Ain't That a Kick in the Head?

Okay...I have to admit that I am a ginormous fan of Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and other big band type music from that era. I LOVE IT! To honor the Valentines spirit of things I've put one of my fav's on the top of my list...but don't worry, there will be plenty more to come!

Gotta Love Frankenmuth

Not really too sure how to spell that. While I was back on my weekend trip to say goodbye to Michigan, Rick took me to Frankenmuth for the ice festival. It was so much fun. Unfortunately it was the last night of the show and it was raining so quite a bit of the sculptures were ruined or in the process of falling apart but we were still able to see quite a few that we liked. Here's Rick by our favorite one of the night...in case you can't tell it's two bears balancing on one another.

Excuse me for looking like a man but with all the rain I decided to hide my carefully curled hair under Ricks beanie (what a gentleman) and my coat and scarf...the scarf that got left behind by the way on my second flight when they decided to land on the opposite side of the airport that can only be reached by busses that take you out on the airstrip that go REALLY slow and make too many stops just 10 minutes before my next flight boarded. Running preganant while having an asthma attack paid off because I made it about 4 minutes before takeoff. Lucky me, right?

There was this way too expensive chicken restaurant that we checked out before deciding to dine elsewhere...it did have this really cool/classy/misleading chicken picture spot which would lead you to believe it was the type of place that would have decent prices...oh no my friends...the amazing wooden chicken was just a way to get you to pay more then you would for Bennihana (Gengi to all you Midlanders) to have some fried chicken - no joke.

We really liked this one for some reason. I think it was just the last one of the night so we were getting a little more daring with our poses. It was a really fun night in spite of the rain. We finished it off with some yummy Olive Garden where, thanks to first trimester fun I ate a whole two bites before I thought I was going to be sick. Gotta love pregnancy.

I've got some fun pictures from our time in Midland that I still need to post, they are all on my other lap top so I will do a tribute to Michigan with one long post full of old pics.

Where the heck are we?

Let me let you all in on a little bit of the drama I call "my life." Okay...so it all began back when the final leg of Rick's training was wrapping up...we knew we would be shipped out but didn't know where. They had pretty much assigned us to Florida when that new job that I wrote about came in and they switched us to L.A. Well, because we were planning on Florida and because we didn't come down for the holidays my mom decided it would be a while till she would see us again so she flew Dyl and I down for New Years and the infamous Rose Parade.
Two days before I was scheduled to load us up and ship back to Michigan, Rick got the relocation call and told me to stay in Cali rather then fly Dyl back and forth and that he would be here by the 28th...so...roughly two weeks. So...I decided to fly back the weekend of the 28th, leave Dyl with his nana and grandma and help Rick finish up the packing and say goodbye to the friends in Midland that we were sad to leave. Well...a hundred dollars later I had my new ticket, scheduled to leave the 24th to go get my husband, who had been away from us for a month by this point.
The day before I flew out Rick called and said they bumped him back at least two more weeks and that he would not be flying back with me. I debated taking Dyl but once again it was a quick two week trip, which is what we were trying to avoid in the first place. So I left, went for an amazing weekend alone with my hubby and sadly and tearfully said goodbye to him on the 29th when I went through that horrific ordeal coming home.
Now they're telling him it could be shorter then two weeks but it also could be longer. It is just so frustrating because in retrospect, had we just flown out the 14th like we had originally planned, we would have been with Rick this past month instead of Dylan wondering where they heck I put his Daddy who he can't seem to find no matter how loud he calls his name as he searches room to room down the hall. It is truly heartbreaking. And of course Rick is convinced Dyl won't remember him when he finally makes it home again. Needless to say Rick isn't exactly the happiest camper, he misses his family and is sick of being alone.
So here I am, back in Upland waiting for some kind of hopefully good news as to when I can get my husband back. We're fasting this Sunday that it will be soon. It sure is hard being apart. At this point it will be at least one and a half months, possibly two until Dyl and Rick will be together again. I think the hardest part by far is the not knowing...if we just knew there was an end in sight we could hold out until it arrived but they just don't seem to have any answers and that is very frustrating. Any prayers would be appreciated :) I'll be posting some pics soon from my fun weekend with Rick.

