After Lunch

After lunch we took a drive out to St. Michaels, a small tourist town on the Eastern Shore. Love this picture of Austin and Chris. That's quite a catch you've got Daddy!!! Chris was actually holding Ausitn out to the side, arms fully extended, just so I could 'get the shot.' What troopers I have, dealing with me and my picture taking all the time. After posing for a few pictures we walked around the Maritime Museum, well as much as we could, the park was closing shortly after we had gotten there, which was really kind of a bumemr, it seemed like a very interesting, very charming place. W ehave two and a half years lef tot make it back here so we didn't sweat it too much.

The three of us stumbled upon some really lucky ducks. "Why were they lucky?" you ask? Just because they were fed by Austin and his dad. I met a friend while Chris and Austin were feeding, he posed for me for like 5 minutes, I've named him Woody. He was putting on a show for some food. Chris actually got him to eat out of his hand. Austin just liked watching the ducks swim, I think he wanted to join them.

The weather was amazing for us. The day wouldn't have been complete without an ice cream treat. Both my guys love, love, love Ice cream. So we walked down to the village and found the most authentic old ice cream shop, rickety floors and all. The specials were posted on the wall and consisted of concoctions 'regular' customers had come up with. I played it safe and got the peanut butter cup ice cream.

St Michael's is really quaint town with beautiful old houses and great Antique shops, that are of course like everything else out here, is a tad bit overpriced. Chris and I found an old plate rack to hang on the wall, about 50" wide, never seen one as big. We would have love to have it, the store owners just wanted a little too much and we weren't in the mood for barteringing. Maybe we'll stumble across another someday.

On our way back to the car the weather started to turn and it began to drizzle, a sign that our perfect day was coming to an end. Just before we got to the car Austin spotted a couple of bunny rabbits in the grass. Isn't he cute?
I could not have asked for a better first Mother's Day, thanks so much honey, I love you and I love all the thought you put into making my day so special for me. You really are the best.

Well I hope you have all enjoyed my latest installment. We have been busy, but as you can see not too busy to enjoy our time together. We are looking forward to going to East Hampton in a few weeks and will hopefully have Austin in the sand at the beach where I grew up. I know Austin's Gram is really loking forward to seeing him again and he keeps asking me when he'll get to see his Bo-be (my brother Chris) and auntie Leah again. Hopefully Chris B will be in EH when we're there (that's a hint dude). We miss all of you and really wish we could see you all soon. I know I've said it before and I'll say it again, our door is always open to you people, there's lots to do here so don't be afraid to make the trip. Love to all.

Liz, Chris, Austin & Hannah-the-wonder-pup

What a Day

I’ve always known how lucky I am to have such a wonderful husband and baby. Those two got together and made my mother’s day so special. So much so I feel inclined to share my day with you all. Chris, Austin and I spent “Mother’s Day” in the hospital with Chris’ second go around with a wicked case of strep throat. So my boys made it up to me this past Friday. It started off with homemade apple coffee cake, and not the kind you get from a box, all made from scratch. Then off to the spa for a massage and facial. Then we headed off to lunch at a great restaurant we were told about on the Eastern Shore, Harris’ Crab House where we had crab cakes and crab soup, yum! Austin had a hot dog and French fries. Here I am with my little man, he’s so handsome!

Rough Housing with his Pup

As many of you probably already know, Austin absolutely loves his puppy Hannah. In fact, the only word he really says and knows is ‘Hannah.’ He says it quite often, but especially when he’s looking around trying to find her. He really enjoys sitting on the kitchen floor playing with spoons and measuring cups and other sorts of utensils as well as anything else his pup brings over to him. She’s very gentle with him and loves playing tug. He’s pretty tough for a little guy, won’t let go for anything. We love our Hannah-puppy!!!

A Hairy Lollipop Kind if Day

It’s actually been several weeks since Austin had this done, but as you can see our little baby got a big boy hair cut, what a sweet love. He was so good in the barber’s chair, the stylist had never seen anything like it. We took him to a place called ‘Cartoon Cuts’ in the Columbia Mall. We thought we’d make it special for his very first hair cut. We didn’t have much cut off, we’re trying to go for the organized mess sort of look. Doesn’t he look handsome everyone? He was so well behaved that they gave him a lollipop as a reward. That was his first as well. He had sooo much fun with his lollipop, what a treat.

