San Diego ~ 2009

Will I ever feel caught up with blogging? Probably not since I realized I have our 10-year college reunion and Lake Tahoe trip that still haven’t made it on a blog page. They both occurred in 2008. That might be past the point of no return? But for now, here is a post from the business/fun trip we took in early October to San Diego.

Wade and his dad (Poppy) were going to a conference there, so MoMere (Wade’s mom), Tate, and I all tagged along. I had never been to San Diego before and have to say that I fell in love. I’m pretty sure it’s fair to say that they have flawless weather. And when we were there, the locals were saying it was cold. Sunny with highs in the low 60s. To me it was perfection.

The trip started off on a good note with Tate doing great on the plane. What a difference from when we flew with him last year. This time around, he was so excited to ride in an airplane, and he really got it that we were up in the sky. He loved looking out the window, reading the SkyMall magazine, and eating lots of snacks with chocolate milk.



And bless this child…he even took a 2-hour nap!

The trip was great all around. We only had one mishap. We forgot the umbrella stroller. He rarely uses it anymore, but when we’re doing a lot of walking around, there are times when it’s pretty much critical. And with Wade being in the conference most days and me being pregnant, I really didn’t want to have to carry 30+ lbs. around a lot. So the wild goose chase began. We searched all over the downtown area the first night there to find nothing resembling a stroller. The nearest Wal-Mart was a $50 cab fare away. I was getting nervous.

We had some time before the conference began on Sunday, so we all headed over to Coronado Island. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. I’m pretty sure I could live right there. The hotel was impressive. And I loved walking down on the beach.

This may look like a picture mid-tantrum. Not quite. This is what Tate does when he is over-the-moon excited to be on a beach with waves and sand. He throws himself onto the sand and rolls around in it while squealing and laughing. I cleaned out sand for days.

Keep Off? These Strzineks are a bunch of rule breakers. :)

And eureka! We found the one and only shop that rented strollers. It ended up costing $45 (nice), but there were no other options. And we never saw another stroller shop the rest of the trip. So glad to find this place.

For the ride back to the hotel, we decided to live like the locals and took the bus. Not sure the last time I was on a city bus since they don’t have any around where we live. Despite that it takes about four times as long to get where you were going, I was impressed. And Tate of course thought it was pretty cool.

After dinner that night, we headed over to a Ghirardelli ice cream shop. The picture doesn’t even need much of a caption. Except maybe a 2 y.o.’s version of heaven. We did stop him about half way through as he would’ve eaten every last bite.

So once the guys were off to learn everything you wanted to know about clinical research (crazy fun!), we headed to the San Diego Zoo. After hearing about it forever, I had pretty high expectations. But I have to say, I quickly realized that we are pretty spoiled with our own local zoo. It’s so much easier to get around and really just about the same types of animals. It was still a really fun day.

Tate’s favorite part may have been riding the Skyfari Airtram that took you from one side to another.

The rest of the trip was spent walking around downtown, the Gaslamp Quarter, and the pier right by the hotel. We found a little park for Tate to play cars and throw the football for hours (infamous stroller in background).

A fun night for me was having dinner with my freshman year college roommate, Jamie, who now lives in the area. We hadn’t seen each other in almost 12 years and had a great dinner with hours and hours of catch-up conversation. How did I not take any pictures?

And for the last night, Tate stayed with Wade’s parents while they sweetly let he and I have a night out. We walked around and had dinner on the waterfront.

Wade loved all of the history around since it’s such a military city/port. Here is a huge statue of the famous picture “Unconditional Surrender” from WWII. I love the photograph, but if I was that girl, I’m not sure I would want something depicting my feet in such an enormous way. It was really kind of odd-looking to be that large scale.

And for the final day, we got to finish all the modes of transportation taken so far (plane, bus, taxi, train) with a boat ride back across to return the stroller on Coronado Island.

Then it was time to head back home. We all enjoyed spending time together, and Tate loved having a few days with Poppy & MoMere. It was a beautiful city and a really fun family trip!

Halloween 2009

If you've been around Tate in recent months, you know that he is all about sports. And more specifically, the kid LOVES to play golf. He turns anything that comes close to it into a golf club. I'm not sure where this came from, because Wade doesn't even really play anymore. But somehow, he has a love for all things golf. So when he saw this costume in a Halloween catalog and talked about it non-stop, we knew that was "the one." And lucky for us, his friend Weston had worn it the year before and was so nice to loan it to Tate.