NEVER FLY NORTHWEST

I just needed to get the word out that I am officially boycotting northwest airlines. Never fly with them. They have the poorest customer service I have EVER experienced. Long story short I arrived 25 min. prior to my flight's departure at an airport the size of a living room with approx. 4 gates total...no other terminals....that's it, 4 gates. I get to the front desk where there is already another couple standing there, ringing a buzzer. He's been there several minutes by this time. We had checked in online but the stupid computer wouldn't let us through without a nw agent...no one was coming. They announced final boarding so the wife frantically ran up to the security and told them to hold the plane because we were still up front waiting for someone to help us. This is still 20 min. prior to leave time. He says they are considering it a "locked flight" and we will not be boarding the plane. Even though we can see the stupid gate and ticket lady from where we are standing no one will come over and check us in. The flight that was supposed to leave at 8:20 am TOOK OFF AT 8:05 WITHOUT US!!! The stupid front desk lady comes out at 8:10 and says..."okay, lets get you guys taken care of". She books me for a flight over five hours later...completely missing my connections and making me miss seeing my Dylan. I am SO upset. She just kept saying the whole time that we "should have been on time." How annoying. Calling didn't help either, they just stood by the fact that company policy states we have to be there 30 minutes early, not 25 to board the plane. When I said, "you know what, no one has even apologized to me, which I feel is the least they could do." The stupid lady says..."Why should we apologize for something that was your own fault?" And that, ladies and gentlemen, is northwest airlines customer service at it's finest.

Update

Here's a very quick update for all those questions people sent my way. I'm almost 11 weeks along now, the baby is due August 21st. The baby and Dyl will be 2 years and a little over one month apart. Umm...what else? I'll be delivering at San Antonio Community Hospital, where I worked while we lived in Cali and where my mom still currently works. I've gotta run because I'm leaving my husband tomorrow to fly back to my baby and it's already past midnight!! Take care everyone!

Hmmm....

Real quick...for some reason it won't let me change the order of my latest post...so because i started it first it comes after the ps i love you post but for all you who don't scroll down, our trip to the zoo got put under it for some reason.

P.S. I love you

I know I'm cheesy but this song is a shout-out to my hubby because I miss him so much and because it will be an entire month apart before I come home to help pack. I LOVE YOU RICK!

Lions and Tigers and Bears - Oh My!

Last Friday Megan, Bri and I took the little guys to the L.A. Zoo. It was so much fun! We left right around nap time and were worried about cranky babies but they were out after about 10 minutes in the car so they got a good lil' nap on the way there, thank goodness.
We were also worried that the little babies might not really get it but as you can see by the look on cute little Aisley's face they were VERY excited to be at the zoo.

Dyl jumped right in there. He was so excited about every animal we saw. This was our first stop, at the meercats and he kept pointing and saying "Ooooh...wassat?" With a genuinely curious expression on his face. He is such a funny little boy.

Here's Bri and Miss Elly showin' the flamingos how it's done.

These next few pics are at the ginormous turtles. We let the kids sit on the rocks and watch them crawl sloowwwlly by. Dyl was fascinated by them.

I loved how cute Elly and Ais looked in the little Tutu skirts I made them. Dylan sure had fun not being the only kid and hangin' out with his cousins all day.

Are you ready for the bird show? These two sure are! The kids had SO much fun here. They got to see lots of really cool birds from around the world fly up and down the isles and over our heads and stuff.

I love this next pic. They had fun music blasting really loud so of course Dyl and Elly had to get up and dance. I'll try to attach a video of Dyl dancing...it was hilarious.


Then Elly was chosen to go hide a soda can up on the stage for one of the birds to find. He found it pretty fast and went and dropped it in a recycling bin. It was cute.


On to the monkeys, by far Dyl's most favorite part. It was cute because the kids could press right up to the glass and be face to face with them, which of course to them was very exciting. Monkey's are his favorite animal and he of course started singing the monkey song and jumping around.


I had to include this pic because it actually was a pretty cool shot. I don't know if you can really tell or not but the baby turned around to face the daddy and started beating its chest like Tarzan. It was funny. I pretty much should be a professional photographer for National Geographic or something.
Okay, these next two are my favorites because there was this one little monkey that loved Dylan, Dyl kept putting his hand up to the glass and the monkey would put his hand's on Dyl's through the glass, then Dyl got excited and started smacking the glass with both hands which the monkey thought was pretty cool so he started copying Dylan. Dylan loved that this little furry monkey liked his game and started dancing around. Then the monkey started laughing at him. It was so funny to watch.
Had to include the giraffes even though this post is already way too long because they are my favorite animal to see.

