A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

We had such a fun and memorable Memorial Day weekend this year. With a baby on the way, I really want to 'live it up' with my little gal this summer and embrace every opportunity! We'll all be exhausted by the time it's over. :) So, in addition to picking strawberries on Friday (see previous post!).....

On Saturday, we headed downtown for the 500 Festival Parade. It was the first year that Andra's been, and she loved every minute of it! I was SO glad we went...and even MORE glad that I had scored some media passes to get us in free (and possible maneuver ourselves into some nice seats)! We arrived early, found a great spot in the shade (shade, glorious shade!) right by the parade start line (thank you, media passes), acted like we belonged there...and had a great view for the show.

I had no idea what to expect--it's been almost 10 years since I've been to the parade!--but Andra was tickled pink when her favorite Sesame Street characters showed up larger-than-life ...Elmo, Bert and Ernie! What a treat!

You can see she was pretty excited to see Elmo especially! Seeing the joy on her face makes all the sweat and effort of getting there totally worth it!

I took this one just for you, Dad and Uncle J!

And this one for no other reason than to brag about my precious little girl. Those sweet baby blues and beautiful face melt my heart every single day. ...*sigh*... could someone please freeze time? No more growing.

On Saturday, we woke up early with big plans...our annual Monon biking trip. We start in Broadripple, bike to Carmel...have lunch on the trail...then bike back to Broadripple; about 15 miles round trip. And this year, we had a new guest join us...my dad! Andra was giddy to have "Pa" along for the ride! He'd never been along the Monon before, and he was fresh off Mini training, so I knew he'd be up for the challenge (and he always told us he wanted to experience the Monon...so "experience" we did!)

Andra joined us for the ride in her trailer, and we all pedaled the distance and had a lot of fun. Dad even had his first-ever elk burger when we dined at Bub's (elk is much leaner and healthier than beef, but you can't even tell the difference!...why don't they sell this stuff at the grocery??). The morning was beautiful, but it got a little hot just as we were finishing. My pregnant bod held up really well (because Dave pulled Andra!)...but my rump's a little sore from the saddle! It's my goal to add a family member to our trip each year (that means you're next, Mom!) oh wait, we'll have a baby next year too! yikes!

Andra and Pa taking a load off before lunch!

Hot, sweaty, and totally preggers...attractive, eh? :)

On tap for the final day of our long weekend...absolutely nothing!

My Little Strawberry Shortcake

Andra and I headed to the strawberry patch this morning and got waaaaaaaay more strawberries than our little family of three is capable of eating. Andra insisted on calling it the "strawberry orchard"...so she apparently remembers our trip to the apple orchard last fall! Smart girl. It's the same concept afterall: gettin' dirty picking our own fruit from the field! So funny the connections they make at this age.

Andra loves filling baskets up with things, so this was right up her alley! I told her to only pick the ones that were bright red, and she got right down to business.

So a few got squished along the way...but I knew I'd be squishing them anyway to make topping for strawberry shortcake...so a little squishing didn't hurt anything. :) She actually impressed me with how well she was able to pull them off the vines.

She was so proud of her loot and kept telling me everyone she was going to share them with, running down the list of names of every member in our extended family!

I hesitate to tell you the most interesting part of our trip to the strawberry "orchard," but I should probably include it for posterity's sake; so someday when Andra's 16, I can look back at this and laugh, remembering what it was like to be in the trenches of potty training (we're ALMOST fully trained, but still have our share of accidents).

I'm sure you can all guess. About 15 minutes into picking, Andra tells me she needs to go potty. Like now. (like all 2 year-olds, she has impeccable timing) I look around slightly panicked... assuming the market even HAS a toilet, that's a good 500 yards away. Way too far to walk and make it in time. I doubt we'd even make it in the car fast enough. Plus, we're about 20 yards deep in the patch. Kind of a cumbersome climb out for a 6-month pregnant lady and her 2 year-old. Time is of the essence when she says she's got to go. So, I do what any mom would do in this situation. Scoot away from any judgemental eyes, help her drop trough, and do her business in the middle of the strawberry patch! (She pointed out that's how Pudge goes to the bathroom. Yet another keen observation I couldn't really argue with!)

