In "The Lou" Part II

So I'm finally posting about the rest of our trip in St. Louis. Here it goes:

My sister Rachel, my mom and I braved Six Flags with a 2 year old. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be although we didn't even make it to the kiddy rides the first time we went. We spent most of our time in the water park area where Owen loved the lazy river more than anything - that's my boy. He went down the little slide over and over and over again thanks to a girl who was helping all the little ones but he was NOT fond of any waterfalls. Every time he saw one all he would say is "no, no, no, no" until we were past it. He doesn't like to get splashed either. He's a boy - you would think he would like the splashing but apparently not. One ride we did make it to outside the water area was the Colossus (huge Ferris wheel). Owen loved it.

We had a wedding July 26, Erica and Brian. It was in the same church Shaun and I got married in so it brought back some great memories. The reception was fun and Owen had a blast. He was out on the dance floor the whole time we was there, except for the little break to eat - you have to refuel.

We just hung out the rest of the time. Visiting people and taking it easy. It was a long trip especially since we were away from Shaun so long. But we reconnected with him before we left. He was in a friends wedding the first weekend in August, so he flew in Aug. 1 and we came home together Aug. 3. It was a fun trip but I don't think we will be spending that much time apart anymore.

In "The Lou" : Part I

Just a little (or not quite so little) update since Owen and I have been in St. Louis. We flew in July 1 for the 4th of July and decided to stay the whole month. Between the El Paso heat (100+ degrees), Shaun working late hours, and friends being out of town, Owen and I were going crazy. So here we are. Okay - the break down:

July 3-6 we went to The Lake of the Ozarks with a few Wilds, Wards, and Neckermanns. Went swimming in the pool, fishing in the lake, rode on Greg's boat (friend of Shaun's from high school), shopping (awesome outlet mall), and saw the fireworks. Oh, and we fed the ducks. A LOT. Fun, fun, fun.

July 6 went to my uncle Denis' house for a pool party. My cousin John (on my mom's side) and his family came into town from Oklahoma so we had a little Niederhoffer family reunion. Owen loves his little cousin Bobby.

July 6 evening-9 Owen had a fever so we just had some down time. He then developed a rash July 10 that lasted a few days so we're pretty sure he had Roseola. Something that most little ones get by the age 3. Who knew. My poor baby. First fever he's ever had.

July 7 went to see the big trucks at grandma Wild's work. Loved them but didn't want to touch them. Fever had subsided because of Motrin but we thought it was gone gone.

July 9 went to the St. Louis Mills playarea with grandma Wild where my little boy wore himself out. Then later that evening we met up with his papa, aunt Angel, and uncle Tim at Playtime Party Center where he wore himself out again. (Didn't have my camera)

July 10 we went out to a private lake that my cousin and his family were staying at and hung out with more family and watched my grandpa Niederhoffer fish. Owen had fun with all the kids. Then we met up with Owen's nana, aunt Rachel, uncle Ben and future aunt Kristine for a little birthday celebration dinner. That's when I decided NO more going out to eat with Owen. EVER! I love my son but not in a restaurant.

July 11, Rachel's actual b-day, I went with her and Jenny to see the Sex and the City movie. It was so much fun. Great movie.

July 13 was Rick and Angel's birthday so Andrea had the Ward family over for a birthday celebration. I finally got to met little Steve, Owen's new cousin. Owen had a blast in his little pool.

July 14 the Magic House. An unplanned visit so no camera. I guess we'll just have to go again. Owen had a blast and wore himself out as usual. Meme (my mom) and I were also wore out from following him around as he bounced from one thing to the next. I think he may have a little ADD.

More to come.

Owen's Birthday & Shaun's Graduation

My baby turned 2 last weekend. Boohoo. It's official. He's a toddler. What happened to that little 7 lb. 1 oz., 20 1/2 inches long, sleeping beauty. How fast they grow. He was not very happy when we were singing Happy Birthday, as you can see from the picture below. But he did have fun with two grandma's in town to celebrate with him. And of course he was lavished with gifts. Thank you to everyone who wasn't there but sent a gift. You will be receiving a thank you card soon. We also had Shaun's intern graduation last weekend. He was awarded "Intern of the Year". We're so proud of him. I'm so grateful that he is so passionate about what he does and he is able to balance both work and family. It has been hard this past month with his long hours and with friends out of town but we're coming home next month so we'll have lots of family to see. Can't wait to see everyone.

Camping with a Toddler

Little late but here it is - We decided to go on an adventure - camping with a toddler. We were nervous but we're brave people. We thought "we can do this." Shaun took his step 3 boards on Friday - good luck - so we didn't leave until about 4:45p for a 2 to 2 & 1/2 hour trip up to the Gila (pronounced Hee-la) National Forest. We stayed at Cherry Creek campground which is about 20 min. north of Silver City, where my grandpa use to live. We got to the campsite about 7:15p so it was still fairly light out. Owen did pretty good on the ride but he did get antsy. He does not like to be confined for long periods of time.

