Let them eat cake!

We finally had a belated birthday for Sophie and her friend Jackson. I figured these two needed to eat some cake. We did have plans for a bigger party, but by the time both Daddy's returned from Iraq and got settled in, it just never seemed to transpire. So, on Sunday, we had a little cookout with Jackson's parents, JJ and Piper, and our friends Ben and Adrianne. It was a beautiful day for a BBQ and we had a wonderful time being together.

Here are the guests of honor!


I made a very messy chocolate layer cake that really seemed to be affected by the 85 degree heat. By all accounts it tasted good, it just wasn't very pretty. We sang to the kids and put them in their high chairs to get that first taste of chocolate. Of course Sophie dug in right away and thoroughly enjoyed her treat. Jackson was not so sure he wanted to touch my chocolate mess and didn't eat much. For that matter, he didn't make a mess either-no fun! I think Sophie stayed relatively clean considering her food usually ends up in her hair when she gets bored.

Happy Belated 1st Birthday Jackson and Sophie!

Everything's up to date in KC!

Last week we took a mini vacation to Kansas City. Nick has started leave, so we figured we should do something fun!

Our trip started out at the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. For those of you who don't know, Great Wolf is a huge indoor waterpark and Wilderness themed hotel all in one. We reserved a room with a special kiddie corner complete with three bunks and it's own TV. Ben loved the bunk beds and enjoyed watching cartoons from the top bunk. Before we checked in we stopped at the Cabela's store (where that now infamous baseball hat came from), and Benny bought an old-fashioned wooden pop gun. He had many opportunities to 'hunt' in our room. He spent so much time shooting the deer, moose and raccoons that were featured in his bunk area. He was having so much fun that he wasn't sure he wanted to go to the waterpark!


Eventually, we got the kids in their suits and headed to the park. There were all kinds of slides, a lazy river, hot tubs, and a huge fort that is full of sprinklers, water guns, and has a bucket that dumps 1,000 gallons of water every five minutes. We all had so much fun! I didn't take the camera to the waterpark for obvious reasons, but trust me, it was great! We spent some time on the fort, but our favorite area was the kiddie pool. It had a zero depth entry, so Sophie could walk right in. She loved the water, and had a great time splashing. We had to put her in a little life vest when she got too daring. Ben is not very adventurous, but he did get really good at going down the mini water slide and landing on his feet in the pool. We even put Sophie down the slide once, but she looked terrified so we didn't do it again. Here is Sophie in her swimsuit cover-up ready for the pool.

We swam a little bit the next day, and after check-out we headed to downtown Kansas City. There we went to Union Station-the train station for KC. Union Station is full of museums and exhibits. We went to Science City, an interactive kids science museum. Again, we had so much fun! I think Benny's favorite part was digging for dinosaur bones. This exhibit was really neat, because the 'dirt' that covers the fossils is really pulverized rubber from old tires. We looked for bones for awhile then went on to explore the human body, a music room, a space ship and many other fun things. Ben also spent a lot of time at the water table with Nick trying to create dams and rivers and then float a boat through.

After we were exhausted by our trip to Science City, we left to find another hotel. Nick got us checked into a Holiday Inn while the kids were napping in the car, and then we headed on to find another adventure. This time we headed to a big mall in KC. When the kids woke up, we took them in and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe'. Ben's favorite part was watching a man make balloon animals at the customer's tables. When it was his turn, he decided that he wanted a white monkey. After dinner we headed back to the hotel. Ben wanted to swim, but we discovered that the only pool was outdoors. Thankfully, we convinced him that it probably wasn't warm enough to swim outside. I think we were all too tired anyhow.

The next morning we were off again. We had tickets for a Kansas City Royals/Detroit Tigers baseball game. We met our friends Ben and Adrianne and their daughter Emily there. The kids were all really good at the game. We were all rooting for the Tigers, our favorite team, but they couldn't manage to pull out a win for us. We really felt like the outsiders in all of our Tiger's gear in Kansas City. We would have been rooting for KC had they been playing anyone else....

We had a fabulous time on our little mini vacation. We are getting ready to head home to Michigan soon. Nick is really excited to see our families after being gone from home for so long. We had thought of taking another mini vacation to Chicago from Michigan, but now we are rethinking-maybe we should just rest.....

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my mommy friends! I am so thankful to God and to my children for making me a mother. What a wonderful thing to be! We celebrated the day by going to church followed by lunch. Later, our friends Ben and Adrianne came over for a simple dinner. We tried to take some family photos by our Iris, which are in bloom. However, Sophie was more interested in trying to pick them (and eat them). We had a wonderful day. It's so good to be a mommy.

Ceremonies

This week has been full of Army Ceremonies. With 4th Brigade, Infantry Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division fully redeployed from Iraq, there have been lots of Change of Command and Award Ceremonies. We attended just two of these events this week at Fort Riley.

