ryan loves lucy

brothers?

you think?!?!

W @ 9 months

R @ 9 months

W @ 9 months

R @ 9 months

at this age,
W wins the teeth race
R wins the hair race

W wins the gross motor award
R wins the fine motor award

they look a lot alike! W’s chin is more square and cleft like Mike’s and R’s chin is longer like mine, but eyes/nose/mouth/cheeks are all the same!

to my…

To my super-hero-cape-wearing, chicken-hat-loving, binoculars-craft-project-toting, little man – I love you!

 

and to my pants-on-the-head-wearing, bumpo-sitting, so-tolerant-of-whatever-your-momma-does-to-you, sweet babe – I love you!

final day in Galveston

it rained. a lot. it was cloudy. all day.

we went to the aquarium!

 

 

then we had lunch down at the pier/dock/strand/whatever you want to call it!

4th of July

were were still in “vacation recovery” mode, so all we managed to do was watch fireworks!

Here’s a pic from that evening:

the good stuff

So as we were enjoying night two of Awesome Shrimp Boil, watching the bay water creep ever closer to our condo building with the surge from Hurricane Alex, and seeing our perfect picture-taking place slowly become covered in water, Emily and I decided to move our final-night-in-galveston photo shoot to, oh, an hour ago! We realized the weather was just going to get worse {and it did!} so we hustled! {For the record, Em hustled much faster than me – I don’t care what is going, on, that girl can look like a million $$ in just a few minutes.} And this was not just a hang-out-and-take-a-picture kind of moment. There were pre-selected wardrobes, people! And Emily and Nick’s fabulous camera. I even got to snap a few shots with it – so fun! I am really loving all this photo-editing stuff!

{spoiler alert and disclaimer to all relatives – some of these MIGHT end up in a gift of some sort!}

he-men {W is trying to show his muscles…}

 

don’t ask…

my fave

more vacation!

The next day started out gray, so I convinced Mike to take W fishing at the “fabulous stocked fishing pond” right next to our condo building instead of doing the beach again – seriously wore me out the first day!!!

um, ew. I had seen this deck/pier the day before and it was covered with seagulls. and you know what seagulls do? they poop. Mike said it was covered and gross and slimy and smelly. but the fishing poles and tackle box had made the trip in the car and they were going to be used, dangit! it didn’t last too long.

Mike and Nick had some quality time on the couch

ah, the pool. the rain cleared off in the afternoon and we were all over it! this pool had a lazy river. not the Wet N Wild kind of lazy river – just a small circle – but you could be in it and move with minimal effort – still a winner in my book!

this kid should never complain about anything. ever.

this just cracks me up!


mohawks are back “in”
 

Strittmatter family fun!
 

he said the goggles would help him put his face in the water. um, no.

our only chance at sun

Day 2 was our only completely sunny day. Hurricane Alex was nowhere hear us yet the rain and wind became ridonculous as the week went on. {yeah, I said it.}

We headed out to the beach in the AM. What a beat-down! Don’t get me wrong – I am soooo glad we made this trip, but you should have seen this production! Four adults, one little dude, two babies, chairs, a pack n play, sand toys, towels, other baby necessities. All I’m sayin’ is that it is a good thing W could walk and carry his own shovel and pail. Otherwise, he might have not made it to the beach. Once we got there {I make it sound like it was soooo far away – we had to drive all of our gear across the street/highway and walk about 50 yards – it could have been worse!} and set up, we managed to enjoy it!

Lunch, nap, then pool time! Much better pictures from day 2 at the pool!

While the kids napped, Mike and Nick went to get shrimp. Those two boys rustled up a real, live shrimp boil for dinner! So delicious! Shrimp, potatoes, corn, onions – all in a big pot with some amazing seasoning! {pics from Emily}

mmmmm, Shrimp! {and the best part? they bought enough for TWO meals!}

chicken hat

word-for-word, this happened at our house this morning:

scene: mother and child getting ready to go to the library as soon as the baby wakes up; mother in her room, talking to child

mother: “W, I need you to go to your room and take off your shirt and Pull-up so you can get dressed to go to the library,”

child: {as he runs out of the room, with a trailing voice} “OK, but I need to get my chicken hat first!”

and sure enough, he came to his room with a chicken hat.

Thank you all! We’ll be signing autographs in the lobby afterwards.

upon arrival

These are from our first evening in Galveston. Our condo was literally on the bay. There was a small sandy patch 100 feet from our building so I took W down there to look around. So gorgeous!

there were so many little hermit crabs just hanging out and yes, all those shells still had crabs in them!

W found a stick and was poking it in all the little holes that the water creatures had burrowed. He told me he wanted to make them come out. I told him good luck.

pelican (?) just hanging out – there were so many large birds and it was fun to watch them dive-bomb the water looking for fish
 

a view from the ground level of our building

view from the balcony – gorgeous sunset!