First Trip Without Kiddos

This past weekend Drew and I went on our first trip without the kids. We met up with some friends from his high school and rented a cabin on Toledo Bend. It was great getting to see everyone and reminisce. We took in some time relaxing on the lake, fishing, tubing, a lot of guitar hero in the evenings, and a few mean games of spoons! I was bleeding after the first "practice" round! AHHH, good times.

My mother kept the boys and this was my first time to go anywhere without them. The only time Mason has ever been away from me overnight was when I was in the hospital after having Ian. It was very bittersweet. I had a lot of fun but at the same time I was a nervous wreck worrying about them - not that I was worried Mom couldn't handle them, but I just worried how they would handle the situation. They were great! And as a side note, Mom informed me that our retarded dog can't swim!! While the fam played in the pool she got so worked up on the sidelines that she just bailed off into the deep end and totally freaked out. But apparently, she didn't learn anything and kept doing it. Goofy dog. Can you teach a dog to swim? Looks like we'll be getting her a new life jacket!

Pennsylvania

A couple of weeks ago the boys and I took a trip to Pennsylvania along with my mother, sister, Aunt Christy and her two children. We flew out of Houston directly to Philadelphia where we stayed the night and spent most of the next day.

That evening we did a night-time city tour of Philly aboard a double decker tour bus, and it was really great to see everything we normally wouldn't have gotten to see. It was very informative and a lot of fun as well. We did drive past Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell but it was too dark at that point to take pictures (plus we were driving very fast), and, unfortunately, we never made it back to the historic district. We stayed at the Embassy Suites in the Center City area and it was great because we were able to walk to Logan Square, Love Park, and The Franklin Institute, which is where we spent most of our day.

When we finished at the museum we loaded up the kiddos and headed to Hershey, PA. We did the Chocolate World tour, and I made the mistake of allowing Mason to have chocolate milk with his dinner. That combined with the snack size chocolate bar he got at the end of the chocolate tour kept him up until after midnight that first night. Needless to say, he now LOVES "chocwat." Who can blame him? It was everywhere. They left Kisses everytime they cleaned the room and just about every tour you went on passed out free chocolates. They even had chocolate BBQ sauce in the food court!

We had a great time. We spent two days at Hersheypark and rode all the rides and saw a few shows. We took a day to go to Strasburg and took an Amish buggy ride and rode the Historic Strasburg Railroad. It was a beautiful drive and trainride through Amish country. We spent time at Hershey Gardens and took in the Chocolate Museum where Jordan and I went to the chocolate lab to make our own chocolate bars and learn about the different places in the world cocoa bean are grown.

Mason and Ian were little troopers throughout the whole trip, although on our last day while visiting the museum Mason just laid down on the floor and fell asleep! It was a fabulous trip! And the best part, we all survived!

Philadelphia City Hall

Ben Franklin monument located inside The Franklin Institute

Strasburg Historic Railroad

Hershey Park had all the ride heights labeled by candies.

Mason could ride rides intended for Kisses and Miniatures.

We saw tons of candies walking around!

Rest in Peace

My cousin and I were talking this weekend about how most people think of grandfathers as the the sweet old man passing out Werther's originals, but our grandfather was the total opposite. Our grandfather was a gruff old man always ready with an insult for just about anybody that walked in through the door. He saw everything in black and white and made no apologies for anything he ever said or did, no matter how horribly offensive it might be. He died this past Wednesday at the age of 87.

Boyce Brown was a decorated World War II veteran. He fought with the US Army in the second wave on Omaha Beach in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. He was the kind of man that lied about his age to join the Army when he was just 15 (as I remember his story).
The kind of man that drove his motorcycle through the church doors to announce his return from the war. The kind of man that always had a story to tell. Maybe the disappointments he received in childhood and the devastation he witnessed during war times hardened him into the man that he became. As I child, I just remember that he always seemed so mad all the time, and he was mean as a snake.

The older I got the less time I spent with him. I only saw him a handful of times over the past 10 years. Maybe it was his failing health or his old age, but his demeanor had softened over the past few years. He wasn't as mean to me and he was even complimentary of my child. I'm racking my brain, and I don't believe that Ian ever even met him. I only took Mason over a couple of times. I wasn't close to him at all, but, oddly enough, I'm taking his death much harder than I ever thought I would. Maybe it's the guilt.

11 Months Old

It's hard to believe, but we have been in our Houston home for an entire year now! It's even harder to believe that Ian is 11 months old today! He is such the perfect baby. Drew and I do realize how truly blessed we've been to have two VERY laid back babies.

Ian is very chill, and usually will roll with the flow. He could be a competitive crawler - he gets around so quickly these days. He's also mastering the art of "cruising" along furniture. He hasn't exactly mustered up the courage to just let go yet, which is surprising considering that over the past couple of days he's turned into quite the climber. He's determined to climb up onto the fireplace hearth, the window sill, and Mason's little picnic table! And every time I redirect him, it just strengthens his will. We are very much into "monkey see, monkey do" these days in the Dyer household. Ian thinks he can do whatever Mason does and vice versa. One of Ian's favorite games is to drop his cup at the high chair or throw a toy over the baby gate and proclaim, "Uh-oh!" He's also saying "mama" and "dada" and "Deeeeeeeee" (whenever he sees Dixie). I'm interested to see what he calls Mason in the future.

Mason is a great big brother (most of the time). He's frequently giving Ian hugs and kisses (even when Ian protests), and he always tries to soothe him when he's upset. "It's okay, Ian Bug." "You're alright, Ian Baby." Sometimes Mason will just sit and stare at Ian for a while and he'll always say, "He is sooooo cute, Mama." Of course, he said that about the goats at the zoo, too. It's soooo sweet. There are those time when he warts him to death as well. For some reason he likes to try to crawl under Ian - through his legs while he's standing and it doesn't always work out well. Ian will take a tumble and everyone gets upset. Or just this morning Mason was trying to stick a set of toy keys down the back of Ian's onesie and Ian just wasn't having it, but that didn't deter Mason. There are days when I have to repetitively get onto him for playing rough, but I know that I'll be doing that for many years to come.

crazy hair

playing with vacuum cleaner attachments

such a big boy!

Memorial Day

Having some fun in the sun

Ian was having fun

Looking for airplanes while wearing Mom's sunglasses

Playing on his new swing set

Houston Zoo

A couple of weeks ago Drew had the week off from work. We spent most of that time getting some work done around the house but we did decide to take Wednesday off to go to the zoo. It was the boys' first visit to the Houston Zoo, and they really had a blast. The weather was great and it wasn't as crowded as we feared it might be. It was a great day. There were too many pictures to post so I just did a video slide show.