Cooking up Something HOT!

Hi all, this is gonna be short, but I have lots to update on later. I took part in an activity yesterday that I thought all my busy girlfriends and mummies out there would appreciate knowing about. You may have heard of it, or something like it before. It's called "My Girlfriend's Kitchen," and it's just about the most wonderful time saving/convenient thing ever. Basically you pay $100 for 12 meals. Each one has a ton of food, feeding you and you hubby and kiddos easily. The portions are usually for 4-6 people, but I chose to spilt the meals with my friend Shelby. So you go to this place and they have all the ingredients out for you and instructions on assembly. You put everything together and throw it in the freezer then move on to the next meal. There are 14 dishes to choose from and they are all very healthy and fresh. Their menu changes every month too so if you decided to go back there would be 14 new dishes to choose from. For all my Wyoming friends, they're opening one in south Denver, and I promise, it's totally worth the drive. Especially if you get 8 girlfriends together, they give you your 12 meals for free, pretty sweet huh? Anyway, check out their website and let me know what you think. www.mgfk.com xo Liz xo

My Biz

Hello all,
Just wanted to share with you a little tid bit of my business stuff. For the summer cycle, I've teamed up with a Navy spouse, Jennifer, to do international marketing in the Military Times publications, i.e. Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Times. So if you get any of these publications, you'll have to check it out in the classifieds under Maryland. There's not a lot of space for us to work with, about 2"x2". Let me know what you all think. Love to all. xoxoxo Liz xoxoxo

Stroller Stride

Hey there, this is more of a message for all my mommy friends out there. I came across this company called 'Stroller Strides' and was wondering if any of you have heard of it before. It's a fitness program/play group that meets at different parks each day and your babies can participate, in their strollers of course. I think it sounds like a good way to meet people , so I think I'm going to give it a shot. Let me know if any of you have ever attended one of their classes and I'll let you know what I think after Monday morning. Hope all your babies are doing great. Oh for those friends of mine that are expecting, I guess they welcome expecting moms as well. Their website is www.strollerstride.com Love to all, Liz

Just a hello

Hey there, I just thought I would send out a blog to see who checks our blog when I don't send out a blog update email. So if you're when of our steadfast hardcore blog fans, leave a note to let us know.

Things here are great. Chris was sick over Mother's Day and well, that wasn't a whole lot of fun, because he was REALLY ill. We made lemonade though and had an all day movie junk food kind of occasion. How wonderful. Austin is GREAT! Oh my he's just so wonderful I can't even express all the emotions he brings us. Chris and Austin had a daddy-son night tonight as I started my Real Estate business basics course. It's good, just a lot of stuff I've already done because my manager is really on top of things and well I can say now 'I've been doing this for a while.' It's not quite 60 days yet but I already feel like I've gained quite a bit of knowledge. So yes I am enjoying this adventure, but it continues to be a 'labor of love.'

So back to Austin. We've been working a lot on the crawling thing, but he keeps telling us how he'd rather just walk. He can now stand on his own for several seconds. But then we get all excited and he looses his balance and well the we have the gravity conversation again and start all over. At the moment his favorite toy is the dinosaur memere and pepere gave him for Christmas, it roars and he really likes that he make balls rolls down his tail and shoot out of his mouth! He is very independent and enjoys eating and drinking all by himself. It truly is amazing how the time passes so quick.

