Melissa and Daniel - Travel Adventures: December 2013

Yep I am there! I am going to catch up. I started this post in October..Yes I know! I rarely have time on the laptop that store the pictures (because D uses it for school) and when I do I am making training programs. It is frustrating but he is ALMOST DONE! You have no idea how excited we are!!!!

End of June and all of July we had several fun play-dates with our MOPS group at the splash park, park, play area, etc

Splash Park with MOPS

Our friends at MOPS playgroups. These two sweet guys were both a little shy with other kids and were more than happy to play Ring Around the Rosie when we visited the indoor play area.

One of our last play-dates...yes this one is out of order in Port A play area.

Anyway, the beginning of June it finally happened..Daniel and I were both sick and Wyatt was perfectly fine. We both thought we might not make it and poor Wyatt was such a good boy. He actually entertained himself almost the entire day. I did put on a movie and he would watch a few min and then go back to playing. He spent a lot of time playing in our bed and in the living room. This was one time when I was completely thankful to be living in such a small space! LOL!We got him a special treat (a truck) for being so good. He got to pick it out and everything!

The next weekend we were all feeling better so we decided to spend the day in Lake Charles with no real plans. I had heard from several MOPS moms that the Children’s museum was smaller than the one in Houston but I really wanted to check it out. We decided on lunch at Chick A Filet and then headed over to the museum. Wyatt LOVED it! We had a lot of fun as well. It is in an older 3 story building but has so much for even the younger kids to do. When you walked in a water table showing the concepts of damming, energy, and erosion was set up. Wyatt of course thought that was really neat, next we headed to the top floor for some air maze fun, bubbles, and much much more. He loved the spinning, cause and effect, cars, gravity, and so many more areas. We played in a boat, cooked, shopped in a store, were firemen, and rode on animals. Needless to say it was a great way to spend a hot rainy day. After we left the museum we decided to check out the boardwalk area of LC. It was impressive as well and even has a beach. We had a great family day checking out a new city.

Shrimping

Air Maze with mama

Father's Day weekend we made a trip to Dallas to see our friends. We stayed with Rebecca, Rob, and C. C had really grown. We even went over to the park by their house and got to see Cooper swing for the first time. We were able to have a fun playdate with R, R and C and Jill, Jason, and P! Oh my goodness it was so much fun! The boys were adorable!! But...we were so busy visiting and playing I didn't get one picture! :( I was so excited to see some of my bestest friends. It really is hard to see your friends when you travel, scheduling, planning, our location and even now that we all have kiddos that makes it more challenging! Thank you both R and J for making this happen. You have no idea how much it meant to me to have all 3 of our kids play together! I know J wasn't feeling well and she came anyway! Hugs!
We made plans for the guys to go play on father's day but they decided they would rather have family time. We ended up having a fun dinner at our favorite local wing place!

Coops first time to swing!!

Father's Day Love...

Then I turned 34! It is comical that I really thought I was turning 35 until just a few weeks before and Stefanie reminded me that I was only going to be 34! HA! I guess I am loosng my mind already! Stephanie was so sweet and took me to lunch at Lucy's a cute little café that we found in town. We had a great time visiting and of course celebrating with cake! Stefanie thank you so much for making my birthday so special . You are such a great friend!

Daniel was really sweet and took me to dinner. He surprised me with a photography class to learn more about shooting in the Raw. I am pretty excited to take it hopefully soon!

The next weekend we meet Stefanie and Paul for dinner at a fun local restaurant bar to celebrate both our birthdays! We knew at this point we would be transferring up to North Texas, but weren't sure of an actual leave date. It was so special to celebrate with such sweet friends. We love them and are so glad we were able to celebrate birthday fun!

Aunt Michelle called us mid August and said she was going to be in the area from PA for a visit. We first planned a trip to the zoo however, it was so hot we decided to hit the beach instead! Wyatt and I met her and the three little kids for a day of fun in the sun. We had a blast! The kids played and played, Michelle and I made several trips into the ocean to jump in the waves, and they were exhausted after 5+ hrs at the beach! We had a great day with our nieces and nephew and cousins! I am so glad we were able to meet you at the beach!!

The same week we went to a fun family swimming party for the MOPS group. It was nice to get all the families together and let the dads hang out!

We have had lots of fun afternoons..

Then the next week on my way to the gym with Wyatt about 45 min away this happens...

and ultimately resulted in this...

