Texas - May 2010 - Schlitterbahn

Yes, it's September, and I am just now writing about May. It's been a crazy summer, and I have started a second blog (even though I can't keep up with this one) that might merge with this one at some point, but for now, this is still Ripley's blog. And we have a lot of catching up to do. So let's get to it.

When Aunt Jen came back from her latest trip, we decided that a trip to Schlitterbahn (best water park in the country) was a must. We've always known that Ripley loved the water, but she was in her element here. Schlitterbahn is so big that you have to take a train from one part of the park to the other.

She played with Grandma and Grandpa for a while and rode the slide in the small pool. She also went in the big pool with Mommy, Daddy and Aunt Jen. I think we'll be going back in a few years when she could do a bit more because she is older.

Part of our Texas trip was a stop in Round Rock to see Grandma Flossie. While it was a short visit, it was so good to see her.

Easter 2010 and PaPa's Birthday - Atlantic City - April 2010

I entirely skipped our other Atlantic City adventure this year, which happened right around Easter. Again, I've lost track of exactly the order of things, but we did start Easter with Ripley doing the Patterson Park Egg Hunt. As you can tell from the coats, it was quite chilly. While I think she did understand the idea of getting eggs, she decided she only wanted one this year. We'll see how many she goes after next year. We had brunch with the whole family in Havre de Grace (I am going to try to remember exactly where).

Part Two of the Adventure was in Atlantic City. We stayed at the Flagship Resort and had a great view of the bay. More walking along the boardwalk and the beach, and just general fun being with MiMi and PaPa.

Trip to Michigan - March 12-14, 2010

We don't have many photos from this recent visit to Detroit, but here's one of Little Miss Ripley with her fast-friend Jimmy Brisson. On Friday, we had the pleasure of staying with Ripley's godmother, Katie and her family: husband Gerry; son, Jimmy; and daughter, Ruthie. The kids had such a fun time playing, while the adults caught up and munched on yummy Thai food. We love that we get to see them, and hopefully next time, the "big" kids, Lexie and Nate, will be home, too.

On Saturday and Sunday, we spent time in Dearborn with the McCartan clan. Aunt Maura was visiting from Ireland. This could be anyone sitting with Ripley, but trust me, it's Aunt Maura. Ripley had fun blowing bubbles with Mimi, giving Aunt Helen hugs, and saying Happy Birthday to Granny Maura. We even got to see Uncle Mike after his St. Patty's Day run. Our trips are never quite long enough, but we love every minute of the time we spend with family.

Ripley was great on the plane both ways, even though she seemed to have scared off the rest of the passengers. On both flights we were told every seat would be taken, but the window seat next to us was left empty both on the way out and back. Who wouldn't want to sit next to Ripley? It worked in our favor, though, as we had extra space both ways. As we waited to disembark in Baltimore, she started waving her hands in the "all done" motion, and said "All done people" and "Go, people, go." A girl who knows what she wants.

Vist to Santa 2009

Photos of the Snow of December 2009 in a subsequent post, but I have the CD with the Santa picture, so I wanted to upload it while I had the chance.

We ventured out this afternoon to the Inner Harbor where Santa has a house. Still tons of snow and ice and slush on the ground. Ripley was a bit scared to sit on her own, so Chad and I jumped in the photo with her.

Because we had issues with the CD we bought last year, they gave us the super package for the cheap package price. We went with the purple theme like we did last year. And exactly the same Santa. I think it's officially a tradition.

Visit to Cleveland - October 2009

Last weekend, we made a very overdue visit to Cleveland to see Uncle Culann and Aunt Carolyn. It was part of a birthday celebration for Chad. We were pleasantly surprised by the city. I am not sure what we expected, but we had a really nice time.

We at yummy middle eastern food at Aladdin (I think this was the name), comfort food grilled cheese at Melt, and take-away pirogies and mexican food from the Westside Market. Oh, how I wish we had a market like it!

We stayed at the Intercontinental Suites, which allowed us some much overdue time to play poker while Ripley slept in the bedroom.

On Friday, we went to Boo at the Zoo, and despite a bit of rain, we had such a fun time. Ripley wore the first of her costumes - a penguin. We ended the weekend with a trip to Turtle Park, where Ripley had fun climbing and playing in the sand.