Please don't judge. Trust me, you would've done the same thing in my shoes. Look, I avoided all strawberries, and we stayed strictly in the dirt path between berries. And it was only #1...so the gross factor wasn't really there. Then we finished picking strawberries. (ok, I can hear every non-parent out there saying "ewwwww, gross!" And every parent totally gets it)


[awkward transition goes here]

Anyway, here's some of our beautiful bounty. I gave one basket to the neighbors and kept a basket for us. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some delicious strawberry shortcake calling my name! (those farm picked berries really DO taste better!)

Rookie Run

Andra's been really into running ("unning") lately...most likely because she knows her Daddy frequently goes on runs ("uns"). She'll even run non-stop the ENTIRE way to the pond in our neighborhood, which is well over two blocks. So when the Rookie Run rolled around this year (part of the 500 Festival), I couldn't resist signing her up. It's a short little 2-block race downtown. Confession: I even fibbed about her age. The kids are supposed to be at least three years old (Andra won't be three until September). I figured what's a few months? So I signed her up anyway...and she definitely held her own against all those three year-olds!

Here she is showing off her race number. She was so proud when I pinned it on her...it was like her little chest just puffed up with pride.

Andra even had her own cheering section! Check out Paw's shirt!

I saw her doing these odd movements over by the stroller, and when I asked her what she was doing, she said "Stetching. Like Daddy." Stretching, of course! Silly me. Monkey see, monkey do.

Here she is headed into the starting corral with Daddy. Dave said when they got to the start line, she told him she didn't want to let go of his finger (perhaps a little stage fright?).

So off they ran, with Andra keeping a grip on Daddy's finger.

Seeing Dave out on the Mini course each May, I've often imagined that maybe Andra will run with her Dad someday (especially if she runs faster than Mom!). I just hope, by then, she might be willing to let go of his finger. :) For now, I guess we'll just savor these finger-gripping days while we've still got 'em!

For Giggles

Not much new to report in our household. We had a pretty lazy weekend, and spent about two hours in Andra's new favorite playing spot...our bed. Here's a funny video of her playing with Pudge's toy. She thought it was SO FUNNY when he'd jump up and put his paws on the bed to grab the toy. I love hearing her giggle...it's one of the BEST sounds in the world! (And yes, those are "boy" Thomas jammies she's wearing. I gave up finding Thomas Train underwear, so the jammies are the best I could do. A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do!)



The other new development in my family is that my little brother leaves for Australia this week! He'll be spending two months of his summer vacation "studying" in Sydney! Lucky guy, huh? It was a selective program, so I'm really proud of him for being chosen. Being a homebody myself, I also think it takes guts to travel halfway around the world alone. I also studied abroad in my college years, but I went with my big sister...so I had a travel companion genetically obligated to hang out with me. :)

Jonathan is a social butterfly (can a boy be a "butterfly?"), so I have no doubt he'll be making friends quickly in the land down under...if not on the plane. You can follow all his adventures on his blog "Boiler Outback," which he promises to update frequently! (did you hear that, Jonathan? FREQUENTLY) http://www.boileroutback.blogspot.com/
You'll find a link to his blog just to the left of this post...under "My Fellow Bloggers." Bon Voyage, JD! We love you and will miss you! Bring us back something really cool. :)

Oh Belly!

This is for the few of you who have prodded me to see some belly shots! Yes, I've been taking them this time around, just like I did when I was pregnant with Andra. So here are Months 3, 4, and 5 (taken just last night!)...back by popular demand!

Haha! See that little blonde head in the bottom left corner? That's my little gal posing with me. :)

Mini 2010

Another Mini Marathon is in the books! I'd say two words describe this year's Mini: COLD and WINDY. oh...and fast too...Dave ran his fastest Mini ever, finishing the 13.1 miles in one hour and 37 minutes! That beat his fastest time by 6.5 minutes! He worked really hard training this year, so I was happy to see it pay off for him. Here he is about 30 yards from the finish...that's him in the traffic cone orange shirt. I could only get his backside...that's how fast he was going! :) Plus, I was trying to manage the camera, the 2 year-old, and get his attention all at the same time!

