Busch Gardens

Monday Hunter and I headed to Busch Gardens with Kelly, Emma, and Alyssa.  Apparently everyone else figured it would be a great day to go as well.  We had purchased our passes online and had to wait in line to get them.  After about 45 minutes in line, we finally got in (plus the 30 minute wait in the car to get in... and the crazy traffic on the way up).  By the time we got in, it was lunch time.

This is a typical two year old tantrum before leaving

Watching a roller coaster out the window

Eating lunch

After lunch, we headed to Sesame Street Place.  They had a great time riding the rides!

Riding the train.

Easter Play Date

Today, Kelly hosted an Easter play date.  The kids had a blast!  Kelly has a huge backyard which was great.  There was an egg hunt (I'm sure Harry will be finding eggs around the yard for the next month), bubbles, riding toys galore, and lots of yummy food!

Handsome boy!

Look!  I found one!

Celebration of Life

I had never been to a funeral.  Okay, I had been to one funeral, but it was for Carl's grandmother who I had met one time and Carl and I had just started to date.  I had never been to a funeral for someone who meant a lot to me.

Ralph's funeral was a celebration of life.  It was simple, yet beautiful.  It was very much "Ralph".  Gia, Alana, Brittany, and I all spoke and us along with Cassandra, Lauren, and Stephanie were pall-bearers.  Our speeches were full of funny and loving memories of Ralph.  Most made us laugh, some made us cry, but anyone who didn't know Ralph would certainly realize that he meant a lot to us and was a big jokester.  We were so honored for Ralph's family to ask us to be a part of his service.  It meant a lot to all of us.

One of the hardest parts was seeing everyone cry, especially Ralph's granddaughters.  It broke all of our hearts.  I knew how much pain I felt and I couldn't imagine the pain that his family was feeling.  I know Ralph was there giving all of us one of his big bear hugs.

I find myself randomly thinking about him.  I think about all the memories from my teammates' speeches and they make me laugh.  I could picture each and every one of them.  Some I had forgotten about.

Some memories I don't want to forget (in addition to the ones listed in the previous post):
-His stories about how he met Eileen.  I had totally forgotten he used to tell us these until Gia talked about it.  It was always different how they met, but it was always the same ending.  He stole her from some man (or men) and married her.  I think it was part of his way of telling us how to find a great man.
-How we counted before saying our chant for the game: Ein, Trin, Bita.  He claimed it was German, but only "ein" is German (I looked it up... today).
-How we believed every story he ever told, until we got older and realized that some of his stories might actually be made up (like the counting above).
-How he always tried to grab our nose when we were upset.  It would annoy us so much that we would forget what we were upset about.
-Asking us if we "believed" before he did his magical healing.
-How he answered his phone.  "MMMMMM Hello?"  And then him asking, "Tiffany who?" and you having to argue with him that he does in fact know you.  This usually took about 5 minutes before you could ever start the actual conversation.
-We always got to play on field 13 at the soccer complex.  This is the very first field on the complex from the front entrance.  And Ralph always had a golf cart to ride around in. During "Atlantic/Rush" sponsored tournaments, we always had to clean the complex after the tournament was over.  I remember we would always beg him to let us drive the golf carts.  We were probably 16 before he actually ever let us drive one.
-Gia also reminded us of Ralph's typical attire for soccer games: white shoes, faded blue jeans, a white button up shirt, and his blue Cougar hat.
-During practices, he would make us make a circle and put two of us in the middle with one ball.  We would beat each other up (in a soccer sort of way) trying to keep the ball from the other person.  Soccer is a contact sport and Ralph taught us how to be tough.
-Ralph always pushed us to do more.  He always wanted me to continue on and get my PhD.  That, and to join the military.  He was constantly trying to recruit us.

Last night, I went out with Gia, Stephanie, Brittany, Cassandra, Lauren, and Alana.  It was great catching up.  We toasted to Ralph and relived so many memories.  We caught up on everything going on in our lives.  All of us are doing amazing things and Ralph is a huge part of our success.  I can't wait for another reunion, we have promised each other it won't take another 8 years.

Thanks Ralph for all the wonderful memories and giving your heart and soul to us and our future.  You were an amazing man and we are all very blessed to have had you in our lives.  Thank you Downey family for allowing us to be apart of his service.  We were all very honored to have been a part of his celebration of life.

Favorites From 2011

I did this last year and wanted to continue the tradition.  I like looking back on what we did over the past year!

January- This was Hunter's very first The Little Gym show week!  It is so amazing to look back at that post and see how much he has grown and developed in almost a year. He still loves every minute of TLG (and so do we).  Our New Years post was my second favorite.


February- A post on our crazy weather.  It had snowed and then it was in the 60's. I got to dress Hunter up in his snow bunny suit and then we got to go play at the park a few days later.


March- What Hunter was up to at 9 months.  I love looking back at what Hunter was doing each month before he turned 1.


