuffed animal) and thank you for Oscar (our cat) that you made and thank you for Miss Sharla and Michael J that you made. Amen.

*Sigh*

final picture set

The final round of pictures is up. Enjoy!

Amy's thoughts

I had a lot of random thoughts during this trip so to sum up everything, I thought I'd record them here.

Things I will eat when we get back (not necessarily in order):
-Chick-Fil-A (Sharla, Michael J??)
-popcorn
-red velvet soup at Cook's (Heather, Sharla??)
-a REAL breakfast ie. First Watch trifecta (Cissy??); shoot, I'd settle for IHOP or Perkins
-and I will drink LOTS of purified water (explanation on this in a minute)

Things I have learned from this trip:
-In the future, we will invest in REALLY GOOD luggage. The cobblestones all over the place ate up the wheels on our suitcase. (We also started noticing that many people here have like TIRES on their luggage AND their strollers!)
-I will never think that those rain covers for strollers are silly again. I always thought, "Why wouldn't you just stay home if it's raining?" That's the Floridian in me speaking. We can set our watch by the weather. We were in the rain so much here, I'm surprised B isn't coming home with a cold.
-Mineral water makes me nauseous. This would explain a lot about when I was feeling nauseous in my first trimester and I tried drinking Pellegrino, for instance, that it made me feel worse. All of the bottles of water here are mineral water and every time I drank water, I felt sick. Most cities, thankfully, had very good tap water and that was much better!
-Nathan is my hero. Most of the time, he was carrying a really heavy bag and pushing Bethany in the stroller just so I could keep up. Then, he sometimes would pick up the entire stroller (with B in it) to carry it up or down stairs (what else could we do?). All the while, being very patient with me, dealing with Bethany when I was too tired to do it. Dealing with me being hungry for REAL food all the time (this may not have been such a problem had I been not-pregnant). I love you, honey. This was a trip I will never forget. You did an amazing job planning everything for us to do and making it all happen. Let's promise not to groan at the credit card bill for at least two weeks when we get back! :)

I know that I'm forgetting some stuff here, but I'll have to add things as I remember them. Can't wait to be home and see you all and tell you of our adventures in person!

Day 21, Zurich (3)

Today was another Bethany day. We headed for the Zurich Zoo. It was a pretty nice zoo. Bethany had a great time running all over the place. It was good. She really needed to do that. Nathan is working on pictures right now so they'll be up soon. One of the highlights was the Tiger. We searched all over for him and never saw him. Then, on the way to another exhibit, we saw another viewing area and decided to see what was in it. Lo and behold, the tiger was there, laying in a pond! The best part was that the pond was right in front of the window so the tiger was very close! She saw all kinds of birds and snakes and fish (and tons of other stuff, of course). There was this cool exhibit of llamas and a big slide to come back down. Bethany thought that was cool.

Well, we head out in the morning. We'll be back late Monday night. This has been a good trip. I am exhausted, though. I don't think I could go one more day! See you all soon!

On another note...

I have started to feel the baby move! It started happening right around the 17-week mark (which was this past Tuesday). It will only be a few more weeks before we (hopefully!) can see what we're having. I get tired of calling it "It". Bethany asks me quite frequently, "Mommy, what's the baby saying?" I can't wait until we can start feeling "it" move from the outside. I think that will be really neat for her.

I decided today that if I had been any more pregnant when we started this trip that I would not have made it to the end here. I am getting so tired so quickly the last several days. Don't worry; we've been taking it slow and stopping whenever I need to. Luckily, there are plenty of places to sit in the churches and the museums usually have a chair or a bench in each room!

Day 20, Zurich (2)

Today we went to another cafe for breakfast. We decided that this one was even better than yesterday's. They had a "mini-breakfast" for 4.80 FR that included a croissant, slice of bread and jam and butter. Nathan and I both ordered it and I had planned on sharing my bread with Bethany. However, the waiter brought her a slice all her own! How nice! We also ordered a half liter of OJ. Now, OJ has not been great here (anywhere that we've been). But, I didn't feel like hot tea today so that's what we got to share. Turns out, it was a really good decision. They squeeze their own juice at this place! It was SOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!! We decided we'd eat there again tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow we were off to see the museums. We started at the Swiss History museum. They had a lot of religious art and we also spent some time in the money museum. They had a neat interactive display with a computer set up. You could type in the number of a coin in the display and it would come up on the screen with information about it. Bethany loved picking different ones. There was also an interesting exhibit on people with Swiss lineage who emigrated to the US.

After lunch we went to the art museum. This was a pretty neat museum. Thankfully, B finally fell asleep so Nathan and I were able to take our time inside. I still think that small art museums are more my style. I love feeling like I can get through the entire collection and still have time to do something else with my day.

Tomorrow we are going to the zoo! Shh, don't tell Bethany. She doesn't know yet. :)

Day 19, Zurich (1)

Today we got up and decided to look for breakfast outside of the hotel. This hotel doesn't have free breakfast like all but one other we've stayed at and they charge 15 FR. per person. I might feel differently about paying that much if I was used to eating a breakfast of cereal, bread, cold cuts and cheese. I think in the US you would get scrambled eggs, bacon and/or sausage, maybe a place to make waffles (or at least the frozen kind that you can put in a toaster). So we found a little place and each got something different to eat (still just breads and pastries, but we all ate for the price of one of us).

We headed into the city to check out a few churches. In between churches, we hopped a boat to cruise around Lake Zurich. We've been telling B practically the whole trip that we would take a boat ride and we finally did! It took about 1 1/2 hours but it was a lot of fun. We started out sitting outside but it didn't take long to realize that the sun was really intense! So we moved inside for the remainder of the trip. Good thing, too. Nathan and I are both pretty red today!

We found another one of those Manora restaurants. Yum. Another good dinner. We even got ice cream for dessert!

Bethany read us bedtime stories tonight. She insisted that it was a show and that we clap for her at the end of each book. It's amazing how quickly children can memorize books.

Day 18, Chur to Zurich

Today was our last day in Chur and then we were off to Zurich. We went to another small museum in town this morning (LOVING these small ones!). There was an exhibit of art by Geiger, which Nathan can go into more detail on. They had a great little place at the front of the museum for kids to sit and do art. Bethany loved this. She drew a flag (basically, horizontal stripes with one vertical one on the left, pretty good, I thought) and some rain.

Once we got to Zurich, B was out for almost 2 1/2 hours and so we just chilled in the room, watching more CNN. Now Nathan is out getting food to bring back up. I'm kind of looking forward to eating in rather than sitting in another restaurant with the B-meister. More tomorrow!

Day 13, Birthday!

07 July 2007

First we must say, "Happy Birthday to Bethany!" Our little girl turns 3 today and it seems as though she is acting older already. Well, at least until nap time! We were very impressed all through breakfast and during the trip to our next destination, Martigny. Then she got tired and started acting like her old self!

So here we are in Martigny. There is no internet at this hotel, so this will be a few days behind as well. Not much is planned for today. Bethany and I are resting while Nathan is out taking care of our reservations for the Glacier Express, which will take us to our next stop, Chur. Tomorrow we are going to visit some of the local museums, including the St. Bernard Museum. This is a new museum in town all about the history of raising the dogs and they even have some dogs there to see. We were going to take a train up to the place where they breed and train the dogs until we learned of this local museum. Now we can just stay and do this as well as the other museums.

Well, since I've taken so long to post this, you've already read all about what we did in Martigny. But I just wanted to make sure that this birthday message got on!

Day 17, Chur (2)

Today was a Bethany day. We found a place on the outskirts of town that is an animal park (I can't remember the actual name of it right now). The weirdest part was that everything was "do-it-yourself". To get in (it was 4 FR) you put in your money and out comes a token. You put your token in another machine (kind of like at a subway station) and the gate lets you in. We walked around looking at the animals and then we came upon a pretty good sized playground. Finally, a place for B to just run around! She spent a lot of time playing there. There was a really cool rappel line that she sat on and Daddy ran behind her (just in case). She loved it!

Next we came upon little bumper cars (again, self serve). B and Daddy went three times! Bethany told me she even drove it and "hit the side!".

We saw a few more animals and then we hit the snack bar for lunch. They serve hot dogs here in baguettes. Bethany has never like eating a got dog on a bun, but she likes pulling off the bread of these, eating the HD alone first, then the bread.

Next we went to the Nature Museum in town. There were tons of cut-out wooden cows (don't know how else to describe it) with tons of information about what they do for us as far as what we eat. (I'm assuming all of this because everything was in German and I don't think even Nathan read everything)

Next to all of the cows were stuffed animals of all kinds. They also had out different animal furs so you could compare what they felt like. Next floor was stuffed birds and lots of butterflies and bugs. Bethany has been a tad obsessed recently with stag beetles because of a book in the current rotation, The Grouchy Ladybug. Well, she found a whole display of them and was so excited! The top floor was all about rocks/minerals. Bethany likes rocks, too, so she also found this fascinating. One more stop downstairs to touch the furs again and we were ready to get back to the hotel.

Rest time for everybody. After B woke up she said, "What's next?" Daddy: "Well, do you have a plan?" "I'm ready to go." "Go where?" "To the next hotel." You can see she's gotten used to the routine!

Pictures are coming soon. Nathan has a couple of day's worth to get through.