On Tuesday, the kids and I went to an Award Ceremony for Nick's unit, 1-4 CAV. Some 450 soldiers received awards such as the Army Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal and Bronze Star. It really was a sight to see. The ceremony lasted nearly 2 hours. Both kids did great sitting through all of the awards. Pictured above is Nick's, XO (Executive Officer), Lt. Koky Sisoura receiving his Bronze Star from Lt Col Crider, the unit Commander. Nick received one also, but someone walked right in front of me while I was taking the picture.

On Thursday, we attended a Change of Command Ceremony for the 4th Brigade Commander, Colonel Ricky Gibbs (aka the big boss!). This was by far the coolest Army Ceremony I have ever attended (and I've been to lots). Fort Riley is steeped in tradition, since it is the home of the Cavalry. Custer was stationed here before the Battle of Little Big Horn. There was a Period Cannon Demonstration, and all the other usual Army Ceremony events such as Inspection of the Troops, Passing of the Colors, remarks by the outgoing and incoming Commanders, and the playing of The Big Red One Song and The Army Song.

Pictured above COL Gibbs and Commanding General Durbin inspect the troops. Six Battalion sized units stand behind them in formation. They are riding in an antique half-track vehicle, which is normally on display at the Cavalry Museum here. Ben really loved it when they drove by us twice!

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the troops all pass by the Commanding General for a second inspection. This is called the Pass and Review. Below you will see Nick's unit, preparing to pass by. Nick is the second soldier from the left.

Here at Fort Riley the Commanding General has his own Mounted Color Guard. At the beginning of the ceremony, they presented both the incoming Commanders wife and outgoing Commanders wife with roses. In turn they presented the horses with a basket of carrots. Here the horses are in formation preparing to pass by the General. The soldiers riding them wear period Cavalry uniforms. It is their full time job to work with the horses.

The conclusion of the ceremony was our favorite part. I only wish I had a video of it. Unfortunately, I had already put my camera away. After they fired the cannon to conclude the ceremony, the Mounted Color Guard did a Cavalry charge down the length of the parade field. The whole time they were firing their pistols. It was really, really awesome to see the horses running at full speed just 20 feet in front of us. Ben loved it!

Nick will be having his Change of Command on June 16, after we return from 30 days of leave! He is both excited and sad to leave. He really will miss working with his soldiers, but at the same time, he really needs a break! I am not sure his next job will be very relaxing, but at least he will not have to be responsible for 90 guys. What is his next job? It has finally been confirmed that Nick will be the Aide to the Commanding General here at Fort Riley. This will allow us to stay here at least another year and a half. Nick is really excited for this opportunity. The current Commanding General is a West Point graduate with an engineering background just like Nick. He is also an Armor officer, just like Nick. I think that Nick is going to have a great mentor. It is not a deployable job, but Nick will have to accompany the General on any short trips he may make around the country and to Iraq/Afghanistan. Anything will be better than 14 months away from home!

Wii are having fun!

Some random fun things from this past week:

I'm not sure what possessed a fully grown man to climb into a crib, but he did. When Sophie woke up from her nap, Nick went to get her. When he didn't come back, I went to check on them. This is what I found!

Yes folks, we bought a Wii, I don't want you to think my spelling is that bad! Nick and I have always said that we wouldn't do video games with the kids. However, I think the Wii is different, and lets be honest, it's really more of a toy for Nick! If you aren't familiar with the Wii, it's a video game system that is fully interactive. The sports are really fun. You have to swing the controller like a golf club or tennis racket. Those are my favorite to play. Nick and I played 9 holes of golf while Ben was at school the other day. Of course he won, I may have to practice while he is at work. We also have the Olympic games disc which is really fun. Last night we played with our friends from Germany, Ben and Adrianne. We had so much fun competing and cheering each other on!

More on Ben and Adrianne.....Ben returned from Iraq last week, and is finishing up some time at Fort Riley before he 'gets out' of the Army in June. It is so much fun to have them here and get to see their little girl Emily.

Here are Sophie and Emily. This is a rare photo of Emily with a bow. Sophie does not like them in her own hair, so she usually removes Emily's too.

Here are all of the kiddos posing on the couch. Ben is holding Sophie so she wouldn't jump off!

This photo was just too funny not to post. Sophie was trying to play the drums on Emily's head-notice there is no bow. Poor Emily....

Sophie had her 1 year check up yesterday. She weighed in at 19 pounds, 15 oz and was 28.5 inches tall. That puts her in the 25th percentile for both. It's funny, because neither of my kids have ever left the 25th percential-ever. Nick was supposed to accompany me to the hospital, but had to go to a meeting instead. So, I had to take both kids. I really should have found someplace else for Ben to go, because he cried harder than Sophie did when she got her shots. He knows he has to get shots when he turns 5, and is already dreading it. Then he really fell apart in the lab when she got her finger poked. I really tried to convince him to stay in the waiting room, but he insisted on coming. Poor boy, he's so sensitive.