So we had three days of Halloween festivities around here. It started with the costume parade at Tate's preschool. All of the kiddos were pretty cute.

Then on Friday, we continued the tradition for the 3rd year of trick-or-treating at each of his grandfather's offices (Poppy & Grandpa). This year was even more fun because now Poppy's office is also Daddy's office. :)

And finally the real deal...Halloween. I have to say that this year was so much fun for him and us. One year makes a big difference, because last year he was kind of oblivious to it all. This year he got it. It was so fun to watch him walk up and say (or yell) "trick-or-treat!" The evening was made even more fun since his pumpkin friends, Weston & Taylor, got to come along. They all had a blast. In fact, I don't have many good pictures of the evening because they were running full speed from house to house. Such good friends!

There were a couple of houses that had some greeters open the door with big masks on. That gave everyone a little scare. You can't see it in the video (I had some reassuring to do), but both of the boys quickly ran the other direction as soon as the door opened. Thankfully the second they realized the trick-or-treaters were little kids, they took off the masks. And thankfully, we all recovered and moved on to the next house.

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And just to document and remember the big news story of 2009, this was posted in front of a house.

And of course, the best part of the night is finishing up and checking out your loot back at the house. These boys scored big with a few full-size candy bars and a ginormous rice krispie treat. A fun finish to a fun night!

Happy Halloween!

I couldn't find a pumpkin big enough for him to fit in this year (ha-ha), so I'm recycling a picture from 2007. I can't believe we really did this to him...poor kid! :)

Hope everyone has a fun, safe Halloween!

Summer Wrap-Up

Yes, we’re more than half way through October. But for some reason, I have this blog-induced guilt lingering over me to document a few more things from summer. From our Gulf Shores trip, the house move, surgery, and the early weeks of pregnancy, I wasn’t the best blogger those few months. One of these days (hopefully before baby gets here), I want to get a blog-to-book done, so it will just help me feel that all is right in the world if I get caught up from the summer.

Without further ado, here’s the rest of our summer:

Our church’s version of VBS, called Summer Spectacular, started on the day of our move, so we didn’t quite get the full effect this year. But what we did see was of course spectacular. This year’s theme was Queen Esther. Tate loved getting to see Daddy help haul in Haman on a chariot thing. And he talked for weeks about seeing Mordecai come in the auditorium on a real horse. And the musical cracks me up. From Abba to Beyonce tunes, they make the Esther story pretty entertaining for the adults too. Once again, RHCC outdid itself and provided a wonderful and fun family event.

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We did lots of swimming at Mimi & Grandpa’s house, at our local pool, and with all of the cousins. By the end of the summer and after lessons, he was either "swimming" on his own or with arm floaties if we needed a little break. He is a water boy and loves going under, jumping (although that seems to be fading some), playing with sticks and kicking.

This year was a fun one for 4th of July. Tate was so excited about the fireworks and STILL asks to see them whenever we drive by the spot that we parked to watch.

Wade went with a few other guys and their sons to watch a monster truck rally. Clearly we were not up on our monster truck protocol, because neither of us even thought about ear plugs. Wade had to borrow some there. To say that Tate enjoyed it is a huge understatement. Even several months later, he will go up to complete strangers and tell them “I see monster trucks!” Not sure what to think about that. Going to many more monster truck rallies in the future is not that exciting to me. Maybe that’s a Daddy thing.

We also enjoyed lots of outside time this summer. Our new house has great shade placement. So even in the heat of day, we’re able to play outside. What a relief…this guy has got some serious energy to work off every day!

Tate also discovered some new favorite songs this summer. Wade has an Ipod playlist for Tate, and this is on a regular rotation. I'm so proud! :) Seriously, how can you not love Neil Diamond?

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And the grand finale of the summer was our annual trip to Lake Brownwood. Because of the timing, this year it was only us, the Haynes, the Cranfords, and the Irvines. We missed everyone else. It amazes me every time, though, how we just pick up right where we left off with these friends. We rarely have the chance to see them anymore in regular life, but the trip to the lake each year feels like we see them all of the time. I will always be thankful for these friendships!