I'm pretty tired so I'll sign off for now. Hope you are all doing well. xoxo Liz xoxo

BATH TIME

ONE LAST POST AND YOU WILL ALL BE UP TO DATE WITH US. JUST WANTED TO SHARE WITH YOU ONE OF AUSTIN'S MOST FAVORITE ACTIVITIES, BATH TIME!!! HE REALLY LOVE PLAYING IN THE WATER, WE CAN'T WAIT TO GET HIM IN THE POOL. IT'S ALMOST WARM ENOUGH, I HOPE THEY OPEN THE POOLS AT THE ACADEMY SOON, WE'LL BE THERE ALL THE TIME. I HEAR THE BAY IS A BIT DIRTY TO SWIM IN, BUT I'M SURE WE'LL MAKE A TRIP TO THE EASTERN SHORE SOMETIME THIS SUMMER. I KNOW WE'LL BE IN EAST HAMPTON, SO HE'LL DEFINITELY GET SOME BEACH TIME IN. ENJOY EVERYONE AND THANKS FOR VISITING OUR BLOG, WE REALLY ENJOY DOING THIS AND IT MAKES IT SO SPECIAL WHEN WE HEAR BACK FROM YOU ALL.

Another day with the Boats

As if I hadn't spoke of the Volvo Ocean Race enough. I just wanted to show off my hub's talent in taking photographs, I think he's got something going for him. These were taken the other day, they were letting people tour the docks and Chris got some good shots of the boats, the capital building and me and Austin. This is probably the last you'll hear of the race, or at least see for now. The race begun it's next leg of the trip today out of Annapolis, I think around noon. I believe they sail up to New York City now. Go Pirates!!!

Playing Inside the Box ... for now

Thank you Auntie Cathie, Uncle Jamie and boys. Austin received an early birthday present from them a couple weeks ago. It was so gorgeous out yesterday we decided it would be good to play on the back porch for a while. He had so much fun in his new sandbox he fought me getting out. I must admit, it is a bit messy, but worth every second of clean up. It allowed me to soak up the sun and read, yes actually got some reading time in while Austin played in his box, about an hour. Speaking of, it's nice enough out there right now, I think I may take advantage of the situation again.

Up Close and in Personal

Chris and I decided to take Austin down to the harbor the day the boats pulled into Annapolis. We've had pretty good timing with all of the events and this day was no exception. We decided to park on the academy campus as to avoid the masses and hassles of parking downtown. I think we had one of the best seats in town as the boats passed right in front of us, not even 40 yards away. I was craving ice cream in a bad way as the weather was just calling for it, so after they docked we decided to walk to the downtown pier and check them out even closer and try to get a glimpse of the teams as they disembarked their boats.

Right off the bat Chris recognized the captain of the Pirates ship. He snapped a pretty good picture of the guy, but was too shy to ask for his autograph. I wanted to ask if he'd sign my baby, but Chris thought that was inappropriate.... oh well. These other pictures of the boats don't really do them justice, they're really an impressive sight to see. Actually one of the two boat designs was created here in Annapolis. The coolest thing about this whole race is seeing how excited it all makes my husband, like watching a 5-year-old at Disney World. Enjoy the pics, if any of you have any questions I'm sure Chris would love to chat with you about it. Love to all, Liz, Chris, Austin & Hannah

The Boats Arrive

Chris has been following the Volvo Ocean Race since before the race even started. The finish line for the last leg of the race was in the Chesapeake Bay somewhere and the Sailboats will start the next leg in Annapolis. It's all very exciting, Chris has a pretty good knowledge of the boats, their teams and everything that's been going on since the race around the world all started. Of course we are routing for the American ship "Pirates of the Caribbean," Disney sponsored if you hadn't already drawn that conclusion. No Johnny Depp is not one of the crew members ... thank goodness. We were lucky enough to see the second place boat pulling into town (Movistar - Spanish boat) while we were crossing over the Bay Bridge on the way back from Jersey a couple weeks ago. It doesn't seem like a very big deal from the pictures, but these boats really tower any other boat on the water, very awe inspiring. Here you can see the Sandy Point Light in the background along with the sailboat Movistar. I just love the picture of Chris and Austin, I'm so lucky to have such handsome guys. Austin's really begun to look much more like dad these days.

Austin is in love with two things

1. His Auntie Leah
2. Dancing with his mom

Austin and I loved spending time with Leah and Nikki while we were in East Hampton. Leah had to work a bunch so we went and had dinner at her restaurant, what fun that was, everyone in the place fell in love with the most well behaved little dude they'd ever met ... but of course!