Ruby Dawn is 4 Years Old!

4 years ago, a tiny little girl named Ruby changed our lives forever! I can’t believe how quickly 4 years have passed and how much life she has lived already. I’m so thankful I get to be her mama and so excited for the joy, light and happiness she brings to everyone she encounters. We started the tradition of recoding a birthday interview last year when Ruby turned 3. Here’s Ruby’s 4-year old Birthday Interview

Here are a few recent Rubyisms:

• “Did you know this is enchanted dinosaur food, Mommy?”
• “Do you like that chicken daddy? Do you like it really much?”
• While looking VERY closely into my eyes, “Mommy! I can see myself in your eyes! Your eyes are like a mirror!”
• Ryan’s proudest moment as a gastroenterologist and a father was the other day when Ruby mentioned a symptom and 2 medications from the bathroom. “Mommy, my poop didn’t hurt! Did you put some miralax in my pediasure?
• “When we are in Heaven, we are going to be with Jesus ALL NIGHT!!!”
• “girls, girls, girls.” She said this to a group of my friends at SideBySide who were all laughing and talking together the same way I say it to Ruby and Clara when they’re acting too silly and need to calm down.”

Florida Vacation – Boating on the Intracoastal Waterway

Tracy’s parents let us take their boat (The Mary Lou) out for a day on the Intracoastal Waterway. It was Memorial Day weekend so everyone and their brother were out on the water. It was like a high-class version of what happens on sand bars in Michigan lakes on the 4th of July. Instead of pontoon boats parked out there, they were yachts… but the people on board were just as “Michigan” as you’d see in a Kid Rock video. I loved it.

As the tide went out, Aaron anchored us at a few sand bars where we could take a swim, look for sand dollars and hermit crabs, and run around on the sand. Tracy found this little tide pool on one sand bar. Her own little private oasis.

It was a truly glorious day on to be on the water. The weather was perfect. We packed a cooler and ate our lunch aboard the S.S. Mary Lou.

After hitching up the boat to Aaron’s truck and dropping it back off at Tracy’s parents lake house we picked up some “award-winning” burger meat at Cavallari in Oveido and headed home for a grill out.

Florida Vacation – Rock Springs Run at Kelly Park

Last year when we visited Aaron and Tracy we discovered Kelly Park and decided that it needed to become a tradition with every visit. Rock Springs Run at Kelly Park is a 72 degree, spring-fed, natural lazy river you float down. Each “run” takes about 25 minutes, then you walk on a path back to the beginning of the river and jump in again.

Most people rent tubes from the Tube King, but this year we decided to bring some pool noodles to see how those work. Aaron and Ryan were hilarious discovering many ways to float with pool noodles.

We made a train.

After a few hours floating down the river and soaking in the sunshine we headed home to shower before meeting some of my cousins for dinner at the Mellow Mushroom. Josh brought his son Noah and Joel and Lizzy brought their son Luke, who told me a hilarious joke:

“knock knock”
“who’s there?”
“Jada and Ella!”   …that’s it. that’s the end. hahaha.

Florida Vacation – Scenic Boat Tour and the Lake House

Thursday morning I got to meet my Aunt Becky for breakfast. She is one of the most amazing people on the planet, and spending time with her is certainly a great way to start the day.

Later that morning Ryan and I went on the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour with Aaron and Tracy. It was something we’ve thought about doing for a few years, but this year we figured there was no better time. Our captain taught us all about the houses in Winter Park and historical information about Rollins College and famous people who were students there or lived on the lakes. Did you know when Mister Rogers was a student at Rollins he lived in a gorgeous mansion off campus? Well, that’s the type of interesting information you learn on the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour.

For lunch we enjoyed some brisket at 4 Rivers Smokehouse. If you’re anywhere near Central Florida you need to eat at 4Rivers. As is typical for someone nearing the end of their 3rd trimester, my meal consisted of a side of mac-n-cheese, some fried pickles, and fried oreos for dessert.

Later that day we spent time at Tracy’s parents lake house. I’ve never been swimming in a Florida lake before… but this one is lovely and we checked to make sure there weren’t any alligators before we jumped off the dock. We picked up some floats at WalMart and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon floating around until a storm rolled in. We played euchre on the patio until the rain stopped and the sun came out again.

It was a great day!

Florida Vacation – Kayaking at Wekiva Springs State Park

Wednesday morning Aaron and Ryan made delicious blueberry waffles for breakfast. We packed lunch in the cooler and went to Wekiva Springs State Park for some kayaking. The weather said 60% chance of rain, which was awesome because it scared everyone away and we pretty much had the whole park to ourselves.

Bug spray was liberally applied as soon as we arrived.

