More of the Girls Getaway!

I was up early yet again today.  I think God is getting me ready for the new baby, 4 1/2 more weeks.  I woke up many times to use the bathroom, but I was up at 4:30 a.m. because I couldn't sleep.  I miss my bed, but I'm having so much fun with the girls.  Luckily I was only up for an hour and then I was able to go to sleep for 2 more hours.  When we were all up we got ready and went Denny's for breakfast.  I'm not a big fun of Denny's, but it was close.  After Denny's the girls wanted to shop at a thrift store.  After that we decided to go to the Carousel District of Mansfield.  It is a cute little part of the city where there are shops and stuff.  We went into an antique store and looked around. 

We saw this cute Carousel Place.

Racheal and Jen at the second thrift store, the one in the Carousel District

Then we went to a cute ice cream parlor for some ice cream, and I tried a new flavor, Superman.  It was really good. 

After ice cream we walked around some more.  My friends, minus me, all wanted to get a tattoo, but unfortunately the tattoo parlor had no openings until Tuesday.  I was hoping they could get a tattoo because I wanted to get pictures of them while they were getting the tattoos.  Oh well.  After we hit the town it was back to the hotel for some hot tub and pool time.  Of course I just sat near the hot tub.  My friends were disappointed because the hot tub was not very hot.  

After the hot tub time, we had a fun and delicious steak dinner at the restaurant in the hotel.  And the dinner was free for us.  The hot tub was falling apart.  My friends found 2 parts of a light cover and a screw at the bottom of the hot tub, and then they noticed a hole in the side of the hot tub where the light cover was supposed to be.  One of my friends complained to the hotel staff and told them it was unsafe.  Because of that they offered us a free dinner at the hotel restaurant. 

Racheal, me, and Jen at dinner

Jen and I

Now we are relaxing and talking in our hotel room.  We have had some deep conversations this weekend.  Tomorrow we head back home in the afternoon.  I am having a great time, but I do miss my husband and my baby boy Zander.  I can't wait to see them tomorrow afternoon. 

Travel Day for Girls Getaway

Today I headed to Ohio for one last getaway before the baby comes. It is a girl's getaway. Racheal and Jen are 2 of my best friends, and Mimi is one of Jen's friends from high school that we have all gotten to know. We all decided to meet in Mansfield, Ohio for a weekend of fun! I think we all needed this time to get away and relax. I drove by myself to Mansfield. Originally Racheal and Mimi were going to drive with me because we live near each other. Jen moved to Pennsylvania in August, so she was going to drive from Pennsylvania. We chose Mansfield, Ohio because it was half way for all of us. At the last minute Jen wasn't able to drive because her and her husband are down to one car. Racheal and Mimi decided to leave on Wednesday afternoon to pick up Jen. They stayed with Jen and her family until this morning and then they headed to Ohio. I am not a big fan of driving. Usually my husband drives. I am also not a big fan of road trips by myself. I listened to a lot of praise music, and I really enjoyed that. I had to stop every hour to walk around since I am 35 weeks pregnant. I wanted to make sure I didn't get any blood clots. It took about 4 hours and 45 minutes to get there. But it is great to be around some of my best friends, and to tonight we had dinner at Cheddars. No pictures though because my camera battery needed to be charged. I felt bad, my husband had to work late and my mom and dad watched Zander. It was a very long day for my mom and dad, because I dropped Zander off at their house at 9:30 a.m. and Brian didn't pick him up until 11:30 p.m. I felt soooo bad, Brian has never worked that late.

When Mommy was at work today...

...this is what Zander was doing with Daddy.

Our Photo Shoot pictures

This morning Zander and I met up with Jennifer at Dunkin Donuts.  My family had a photo shoot on Sunday with Jennifer at Deep River Park, the place where we got married.  We took Zander's 18 month pictures, family pictures, and a few maternity pictures.  So today we met with Jennifer Thill to order our pictures.  Jennifer did an amazing job.  If you need a photographer and live in the Northwestern Indiana area, check out Jennifer.  She does amazing work.  We love the photos she took.  Here are just some of what she took.  Just click on Jennifer's name and it will take you to her website. 

What a day

This is what our day looked like.

A 2 1/2 hour trip with a crying and screaming 1 year old.

Watching my nephew, Tyler, play in his flag football game.

Watching him pass the ball.

Watching him run with the ball.

Going to the Johnny Appleseed Festival in Fort Wayne, with my family and with my brother Ryan, his wife Cindy, and my wonderful nieces and nephew

Watching Zander with his daddy, he loved being on his daddy's shoulders

Hoping my husband could navigate through the festival with Zander covering his eyes.

Watching Zander play with his cousins

And loving the slide

And having Zander's daddy catch him at the bottom of the slide

Meeting my cousin's baby boy, Luke Robert for the first time

Holding the precious little boy and thinking in 6 1/2 weeks or less I will be holding one of my own precious little infant

Andy, my cousin's husband, with his new baby boy Luke

Luke Robert Oberlin was born on Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 1:40 p.m. to Marci and Andy Oberlin and has a big brother, Michael. Luke weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. What a cutie. Congratulations Marci and Andy!

And then I spent another 2 1/2 hours in a car with a screaming and crying 1 year old. For some reason, Zander hated the drive to and from Fort Wayne. He usually does well in cars, even long drives, and falls asleep, but not today. After 1 1/2 hours, I decided to sit in the back seat of the car with Zander and see if that helped. It did not. After a while, I started rubbing Zander's leg, and that seemed to calm him down. He finally fell asleep for the last 20 minutes of our trip to Fort Wayne. On our way home he did not fall asleep at all. He loved when I rubbed his leg, and when I would stop he would take my hand and put it back on his leg so I would continue. I just love my little boy, even when he cries and screams.

Beach Day, Our Labor Day

We left Indianapolis today and headed home. On the way home we stopped at the beach. Zander has never been to the beach before, and I was really excited to take him to the beach. It turned out to be a cloudy and semi chilly day. It was supposed to be 81 degrees outside, but it sure didn't feel like it. It was windy. Zander still enjoyed the beach. He loves water and he loves playing in sandboxes, so I knew he would love the beach.

Zander taking his first steps into Lake Michigan!

After the beach we met my parents, my Auntie Ree and Uncle Den, and my cousin Den and his wife Danielle at Aurelio's Pizza for dinner. Den and Danielle are in town from Virginia and we had a short but nice visit.

Indianapolis Children's Musuem

Zander and I tagged along to Indianapolis with my husband, Brian, this weekend. For his birthday he wanted to go to the drag races, so we made a weekend out of it. Brian attended drag racing all day today so Zander and I went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. Zander had a blast. It was fun watching him have such a great time.

Focused on riding the motorcycle. He has his racing shirt on in honor of where his dad was today.

And this will be the closest he gets to a motorcycle for many, many years.

Enjoying the water part.

They had a play house with dolls, furniture, a kitchen, and other stuff. Zander went in there for one second, grabbed a doll, and headed out of the house with the doll.

He even gave the doll kisses.

He carried that doll around for quite a while.

He even rode the Carousel for the first time ever.

Zander had cheetos for lunch, and would sign please when he wanted another one, so he had cheetos all over the top of his shirt. I am very happy he is signing again. So far it is just more and please, but I am going to work on other signs.

By the end of the day we were both exhausted. We picked up Brian at the races and then stopped at Fazoli's for dinner. I love Fazoli's and I wish they were in our area. They used to be, but closed down. Brian had a good time watching drag racing. He can't wait to go back tomorrow. Today he went by himself, but tomorrow he is going with one of his bosses from his work.