Day 16, Chur (1)

Today we explored the old town of Chur. It's really a neat city. We visited a couple of churches (one evangelical, one cathollic). Then we walked around and looked in a few shops and then stopped for lunch. This turned out to be a bit of a problem. Lunch was really great. One of the best meals so far. Turns out, though, they don't accept credit cards! Nathan ended up having to go down the street to the ATM because we didn't have enough cash on us!

After lunch we came back and B and I took a nap while Daddy took our clothes to the laundry. Yeah! Clean clothes!

Here in Chur we've been enjoying simple dinners in our room while catching up on the day's news on CNN (ick). It's the only English channel!

Day 15, to Chur

Today we rode on a really neat train called the Glacier Express. They called it a panoramic train. The windows are really big and there are even windows on the top so you can see above you. The only drawback was that it has been pretty rainy and cloudy these days. So a lot of the view was blocked. :( On the other hand, it was absolutely beautiful, as you may have seen in the pictures.

The highlight (for me, anyway!) was lunch in the dining car. I had potato noodles in a cream sauce with mushrooms. I think that I already nominated a meal for the best since we've been here, but this may actually have been it. And it was cooked on a train! Nathan had a yummy piece of pork (which, twice, he has had with a side of garlic butter - he's declared he will always eat pork this way now). I've never seen these potato noodle things before, but I need to either find a way to make them, or find a store that sells them!

We made it into Chur (where it was really raining) and got to our hotel. It is a pretty neat place. More free WiFi! We pretty much just relaxed tonight and we'll head out tomorrow for more fun adventures!

Day 10, to Aigle, Switzerland

Today we left the lovely chalet that has been our home for almost a week and head to Aigle, Switzerland. We took a train called the Mont-Blanc Express. It was a neat little train. One of B's observations: "Look at ALL the Christmas trees!".

We arrived at our hotel in Aigle and we were greeted by a sweet dog, Max. He really loves people and Bethany loved seeing him everyday while we were there. We headed out around dinner time and found a little place to eat. Turns out, we arrived 15 minutes before dinner started. I've mentioned this before. We have had a hard time getting used to this part of the culture. I usually have dinner on the table between 5:30 and 6:00 at home (depending on level of hunger and/or when Nathan's last class ends) and it is just really hard to adapt to this. And, you don't actually EAT at 6:30. If you order at the start of dinner, then you don't get your food until about 7:00 and by the time you finish eating, get the check, it's past 8:00. Anyway, the food that we found was very good. There was a LOT of it, too. I thought we Americans were the only ones who did too-big portions!

Day 9, Annecy

Today, Renaud wanted all of us up early to go up to Annecy for a trip to Les Gorges du Fier. This was very cool. Bethany really enjoyed this. You can see from the pictures how amazing it is. Bethany had a lot of fun climbing the rocks once we got through the Gorges part. Renaud helped Bethany throw a coin to make a wish. She wished that she would be a princess. How cute.

We then made our way into Annecy for lunch. We ate at a really good pizza place. The woman serving us turned out to be a little snooty, but, what can you do. It was still really yummy. The street market was neat. Aunt Mary bought some yummy cherries. I don't think I've had better. We had some ice cream after lunch and, as usual, B got it on herself. But she was cute.

On to the castle! Renaud next took us to the Castle of Menthon. We had a nice guided tour and the castle was beautiful. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside. :( But Bethany later told us that her favorite room was the bedroom.

Renaud then took us the back way back to the chalet, through the mountains. I think we were all a little carsick afterward! Bethany, of course, slept the entire way home!

Day 8, Geneva

2 July 2007

Since booking hotels in Switzerland became such a task, we decided to make a day trip to Geneva as part of our France time. The drive into Geneva didn't take very long and it was nice. It was pretty rainy and chilly when we arrived, but after not too long the weather became pretty decent. Which was good, because we were going to be doing a lot of walking!

Our first stop was a Starbucks for some much needed caffeine for Daddy and some warm tea for Mommy. Then we were off to see the sites of the Reformation. It took quite a bit of effort to get up the hilly cobblestone roads but we made it! Before getting to the church we saw several things with Calvin's name on them: a street sign and a few memorial plaques. When we got to the Cathédrale St-Pierre the first thing that struck me was the difference between it and Notre Dame in Paris. There was virtually nothing inside. Then of course I remembered, "Duh, Amy", that it was part of the reformation that everything was stripped. We saw Calvin's chair and then Nathan and B headed up one of the towers to see the views. I'm sure you've seen these pictures already.

Next we headed down to see the Mur de la Réformation. It is in the middle of a beautiful park and the wall itself is impressive.

We made our way back to the center of town to grab lunch and head back to Combloux. Of course, as we were finishing lunch, it started to rain again. We waited as long as we could, then decided to just brave it and get back to the car!

When we got back to the chalet, we were exhausted! Tomorrow, Renaud wants us up early for a trip to Annecy!

Day 7, the day after

01 July 2007
The day after

Not much happened today! We were up around 8AM and even Uncle Pete and Aunt Mary were up between 9 and 10. Most everyone else slept until about noon. Well, they all stayed at the party until 4:30AM!

Around lunchtime some of Pammie and Renaud's friends came over and we had a nice lunch outside at the chalet. After that, we mostly hung around the chalet until about 4:00 when some of us went out just to get out for a while. We got a bite to eat and some ice cream and then headed back. Leftovers from the wedding for dinner. YUMMY!!!

Day 6, Wedding Day!

30 June 2007
Wedding Day!

This morning we got up and went for a walk. It was nice to just go a little slow today and not have the feelng like we have to get to a certain place. We went to the ceremony at the town hall around 4:00. All of the family and friends crammed into the little room to see Pamela and Renaud get married.

Some of us went back to the chalet afterward for a snack and a nap before heading to the reception. We were forewarned that wedding celebrations in France can go until 4 or 5 in the morning! We brought Bethany's bed with us and around 10PM she crashed in a corner. Nathan and I decided to head back around midnight. Now, I was never a "party-girl" and I don't know if growing up in a culture where it is normal to do this would have made me any different. But, other than church lock-ins and prom night, I have rarely stayed up that late. I don't know how people do it. It was a great party, with lots of great food. And you'll see in the pictures that everyone had a great time!

Congratulations, Pamela and Renaud!

Day 5, going to Combloux

Okay, still playing catch up. Bear with me on the next handful of posts.

29 June 2007
We arrived at the chalet in Combloux in the early evening. It was nice to see some familiar faces after travelling just the three of us for a while. It was also nice to be able to sit down with family and friends and tell jokes and stories!

Not much happened today. Just travelling and then a nice big dinner. I really needed that food! We ate a traditional meal for the area of France we were in called Raclette. Potatoes, cheese, meat...it was really good.

Tomorrow is the wedding day!

no WiFi love in Martigny

OK, so apparently I chose the hotel in Martigny without WiFi. I must have gotten it confused with the other place. The room is nice otherwise. So as I type this I am sitting in a McDonalds and eating a McFlurry (thought about espresso, but it's late). The 30 minutes here at the hotspot cost 7 francs, but hey, I gotta check email and get these pictures posted and let you know that we are alive.

Martigny is nice. It is really close to the St. Bernard Pass into Italy and therefore has a museum focused on the dogs who patrol the mountains above us. Had a lot of fun there today. We also visited a great art museum here in town. They were having a special exhibit on Marc Chagall right now. Good stuff. B especially liked the sculpture garden. She kept wanting her picture taken with the statues (not up yet, but soon).

Something the hotel also was without was laundry facilities. We could have paid piecemeal, but that would have been a fortune. Second problem was that every cleaners in town closed at noon Friday and does not re-open until Monday at noon. Apparently this is normal. So today's travel tip to check on local business practices when you are expecting to do laundry over a weekend in a foreign country. We eventually got a tip on a machine at the camp site on the edge of town. Quite a haul, but we now have enough clothes until Wednesday. Have to find something else quick in Chur! And we have a story to tell about hanging out at the camp site.

Oh, almost forgot the Roman amphitheater here. Have to wait as time is expiring! Pictures coming. Really cool.

OK they are done uploading now, so the first three days of Switzerland can now be found here. Tomorrow we head off on the Glacier Express to Chur. Should be quite spectacular!

Another castle, lots of hills

Today was our last day in Aigle and tomorrow we head back down to Martigny for a couple days. We've already pretty much decided that Nathan will take Bethany out to explore in Martigny tomorrow afternoon while I stay in and rest.

There is a little castle here in town called Chateau D'Aigle. Since the town is so small, we just walked to it. It was a neat little castle. Yesterday's was better, though. The Chateau D'Aigle is also part of a winery and they do wine tours and tastings there. So the castle isn't so much a look back at what it used to be as it is a museum of sorts of the vinyards in the area. That was fine. Bethany just didn't find it as cool. However, in the first room we entered, she made her way over to a "loophole" window. All of a sudden she says, "That's a bird's nest! And those are birds!". When I went over to see what exactly she was talking about, I saw the bird's nest and at least seven baby birds! They all started to stick their necks out and chirp. The mommy bird was out gathering food. We had to get Bethany to move back from the window because as the mommy bird tried to come to the nest, we think we were spooking her. When we moved back, she came right back and we got to watch her feed the babies. It was so neat!

After the castle we made our way down to the train station to head to Lausanne. We decided to go there instead of a town called Vevey because it looked like there was more to do. However, when we got there, we saw that all of the north/south streets were pretty much at a 45-degree angle! How exhausting! We made our way to the top of the town to see an old church. There was a small string ensemble rehearsing inside for an upcoming concert. Bethany liked listening to the music. Unfortunately, she was also enjoying running and eventually we had to take her outside because she wouldn't calm down.