Here's Megan and Bri growling back at the big black bear. It was actually kinda freaky because his ledge was so high up and the gate was so close it seemed like it wouldn't be too hard for him to clear it if he decided to jump.


Me and the Dylster checkin' out the hippo. We sure had a beautiful day at the zoo. We're so glad we're going to be close to family so we can have more fun s with cousins for a while. P.S. that's my new chopped hair! 5 1/2 inches baby! It's growing on me...still miss my long hair tho.

Fun in the Sun

We've been having so much fun down here in Cali with all this warm weather, while it's snowing on my husband I'm hittin' the beach! Dylan sure loved the beach this time around. It took him a few minutes but eventually he was pretty sturdy walking through that sand. It didn't take long until he was venturing out on his own, further and further away from the group. He loved sitting up on the sand hill watching the waves crash below. This kid just loves to be outside.
He loved chasing the birds. His aunt Bri taught him to sneak up on them by putting his finger to his lips and making the "shhh shhh shhh" sound really loud. Of course they heard him coming from a mile away and would fly away long before he got anywhere near them but he still thought it was hysterical.
His cousin Elly taught him how to fill buckets with sand. He usually got distracted about half way through and wanted to just dump them out but she was pretty patient with him. As patient as a four year old can be anyway. :)
I decided to snap a few of him standing on the skim board. He liked it as long as it was NOT in the water. He loves the pool but still has to get used to the ocean a bit more. Don't worry, I'm sure his Daddy will be more then willing to be the one to get him used to that. He's already making surfing plans!

On our second trip to the beach the kids decided to make a stick fort.

So Dylan of course was more then willing to help gather the sticks! He was in heaven.

Here's all the kids in their fort. Aisley mostly watched from the blanket but she liked standing in it with the rest of them once all the work was done.

Just thought I'd end with a gorgeous view of Catalina just to let you all see what a beautiful day it really was. You usually can't see it from the shoreline but it was very obvious that day. This is the island where Rick and I spent our honeymoon by the way. Love you honey, miss you so much! Can't wait 'till you join us!

We're Goin' Goin' Back Back to Cali Cali!!

Well we finally found out where we're being relocated to...Los Angeles! Hooray! We didn't even expect this in our wildest dreams. We were all set to move to Florida and this new job came in last minute without a location attached to it. Rick read the job description and felt like it really was a good fit for him. It required an engineering background and he got more and more excited as he looked further into it. We finally decided to make the decision and take the leap of faith to accept the job without knowing where it would take us. Rick called me first thing that morning and told me the exciting news that we were assigned back in good ol' So' Cal. Needless to say we will definitely miss all the good friends we made back in Michigan but are happy to be back near our families again. Rick's scheduled to being his new job January 28th...wish us luck!

Another Year!

Gotta love the rose parade! It's a Papavero tradition. We've been every year since before I was born. It was so much fun this year taking the Dyl, we were sad that Daddy had to work (brace yourselves, this is a long post on his behalf since he's all alone in freezing Michigan) but the parade sure was a blast. Dylan LOVED the marching bands, I think they might have been one of his most favorite parts, other then the three train floats and the man on stilts (that last part will make more sense in a minute.) He hung out with his cousin Elly, who absolutely adores him, and had the time of his life.

Here's the Papavero girls, me, Bri, Megan and Brayds. Being with family is one of the best parts of this annual tradition. Braydee and Bri were the troopers who staked out the spot starting at 4 am two days before the parade, Bri even slept out over night with her cousins. You gotta be die hard to get our awesome spot every year.

Dylan with the balloon his Aunt "B" spoiled him with (Braydee). He sure got a lot of attention on this trip. Aunt "Ba - pronounced Buh" (Brianna) hooked him up with one of his new favorite drinks...Sunny Delight - (yuck!)

Brayds and her latest and greatest boyfriend, Jeff capturing the true essence of the parade madness. They block off the streets and it's a giant free-for-all where the kids roller blade around shooting silly string and playing football etc. in the middle of the road.