So we set up camp and of course Owen is ready to venture off and explore new territory so we took turns keeping him close by. It didn't take very long to set up so that was nice. We then decide to build a campfire so we could have s'mores (yummy). We thought this would keep Owen still and mesmorized - the pretty, flickering light from the fire. What were we thinking. He didn't just want to sit there after being stuck in a car for over 2 hours. So we walked around for a little bit, justs around our camp area and decided it was time for bed. By this time it was about 9 - 9:30p. We thought he might go down easy since he only took half his nap earlier in the day. Yeah right. Not with all the new things going on around him. New noises, people talking, kids yelling. I think he finally fell asleep about 10p and he was out.

We had 2 mats, 2 sleeping bags, and 2 heavy blankets since the temps were supposed to be in the 40's at night. The first night was really cold. We opened the sleeping bags up instead of keeping them closed and zipped up around us. But the second night we made sure to keep the sleeping bags closed and we just put Owen in one of ours. That was much better; although, mister wiggle worm didn't stay in them very long. Much warmer and we slept a lot better.

Saturday Shaun got up about 6:45a and he got me up about 7:15a. Owen didn't wake up until about 8a so Shaun and I got to actually have a sit down conversation instead of running after Owen. We cooked breakfast (eggs, bacon, and toast) and then headed off to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. Fun but Owen was not happy he had to stay in the hiking pack. We had lunch by the Gila river so Owen and daddy decided to dip their feet in and throw rocks. Headed back to camp and took a hike. Then we headed to Wally World. What's a camping trip if you don't go to Walmart. Since it was freezing the night before Shaun wanted to get a sweatshirt (he forgot to bring one). Owen watched a little Ratatouille, had hot dogs for dinner, s'mores for dessert and off to bed we went. Much better night sleeping.

Headed back home in the morning since we were dirty and out of water. Once we got home it was nothing but couch.

Home Sweet Home

Aaahhh! Finally home. We had a great (and exhausting) trip to St. Louis but we are glad to be home. We started our journey Monday, May 12th. I got the car loaded and Owen decided to accidentally lock me out of the house. What a great way to start a trip. After about 5 min. I finally got him to open the door. We finally got to the airport and got on the plane fine. The first flight I was a human jungle gym but at least the second flight he passed out. So I was a little battered and bruised by the time we touched down in St. Louis.

The week went good and as usual it was jam packed and unfortunately Owen was off on his naps/bedtimes. Next trip all activities will be scheduled around his schedule.

Couple of lunch dates during the week and Braedyn's (my nephew) 1st birthday on Thursday.

We had a wedding Friday where my little dancing machine found a girlfriend (or should I say a few girlfriends). He had a blast and couldn't stop moving.

Had the Zoo on Saturday - Owen always loves. Dinner that night for my dad's birthday. Owen was sleepy but he had fun.

And then the Cards game (we WON!) on Sunday before we left. Owen was so good but it does also help when you have several people willing to walk around with him. No sitting still (for very long anyway) for mister active.

Owen was all over the place (as usual) on the first flight but passed out before we even got on the second flight - about 9:45p. We got in around 10:45p (11:45p STL time) and finally got to bed about midnight. So needless to say we won't be doing much today. Just napping and relaxing in our pj's. Well, me and Owen anyway. Shaun gets to study.

Packed and Ready to Go

So it's almost 11pm at night and I'm finally done packing. It can be a challenge with an almost 2 year old (no he is not 2 yet and I'd like to keep it that way). I almost got everything in one suitcase. I could have done it if it weren't for that dang weight limit. We're both really excited. Not about the plane ride - at least I'm not. It's been about 5 months since we've traveled last and I have an even more active little boy (if you can imagine). Hopefully he will take a good long nap on at least one of the flights (we have a layover in Dallas). We can't wait to see everyone.

On another note - Happy Mothers Day! I got to spend mine with my baby. Unfortunately, Shaun is still in San Antonio so we didn't get to celebrate with him but Owen and I had a nice, semi-relaxing day. It was a sunny, 90 degree day. Beautiful. Hope everyone else had a good day.

Don't fly AA

Well you can do what you want (I guess) but American Airlines is banned from our house. Well, today it is anyway. I've never had any problems as far as actually flying with them but if you want to make any changes to your itinerary they charge outrages fees. So I wanted to move my flight up from this coming Monday to Saturday (or Friday or Sunday) and keep my return flight the same. Buuutttt, they charge you a $100 changing fee. So you have to pay the difference of what the price would be today (for both departure and return flight even if you are not changing both. So that would be $900, yes $900, plus the $100 changing fee. So if I want to come to St. Louis a few days early it would cost me over $700 (because they do subtract what I originally paid - they're so gracious). No thank you. I'm not sure why I am being charged the full price of the return flight when I'm not changing that flight. So the only thing that makes sense to me is being charged the difference of the departure flight. Right? You're charging me because I'm filling one of your seats you haven't filled yet? It's not like I'm canceling. Southwest has NO changing fees. Only the difference of the price and if the price is less than what you paid they refund your money. I don't know if AA does that but who cares. I'm mad at them. Well that's it for now. Thanks for listening.