We found a pretty cool place to eat. It was kind of cafeteria-style where you choose your food and then pay at a cash register then seat yourself. It was called Manora. It was really good. This saved us some time since we didn't have to wait to be served.

We decided to head back down toward the lake to see Parc Olympique and the Musée Olympique. It took FOREVER to get there, and again, all downhill at a 45-degree angle. We decided to find a bus to go back up when we were done. Today was finally a nice day, so we were able to really appreciate how beautiful the area around Lac Leman is. We headed into the Museum and it was pretty neat, nothing fantastic. They had a projection of a luge ride in one room and Bethany had fun sitting on the floor with Daddy pretending to ride. It was cute. B was also taken by the video of Katerina Witt ice skating. She just loved that. She also thought the skiing was neat. We'll have to get her to watch some of the Olympics next year (though I'll have to get her interested in the summer games - she should like the gymnastics, I think).

So afterward, we found the bus (hoorah!) so we didn't have to hike anymore. We couldn't believe how quickly we got back to the train station!

We told Bethany that her birthday is tomorrow. She's pretty excited.

Well, packing up again in the morning and looking forward to an uneventful day tomorrow. Nathan will probably write about what he and B do in the afternoon. I'll be sleeping (or something very close to it!).

Bonne Nuit!

What day am I on? Day 11?

Okay, well since the internet at the chalet was a little spotty and I didn't get to blog there, I am going to start and go backwards for a bit. I hope you don't mind. I think it will be easier for me to remember this way. I was going to start last night, but I fell asleep waiting for B to fall asleep and when I woke up at midnight, I decided that I would rather go back to sleep. :)

Today started a little slow. I have figured out that the day after a travel day I am just pooped. We started with breakfast downstairs (included) and then Nathan headed out to see if there was any place that was selling some warm clothes. There was no way to tell when we left what the weather would be like 2 weeks out. But since we've been here, it's been between 60 and 65 degrees everyday. And rainy. Anyways, having no luck, we decided to take the train to Montreux, which is a little bigger city, to try to shop and then go to the Castle Chillon. We found Bethany the cutest jacket right away. She looks adorable in it and she just loves it. Nathan also found a light-weight pullover thing that he can wear over his shirts and under his jacket if it's really cold. We then went to the Castle. It was great. It is a self-guided tour and everything is numbered. You get a guide to take along that explains what everything is. Bethany had so much fun running around. She really loved it.

We came back into Aigle for dinner and decided on a place called La Nonna. Wow! This place was great! (I know, not a great website, but what can you do?) When you come in, they bring you a drink. Nathan thinks it was like cognac or something. I guess to cleanse your palette? Anyway, then, our server brought Bethany a glass of orange juice. The whole time he speaks to her in French and she just stares at him. She is mesmerized by the language. We ordered a pizza to split and salad and milk for B. The salad was so yummy and when the server brought B's milk, it had a tall plastic giraffe in it! She is still playing with it! The pizza was delicious and then we ordered some ice cream. The server brought it out with great flair and presented it to us, complete with a little paper umbrella. Not to mention, all of the employees were on top of everything. Just by paying attention to us (particularly Bethany) and clearing dishes quickly. Everyone said good-bye as we left. (An aside, B just looked at me with the little umbrella on top of her head and said, "does it fit on me?" I said, "Not really". She replied, "No, definitely not!" Where does she get it?) The best part (in my opinion) is that is was big enough that people smoking did not bother us and we didn't come out smelling like smoke.

Well, okay, I think that's about it for today. Nathan may post some pictures later. Tomorrow I think we're off to another castle (in Aigle) then maybe the food museum or into Lausanne for sightseeing. It will probably depend on how long it takes us to get out of here tomorrow. Thing is, it's 10:20PM right now and B is just now going to bed. This is partially due to the fact that you can't eat dinner here until at least 6:30PM.

Okay, I'm going to take a short break before moving back to (I think) Day 10. Bon soir!

wedding pics added

Just a quick post to let you all know that pictures from the day of the wedding are now available. I know those in the family will be very interested in seeing these.

Connection in our room is a little spotty this morning. I had to come downstairs to post this. Amy or I will write more when we get back from today's activities. The WiFi in the rooms is supposed to be fixed then.

Pompidou and Notre Dame

Well, if you've looked at the pictures yet, you've seen what I'm going to talk about tonight.

We started at the Pompidou Center. Actually, outside it, at that fountain. Bethany really liked it a lot. The museum was amazing. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Louvre. But this was really awesome. I made it through all of the special exhibits fine, but once we got to part of the museum's permanent collection (which was our last stop), I couldn't walk anymore. My legs and back had had it, and if we were going to make it to the Notre Dame afterward, I had to sit down. So, I had a good 30-minute or so rest while Nathan and a sleeping Bethany perused the 5th floor.

Once we left, we thought we ought to stop for dinner. Not knowing what our options would be once we crossed over to the island, we decided to hit the Mickey D's just before the bridge. I know, we're in France and we ate at McDonald's? If you had eaten at that Universal Burger last night, you would have thought McDonald's sounded good, too. Plus, since it was getting a little late and we wanted something that we knew would be fast, we went for it. It was SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD. Okay, it was better than UB. (WAY better) Bethany had her first chicken mcnuggets in France! And she ate them ALL! Here comes the best part - the Happy Meal dessert is this stuff called Pommes-Potes. It's like applesauce (or whatever other fruit you get) only in a tube (pouch). It's a little more creamy, too. Since B and I both ordered a Happy Meal, she happily ate them both! We stopped on the way back here to get some at the grocery store! They are so great! Much more portable than our little applesauce cups. Oh - and - the Happy Meals here still come in boxes.

Okay, on to the important stuff. Notre Dame - amazing. I did think it was a little weird, though, to have tourists walking through while a mass was going on. Not only that, but to have those little "take a coin and turn it into a souvenir" machines in all corners of the church. Whatever, I won't judge. When the priest came out, I told Bethany that a priest was similar to what our Pastor Mike is. She said, "Pastor Mike is our Pastor!" I said, "Is he a good Pastor?" "Yeeaahh" (in that swoopy voice) was her reply. I really wish we could have explored the church a bit more, rather than being herded through around the inside perimeter. It was absolutely breathtaking, though, and the pictures do it zero justice.

We decided to take the bus back rather than the metro tonight, just to do something different and not haul B and the stroller up and down MORE stairs. It may have taken a bit longer, but we got to see some things we wouldn't have otherwise. And we got to witness the crazy drivers once more.

Well, Bethany is sleeping now and we're almost all packed to go down to Sallanches tomorrow. I told B that Stephen (Nathan's cousin) would be there and she said, "Stephen will be there????" Bethany became enchanted with him last summer. He's like the only male (other than Nathan and the grandfathers) that she has warmed up too so much. I don't know if it's because he's not as old as the other men in her life? Anyway, I think she's excited to see him. She also keeps asking if she's getting married here. We keep telling her that Pamela is getting married and she insists that SHE is. Well, who knows? Maybe one day she will get married here!

Okay, good night. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update next. Having free Wi-Fi is great, but we won't have that after today. So, I'll email more frequently to let you know when there is an update.

Bon soir!

day 3 pics

The next round of pictures is available here.

So much for sleeping in. B woke up at 7am. I think because she was hungry. Of course once we got downstairs, she would not eat anything. Finally settled on cheese.

I need to remember to tell you all the story about finding a potty for B in the Louvre. Right now, we need to get her out of the hotel because she is getting restless! More later.

Champs-Elysees and museums

First of all let me just say that the sun not going down until after 10PM has made it difficult to get Bethany to bed at a normal time. She has been sleeping until about 8:30AM.

Yesterday we headed out for the Champs-Elysées and the Arc du Triomphe. When we got off the metro we didn't know which way was what so we just started walking and soon realized that we were headed toward the Place de la Concorde and away from the Arc. No problem, we were going to see both anyway. We think that they must already be setting up for Bastille Day celebrations because the main sidewalk on the way was blocked off with chairs and bleacher seats. They diverted everyone to the gravel walk on the other side of the trees. That was fine, too, except it really messes with the stroller! We couldn't even get up to the basilisk because of the same reason, we think. So we took some pictures and headed back the other way.

We decided to stop for lunch before we got to the Arc. We stopped at a little pizza place and had some really good pizza! It had tomatoes, basil and big chunks of mozzarella. Man, it was good. Of course, Bethany decided that she needed to go potty while we were there. We were sitting outside so I had to go into the restaurant and the toilettes was on the 3rd floor! Not fun being 4 months pregnant and carrying a 3-year-old up 3 floors (a spiraling staircase, mind you)! After pizza we decided to splurge and get dessert. We got some ice cream (totally worth it even though it was about 60 degrees outside) and it was SOOO GOOOOOD! It's hard to describe. It had so much flavor. I think if ice cream in America had so much flavor, we wouldn't eat so much of it.

Then we continued to the Arc. We decided not to do the climb to the top because it was just too darn cold. But we walked around it and took lots of pictures and Bethany had fun walking through the underground tunnel to get to it.