Here's one of Dyl's favorite floats cruisin' by. He of course stood up and started shouting "Choo Choo, Choo Choo!" at the top of his lungs followed by "Wooooooww..." as it rolled by. It was a cute circus train with little circus performers running along side it doing tricks and stuff. There was also a man who walked the whole route on stilts. He was so cute with Dylan.
He walked across the street to Dylan and stood in front of him, Dylan stood up and reached his hand up towards the guy so he bent over and touched Dylan's hand...it was so cute!

The parade stopped for a second so the girls grabbed Dyl and ran up to take a shot next to a float. It was hard to get Dylan to look at the camera because he was so distracted by the huge float right behind him.

Miss Aisley Kay sure enjoyed the parade too! She is such a smiley baby. Here she is with her mama and daddy (my brother, Brandon).

The marching bands really are one of the best parts of the parade. They usually get really into it and some bands even dance while they play, it's very fun to watch. I thought Dyl would like it but might be a bit hesitant about the loud drums and stuff but he didn't mind at all, he got up and danced every singe time.

After the parade Bri had fun showing Dyl how to blow Elly's annoying trumpet that she got at the parade. Dylan thought it was so funny to blow in it, then put it up to Bri's mouth and have her do it really loud. What a good aunt. We all know how long those fun "games" usually end up lasting...she was a good sport though.

And finally...I just couldn't leave this guy out, for reasons that I am sure are obvious to all of you now that you've seen his picture. It was the perfect way to end this blog. No matter how energetic he looks in this pic, it seriously doesn't fully convey to you how over the top this guy was. You would think maybe that he was doing some cool tricks with those hoops or something considering he was with the circus float with all the jugglers and acrobats and clowns and people performing pretty cool stuff but...nope. This guy just kept jumping with pointed toes, not even out to the sides cheer-leader style which is semi-impressive. No, he just jumped up in the air with his rings held out to either side. THAT'S IT. And he was SO excited about it, I mean you would seriously think by the look on his face that he had just swallowed fire or something amazing. He was by far my favorite, and you have to admit it is a pretty amazing picture considering he was getting ready for another HUGE jump. Gotta love the rose parade. HAPPY 2008!!!!

Family Pics

First I need to formally apologize for the lack of posts on my behalf. It's not entirely my fault...our computer is on the verge of crashing and we have to operate out of "safe" mode...which really sucks because you can only use a portion of the screen and it takes FOREVER to upload ANYTHING...including pictures...so now you see why I haven't been posting. It also decides to randomly shut itself off...which is really fun if you've spent the time creating a post only to have it disappear seconds before publishing.


That being said I think I'll just go ahead and dive right into some old pics I need to take care of. Here's some family pics we took before thanksgiving (also before it snowed...that's right...we had a WHITE thanksgiving!) We ended up using one for our Christmas card...(that's right, i actually got my act together this year and will be sending them out shortly!) So I obviously won't be posting that pic but, these should give you an idea of what's coming. We had a really fun day in the Midland Forrest, about five minutes from our house. Dylan loved exploring all the trees and rocks and leaves and especially the sticks. P.S. don't laugh too hard at how off centered the first pic is...we had our camera on timer, balancing on a stack of cardboard boxes on our stroller...Rick had to run to get into the pic in time...so, with that in mind I don't think it turned out too badly.

Pumpkin Patch

Just before Halloween we went with some friends to the pumpkin patch so the kids could check out the animals and pumpkins, Dylan was in heaven once he saw the tractors.
Once again, like father like son. Rick is always trying to convince me how we really do "need" a tractor. Now that it looks like it's going to be a
2-1 vote...I might be in trouble.

I just love this shot, it shows just how small Dylan still is, no matter how big he acts! He thought these tractors were so cool, he kept trying to climb up them and see how they worked. They had a smaller tractor to pull the kids on a cow train but my camera died before I could get the pics, of course! I was so mad at myself for not checking the battery. He was able to sit on that one and turn the wheel and stuff, he loved it!

His other favorite part was the goats. They kept coming over to see if Dyl had any food, which he didn't, but they licked his hands anyway and that sent Dylan into the loudest giggles ever.Later we found this pumpkin that had "Dylan" carved into the side of it, spelled the same way and everything. My friend took pics for me, it was pretty cute...all in all a very fun day.