Pictures

Kylie in her cute dress and shoes from Jenny and Sophia

Getting ready to drive!

Kylie having fun while her pool fills up

TWO

Kylie Jo is TWO!!!
The past two years have gone by too fast. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing Kylie home for the first time. She is growing up so fast.
For her birthday this year we did something special. We visited the NICU and took the nurses a veggie and fruit tray. We also took onesies and blankets for the babies. Kylie was only in the NICU for seven days, but it seemed like forever to us. We are very grateful for all the NICU nurses did for her in those seven days. We want to make the tradition of thanking the nurses every year.
On Kylie's actual birthday we didn't really do much. We took her to lunch at Cotton Patch. She ate everything on her plate (corndog, mandarin oranges, and corn) and half a roll. She was a hungry girl!!
Her birthday party is this coming Saturday. It is a monkey themed party, and we have some fun games planned.

All About Kylie Jo at 2 Years Old:

• Still very tall for age. We will find out her exact height at her 2 year checkup later this week
• Still a skinny girl. She eats all the time, but never gains weight. It probably helps that she is running around all the time.
• Wears size 6 or 7 in shoes
• Likes to draw/color
• Likes splashing in her bath or any water she can get her hands in (sink, pool, etc)
• Favorite Shows: Dora the Explorer and Ni Hao Kailan
• Favorite Toy: Daddy's cellphone
• Favorite Foods: Bread, Bananas, Cheese, Lunchables, Fruit Snacks, and Mac N Cheese
• Still takes two naps a day (most of the time). She loves her sleep.
• Rode on an airplane for the first time and did great! I think she is going to be a great traveler.
• Likes to wave and say hi to almost anybody
• Can do a somersault (just started doing this last week)
• Likes to spin around and around
• Still the sweetest girl ever (most of the time) :)

Kylie Jo,
The past two years have gone by too fast. Mommy and Daddy wish you wouldn't grow up so fast, but we love watching you learn new things everyday. You are the best little girl anyone could ask for, and we are blessed to have you in our lives. Happy Birthday baby girl!! We love you very much!!!


Update on KJ's 2 year stats:
She is still 35 inches tall and she weighs about 28 pounds. The doctor said she is a little underweight for her age, but she eats all of the time. He said her height is faster than her weight. She had to get one shot :(, but no more checkups until she is 4.

Goodbye Seattle

We checked out of our hotel on Friday (June 17th). Our flight didn't leave until 6:45 pm, but we had to check out by noon. We checked out around 10:30am, and the hotel was nice enough to hold our luggage for us until we came back to leave for the airport. Our last day was spent exploring parts of Pike Market we didn't see the first time and going to mall near the monorail. We ate lunch at Johnny Rockets. It was set up like an old diner. Joe had a yummy looking burger and fries, Kylie had mini hot dogs and I had onion rings and clam chowder (weird combo...I know). The food was delicious. The waiter was nice and didn't charge us for the chowder because he said he took to long to come take our order (we didn't think it was that long). After lunch we explored some more until we had to ride the monorail back to the hotel to get our things and head for the airport.

We knew we needed to figure out how we were going to get back to the airport without taking a taxi again. As I mentioned in the first Seattle post, we had a very expensive ride to our hotel from the airport. We figured it was the best way due to the fact that we didn't know where to get off if we rode the bus or the Light Rail (a faster version of a bus). We went to the Light Rail terminal near the mall and found that for $5.50 (for all three of us) we could get a ride to the airport. We just had to buy two tickets, go the platform to wait for the Light Rail, get on, and ride to the airport. There were about eight stops between the mall and the airport, but we got to the airport in about twenty minutes. We were kind of mad after riding the Light Rail, because we found out we could have explored more if we knew how easy it was to get from one end of the city to the other.

We got to the airport and that is where the fun part started. We first had to check our large bags. Thankfully we had paid for them online prior to arriving so all we had to do was give the bags to the attendant. We asked the attendant if we should check the stroller at bag check (like we did in Dallas with no problem) or at the gate. He said it would be easier for us if we did it at the gate. We took his advice and headed for security. At security, we all had to remove our shoes, jewelry, cellphones, etc so they could go through the scanner. One security person said she would have to manually check the stroller because it won't fit through the scanner. She took the stroller and wiped it down with some kind of wipe (I guess to see if anything bad shows up). Apparently the wipe showed there was something there. She told me that she needed to pat me and Kylie down because Kylie came in contact with the stroller, and I came in contact with Kylie. As soon as Joe heard what she said he became very angry. I told him it was not a big deal and I had nothing to hide. We both survived the pat down and gathered our things. We never found out what was on the stroller that caused us to be searched. The only thing we know that came in contact with it were her snacks. I guess a snickerdoodle cookie shows up as a bad thing on their system :)