We stopped a lot on the way back to the metro station to look at some shops. There are tons of arcades that go off of the main strip that have tons of little shops in them. We didn't even notice until we were right on top of them. I found a really beautiful pair of shoes that were only 800 Euro (in case you don't know the exchange rate off the top of your head, that's about $1100). Nathan told me we could totally write off the purchase if they were for work! :)

When we got back we napped a bit and then went to the café next door for dinner. It was really good!!! I got this salad with big tomato slices, herbed chicken, apple slices and raisins. I'm not entirely sure what the dressing was but it was so good. Nathan had basically a kabob with chicken and peppers and it came with rice. He really enjoyed it. They made Bethany some plain penne noodles with butter but she didn't even want that. No problem - I had it for a midnight snack.

Today we headed for the Musée Marmatton that has a great collection of Monet paintings which his son bequeathed to the museum. It was a great little museum. It was nice to just be in a small museum and know that you can take your time because there aren't 7 million things to see.

After the museum we let Bethany loose in a little park across the street. She had a great time on the playground with the other kids. Then we headed for the metro to go to the Louvre (a little bigger than the Marmottan). That place is humongous. There is no way to put into words how big this place is. We saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. And we went into a room that had "princess crowns". That was B's favorite. We had a really good lunch in the museum cafeteria before we started our tour. Bethany fell asleep in the Mona Lisa room and slept for a little more than an hour. That was good because it allowed Nathan and me to really look around without her whining.

For dinner we checked out a food court that was just to the outside of the museum. We decided on the burger place. Nathan and I both agreed that it was the worst meal we had ever eaten. However, Bethany ate all 4 of her chicken nuggets! That is the best that she's eaten since we left the U.S.! I guess we couldn't complain too much. What made it even more surprising is that the only chicken nuggets she will eat are Chick-fil-A (which, as I mentioned before, she has asked about several times). Yesterday, when we were getting ready to leave to get dinner she asked, "Are we going to Moe's?" Have we damaged this child?

I think that about sums everything up. I'll leave the picture posting to Nate since he did such a fine job last time. :) Looks like we'll be in bed late again tomorrow morning. Bethany just fell asleep after an hour and a half. It is 11:15 here. Well, good night everyone!

no sleep, so pics

Well this evening we ate a lovely dinner in the cafe attached to our hotel. Although the menus look a bit pricey around town, we have learned that prices include tax and gratuity. So no hidden fees!

Anyway, after dinner B and I went for a walk while Amy took a shower and break. When we returned, we cleaned up and got in bed. I crashed around 9pm and slept until Amy finally felt tired and laid down after midnight. Then I was wide awake (of course).

So in an effort to get tired again, I set up the picture site. You can find them here. It worked; they're now done and so am I. Back to bed. I'll let her describe the day more when she gets up.

One last thing: today was our wedding anniversary. It has been eight wonderful years! She has no idea I am typing this now, so I'll just take the opportunity to publicly say, "I love you! Now and forever. God truly blessed me when he gave me you... And I hope that shopping and sight-seeing in Paris with our daughter was a good present. It is a day I will not soon forget." :)

Some details from yesterday

The trip started very well. Bethany was great from Orlando to Houston. She was so cute eating her pretzels and watching "Finding Nemo". When we got to Houston and got our stroller, they had completely popped off the canopy! We went to a Continental Customer Service desk and told them what happened, that we just needed a screwdriver and could get it back on. They were of no help. We realized as we were walking to our gate that we had been in this airport (and terminal!) before when we were returning to Hawaii after Nathan's interview at Stetson. And after speaking to the customer service person, we realized that we had asked them about something back then and they were of no help. What are they there for?

Anyway, we finally found a jewelry stand and asked the woman working if she had a screwdriver. She did, and we fixed the stroller. We got some dinner and got on the plane about 6:00.

Bethany had a little more difficult time this flight. It was hard for her to fall asleep with all of the lights on in the airplane. Then, just as we thought we could get her to try to sleep, they served us dinner! We had no idea they were going to do this. I figured on breakfast, but with a 6:30 flight, I didn't expect dinner. Anyway, Bethany didn't want any of it (surprise) and she couldn't even eat a roll because it was as hard as a rock! After dinner (it was about 10:00, I think) they turned off all the lights and Nathan read about 8 books to Bethany and then she totally zonked out! Nathan fell asleep, too, but I have an awful time sleeping on planes. I think I slept for about 30 minutes and then woke up from the infant 4 rows up screaming. Then about midnight, Bethany woke up screaming. I think she was just trying to turn over (hard to do in a seat) and was frustrated. We took her out and laid her across us and she zonked out again. This was difficult for me as I felt the need to empty my bladder at least once an hour! At one point, I could do nothing but stand up for about 30 minutes because my arm was so tired from not having a place to put it (B's head was in my lap). After that, I asked Nathan to turn her around so I could put down my arm. I slept for about another 15 minutes and that was it for me.

They turned all the lights back on for breakfast and so Bethany (though it seemed she wanted to) could not go back to sleep. She didn't want anything to eat or drink and was just cranky. I don't remember how, but I finally convinced her to get back in her seat and she played with her little Noah's Ark magnet board. She played with that until we landed at about 11:00.

We couldn't believe how cramped the baggage area was! Being so used to the gigantic Orlando airport it was weird that getting off the plane, through customs and to baggage was so close! And the baggage area was really small. It was hard to just stay out of the way while Nathan went to get our suitcase. We then went outside to catch a taxi. I think we waited in line for about 20 minutes. The line was really long! It then took about an hour to get to our hotel. And let me just say, people drive terribly here! Bethany fell asleep in the car, and I really wanted to!

The owner of the hotel is very nice. He gave Bethany a little Eiffel Tower keychain and she didn't want to let go of it the rest of the day! We found CNN on the TV (the only English Channel - and it's like British/European CNN so not much American news, but it was background noise that we could understand!) and I fell asleep while Nathan and Bethany cleaned up. After about 30 minutes I woke up and showered and we headed out to the Eiffel Tower. It took a good 30 minutes to walk there including stopping to take pictures. We then waited in line for an hour to get to the ticket counter and go in. Bethany was great! We went up and it was VERY WINDY and VERY COLD!!! We only went to the second level as it was another 30 minute wait for the lift to the third level. We took some pictures, got some food, bought a magnet for myself and then came down. B was getting cranky and I think both of us were, too.

On the way back it was SO COLD! I knew that it was not going to be warm here, but the wind made it so much worse. Bethany and I at least had a sweater. Nathan was so thankful for being off the hot airplane that he did not take one. B tucked her head in the stroller and said, "It's too cold!" She then fell asleep for the entire walk back. We put her in the bed when we got back and covered her up and she did not move for about an hour. Nathan went out to buy something she would eat and we woke her up for some yogurt and milk. She threw a fit over the milk because she'd been asking for juice all afternoon and we promised her some and now still did not have it. We put on some warmer clothes (It was about 8:00PM now) and asked downstairs if there was a bigger market nearby. There was, and it closes at 8:30. We booked it down there and got B some juice along with some fruit and water, and then she was very happy when we got back.

I think we all laid down to sleep for good about 10:00. B woke up about 12 saying her tummy was growling. She ate 2 crackers, went potty and then fell back asleep. I expected her to do that a couple more times, but here it is, 8:12AM, and she is still out. I would be too, if it weren't for my stuffy pregnant nose. I couldn't breathe anymore! Oh well, I got to do this!

So I think that's about it. I have no idea what we're doing today past breakfast but we'll let you know! Hope everyone is well back home. We miss you all and we miss America (Bethany was asking for Chick-Fil-A all day yesterday)! Talk to you again soon.

Au revoir!

We made it!

Well, we're here! I'm not going to write much right now because je suis très fatigué!!!! It is now a little after 7:30PM and we just returned from the Eiffel Tower. We took a bunch of pictures but we will post them later, when we are not so fatigué. Bethany is konked out on the bed right now and Nathan went to try to find a little store to get some fruit. I'll sit down and give you all the gory details of the trip a little later. Right now, I'm going to lay down!

3 days to go!

Well, we leave for France in just 3 days! I can't believe that it's here already. It seems like we've been planning forever and it seemed so far off and now here it is! I haven't packed ANYTHING yet, is that bad?

If you were around during our Toronto trip last summer you know that we kept a daily blog of what we were doing since we couldn't call anyone. Well, we're going to do that again this time. Only it probably won't be daily since we'll be gone for 3 weeks! But keep checking in if you want an update on what we're doing.

Okay, I think that's it. Say a prayer for safe (and sane) travel and for safety while we're there. And keep checking back for updates and pictures!

testy

I am doing a demo of RSS feeds for my parents. ignore because I will be deleting it later.

new pictures!

Sorry, I know it's been forever. I realized when I looked at my camera the other day and it had pictures from MARCH. So there are new pics on "at home" and "out and about" on the website.

Enjoy!

...and a player to be named later...

So if you'd read the sub-heading of my blog title you may have wondered, "What does that mean?". Well, this is what it means:



That's Bethany's little brother or sister! I thought I would be due right after Thanksgiving, but the ultrasound measured 3 weeks smaller!! Ugh! So now we're due in the middle of December. A C-section will be scheduled sometime within 7 days of the due date. I'll have another ultrasound in a few months and we'll get a better idea at that time. I'm sure it's pretty hard to tell when you're talking about something that's 3/4 of an inch long! And, I'm pretty sure about my calendar, so we'll see.

We'll keep you posted!

Hunny

I left Bethany at the table to finish up her yogurt tonight while I went to start the bathwater. When I came back, she had put down her spoon and had yogurt all over her hand. I said, "What are you doing??" She answered, "I'm eating hunny!"

Curse you, Pooh.

conversation in the car

In the car this morning, Bethany out of the blue asked, "Where is Ruby and Aunt Dayna?" (Ruby is Aunt Dayna's little dog).