I was not a happy camper! It was over 100 degrees and I had to drive 25mph on the way back with the HEAT ON! Luckily I took it in stride learning from all the years of traveling and after a week at the dealership we were back in service.

. Good thing Hershey loves Wyatt!
The week of 4th of July Wyatt took swim lessons at Swim Club. He did really well and loved it! We were lucky that we knew several people in our class and it really made the lessons so much fun!

First Day..Lets GO!

During the week of lessons we made another trip to the Lake Charles Children's museum with several of our MOPS friends for a play-date. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast together! Wyatt had even more fun this trip as he had friends to guide him in the excitement. :)

We just happened to be at the museum on the same day they were opening a new reading nook so we participated in the opening ceremony. I am so glad we did because I was able to meet Ansleys Angles, get a very special book for Wyatt, and learn about an amazing family and organization!

4th of July fun! We had plans to go watch fireworks but decided someone was a little too tired. We instead had pizza and came home for Smores around the fire pit. Paul and Stefanie came over and were actually able to see the fireworks from the RV park...talk about everything working out! Someone really enjoyed his first Smore!

Trip to look at houses

We decided that since we would be transferring we should make a trip before the move to look at houses to get an idea of areas we might want to live. My parents actually met us in Dallas so they could watch Wyatt for us at my grandmothers house! We appreciated this so much! We looked at almost 12 houses and he would not have been able to handle that! Wyatt and I stayed in Dallas a few extra days to play and then met Daniel halfway when my parents headed down to Austin. Somebody had a lot of fun in Dallas!!!

(Yes..that is a boot. I had horrible turf toe this summer from training :( All better after several weeks in a boot!)

Then Wyatt turned 2 and mama got a little sad that he isn't a little baby anymore! LOL! I do love this age and I know that people say at every stage you will love something and not love other things. I agree that he changes literally every day and learns something new. It is fun and hard at the same time. Somethings get easier and somethings get harder! Stefanie brought him a cupcake a few days before his birthday because she had to go out of town. He loved it and it was really the first time he has eaten a cupcake! YUM!

Lucky little guy had two parties! We had one in Austin on his actual birthday the same weekend as Daniel's 20th high school reunion and one on the beach the next weekend.
We had a lot of fun with the Shellenberger's at the Pflugerville Class of 93 reunion. So much fun to see how the guys reacted to seeing people from the high school days! :) Yep..nervous! Thanks to my parents and Ben and Ann for watching Wyatt! We know he had a lot of fun playing with you!!!

We went over to Grammie house and someone ran all over her yard and loved it!

This boy was full on in a sprint when he saw his present from Nannie and PawPaw. A TRACTOOOR!!! So Happy!!

Sprinkler fun with Cousins at Uncle Ben's and Auntie Ann's!

The next day we had an amazing group of friends and family meet us at Waterloo Ice House for a fun get together. The restaurant was amazing for a kids party. They let us hang out as long as we wanted and go back and forth inside and outside and kept up with everything. We owe a hug thank you to everyone that helped us celebrate and made Wyatt's day so special. We love seeing everyone and hanging out!

The next week we had a fun library time one last time with our friends...

Then my wedding rings were stolen..starting the worst week ever!!! Da Da Dum..Yes I was horribly upset but, am over it now. I decided that since Daniel was able to get off work early one day we should head to the splash park so we headed down to Port A for an afternoon of fun!

We had an absolute blast playing then decided to head over to Chick-fil-A for dinner. I noticed when we had finished that I didn't have my rings on! We rushed back over to the splash park to see if we could find them but no such luck. Sad face! I spent a lot of time over the next few days gathering information for the police, going to pawn shops, and posting signs. Still no rings..but I do believe in KARMA!!!

The next weekend was our last one in Southeast TX. We decided we wanted to spend it on the beach with friends. The weather didn't completely cooperate which kept some people from being able to make it. We totally understood and had a fun time on the beach anyway! It was a nice relaxing day on the beach with friends. Perfect way to celebrate our time in SETX and the adventures of turning 2! Thank you so much to our friends we miss you all so much!!

We made the best of our last half week in SETX by playing in the field several times, going to our last summer library hour with our friends complete with a carnival roundup, and kept busy with forts while mama packed up before our move up north.

Last lunch with our friends

Before we knew it, everything was pack up and we were ready to roll out. Oh the journey we had no idea we were about to embark on. That fun is hopefully almost fixed..just took 5 months!