We rented our kayaks and then saw this little gopher tortoise. One of the park rangers gave Tracy a piece of lettuce to feed him and we made a video of the tortoise for Ruby and Clara.

Here’s the classic shot by the kayak launch… my life jacket wouldn’t buckle around my preggo-ness. awesome.

The sun was shining bright and we started down the river. Aaron and Tracy in one double kayak and Ryan and I in another. We laughed a lot as we made our way though the wilderness. We saw a lot of cool Floridian birds, turtles and alligators. Aaron had polarized sunglasses so he saw a lot of fish too. Tilapia and Mullet were a couple that he pointed out.

We paddled for a while, then floated for a while, then paddled some more. Aaron found some secret passes where we had to duck under cypress trees just to get through. Ryan lost his sunglasses, but managed to pick them up off the riverbed without tipping us over. After more laughing and paddling we had traveled quite a distance down the river. We decided to head back, which meant paddling up-stream the whole way. My view was awesome.

The sun shone bright throughout our kayak trip. After a couple of hours on the water we landed back at the spot where we started. We grabbed our lunch out of the car and had a picnic with a herd of squirrels by the spring. After lunch we took a swim in the always 72-degree spring water. It was sunny for a while, then the rain let loose. It was pretty great swimming in a spring during a downpour. Don’t worry – we got out when the thunder and lightning started.

Later Wednesday night Rob and Kristy-Lee and their baby Emma-Kate came over for kabobs on the grill. Of course, here’s the classic guys at the grill pic. And here’s a look back at the guys in 2011, and 2012

Such a great day.

Florida Vacation – Cocoa Beach and Jimmy Hula’s

Ryan and I have made it a bit of a tradition to visit my brother Aaron and his lovely bride Tracy in Florida whenever I’m around 35 weeks pregnant  :o) They got married when I was pregnant with Ruby. We left Ruby with my parents when I was this pregnant with Clara and came down for a visit… and here we are again.

My parents kept Ruby and Clara for the week so Ryan and I could have some time to catch up on sleep and get mentally prepared for our baby boy who will be making his debut in a little over a month.

Ryan had a conference (DDW – Digestive Disease Week) in Orlando, so he was already here when I flew down on Monday night. Tuesday morning we picked him up from his hotel and made our way to Cocoa Beach.

Tracy found us a sunny spot on the beach right between where clouds were making shady spots. Ryan applied a good amount of the SPF.

It was super relaxing and just overcast enough that we didn’t get too toasty on our first day out. We took a quick trip to Ron Jon Surf Shop to buy some flip-flops then headed back to the beach for another couple of hours.

Tuesday night we ate a this really great fish taco place called Jimmy Hula’s. I got the Pipeline Pork (which is pork, not a fish taco, but it had pickles on it, so I literally had to get it.) When we finished dinner we sat there for a while planning out our week and talking about all the things we want to do while we’re here. Tracy is the queen of organizing a schedule. She’s really handy to have around.

I can’t wait to share more pics and stories from our little vaca over the next few days.

Papa Beeson

My dad is quite simply the best. I got this picture of him this morning while he was pointing out some ants on a tree while walking back from the meadow with my girls. 

Ruby and Clara love their Papa. I’m thankful they have grandparents who love them enough to stop along the way for teachable moments.

Here are a few more things he talked to them about as we walked:

• he showed them a path through the meadow where the deer have worn down the grass and dirt from walking the same route so often
• he took them all the way to the back corner of the meadow to find a honeysuckle bush blooming with sweet-smelling flowers they could pick to take back home for Grammy
• he encouraged them as the went “up, up, up” and “down, down, down” the grassy hill.
• he pointed out little white butterflies to chase as they flew up from underfoot
• he answered questions about which path was the one back to Grammy and Papa’s house and which paths went other places
• he helped Ruby stay on the path so she wouldn’t get poison ivy
• he explained why we wear bug spray on our socks when we’re in the woods

Theres a lot to learn, and I’m so happy that my dad imparts wisdom along the way.

Caribbean Cove

Last weekend was random and hilarious. We decided to meet up with our friends Bryan and Michelle and their boys Elliot and Bennett. They were coming from Chicago and we discovered that Indianapolis was a 3 hour drive from both Columbus and Chicago. PERFECT! The destination had been decided.

So what should we do in Indy with 4 kids under 4? An indoor water park at a hotel was the obvious choice. After some googling, Michelle and I decided that we didn’t love the hotel where the water park was, so we checked into a hotel down the street and drove over to Caribbean Cove on Saturday morning after a delicious hotel breakfast. Elliot and Ruby were fascinated by the fountain in the hotel lobby. I’m still amazed no one fell in.