I said, "They're at home, in Arkansas."
"Arkansas?"
"Yeah, Arkansas."
"Oh, Arkansas. That's what I thought."

Too funny. And I HAVE to get a map for her!

Preschool

Well, we went out this week to visit some preschools in town since we've decided to send Bethany next year. Thankfully, our decision wasn't very difficult. Bethany even joined the class at this particular school in an activity they were doing. And the teacher spent some time telling us about the curriculum the school uses, activities they do and she showed me around the 3-yr-old area. She was really nice and Bethany liked her right away. The classroom wasn't very big, but it wasn't cluttered, either. So starting August 20, my little girl will be off to school! Bethany is very excited. She wanted to stay at the school yesterday when we went back to register her! She'll be going 3 days a week (MWF) for 3 1/2 hours. I am so excited about this, too. I can't wait to see how she'll do!

funny sign

A Progressive Insurance billboard at our I-4 exit (which is one exit before you get all the way to Daytona:

"Welcome Bikers.
Everyone else, it's not too late to turn back."

Ha Ha! It's so true!

Unbelievable

Read this:
Boston woman sues for child-rearing costs after failed abortion

I feel really sorry for this woman's daughter.

Phonics lessons

Bethany has been playing teacher lately. A couple of weeks ago, after helping her pronounce a word correctly by emphasizing the beginning sound, she started...

"Can you say, 'Duh, Duck'?"

"Duh, Duck"

"That's correct!"

She continued with Lion, Snake, Tiger, then this...

"Can you say, 'Nnn, Nemo'?"

"Nnn, Nemo"

"That's correct! Can you say, 'Nnn, Nemo's Dad'?"

Then we just had to bust out laughing.

tornadoes

Well, I've talked to just about everyone, but just for posterity's sake...

We survived this round of tornadoes. I was surprised to learn this weekend that Florida is actually 2nd in the country for number of tornadoes!

About a half a mile from our house there is some pretty significant damage. Power lines and trees down, a couple of houses (they are pretty far apart in that area) with part of their roofs missing. We got really lucky. I woke up about 3:30 Friday morning from the storm and heard this terrifying wind. It didn't sound like the "freight train" sound like most people describe, just really strong, loud, long wind. It was pretty scary.

But we're okay, thanks be to God.

more singing

The other day Bethany started singing the ABC song, but then transitioned into another:

"A-B-C-D-E-F-G,
How I wonder what you are?"

I think it is so great that she realizes that it's the same song!

Then the next day as we were getting ready to brush her teeth she starts with this:

"Up Up Up Up in the sky,
See the stars go Twinkle, Twinkle"

Not sure where the tune came from. It's not anything I've heard before.

She continues to amaze us with her singing and composition!

it's time to rake

Prior to her nap, I told B that we would finish raking the yard when she got up. She responded, "No, I wanna rake now."

She and I really do have a good time working together in the yard. Having her out there helps me pass the time. She has her own toy shovel and rake that she will actually use to help out (although sporadically).

Well, Amy just went to get B up from her nap. As soon as she opened the door B declared, "I'm ready to rake now."

i want...

...an iPhone. Check it out. If anyone wants to help me attain this goal with a financial contribution, please contact me.

Oh!

This is one of Bethany's favorite sayings right now. Whenever we "explain" something to her, she says, "Oh!" (but with that swoopy inflection)

Today she put on a dress up dress and told me she was dressed "just like uh angel". So I took a picture of my angel:



Then she went and a horrific nap today. Why does it always seem to happen when mommy isn't feeling 100%?

oscar

My crazy cat...he normally likes to sleep in the rocker in Bethany's room, but lately has taken to actually jumping into her crip to sleep. See?

i love...

the Dollar Spot at Target! Has anyone ever bought stuff out of there? I find the cutest little things for Bethany. Recently I bought some child plates, utensils, a little sport bottle and princess shoes! And during different holidays they always have little decorations or holiday-related gifts. It is so great. I've also noticed, though, that other store are starting to have a little "dollar section". Even when I was in Walgreens today they had one.

Copy-cats.

new stuff

We recently bought a digital piano which arrived not too long before Christmas. It is so great. Bethany loves it, too. Check out some pics.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone brought in the new year the way you wanted. Nathan and I spent our new year's eve re-painting the dining room. I'll take a picture and post it later. I think you'll like it better. I know we do. It makes everything look bigger.

Today we're FINALLY putting the baseboards back up. You may recall about a year ago when we had to replace all of our floors due to our shower leaking. We took off the damaged base boards then decided that since we had to redo the floors we might as well take off the rest in the kitchen/dining room and family room since it would be easier to do that to put down the flooring. Well today is the big day! We got them all painted a couple of weeks ago and Nathan's dad is here with his handy-dandy nail gun to help put them back on! We really know how to stretch out a project, don't we???

our schools

This is ridiculous: School accuses 5-year-old of sex harassment

My daughter is almost 2 1/2. I need to start looking into where to send her in a couple of years.

Lost and Found

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we lost Bethany's Polly Pocket doll. We looked everywhere. The poor people in the toddler nursery at church even took everything apart TWICE because we thought she had left it there.

Yesterday after her nap, she got up and played for a few minutes then said, "Where's Ears?" (Ears is a beanie that she got in the NICU after she was born. He's her sleeping buddy and goes almost everywhere she does)

I said, "I don't know, did you leave him in your bed?"
B: "I throwed him out!"
Me: "Where?"
B: "On the floor!" (duh, mom)
Me: "Well let's look behind the bed. There he is!"

After I picked him up I saw her. Bethany had "throwed" Ears right on top of her. It was Polly Pocket!

I said, "Bethany, guess who is back here?"
B: "Ears was!"
Me: "Who have we been looking for?" I pull her out...
B: "POLLY POCKET!!!!" Begins doing a jumping dance and giggling like crazy!

The rest of the afternoon she didn't let her go. Bethany took her in the bath, took her to bed, and had her this morning when she woke up. I don't think we'll lose Polly Pocket again any time soon!

Sad Saxophone

Nathan had Bethany in the car a few days ago. The radio was on 107.7, playing 24/7 Christmas music. Kenny G (barf) came on. Bethany says to Nathan, "What instrument is that, Dada?" "That's a saxophone". Bethany replies, "That's a SAD Saxophone!"

Yes, it is.

New songs

Bethany now makes up complete songs. They're pretty disjointed, but they are completely original. She used to just make up words for tunes she already new. Now I catch her singing original compositions. Words and music. I don't think she's ready to publish or anything, but she's well on her way! :)

Safety Patrol

As we're pulling out of the mall parking lot the other day Bethany says to me, "Mama, you forgot your belt!" I hadn't put on my seat belt yet.

It's beginning...

...to look a lot like Christmas! I started putting stuff out for Christmas today. The first thing Bethany said when she saw the tree was, "I LOVE it!" She then helped me put up some ornaments. I put out her little toy nativity and she's in her room playing with it right now. I also found a mini tree (about 8" tall) WITH lights (!) at Target for $2.50! It was in the dollar spot. So that is in her room, too. I saw some pretty cute mini tree ornaments at Big Lots so I'll probably go get a few for her to decorate her tree. We found some window clings that are SUPER cute at Target. Bethany put those on the sliding glass door in the dining room. It looks really cute. I love how excited she gets. I'll have a few pictures up soon of her helping decorate.

Calling me back

Okay, this will take a bit of back story. Bethany has been watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse lately. Ever since her first trip to Disney in August, she has been obsessed! (Aside: what is so cute is that she has the same enthusiasm about going into the Disney Store!) Anyway, there is an episode where Pluto is running a race and he gets distracted by a butterfly and goes off the course. Mickey has to use a whistle to call Pluto back. Bethany has a little play medical kit that has a device like the thing the doctor uses to look in your ears. Well, B has discovered that if she sucks air through the toy, it makes a whistle sound. So she likes to whistle through it and call Oscar or me or Ears. Sometimes when we play outside she asks me or Nathan to "call her back". And when we say, "Come back Bethany" she says, "You have to whistle!"

Tonight, Nathan's mom was babysitting while I was at work (Nathan is in New Orleans this week). Judy told me when I got home that she wanted to take that toy to bed with her so she could call me back. :( She said B whistled through it for a while then quieted down. Well, about 30 minutes after I got home we heard the whistle! I guess she heard my voice and woke up to call me back! So I went in and she said, "Hi, Mommy". I said hi and gave her a hug and a kiss. I said, "I'm home now so you can put that down" and she promptly put it down in her bed. Then she laid back down and went to sleep! How cute is she?

PS - there are some new pics up and an updated wish list page.

our little conversationalist

So we've been going to a church here in DeLand for about 2 months and we're still new enough that there are workers in the toddler nursery that haven't seen Bethany yet. Yesterday was one of those days.

When we went to pick up Bethany after church I spoke to Ashley, one of the workers, for a few minutes. She started off by saying how cute Bethany is. Then she said since she hadn't met Bethany before that she introduced herself. This is her explanation of how the conversation went:

A: Hi, my name is Ashley.
B: I'm Bethany and (pointing to her new friend) this is Sophia and I'm two (holds up two fingers).
A: Wow, you're very well spoken!
B: That's because I'm a princess!

Yes, she is (despite any attempt on our part to avoid it!).

holy cow!

Check this out!