The First (of many?) Weekends with Grammy and Pa Pa

I wish I could tell you that I had pictures, but there was an error with our memory card, and I think I might have lost several photos from the past weekend (most from the wedding - sigh). So this will just be a wordy update on Ripley's first weekend away from her parents and with her Jersey grandparents.

This past weekend (8/28-8/30), I had the privilege of marrying two of my good friend, James and Mare. The wedding was in NYC - Battery Garden, and there was a weekend full of events. As much as I think Ripley would have enjoyed herself, we decided this was the time for a weekend with Grammy and Pa Pa in Jersey. From what we can tell, she had a fabulous time, despite a pretty rainy weekend. And Vivienne and Chuck, while looking a bit tired when we arrived back on Sunday (we left her on Friday at noon), seemed to also have had a good time. We hope this is the start of many weekend with her grandparents. And if there is any other family out there who wants to give an overnight a shot, just let us know.

This little girl of ours is already such a personality and presence. I don't think I've written about this before because I am usually busy sharing things we've done and places we've gone, but if you haven't figured it out, Ripley is pretty darn fearless. While I worry sometimes about how far she is willing to wander off before _I_ can't stand it anymore and follow her, I would much rather have this extrovert of a child than a shrinking violet. And I don't think we have to worry about her being a shrinking violet.

She started her new daycare about 3 weeks ago, and she is already the rock star of the place. Everyone knows who she is (and this daycare is bigger than the last). She has an infectious smile and blows kisses at everyone and will stare you down with her big blue eyes with the long long eyelashes. There are mornings when she does get upset when I leave, but most of the time, she wanders off to her friends and looks back at me and smiles and then gets back to her playing and babbling.

I wish I knew how she had become the little person she is, and I have no doubt that Chad and I have something to do with it, but she is well on her way to being an independent Wilson woman, which is a tough road sometimes, but I don't think her Aunt Jenny or I would have it any other way. We've known from the start that she was a tough girl; not every child could come out of NICU having been poked in her foot to draw blood every 3 hours for 6 days with such a sunny personality, but she did. Not every child could get hit in the head with a door (as she did tonight when we were out to dinner) and just say "uh-oh" and continue on her merry way. But Miss Ripley Annabel Wilson can and does. She is a force to be reckoned with; she is my daughter; and she is the ultimate joy.

Visit to Texas - June 2009

Chad had a conference in Chicago and a bachelor party in Philadelphia, so Ripley and I decided to make a trip to Texas. While it was a quick trip, we got to (1) see MiMi (Flossie) in Round Rock and made a visit to Hilltop Lakes where we (2) got to swim in the Texas pool and visit with cousins Emily Marie, Jamie and Austin; and (3) got to ride in the golf cart with Grandma Janet.

There was much much more, but those are the highlights!

Ripley's First Birthday: Part III AKA Culann and Carolyn's Wedding (5/30/09)

I would like to say that we've been out of the country or something similarly exciting, but I have no excuse for not updating the blog. My goal tonight is to catch up. We'll see if it happens.

When we last left our heroine, she was celebrating her first birthday. Over a month later, I can no longer say that she "just turned one." Ripley Annabel is now 13+ months old. We rounded out her first birthday week with her Uncle Culann and Aunt Carolyn's wedding. Ripley was part of the wedding party - and I was her accessory. She was the ring girl and I pulled her down the aisle in a fun blue wagon. She loved being in the wagon. Was not as happy out of the wagon.

We tried to get her to go to sleep early (see her in her PJs and getting a bottle), but there was a lot going on. A sampling of photos is below. Include one of her new official aunt and uncle.

To See Aunt Jen and Dexter

This is going to have to be quick. Ripley just took another one of her power naps - which this time was less than 30 minutes. The girl just won't sleep much more than 45 minutes at a time. So I hear her playing in her crib. We think it could be more teeth coming in?

Two weekends ago (5/2/09) we went to see Aunt Jen in NC before she headed away again for a while. Such a fun visit. Pottery festivals, pools, shopping, hanging out with Dexter. I've posted two pictures and a video for your enjoyment.

Things I Can Do - Play with My Toys

Ripley got a cool toy from her Grandma Janet for Christmas, but just this week discovered how she can use it herself. She's growing up way too fast...I know, I know. It's just a toy, but she's starting to understand cause and effect - a pretty important concept as concepts go.

Visit to Texas - April 2009

Time seems to be passing more and more quickly for us. I think I need to commit to updating the blog once a week at the same time. Maybe Sunday night? Otherwise, things seem to be slipping away. I am going to go back and try to recreate a few things, but didn't want that to stop me from posting some photos of our trip to Texas last week.