April- Hunter's 1st Easter.  He enjoyed his basket of goodies, but not so much the Easter grass (don't worry buddy, I'm not a fan either!).  Hunter's first use of sign language and his zoo trip were close seconds.


May- Hunter taking his first (technically second) steps!  I love watching him walk with his sea legs... not quite sure what is going on, but still really excited that he is moving his legs like that.  I loved this post because it reminds me how blessed I am to have such great friends.  I also loved this post because it was the last monthly update before our little man turned 1.


June- Hunter turned 1!!  I wrote a series of posts about his 1st birthday party.  I still can't believe we have had him in our lives for that long.  It still seems like yesterday that I was snuggling him in the hospital!


July- We went for our first family vacation down in NC with the Lewis family.  It was so much fun and so relaxing.  I would love to do that every year!  I also admitted to being a crazy mom and I started our kitchen remodel (which, as you saw from my new years resolutions, I still have to finish).  I also wrote my first guest post.


August- Carl and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary.  I posted Hunter's 1 year photo session with Sarah and the progress of the kitchen remodel.  It was also a sad month as I had my first real experience (old enough to realize what was going on) with someone I knew passing away.  We had a family fundraiser for Joe Weschler to support his wife and son who survived the car fire.


September- I left Hunter and Carl for the weekend for the first time.  I went to D.C. for Katie's bachelorette party.  We also had a mini photo session with BeniBee before she moved and I posted videos of Hunter talking.  I also posted this funny picture set of Hunter with some rocks and announced Carl's new school journey.


October- My childhood best friend and my high school best friend got married (to each other) and I was so honored to be a part of their wedding!  It was fabulous.  We had a baby sprinkle for Kelly and welcomed baby Alyssa this month!  Hunter had his first 2 word combination!


November- I finally posted about Halloween, ha.  I was interviewed for the first time by a writer.  I posted about Hunter's development and some things I was very thankful for.


December- Christmas!  Hunter was old enough to be excited about things, but still not old enough to understand the concept.  He loved opening a few gifts and playing with toys.  We saw a lot of Santa this December!  We went to Christmas Town for the first time and Hunter rode rides for the first time.  Kelly took some pictures of our family and Hunter turned 18 months!

Richmond Children's Museum

Kelly and I took Emma, Hunter, and Alyssa to the Richmond Children's Museum to play and see the authentic Santa.  On the way, Emma entertained Hunter with a book before they both fell asleep.



The line for Santa was crazy long and Hunter and Emma were going a little stir crazy.  Kelly stayed with Alyssa and the stroller in line and I took the two to the 3 and under section.  It is a lot bigger than the toddler area in our children's museum and they had a great time.

Hunter enjoyed the chicken egg part (just like the one that is similar at our museum).

Kelly messaged me letting me know it was our turn to go into the Santa area.  We didn't know that there would be another line inside that area.  But that line went pretty fast.

Sitting with Princess Amanda

With Santa

He went right to Santa!  As we were standing in line, a little kid was screaming on Santa's lap and Hunter kept saying, "No! No! No!"  I told him he didn't have to go to Santa and that I would sit with him.  When it was our turn, he reached out his hands to Santa and sat there without screaming.  I thought he was fine, but when I went to pick him back up he had little tears rolling down his cheeks.  Poor baby.

This was our picture I purchased.

After Santa, we let the kids play where they wanted.  It is a really nice museum with lots of open, free-play centers.

 

And this is a video of Hunter watching the video of him and Emma in the car.  Hilarious!

Past Few Weeks

A few weeks ago, my work PTA did Cookies With Santa.  I made sure the day the fliers went home with students I payed for a spot.  It is usually sold out early the next morning. I asked for the first time slot, so I had an IEP meeting, picked up Hunter, and came back to work early (to get a good parking spot).  Since we were so early, we went to the OT/PT room and played.  He really enjoyed the swing.

However, he did not enjoy Santa.

My little sister turned 21 on Dec. 15.  We went out to dinner to celebrate.

I tried to correct the red eye.. it probably looked better with the red eye on Mel, haha

Hanging out with Ms. Sarah

He loves sitting in the Melissa & Doug boxes

This is Hunter's favorite sippy cup.  Kelly gave us a few sippy cups to try out when we were switching over from bottles.  This just happened to be one he loved, purple top and all.  He wouldn't leave the house without it, so we went out to lunch with Ms. Sarah today with his orange and purple cup.

Santa-filled Weekend

On Saturday, we were invited to a Brunch with Santa and then a Santa gift exchange.  Hunter was a little unsure of the big guy, but eventually warmed up to him at the first party (enough to give him a high-five and a ball... not enough to sit on his lap).  Here are a few pictures from each event.

Santa?!

No thank you, Santa.  I normally would like bells, but not from a stranger.

But I will give you a high-five.

Hanging out with Miss P

 

After a long, fun-filled day!