Happy Birthday to... Me!

On July 1st I turned the ripe old age of 28. Creeping closer to 30, yikes. My mom made me a delicious Whoopie Pie cake. My family came over and we had a nice time celebrating. We later went out to lunch at La Parrilla and had the honor of wearing the communal sombrero while they sang to me.

My train loving little boy.

I'm not sure if there is anything much more innocent than a little boy who loves trains. He can name every train from Thomas the Train and loves playing with his train table. I love hearing about all the adventures the trains go on.

I love how he loooves to wear his engineer hat - seriously, how cute is he?

Apple Juice

When I was a child my grandparents house was a magical place. It was a nice large home with lots of rooms. As kids it was a maze of hiding places and lots of things to discover. One thing that we always looked forward to was the refrigerator in my grandpa's workshop. In that fridge there was always IBC root beer and little glass bottles of Martinelli's apple juice. Nothing in the world tasted sweeter than that apple juice. Grandpa and Grandma knew how much us kids loved it and made sure to always have some when we came over.

It brought me almost to tears when Andrew and I were at my grandpas house and he pulled out a bottle for Andrew. Sadly the bottles are plastic now - but the sentiment is the same. I love seeing my grandparents interact with Andrew and see their relationship grow.

Happenings of May.

 In early May my cousin Michelle and her son Liam came out for a visit. Nora and Liam are about a month apart in age. It was fun to see them play around. It was so much fun catching up with Michelle!

A trip to the mall would not be complete (for Andrew) without a ride on the train.

 One of the many perks of living with my parents is the backyard! Lots of playing and swinging....

We went strawberry picking with my sister and her kids. Once Nora realized that you could eat the strawberries... she became a lean mean strawberry eating machine. 

Dan and Kim came for a visit from New Orleans. They brought lots of goodies from Mardi Gras. Nora LOVED the necklaces.

Lots of swimming with Aunt Lollie...

As well as a few attempts with the cousins.

The month of May was a good one. Nothing like summer time!

Day Out with Thomas

In May my parents took Andrew to go see Thomas the Train. We all went up to Chattanooga and fulfilled a childhood dream of Andrew's. It was such a great day. Andrew was in train heaven!

It was held at a train museum, which was neat. We were able to see lot of different types of trains and see some of them in action.

 Andrew and Thomas!

Riding on Thomas was fun. The train chugged through some beautiful parts of Tennessee. (God bless the South!)

(Aren't my parents too cute together?!)

Nora and Andrew loved riding on the train.

After the train ride Andrew met Sir Topham Hat.

It was such a great event. It was perfectly timed as well. We really struck the iron while it was hot. Andrew still loves Thomas the train, but when this happened - he was pretty much obsessed. (We've now branched out to many forms of transportation). If you ever have the chance to take a train loving little boy to meet Thomas - DO IT. You won't regret it!