Tate had a blast this year. He wasn’t even walking last year, so this time around was very different and lots of fun. He loved the lake, the friends, the donuts, the boat, and the tube. Not sure why I’m even surprised, but he didn’t hesitate a second getting on that tube. That definitely does not come from my DNA.

And oh my goodness, he has a new 8-year-old hero. His name is Austin. Tate talked to and followed Austin around non-stop. And now any time we see an elementary-aged boy with white/blond hair, he asks if it’s Austin. So sweet. And so hard for me to believe. Austin used to be the little 2-month-old I took care of for a few months when I was looking for a job. Time flies.

And I have to give out some props to the husband for a nice end of summer surprise. Some “for no real reason” flowers. Big points for that one!

OK, I feel better now. The summer books are officially closed.

U2

Just a few years into our marriage, we missed the chance to go see U2 in concert. After that, we promised each other that the next time they came in town, we were there. So we lived up to the promise and headed out for what we both say is our best concert ever.

That probably doesn’t mean a whole lot considering my vast concert experience (see here). Although, Celine really is amazing live! Anyway, as it got closer and I was mentally adding up all of the costs for this night out in my head, I started to wonder if it would be worth it. Thank goodness Mr. Bono and the boys did not disappoint.

(Me & Wade above, Holly & Carter below, ginormous new Cowboys stadium in back).

The show was amazing. Really, it was amazing. The stage, the lights, the screen, the band, and of course, the music. From where we were, the sound was great. They played a variety of old and new. Some of the ones I enjoyed the most were: Magnificent, Beautiful Day, Stuck in a Moment, Elevation, Vertigo, One/Amazing Grace, and Where the Streets Have No Name.

I have NO idea how the people on the floor made it standing the whole time.

Can you say giddy?

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I thought Bono sounded just as great live. And I’m blown away by his stage presence. If I have half his energy when I’m his age, I’ll be thrilled. The only part of the show that I didn’t care for was the spaceship alien video (weird?) and the drop-down-neon-light microphone with the lights on his jacket. It didn’t sound as good and was way too distracting. But everything else was even better than I could have hoped for.

The place was crazy crowded. I’ve heard it was from 80,000-90,000people there. The people-watching was at its best. The majority of the crowd was just around my age if not a few years older. Me and my 12-week pregnant self just sat with my bottled water and watched the hilarity of a bunch of 30 & 40-somethings, mixed in with lots of drinks, mixed in with really high heels, mixed in with uber-coolness. Oh, that was entertaining all on its own.

And then to watch each person and their personal concert-style moves. My favorite was the guy with the Arsenio Hall arm thrust/lasso-a-rope combo move. Loved it. I’m sure someone else is writing a blog somewhere about me and my head bob/hip twitch, but isn’t it just funny to watch people get into the music?

So even as I crawled in bed at 2:00 a.m. and was still tallying how much everything cost, I don’t regret it at all. In fact, I can’t wait until they come back again.

Giveaway

So here's an area that my sister & I are pretty different. I couldn't sew a button on to save my life. But somehow my sister, Shannon, developed some pretty impressive and creative sewing skills. She opened an online store a few months ago selling adorable baby burpies and pillowcase dresses. So to launch her new fall dresses (how cute are these?), she's hosting a giveaway.

Go to Jelby's to enter to win this dress!

For Baby Chase

The three of us were able to participate in a very special memorial ceremony with many of our friends and the friends of friends across the country to honor Baby Chase.


We knew Mark & Chelsea while we were all at ACU, and then Wade & Mark were able to work for the same company for a few years in the early days post-graduation. We’ve come to think highly of them and value their friendship, even one from afar since we don’t see them that often.

So we were completely heartbroken and devastated with the news that the baby Chelsea was 34 weeks pregnant with had died from a blood clot in the umbilical cord. I just haven't been able to stop thinking about and praying for Chelsea, Mark, and their three daughters. I don’t think anyone can imagine going through something so difficult. From the communication we’ve read and heard, they are handling this with grace and strength. They asked for those that wanted to honor Baby Chase to do so with a balloon release, similar to what they were doing with their own family at home. Their daughters are going to collect pictures and put together a scrapbook of all of the different people thinking of this special family. You can see many of the others here.

My prayer for them continues as their grief will surely go on in the days to come. Prayers that their hearts will be healed and renewed, and that they will settle in the peace that passes all understanding.