We started out in Pearland for one night where we got to see Grandma Janet, Aunt Judy and Uncle Benny. Ripley absolutely loved the pond in the backyard. I wish we had gotten some video of her splashing, but I think you can get the gist of how much she enjoyed leaning over and splashing.

Galveston was our next stop. Chad and I decided it might have been over 5 years since we had been there, so we booked a room at the Casa Del Mar for Thursday night. We got to the city fairly early and Ripley fell asleep right as we were pulling into town, so we drove around visiting my old houses (1818 Ave. O; 2525 O 1/2 ; 3615 O 1/2) I had forgotten how close the first house was to the beach. It was very run down, but the other two (especially 3615) looked great.

Overall Galveston was on the mend, but there was still so much damage from Hurricane Ike evident. The Down on the Strand, there was a line on the buildings showing where the water had been.

We had lunch at a wonderful Mexican place called Gorditas (where Chad had a spicy beer thing called a Michelada, and then headed to the Bolivar Ferry where we saw a ton of seagulls and dolphins!

For dinner, Chad had crawfish etouffee from Benno's on the Beach and I got a falafel from a Mediterranean Chef on the Strand, both of which we took back to the room so we could put the little girl to sleep. It was a bit cold so we didn't actually get into our suits to go to the pool or the beach, but we did walk along the beach for a bit.

On Friday morning, we had an amazing breakfast at The Sunflower Cafe and took some pastries to go (including a slice of pecan pie that they somehow dipped in chocolate!) to share with Mom and Dean. We tried to go on a Galveston Duck Tour, but the PA system wasn't working, so the tour guide thought we wouldn't be able to hear and didn't want to go ahead with the tour. We'll have to try again on our next visit. On our way out of town, we stopped off at Katie's Seafood Market (1902 Wharf - right off the Strand) to pick up some shrimp for dinner. We swung by Pearland again, picked up Mom/Grandma Janet and headed up to Hilltop.

It is always so relaxing to be at Hilltop. We went into Jewett on Saturday to the Flea Market. The only purchase was some kettle corn because Chad can't ever pass this up. We went to the cantata service at the Hilltop Chapel for Easter Sunday. Ripley did well for about half of the time, but she got tired fast so she and I sat out in the lobby for the second half. And finally on Monday before we left, we got to see the cousins and Aunt Emily and Uncle Freddie before we headed back to Hobby Airport to fly home. All in all a most wonderful visit. We can't wait to get back so we can swim in the Texas pool!

Detroit in January/February

I realized that my last update had "Christmas" in the title, which, now that it is February, seems like very long ago. So on to our most latest adventure. Last weekend (1/30 - 2/1), we took a quick trip to Detroit where we saw family and friends. Culann drove over from Cleveland to see his niece and they had a nice time hanging out at Big Boy.

We got a great package deal and stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Dearborn where there was a fun pool, so we took baby girl for her first real swim (in a darling little suit from Grammy Vivienne). Despite the water being pretty cold, she had a fun time. And bad parents that we are, we did take her in the hot tub for a few minutes to warm her up after the cold pool adventure. On a related note, we started swim lessons yesterday morning (in a much warmer indoor pool) and Ripley LOVED it. She splashed and didn't flinch when I dunked her. I think we have another swimmer on our hands.

We had brunch at the Dearborn Inn on Sunday with Granny Maura, Uncle Mike, Aunt Helen, Uncle Tom, and Uncle Culann. And our last stop was in Ferndale to see godmother Katie, Gerry, Natty and sleeping Jimmy and Ruthie. All in all a wonderful weekend.

I think we are going to be more local in February, but I will try to be better about updating the day-to-day adventure. We just put up a corral for the baby because...wait for it...she is finally moving forward after weeks of scootching backward. I'll try to get a video to capture the movement.

Christmas in Virginia

We continued with our beach tradition for Christmas this year by meeting up with Mom, Dean, Jenny, Jon and Nicole in Virginia Beach. There were even a few furry friends who joined us. Ripley and her cousin Dexter got along quite well.

Ripley enjoyed being with everyone - and she loved the shiny wrapping paper that might have been more fun than her presents. There were walks on the beach, some letterboxing and just good family time. Ripley would like to thank her Grandma Janet and Grandpa Dean for renting such a fun place for us to all be together.