After the fun at security we headed to our gate. We knew our gate was in the "N" terminal. We looked at airport map and found out the terminal was not connected to the other terminals. We had to ride and elevator and then a quick train to the terminal. We found our gate and had to wait about 2 hours until we were able to board the plane. Kylie kept busy by running around and eating snacks. Thankfully we were the first people to board because we had Kylie. We took our seats and waited while the rest of the plane filled up. We took off down the runway and said goodbye to Seattle. Once in the air, we had dinner. Our dinner was the same as our breakfast on the flight to Seattle ( a cheese and fruit platter). The next three hours went by a little slow. Kylie didn't get to take her usual afternoon nap so she was a little fussy. Nothing seemed to keep her occupied long enough. During the flight, I felt my lap getting a little warm. I thought it was just the heat from her sitting on my lap for so long ( I felt it the first time and it was nothing), but I was wrong. I lifted her up just to check and saw that her diaper had leaked a little. I had the fun of taking her to the airplane bathroom and changing her. The changing table in the bathroom was only about two feet long and Kylie is over three feet, so obviously that was an adventure. Once she was changed she got sleepy. She fell asleep that last thirty minutes of the flight. We landed at DFW around 11:45pm. As soon as we stepped off the plane, we knew we were back in Texas. We started to sweat even just walking from the airplane to the terminal. We went to baggage claim and had to wait about twenty minutes for our luggage ( a really long time when it is almost midnight). After getting our bags, we called the hotel where we stayed before we left, and they brought the shuttle to drive us back to our car. We had made the decision to drive back home because we didn't want to pay for a hotel room for only a few hours. We got on the road and headed back to Waco. The drive home seemed to take forever. We finally got home around 3am. We turned on our A/C (which had been off for a week) and crashed. We woke up around 10am on Saturday and still felt tired. We stayed at the house and did laundry. My mom was nice and brought us Bush's chicken for lunch. We then of course had to go to the grocery store because our fridge was empty. Before we went to the store we stopped for dinner at Bankcock Royal to try their version of curry. It was a little hot, but delicious. It wasn't Indian style curry so Joe said it wasn't the same as what he had on vacation, but it was a close second. Joe is now trying to find out where we can get Indian curry near Waco. We haven't been successful yet.

Our trip was great!! We hated to leave Seattle, but knew if we stayed we wouldn't have any money because we have to work to have money. We are already wanting to go back. There is much more that we did not see the first time.

We are now back to working full work weeks and doing chores around the house. The vacation is definitely over!!

Seattle Part Two

I started the morning of day two by calling the lost and found department at Alamo. The woman I spoke with said she would check and see if the van was there. If it was, she said she would check it. Later in the day I called her back because I hadn't heard from her in over two hours.She told me that she tried to call me earlier and the person that answered said they would look for me. Apparently she got the wrong number because my phone was in my pocket the entire day. She was very nice (unlike the people at the airport), and told me that the camera was found in the backseat (exactly where I thought it was). She told me that if the people had just looked it was there in plain sight. I told her of the problems I had at the airport and she said that is very common with those people. She told me I could come pick up the camera from her, but we weren't sure on how to get there and did not want to spend more money on an expensive taxi ride (this was before we figured out the cheap way to get around). She then told me that she could Fed-Ex the camera to our house. After hearing the great news I knew our vacation was taking a turn for the better.
We couldn't get our camera, but knew we still needed pictures so off we went to look for a disposable camera. The grocery store next to our hotel didn't have any, but we found some at a little drug store near the mall. Of course the pictures didn't turn out at well as they would have on our digital camera, but at least we still have some pictures to show off.

The next 3 and a half days were great!! We had a blast. We went many places and saw all kinds of people. The places we went and things we did included:

•  Pike Place Market- This is a must if you go to Seattle. I could have stayed for hours just looking around. They have everything you need in one spot. There is one main strip of the market and then all kinds of little shops and restaurants in nooks and crannies around it. The flowers were my favorite. They had all kinds and were cheap. You could pay fifteen dollars for a beautiful bouquet that you would spend at least thirty dollars for here in town. I would have bought some and brought them back if I could, but I don't think the airlines would have liked that very much.
• Ride the Ducks Tour- This was a fun tour. If you have never been on a Duck Tour, you should definitely try it. The tour is on a WWII amphibious landing craft.  It goes on land and then in the water. You can check out this website for more information on the duck tour. We did one in Galveston last year, but this one was even better. The driver was very funny. We sang and played name that theme song (to sitcoms based in Seattle), of course I knew 'Fraiser' the second it started. We saw all kinds of different sights. The tour took us around a little bit of Seattle and then into Lake Union. We saw the house from 'Sleepless in Seattle', a ship that was featured on 'Deadliest Catch', and Gasworks Park (which was featured on '10 Things I Hate About You'). We also saw a seaplane take off from the lake. This tour was a great way to see sights we wouldn't be able to by just walking.
• Children's Museum at the Center House- We took Kylie here because we knew we needed to take her somewhere she could run around. Joe and I weren't thrilled with the museum. I think it was a little old, but Kylie had fun so that is all that matters. Her favorite part was splashing at the water station (her favorite at any museum).
• Seattle Aquarium- We had a good time. It would have been better if Kylie had been in a better mood, but I think she was sleepy. There was a huge tank where we saw one of the workers in scuba gear feeding the fish.
• Miner's Landing- We didn't spend too much time here. It is mostly an arcade and carousel. Kylie loves the carousel at Kiddieland so we knew she would love it and of course we were right. As soon as she saw it her face lit up. She smiled the entire ride. She probably would have stayed on the rest of the day if we let her.
• Space Needle- We did this because we knew the view would be awesome, but I don't think it is a great deal. It is a little pricey for a thirty second ride to the top of the needle, walking around the top, and riding back down. At least we can say we have done it.
• Monorail- This was the way we got from our hotel to the mall which is blocks from everything else. We walked to the monorail everyday at least twice. The walk from the hotel to the monorail was about ten minutes but it was a beatiful walk. There were covered walkways and we walked past the International Fountain that plays water to music. It was a very popular spot for everyone. The monorail cost two dollars person each way. It seems a little pricey if you add it up, but it really only cost us what we would pay for less than half a tank of gas if we were driving. Walking was the way to go. I think we walked five miles in one day.

I told Joe while we were there that we needed to try foods that we don't normally eat here. Thankfully he was willing to try something different and he found a new favorite which is Indian Lamb Curry. He got it from the food court at the mall and loved it. I tried a falafel at the food court and it was also delicious. We also ate at a restaurant near our hotel called "Mecca Cafe'. The food was delicious!!! It is more of a dive than a restaurant, but we didn't care after eating our first bite of food. We liked it so much, we ate there twice. The first time we went, I had green eggs and ham. It included two fried eggs with pesto, a huge ham steak, four pieces of sourdough toast, and the entire bottom the plate was covered in hashbrowns (the best). I couldn't eat it all, so Joe had ham and toast for breakfast the next day. The food was awesome and the waitress was very nice. She brought Kylie a coloring book and big box of colors to keep her busy. At Pike Market we also tried 'Bubble Tea'. I had heard of it before and always wanted to try it. It was very good. You should try it if you can find it.  For a defintion of what it is click here. The tea had tapioca balls in the bottom. The straws they give you are big enough so the balls come up the straw and you can eat them. They took a little bit to get use to. We had it twice. Joe had one that was coffee flavored both times. I had one that was vanilla and one that was strawberry. We are both fans of it.


I'll end this post with some pictures from our trip.

This is where they throw the fish at Pike Market.

The beautiful flowers.

International Fountain

Kylie and her new silly cheesy smile.

Kylie and her twin at the hotel.

Pike Market

KJ and the Space Needle

To be continued...