Here's Andra celebrating with Daddy after his run. That's my medal she's wearing...I just did the 5K this year since baby's on board. It was my fastest walking pace ever...I took 6 minutes off my time for walking three miles, compared to the pace I walk three miles in our neighborhood (which is always with Pudge). So, I did some calculation, and that means I spend about 2 minutes per mile picking up his poop, stopping so he can "mark" every mailbox on the street and sniff every curious smell we come across.

Yes, that's a stocking cap I'm wearing. In May. Gosh, it was cold! And SO windy...I felt like the wind beat up on me all morning long!

Andra "helping" Daddy stretch after his run.

In other news, I've been getting lots of special treatment this Mother's Day. Andra gave me some windchimes I've really been wanting for our screened in porch (my FAVORITE "room" in our house!), and Dave gave me an awesome new workout shirt that even fits over my belly...for now. I was treated to Starbucks this morning, and I'm being taken out to a nice dinner tonight! Hope all my mother readers out there are getting some special treatment too.

Meet Chester

Speaking of new additions to our family, I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our household. You can call him... "Chester."

I've wanted "Chester" the chest freezer for a really long time, and when the reality of adding a new person to our household began to set in, I think Dave began to realize the need for a chest freezer too! In our kitchen, we only have a side-by-side fridge/freezer...which means our freezer space is pretty limited...tall and narrow. While we've always managed to fit everything in there, I dreaded coming home from the grocery with bags full of frozen foods and trying to make space for it all...I felt like I was playing Tetris!

The most frustrating part of having only a side-by-side was that I couldn't take advantage of sales at the grocery store. I'm not a huge bargain shopper, but I do get a small thrill when I save money. It would physically pain me to pass up the "buy one, get one free" sales on bags of frozen staples like chicken or tilapia, simply because we didn't have freezer space for it. I even bought "Chester" himself for a bargain! We paid for about half of it using our debit reward points, so we got it for almost nothing. (Cha-ching!!) Chester's photo is a little old...he's already filling up with the bounty of my bargain shopping!

I'm also ambitiously planning on (deep breath) making all of our own baby food for the little guy. The Gerber stuff is just way too expensive, and I have no excuse NOT to make our own, because one of my best friends and I went in together and bought this fancy schmancy Baby Beaba
(http://www.beabausa.com/product-babycook.cfm) baby food maker that does all the hard work for you (steamer, blender, warmer and defroster all in one!). It was a bit of investmnent, but I know it will save us money in the long run. So I need a place to freeze and store all that baby food!

Ok, I've talked way too long about my new chest freezer.

I've been a bit sluggish in my blogging lately...it's just so beautiful outside that we're always playing in the fresh air or running off to the playground, so here's a couple small updates.

Here's Andra getting her first haircut! Don't worry, you can hardly tell. It was getting a little straggly in back, so she needed a trim. I must've scared the hairdresser with my emotional pleas of "don't take too much off," because you can't even tell she got a cut. :) (I'm sure it's coincidence, but doesn't the stylist's face look like "oh my gosh, this crazy mom is gonna go psycho on me if i cut off too much!")

We also spent one lovely spring morning at a baseball game. Andra had a blast and lasted WAY longer than last season, when she got bored and wanted to go home after about 20 minutes (immediately after polishing off her chocolate malt). We made it all the way to the 5th innning, and left only because I still wanted her to catch her afternoon nap. We had a picnic, ice cream and lots of giggles. It was a great mommy & me outing.

The Mini is this weekend...Dave's running and going for his best time ever. I'll be going for by best time ever too...because I'm only walking the 5K (being pregnant is the best excuse ever not to run the 13 miles)! My dad's also walking/running it too. It's his second year, so he's apparently been bitten by the bug as well. The Mini's addictive. Photos to come, no doubt!