Pelican and Pigeon

SmokinMini

Well, my 7-year-old grape iMac finally bit the dust. It was sad. But, it was good to us. The downside was that we had to spend money on a new computer. Once we got the new one though we forgot all about the hit to our bank account. We bought a Mac mini. It is smokin'. New computers seem even faster when you wait 7 years between purchases! And it's so little. It's very cute. It's also very quiet. For the last few months my old computer had a capacitor that was singing. it was not pleasant to ones' ears. It does so many cool things. It comes with a remote that can call up my iPhoto, iTunes, etc and I don't have to be sitting at my computer to go through pictures or music. I can select one of my photo albums in iPhoto and turn it into a slide show right there. So cool. I am very happy. :)

Pictures, yay!

I am FINALLY posting some new pics. So sorry for the delay. There are new pictures in "at home" and I'll be updating more today. For now, enjoy these! Click on the picture to view the whole album.

dinner song

Tonight waiting for dinner, Bethany made up a new song. Sung to the tune of Frere Jacques, the words are:


I love pizza
I love pizza
I love you
I love you

I love pizza
I love pizza
I love you
I love you


Of course as soon as she decided that she would rather have a banana, she substituted this for pizza.

Her life is a musical and we're just living in it.

A month?!?!

SO SORRY!!! And I guess I didn't get a chance to blog anymore before going to SAI-Land!

Well, swimming lessons are over. Bethany had her last day (in clothes) on Tuesday. And NO, she wasn't thrown in. The way our instructor did it was to hold her up on the deck of the pool and help her "fall" in. The instructor is in the pool. So nothing really traumatic. And Bethany did great. On Monday, she was even just swimming and coming up for air! It was so funny! What they teach them is to swim a bit, turn over and float, then turn back over and swim again. She can do this, but on Monday she (twice!) was swimming, came up for a breath, and kept going! It was amazing!

As I said previously, Bethany's life is a musical. She makes up songs about EVERYTHING! The other day, Bethany was eating pretzel sticks and had one in each had and was drumming them on the table. Only she wasn't just plain drumming. She would do them to the right, then to the left. I looked at Nathan and said, "Maybe she'll play the timpani". A minute later Bethany looked up and said, "I'm playin' the timpani", and continued drumming. She gets so excited when she hears music. Many times if we're in a store that plays muzac, she will find the speaker on the ceiling and say, "there's the 'usic!" (she always leaves off the "M" so it sounds like "yousic"). Today I went into a music shop to buy some clarinet reeds and my mom helped Bethany play a little set of bongos. When I came over to them she said, "I'm playing yousic!" So amazing.

Bethany is very into (against my wishes) the color pink and princesses. I do not know where this came from. Nathan and I always said that if we had a girl we would not own many pink clothes or stress "girly" things. But, it never fails. If I hold up two outfits and one is pink, she ALWAYS picks the pink one. And now that she has a couple of dress-up outfits, she puts them on and says, "I'm princess Bethany". Oh, well. At least it's cute, right?

So I have lots of pictures and stuff that need to go up. Hopefully Nathan can find some time to get on here and blog about SeaWorld. And I'll blog some later about our Disney trip, too. Until then!

"Bethany - the Musical"

I haven't quite figured out B's personality completely yet (I mean, she just turned 2), but from what I can tell so far, she will be a performer. She's already very comfortable with a microphone and everything she does she turns into a song. For example, we were outside this afternoon and she got some mosquito bites. When we came in I asked her if I could put alcohol on them. She proceeded to walk around the house singing a made-up song about alcohol. She just kept singing the word different pitches, different lengths, different rhythms...she is so amazing. Of course, Nathan and I aren't sure if it's a good thing for her to be singing about alcohol right now! :)

She sings about everything - socks, shoes, food. And when she's not making up a song, she's singing another one. This morning we awoke to a serenade of "Jesus loves the little children". Other new songs in her repertoire are: God Bless America, God is so Good, Bingo, Rain Rain Go Away, and a variety of songs from Little Einsteins and JoJo. Once our chaotic life settles down, we'll do some more recordings.

The other day I put B's hair up in a single ponytail. It was so cute. I put this little bow clip by the hair tie so it looked like her hair was tied with a bow. And, of course, she had some wisps of hair around her face that didn't go back. At one point I looked at her and it was as if I was looking in a mirror. I got a flash of one of my dance portraits of when I was 6 or 7. It was an odd feeling. I've always thought she looked a bit like me, but that was weird!

I'll write some more tomorrow before I hit SAI-land on Wednesday!

Swimming Lessons

On Tuesday, Bethany started her swim lessons. Now, these are not your typical swim lessons. The organization is Infant Swimming Resource. It's more training for survival in the water. So, if she were to fall in a pool when no one is around, she should know how to either roll over and float or get to the wall or the steps. It's a little difficult for me to watch, but she really is learning. She's only had three lessons. The lesson only lasts 10 minutes but the whole time she's screaming, "MAMA! MAMA!" which totally breaks my heart. But she does what Miss Becky tells her and she's learning that when Miss Becky lets her go, she better grab that wall! So I sit there with tears of anguish and pride at the same time. It's a weird feeling!

We were in Grandma's pool yesterday and she asked me to swim to the steps. Now, I kept my hand on her a little bit so it wouldn't scare her the same way it does with Miss Becky. I want to make sure she doesn't end up being scared of swimming all together. This was Miss Becky's idea. Anyway, she swam to the steps several times. Her head would be slightly under every time. Then she would "jump" off the step to me. It was really more like stepping off to me. But each time I would inch backward so she was "swimming" a little more each time. She seemed to enjoy it!

The funny thing is, as much as she screams in the water, everyday when we've left she's said, "I have fun Miss Becky". So, she doesn't object to going back. She just starts screaming as soon as we hand her to Miss Becky. Oh, well. I'm sure she'll get over it eventually. This can't go on for a full 5 weeks, right?

pictures up

Okay, here are the pictures from the birthday bash. Enjoy!

Birthday and other stuff

Wow. I am still incredibly exhausted. What a big weekend.

Bethany turned 2 on Friday. When did that happen? Anyways, we opened some presents that morning and Daddy fixed pancakes, to which B replied, "I LOVE pancakes!" We gave B a new bathing suit, some sidewalk chalk, and a new Polly Pocket. We lost the other one somewhere. We think in Lowes.

Saturday was crazy. We had about 25 people over for B's birthday party. Thank goodness we had good weather. I don't know where we would have put all those people inside! Bethany got a lot of great stuff - books, a DVD, clothes, puzzles, a slide for the back yard, dress up clothes, a little plush JoJo, a JoJo car, and a play kitchen (along with a ton of stuff to go IN the kitchen). She was thrilled with everything she got. She carries that silly car EVERYWHERE! And she loves putting on her apron and chef's hat and cooking in the kitchen. She baked me some cookies today. She has spent a good 30 minutes on the slide at least 2 days since Saturday. She just had a great time. Nathan cooked on the grill, everyone ate, the kids played. I made B's cake and someone told her to go and say to me, "That was a good cake, Mama!", which of course she did.

That night, we were completely wiped.

Monday morning was B's 2-year check up. Now, I'd been telling her for a couple of days that we would be seeing Dr. Bell. She was getting very excited. Last time we saw Dr. Bell she was excited beforehand, but VERY unhappy while we were there. So she's playing very nicely in the waiting room when we get called back. We go in, get her undressed for the weigh-in (make your guess now, I'll tell you in a minute) and height measure. The nurse is great with her (we've had her before), takes her temp, measures her head. Bethany is fine through all of this. The nurse gives us a book while we wait and then Dr. Bell comes in.

B: "Hi, Dr. Bell!"
DB: "Well, hello Bethany, how are you?"
DB: (Checks her with the stethoscope)"You are very wiggly!"
DB: "Can I look in your ears?"
B: "Yes"
DB: (Takes the ear thing off, so just the light thing is being used)
B: (Proceeds to open her mouth without being asked)
DB: "Thank you! Can you go like this?" (sticks out tongue)
B: (does so)
DB: "Okay Bethany, I'm going to check your tummy now" (lays her down and does)
DB: "Okay can I see you walk now?" (PICKS HER UP and puts her on the floor)
B: (without protest, walks to the door and BACK TO DR. BELL!)

Then I ask my questions, we talk a bit and then B says, "Bye Dr. Bell!"

I am in shock. Not one fuss, tear, whine, NOTHING!

As I'm getting her dressed (the Dr. is gone) she looks up at me and says, "I have fun Dr. Bell!" Great! Let's do it again!

We go out to the desk, she gets her stickers and we go out the door to the waiting area. She proceeds to the little picnic table in the waiting room. I say, "Come on B, we have to go." She responds, "I have to see Dr. Bell!" This had everyone in the room busting out laughing. I had to walk over and grab her hand to get her to leave! I said, "You just saw Dr. Bell. We have to go now." Luckily, she didn't protest further but I couldn't believe it! She talked about Dr. Bell the rest of the day.

I'll have some pics up from her birthday in a bit. Check her website for them.

BTW - Bethany is 23.5 lbs, 33.5 inches tall. For those wondering, that's 10th percentile for weight, 40th percentile for height. We've got a petite one here.

Socks on hands

Bethany has been putting her socks on her hands lately. I don't know why. This morning she had them on and we had a BIG battle to get them off to eat breakfast. She was very unhappy that we took them off. She screamed a LOT. So we excused her from the table since she was screaming. She finally returned to the table but would only eat sitting in one of the dining room chairs, not in her high chair. That was fine. She was fine at lunch, no problems. She was pretty tired this morning. We had rehearsal at church last night and didn't get home (or to sleep) until after 9:30. So she was just generally cranky anyway. But she has played very well all day. When I got home from running errands Bethany was listening to one of her CD's and dancing in the living room. She is so darn cute.