Clara was fascinated by the phone in our room. She’d never seen one with a cord before.

From the outside, Caribbean Cove looks mighty bootleg, but once we were inside, it was pretty great and the kids had an amazing time splashing around and climbing on the pirate ship playground. I tried to get some pics, but the elements were against me. My lens was foggy, there were only windows on one side of the room, so the kids had to be facing exactly the right direction for a good pic and so much water was splashing and sloshing on my camera that I’m not even sure how it survived the day.

Ruby and Elliot weren’t tall enough for the water slides, and pregnant people aren’t allowed either… but Ryan and Bryan took to the slides and were pleasantly surprised by how intense they were. Apparently they were pitch black inside and took so many twists, sudden turns and drops that both guys claimed they screamed like little girls.

In addition to tickets into the park, our family pass included lunch and money for the arcade. We took a pizza and breadsticks break for lunch and to my delight it was a classic; Noble Romans! People from Indiana know about Noble Romans, but apparently no one else does.

After lunch we let the kiddos play in the arcade while their food digested. Ruby and Elliot played ski-ball and whack-a-mole. Clara just wanted to drive the car the whole time. Ryan and Bryan played air hockey and Bryan and Elliot played Big Buck Hunter.

Saturday from 4-6 our hotel hosted a “Manager’s Reception” in the lobby with snacks and drinks, so of course, we hit that up before heading out to dinner. The kids loved eating popcorn, chips and dip – and (based on how much she ate) Clara seems to like spicy salsa.

After pretty much filling up at the Manager’s Reception, we enjoyed a delicious dinner out at Granite City followed by lots of laughs and storytelling over a game of Euchre back at the hotel.

Also, we ordered room-service (ice cream shooters). Ryan and Bryan went to pick up our treats and the guy downstairs said, “That’s a lot of shooters!” which turned into an ongoing joke throughout the rest of our time together. We couldn’t finish them – it truly was a lot of shooters.

And of course, Ryan and Bryan had a daily coffee routine at the hotel just like they had when we lived in the same house in Chicago.

Such a fun weekend. We love having friends who will do silly stuff like randomly meet at a hotel water park in Indy. Hooray for friendships that last throughout the years in different states! We love Bryan and Michelle!

April InstaLife

Clara’s 2nd Birthday

May 5th we celebrated our little Clara girl’s 2nd birthday. I can’t believe how fast the first 2 years of her life flew by. She came into this world a bit skeptical…

…but with every passing year she has become a silly, giggly, joyful, mischievous, caring little person. 

Her birthday started with a whole bag of balloons. I spent three nap-times before her birthday in my closet, secretly blowing up balloons. When she came downstairs for breakfast the morning of her birthday, she was SO EXCITED about the balloons.

Ruby and I sang the Happy Birthday song to Clara a few times, and she would sing it back to herself, “Happy You You You You!” She sang it all day. When Ryan came home from being on call we had cupcakes and opened gifts. Here she is at the end of the day watching Milo and Otis, wearing her new fish glasses, sitting on her new potty with her new dolly, next to her new sleeping bag. This picture pretty much sums up the birthday shenanigans.

A few more things about Clara: The other day we were sitting on the porch while a thunderstorm rolled in. This was her face listening to thunder.

She has been saying a lot lately – and I can understand about 70% of it! Once she gets excited it’s harder to understand her because she talks so fast and has so much to say all at once. Here are some Claraisms:

• “I’m all done Mommy.” (already climbing out of the bath when she still has shampoo in her hair. She always says she’s all done before she actually is.)
• “See ya later! Bye! See ya! Bye! See ya later! Bye!” (while waving with both hands.)
• “Paci! Blankie! Lambie! Glasses!” (These are the items she hoards on long car rides. If any one of these items is missing, it’s a bad situation for everyone in the car.)
• “See the kids?” (whenever we are going to church, side-by-side, or the Y)
• “Daddy’s car!” (she is always so excited when Ryan comes home)
• “Here I come Beebee!” (she still calls Ruby “Beebee”)
• “BALLOONS!! PLAYPLACE!! ZOOOOO!!” (depending on where we are going each day.)
• She is super ticklish and loves playing chasing games, hide and seek, and spinning in circles until she falls down.
• Her favorite shows are Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Max and Ruby, and Bubble Guppies. She sings along with all the theme songs.
• She loves to play with whatever Ruby is currently playing with… which causes many sisterly disputes. Clara enjoys getting a rise out of Ruby and Ruby enjoys getting Clara in trouble, which is why we’ve been doing some “double time-outs” lately.

I love you Clara Girl. I’m so thankful I get to be your mommy. “Happy You You You You!”