Seattle Part One

We flew out of DFW last Monday at 7am. We arrived early at the airport as suggested. After going through security, we found our gate and started the two hour wait for boarding. Kylie thought she was already on vacation. You wouldn't think she got up at 4am from the way she was running around. We took turns following her and making sure she didn't make our fellow plane riders crazy. They all smiled as she ran from chair to chair, but I think they were secretly hoping "I hope that kid is quiet on this early morning flight". They got their wish. Kylie was an excellent passenger!! We boarded the plane and she just looked out the window until we took off. I had Kylie on my lap for the flight. We figured it would be easier than having to take our carseat, plus it didn't cost any extra. Thankfully Kylie isn't two yet. After she turns two, she has to have her own seat and ticket. Our seats were near the engine, so not even ten minutes after taking off, the engine vibration put her to sleep (which I think the running around for two hours helped with that). She only took a nap for about thirty minutes. The next three hours consisted of coloring, watching videos, waving at the nice lady sitting next to Joe, and eating snacks. Kylie and I shared a fruit and cheese platter. We had grapes, cheddar cheese (white and yellow), crackers, and brie cheese. The nice lady ( I never got her name) offered Kylie the rest of her grapes, which of course Kylie accepted. She even pulled up cartoons on her laptop for Kylie, but we didn't want Kylie messing up her laptop so we pulled out the DVD player we brought. The flight seemed like it went by fast. We even arrived about twenty minutes earlier than expected. After arriving at the airport, we went in search of the baggage claim. After getting our suitcases and KJ's stroller we headed for the car rental counter. As I posted in the previous post, we decided to rent a car (a minivan) and drive to Portland, Oregon to try Voodoo Donuts and see whatever else we could find. Portland was a BUST!! We found the donut shop, however they were closed for construction (even though the website said it would be open), there was another location, but we didn't feel like searching anymore. We hadn't eaten for a few hours so we stopped for lunch at Byways Cafe (which was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives). It was good food. After lunch, we decided that Portland was not for us. We think that Austin should give their quote "Keep Austin Weird" to Portland. We definately did not fit in with the people of Portland. The drive back to Seattle was quite long. We hit traffic a few times, but finally made it back to the airport to drop off the car. We gathered our all of our things (or so we thought) and got a very expensive taxi ride to the hotel. After arriving at the hotel we sort of unpacked and realized our camera was not with our luggage. We remembered having it last in our rental car, and knew that is where it was. I called the rental agengy at the airport immediately. The young lady I spoke with said she would check the car and call me back. Four hours later she called me back and said they couldn't find our camera or our rental car. They don't know what happened to the car, but think it went back to "Home Base" (whatever that is). I told her we really needed our camera. We hadn't taken very many pictures of our vacation, but the pictures that were saved to the memory card already were of Kylie's first snow and other Kylie pictures. She continued to tell me they had no idea where the van was. She told me I could contact Lost and Found and see if anything had been turned in. I called and the message said they closed at 4:30pm ( it was 7pm). I called the young lady back and she said "Yes, they close at 4:30", however she didn't tell me that the first time I spoke with her. She contined saying "Well it will show up sometime" in a very rude voice. Everytime I asked her a question she said "I don't know". I was getting very upset. I told her I wanted to speak with her supervisor and she said he had just left to run an errand (how convenient). I told her I did not care and expected to hear from him. About ten minutes later, her supervisor called me and again said they did not know where the van was (how do you a van that just got turned in??). He acted as if he didn't care, but said he had my information and would contact me if our camera was found.
It had been a long day (up since 3am), so we went to sleep and hoped for a better day on Tuesday.

This was not the way I wanted our vacation to start out.

To be continued...

Seattle Bound

Vacation time is finally here...well in about three hours.
Vacation starts as soon as we get off this afternoon. We won't be back to work until next Monday.
We will be leaving for Dallas after we get off work today. We will stay the night in Dallas and fly out tomorrow morning at 7am. We will be arriving in Seattle around 9am (11am- Waco time). We aren't able to check into our hotel until 4pm so we have added another stop on our vacation. We are renting a car and driving down to Portland, Oregon. We are going to make a stop at Voodoo Donuts. We have seen this place a few times on the Food Network and Cooking Channel and have wanted to try it. They have some interesting donuts. You can check out their menu here. We are going to take a little tour around Portland and then head back to Seattle later in the evening.We are not exactly sure of our day to day intinerary. I think we are just going to see what looks fun or interesting at the time. The stops we know for sure we want to make are at: Pike Place Market, The Seattle Space Needle, and the Children's Museum (for KJ).
We will spend 4.5 days and 4 nights in Seattle. We will be back to DFW on Friday night/Saturday morning.
I am ready to experience my first plane ride :) We have everything we think we need to keep Kylie occupied on the plane. Snacks, drinks, coloring books, and dvds of her favorite shows are all packed in her little backpack. We told her we are going to fly like a bird and she said "tweet tweet". I think she is excited too :)

22 Months

Kylie Jo is 22 months old today!
In two months she will turn 2!

All about KJ at 22 months:

• Weighs about 27 pounds
• Don't know her exact height, but I know she is tall for her age.
• Wears size 6 shoes
• Loves her "babies" (a fur real bear cub she got for easter, stuffed animals, and a few baby dolls)
• Says so many words I can't think of them all.
• Loves to eat! Her new favorite is a plain piece of bread.
• Likes to use a fork to eat her food (even her bread)
• Likes to help mommy and daddy water the flowers and vegetable garden. Mommy even bought her a small watering can so she can carry it herself.
• Loves bath time. All you have to say is "bath" and she runs to the bathroom. Her favorite part is splashing water on mommy :)
• Loves pup pups (dogs). Any dog is a pup pup to her no matter how big it is.
• She loves to kisses on the cheek and hugs around the neck (she puts both arms around our necks and gives the sweetest hugs)
• Says "Momma" or "Dadda" and when we turn around she just smiles and hides her eyes.
• She is funny and loves to laugh.
• She is the most beautiful, sweetest girl and the best little girl (even though I still call her my baby) anyone could ask for.

I love you Kylie Jo! Happy 22 Months!

I guess I better get started on planning your birthday party :):)