This is for Matt

Meaning, my friend's hubby, Matt, just complained on his blog that no one has been doing their blogging lately. So here's one for you, Matt.

I can't believe that Bethany is about to turn 2. We spent over an hour at Sears today having pictures taken. Some of them came out beautifully. We'll get them back in a few weeks. I can't wait!

I've been meaning to write down some of my favorite things that she says. One of my all time faves is, "Mup here ina bed!" Translation: "Come up here in the bed", when she wants to get in our bed. And, of course, I can't think of anything else while I'm sitting here at the computer. I'll try to be better about that.

B is so excited about her birthday party. She can tell you how old she'll be and what kind of birthday party she'll have ("Jojo party!"). Then when you ask her what we'll have to eat she says, "Cake?". Then, when asked, she'll sing "Happy Birthday" but includes, "...dear Mommy...". I tell her, "No, it's your birthday so we'll sing 'dear Bethany'". "NO!! DEAR MOMMY!" Ok, no more arguing about that!

She is still a very picky eater. We've tried several games/tricks to get her to eat, but she's just too smart for that. We're running out of ideas because one trick lasts just over 24 hours. After that, it's no good anymore.

Well, Matt. I hope that satisfied you a little. I'll try to write some on my other blog, too.

Toronto 2006

Here it is! Our first major family vacation (Not counting the 10-month trip to Hawaii). Check back daily for more fun updates!

Day Zero
Today we packed up and went to stay at a hotel by the Orlando airport. Our flight leaves at 8 AM so we didn't want to have to drive all the way from DeLand. It was an okay hotel. Nothing fantastic, as we were only staying there to sleep. The first thing Bethany went to was the round end table which she immediately called a drum and started banging on it.

We went to Chipotle for dinner. We hadn't eaten there in a while. Ever since we found Moe's and they've been popping up everywhere, we've only been eating there (for mexican, anyway). So we found a Chipotle and it was great! The kid's quesadilla was only $.75! And, they have beef, so I could get beef tacos. And since I ordered them off the kid's menu, I was able to only get two, instead of four. Very spicy, but very good. Nathan's burrito was gigantic. Bigger than Moe's. When we left Bethany said, "Bye Moe's!" Now that we've gotten her to say "Moe's" and not "Lowes" or "Toes" or "Cloe's" we go to Chipotle (which she couldn't quite get) and she calls it "Moe's". Oh, well. When we came back from eating we pulled into the parking spot outside our room and Bethany said, "We're home!"

At one point Bethany found Nathan's socks and put them on. She called them her boots. Now if you know Noggin and Laurie Berkner you know the song, "Boots". So B starts walking (stomping) around saying, "B-O-O-T-S, Boots!" Then when the socks wouldn't stay up on her, she totally freaked out. I found a pair of her socks and called them boots. She let me put them on her and she proceeded to repeat the stomping and singing in her own socks.

Getting her to bed wasn't too terrible. We put her down about 8:30 and she laid quietly but didn't actually go to sleep until about 9:30. That's pretty good though, since she's used to being in her own room by herself. Up at 5 tomorrow!

Day One
Up at 5 was not easy! We pretty much got everything packed up and in the car before having to wake up Bethany. We just have so much stuff! When we did get her up the first thing she did was wiggle her feet and say, "My boots, Mama."

So we get to the airport and we go to check in. The lady checking us in asked us if we were checking Bethany's car seat.

Nathan: "No, she has her own seat so we need it for her".
Lady: "No, I don't think so."
N: "Don't we need to put her in a car seat on the plane?"
L: "I don't think you do."

So we stand there for a few minutes trying to decide if we want to run it back to the car.

L: "Well won't you need it once you get there?"
N: "No, we're only using public transportation. Well, I'll just run it back to the car then."
L: "You don't have time to run anything back to a car, you have to go through security. There are long lines."

So we decide not to change our plans on a whim like that and decide not only to bring it, but to use it on the plane. It will probably keep her seated better than just sitting in the plane seat anyway.

When we get to security, the lines are nothing. When we get to the actual walk-through there are no plastic bins at the table. I see a woman on the other side of the detectors and tell her this. She says, "He'll get whatever you need". "He" was dealing with an elderly woman, examining her medical bag because she's convinced that none of it is safe to go through the X-ray. Meanwhile, an increasingly louder chorus of huffs and grumbles is coming from behind us. Keep in mind that we have three carry-ons (one of which has Nate's computer in it), a 2-year old, a stroller and all the jewelry and shoes that we have on. We finally get the bins and are putting stuff in them when a man comes from behind us somewhere, throws his bag on the conveyor and walks through the detector! Unbelievable! After we get through, Nathan tells me that the lady behind him tried to cut in front and walk through CARRYING her bags! I couldn't believe it. I wanted to tell some people they could go in front of us, but there were no bins and half of our stuff had already gone through. Rudeness.

Bethany was great on the plane. She started off kicking the seat in front of her and I told her right away (and just loud enough for the man in the seat to hear) not to do that. And she did pretty well. As soon as she would start to kick, I would tell her again, and she would stop. THEN, once we were in the air the man COMPLETELY reclined his seat. Now B is in her car seat so she's a little higher up and further forward than a normal person. So the top of his seat was about 8 inches from her face. Nathan leaned over and said, "Well, if she starts kicking again, just let her." I had thought the same thing! She kept saying, "I'm in the hey-pane!" Then she recited the dialogue from Little Einsteins when they blast off. It was pretty cute. During the flight she read some books, played with her Pooh figures and then watched Winnie-the-Pooh on our portable DVD player (best invention EVER!).

When we arrived we tried to find the shuttle that goes to different hotels downtown. We knew there wasn't one that went to our hotel but it went a few blocks over so we thought we could just take that one and then walk. Well, the shuttle costs $30 EACH round-trip. A flat rate taxi only costs $46 one-way and it would take us right to our hotel. We're glad we made that decision. We don't know how long we would have waited for that shuttle, either.

We went to eat lunch as soon as we got here. Luckily there is a restaurant in the hotel that's kind of like a Bennigan's or Friday's. It was good. We went walking around the city after that, just to check things out. Nothing else really exciting happened. We were really tired. B went right down and I fell asleep waiting for her to fall asleep. Nathan and I were out by 10. More tomorrow!

Day Two
Bethany woke us up a little after seven. We all slept really well. Today was gross. It was overcast and sprinkling. We decided to try to go down to Harbourfront, a shopping and dining district on the harbour (duh). Well, since you take the subway then a street car (which also is mostly underground down in that area) all the way down there, we had no idea what the weather was doing. When we came out onto the street it was POURING! We found our way into one of the shopping centers. There were a couple of neat shops that we went into. We bought Bethany a little Canadian flag. When she saw it in the store she said, "My little flag!", so for two bucks we bought it. We then tried to go down to the international market but halfway there decided it was just raining too much so we booked it back to the first shopping center. There was a small natural foods store (similar to Whole Foods) and we picked up some food and stuff to bring back to the hotel.

Today was the day Nathan had to go up to the Royal Ontario Museum for the panel discussion he was participating in. So I put B down for a nap and hung out in here (and blogged a ton) while she slept. I thought after she woke up we could go to the pool before eating dinner. When I called down to ask about getting towels the lady at the desk told me it was closed because they were painting, but to try in a couple of hours. I called back at five and this time a man told me it would most likely be closed all weekend. What?!?!? So I decided to just take Bethany on a walk around the hotel since it was still pouring outside. We stopped on the second floor (where the pool is located) and lo and behold there is nothing happening in the pool. Granted, no one was in there swimming, either, but there was certainly no painting being done. I go back down to the front desk and I say to the woman,

"Is the pool closed or not closed?"

She replies, "It's closed."

Me: "Well I was just down there and no one is in there and there are no signs or anything saying it's closed."

Her: "I just found out it's closed because they're painting."

So we came back to the room and hung out. I heated up my leftovers from last night and we ate. Bethany started getting very frustrated so we go on another walk. I decide to just see one more time. If no one is in there, we're going swimming. it's now six. Would you believe when we go in there, there is a family of SIX swimming in the pool? I went over to the mother and said,

"Were you not told the pool was closed?"

Lady: "No, why?"

Me: "I asked three times about the pool and everyone told me it was closed for painting." (I'm realizing at this point that it doesn't look like there is ANYTHING paintable in this room)

Man: "Well, we just checked in and I asked if there was a pool. They said yes and gave us a bunch of pool towels".

Me: "I can't believe it. Well, we'll be back".

When we get back to the room, Nathan has just arrived so I explain all of this to him and we all go down to the pool. I didn't want to complain to the front desk as I didn't want to take the chance of someone getting in trouble. But I'll say something in the next couple of days. Four girls even came in after we went in. So obviously, they weren't told it was closed. Anyway, we had lots of fun and then came back and went right to sleep.