Catching Up - Baby's First Trip to Texas

Without much of a break, we headed from Thanksgiving weekend to our first trip to Texas. Ripley and I flew out on Wednesday - they gave Chad a gate pass to get through security, even though he wasn't flying with us, so he was able to help us get settled. She did pretty darn good on the plane. I put her in the wrap and she slept, but she wouldn't let me sit down. Fortunately, it was smooth flying so we were able to stand in the aisle for about 1 1/2 hours of the flight while she dozed. I used my early present from Chad, an Ipod Touch to watch a couple of TV shows so it really wasn't all that bad.

We landed in San Antonio where Grandma Janet picked us up and took us to Cotulla to see Aunt Jill. We had a fun meal, stared at their Christmas tree, and visited Ben's the next day (Thursday). A short trip. but it was enough time to forget our snap and go stroller! We've been told it has found a good new home.

After San Antonio was Round Rock were we stayed with MiMi (Flossie) and met up with Aunt Jenny. Ripley also got to meet her Aunt Kelley, Uncle Dale and cousin Sara. Chad flew in on Friday an we stayed one more night before heading over to Hilltop on Saturday. We got to meet Ripley's new cousin Eric and see Emily, Freddy, Emily Marie, Jamie and Austin. Mom felt under the weather on Saturday night (we seem to bring sickness with us wherever we go), but Emily spearheading the production of some wonderful homemade flour tortillas, so we all ate well.

On Sunday, we drove down to The Woodlands where we stopped by to see Grandma Potter. I am pretty sure that neither she or Ripley will remember they met, but it meant so much to me that we have a few photos to show that they did. We'll be able to show the pictures to baby girl when she is older and tell her stories of her great grandmother.

Next stop was Uncle Jay and Aunt Marianne's where Matt and Margie joined us for some barbeque and soup. Ripley enjoyed looking at all of the trees in their backyard. She was a bit skittish around Uncle Jay at first, but finally warmed up to him. We have pictures now, so we'll try to show her the Texas family so the next time we visit, she'll know everyone.

Our last stop was Aunt Judy and Uncle Benny's in Pearland. Once again, we had a lovely meal and enjoyed visiting with everyone. Little girl really enjoyed hanging out with her second cousin Chelsea - they were even wearing the same color green! Ripley even got to open some early presents...and seemed to enjoy the paper as much as anything.

It was quite the whirlwind, but we enjoyed every minute of it and are so glad that Ripley got to meet everyone. I am not sure when we'll be back, but I think little girl would love a summer trip where she could float down the river.

Catching Up - Baby's First Thanksgiving

It has been a busy few weeks and will remain busy through the end of the year, but I finally think I have a bit of time to try to recreate some of our adventures. They started with Ripley's first Thanksgiving. We have some wonderful holiday traditions that we were so excited about sharing with little girl.

Things started with the trip north on 95. Usually a 2 1/2 hour trip, we know it is going to take longer on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but we were able to leave around 3:30 and pretty quickly made our way through Maryland, only to come to a screeching halt in Delaware. For those of you who do not travel this stretch of road, 12 miles of I-95 are in Delaware. Doesn't seem like so much, but this 12 miles took us 1 1/2 hours to traverse. Once in Jersey, things were fine again and we were there by 7:30 or so.

A wonderful Thanksgiving Thursday with good food and good company. Uncle Tom came over from Detroit. Matt, Christine and Deirdre joined us. But we did miss Uncle Culann and Aunt Carolyn who went up to Michigan this year. And Chuck was laid low upstairs with a stomach virus. I am glad Ripley will be too small to remember they weren't there - and we hope that we'll get back on track next year! Daddy took time away from carving the turkey to handout with ittle girl in her pretty dress.

Little girl got us up early on Friday, so it made sense to hit a Black Friday sale (for the first time) - to replace our camera which was taking way too many blurry photos. After a nice brunch, Chad, Ripley and I headed to Cape May, where we stayed at Congress Hall, a super cool historic hotel. We walked along the beach, did some shopping, played some skee ball at the local arcade, and ate dinner at our usual - Stumpos. We made it an early night, put baby to bed and followed in the tradition of watching a movie by watching Hancock (much better than we thought it was going to be).

On Saturday, we took our time and headed to the Cape May - Lewes Ferry to begin the ride home. It was baby's first boat ride and she had a wonderful time looking out the window at the ocean. We look forward to many many more Thanksgiving adventures.