Day Three
Today was a big day. We went to the Toronto Zoo. It was a long subway/bus ride out there. Bethany was very excited about the train and the bus. The Toronto Zoo is very large. We didn't even have time to see it all. The most amazing part was the Canadian animal section. We had to basically hike (it was all paved, though) down a gigantic hill WAY on the outermost part of the zoo. It is a 1.5 km walk. We saw grizzly bears, moose, bison, and others there. We also saw the usual zoo fare - giraffes, zebras, lions, tigers, etc. Bethany had so much fun. She named everything she saw. The best part, I think, was the polar bear. We got to them just before the keeper was to come out and talk. I guess people knew that she would have food and the polar bear would get up. So there was a HUGE crowd around the exhibit. Well, we decided to go to the underwater viewing since we figured once he's up, he may go for a swim. Well, he did. Bethany had a front row seat for the polar bear. As he swam by she said, "That's a big polar bear!!" What was really great was hearing the stampede of people up top come running down! I looked back at Nathan and he mouthed, "Just stay there" to me. We hit the gift shop on the way out and what does Bethany want? The cute little stuffed lion or elephant or giraffe? No. She wants one of those silly monkeys with the velcro feet. Ugh. Oh, well. That's what she wanted. Once she saw him she wasn't interested in anything else. He's starting to grow on me.

We went straight from the zoo to the house of someone met at the conference he attended recently in Minneapolis. He and his wife and two kids live in this great neighborhood called Bedford Park. They recently renovated a house and it was really cool. They had us over for dinner and we sat outside for drinks and appetizers and then came back in for dinner. We then played out front for a bit before going back in for dessert. We had a lot of interesting conversations, comparing Canadian life to American life. It was nice to do that instead of just keeping to ourselves all week and doing only "touristy" stuff. Bethany fell asleep on the way back to the subway and didn't wake up until Nathan went to put her in the bed. I mean, not even as we carried the stroller up and down subway steps. She was pooped. So are mom and dad.

Tomorrow - Niagara Falls! Should have some great pics tomorrow night!

Day Four
Wow. What an absolutely amazing day. It didn't look like it was going to be very good for Bethany, though. She woke up terribly upset and we kept asking different things that might be wrong. "Are you sleepy?" "Does your tummy hurt?" "Do you want to lay down with Mommy and Daddy?" All of those questions she just cried through. When we finally asked, "Are you hungry?" "YES!", was the reply. Okay. We had some Cheerios. She just screamed at them and pushed them away. She finally said, "Want some...waffles?" Ah, that was it. She has enjoyed the waffles at the free breakfast in the mornings. So we hurriedly dressed her and went down and got some WAFFLES!

Now we had planned on taking the 10 AM train from Union Station into Niagara. But, since Bethany woke up at 6:30, we thought we'd try to make the 8:30 train. We made it with 15 minutes to spare. Getting through Union Station was no easy task, however. Since it was 8 AM all of the commuters were rushing through and it seemed as if we were the only ones going the other direction. Then, we could find no elevators to get to the proper levels. So I'm carrying Bethany and Nathan is carrying the stroller and we're pushing through crowds and going up and down stairs. We finally made it and Bethany was so excited to go on the train. She did pretty well. It is a two-hour trip down to Niagara and it was a great ride. I would highly recommend it. We discussed looking into other places we could take a train to for future vacations.

When we got to Niagara, we then had to catch the Falls Shuttle. It takes you right down to the river front. You would not believe the insanity down there. It's like a cross between Las Vegas and CityWalk at Universal. We decided to check out a pizza place for lunch which our Rough Guide Toronto recommended. It was supposed to be worth the trip through the insanity to get to it. Well, apparently we went to the wrong one. The guide book recommended "Big Anthony's Pizza" and another restaurant called, "Remington's at Montana". They are right next to each other. Well when we got to the street where we were supposed to turn I could see "Montana's" and a pizza place (couldn't see the name but I knew they were supposed to be next door). We realized the similarity after we ordered our pizza. I said, "We were supposed to go to Big Anthony's. What happened?" Didn't matter. It was still good pizza.

We walked back down to the river and boarded the "Maid of the Mist". It is a boat that takes you on the river right into the middle of "Horseshoe Falls". It was so amazing. I started to cry. It was so overwhelming to be under the power of the waterfall. And then Bethany starts singing, "God is so good". I couldn't help it, tears just came to my eyes and I said, "He sure is, Bethany". She was so cute. She kept saying, "I'm getting wet!" If you look at the pics (scroll down to see the link) you'll see these cool ponchos they gave us to wear. It was funny seeing the other boats go out with all this blue on them. After our boat ride we walked down to the Rock House where the main gift shop and big lookout platform is overlooking the Horseshoe Falls. We took bunches of pictures so take a look.

We then started to walk back toward the shuttle stop but took a break in the park for Bethany to run around. Nathan took some great pictures of that, too.

Then, we came back to the hotel. Bethany made some friends on the train.

Tomorrow we're heading out to the Toronto Islands. Mainly for some fun run-around time for B. She's been couped up in the stroller a bunch. She deserves some time to run around. We're in a bit earlier tonight, so hopefully we'll get a little more sleep tonight. Enjoy the pictures!!!

Day Five
We were so exhausted from yesterday. Bethany slept a little later, but was still cranky from being tired and hungry. So what did we do? Of course, we went and got her waffle.

Today we went to the Toronto Islands. It was so neat. It was nice to just spend the day walking around enjoying the outdoors. We were also able to let Bethany out and run around. There was even a maze to go through. Bethany loved it, though according to her (and I'm not kidding here) it was "a dark, spooky forest". I can't wait to figure out where she got that!

We came back pretty early so we spent some time in the pool. Nathan and I both took a turn in the hot tub as our muscles have about had it. I was so stiff when I woke up this morning.

Tomorrow we're going to the CN Tower. We should get some pretty good pictures from that. Nighty-night!

Day Six
Okay, day six, finally! Sorry to keep you waiting (if you were waiting). Today we went to the CN Tower. We actually really enjoyed the trip there. We took the subway to Union Station and from Union Station down to the Rogers Centre there is this huge Skywalk. It's basically a tunnel that runs above the street for pedestrians. But it's really big.

The "big tall building" (Bethany says) was cool. Bethany enjoyed the "elegator" ride up to the top. It was neat looking out at all the places we had been. We also found the glass floor. It was basically a section of the observation deck that was windows on the floor. I forget exactly how many, but they said it could hold like four hippos or something like that. Bethany was very cautious (as was everyone else) about stepping on it. It was a very weird feeling. But once she got the hang of it she kept walking back and forth. Each time she got to one end she would say, "I made it!". You can see what I'm talking about here.

We had lunch in the cafe and saw the coolest emergency exit signs. So hysterical.

After going back to the hotel we checked out and got all our luggage stored downstairs. We then went for one more walk through the city. We visited an old church in downtown that was just beautiful inside. There's a huge park around it and people were just hanging out all around the church.

Then we headed back to the hotel for dinner. And then decided to rent a car. This would make getting me and Bethany to the airport much easier and then Nathan could drive himself to his conference location. It is really difficult to travel alone with a toddler. I was fortunate enough that the man at the check in desk helped me back to customs (Nathan wasn't allowed). But, he just left me there in line. I had our HUGE suitcase, Bethany in her stroller, and Bethany's car seat. I got through customs and then took a nice leisurely walk to check my bag. Once I got rid of that it was a little easier to strap the seat to the stroller and push it all together. After getting through security, of course.

Then we waited. The lady at the gate counter was nice enough to change our row so we would have three seats together to spread out. B was great again on the plane. She didn't sleep, though. But, she fell asleep on Nahna's shoulder while waiting for Papa to bring the car around.

Well, it was a great trip. I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures. I enjoyed recording them like this. It's a nice alternative to scrapbooking!

toronto pictures

You can access pictures here:
http://www.lowkeydigitalstudio.com/temp/torontopics/
We'll add more as we take them and find time to post.

new job!

Well, on Friday I interviewed for and was offered the position of Concert Hall Manager at Stetson. This is a perfect job for me for several reasons. I will only have to be out of the house during the evenings and weekends. It involves music. I can do the organizational part of the job from home. I will be responsible for organizing the work study students who are supposed to work as stage crew or sound crew and making sure they do their jobs. It is a part-time job and the pay is very good. It is actually pretty comparable to the hourly wage of a school teacher. The job is a 10-month position as I can only do my job if something is going on at school! It really has worked out nicely. I'm really excited about it.

sad news

Yesterday morning one of my favorite teachers died. Ken Rogier was the band director at Union Park Middle School. I joined band in 6th grade at Union Park. Mr. Rogier was a great teacher. I can honestly say that if any one person was the influence for me going into music education, it was Mr. Rogier. He had a very gentle way about him. He wasn't one of those crazy band directors. He was patient and helpful. Mr. Rogier was interested in his students. He always made himself available for help or to make progress in our exercise books. That is the kind of teacher I aspire to be.

We'll miss you, Mr. Rogier.

little guys converse

In the last week and a half, Bethany has started projecting conversations onto her toys. By this I mean, she will speak for them and create audible exchanges between two characters without herself being part of the dialogue. Prior to this she would have some role, but I guess she no longer finds this necessary. Subtle, but I took note of it.

For example, tonight in the bath dolphin and fish were talking...

Dolphin: "How are you?"

Fish:"I'm Good."

D: "Wanna swim?"

F: "OK."

Both dive below the water and re-emerge.

D: "You're a good swimmer."

F: "Thank you. Bye-Bye now."

D: "Bye-bye now."

It's a little tough to be sure who said what though; she doesn't modulate her voice between characters. Give her time.

Hello?

This morning I was on the computer and Bethany came in the office. She picked up the mouse, gave it a good look underneath, held it up to her ear and said, "Hi!" Then she put it down and said, "It's not working", and left the room! She is such a hoot!