Top Chef

Ben's Great-Grandma Myers made him an apron and chef's hat for Christmas and he has been wearing the apron each day while he cooks. His friend, Fischer, came over to play last week and they both loved playing Chef. They had to take turns wearing the hat - neither one wanted to play the role of Sous Chef!

One of our playgroups is experiencing a baby boom right now. 7 of us our pregnant, Francesca has already delivered, and Jenny is adopting again. Here we are pictured in order of due date, starting with Francesca and Margherita!

Weekend in Sebring

Carl had a three day weekend, so we headed down to Sebring to see his Grandpa and Grandma Drake. Carl golfed 36 holes with Grandpa. He was happy to be back on the golf course, especially the day he shot a 79! Grandma spoiled us with lots of yummy food, including hot breakfasts and 2 desserts a day!! Ben's Great Grandma knows him pretty well - she had kitchen utensils and cookware all set out for him when he arrived. He enjoyed cooking in a new kitchen this weekend. Ben also brought his new golf clubs (Thanks Uncle Johnny!) so he could practice his putting.

We spent 2 mornings hiking at Highlands Hammock State Park. This is one of our favorite parks in Florida and we especially enjoyed the trails with wild orange and grapefruit trees. The Cypress Swamp Trail was Ben's favorite because it involved walking on a catwalk over water for most of the hike. He is a big fan of pointing out water (he says "waters") these days!

Another favorite activity when we visit Sebring is going to pick up fresh grapefruit, Honeybells, and orange juice to take home. One of the guys working there gave Ben a slice of orange to sample and he ate the whole thing right down to the rind!

Ben enjoyed singing a few songs in the evening and Grandpa and Grandma were good sports about singing his favorite, The Itsy, Bitsy Spider, multiple times. There were also a few close games of pinochle played, but there's not need to gloat about who won! We look forward to our trip back next January!

Disney Half Marathon Weekend

Carl ran the Disney World Half Marathon last weekend with his friend, Jeff. They both finished the race and even managed to walk around the Magic Kingdom with two toddlers all afternoon! Carl finished just under 2 hours, which was a little faster than the time he ran the Indy Mini in. I was just happy that he finished without injuries since he hasn't really been training that much! I had a dream that he didn't finish the week before the race, but I didn't tell him about it until after the run was over! The race started and finished at Epcot and they had Disney characters cheering them on the whole way. While the highlight of the Indy Mini was running on the Speedway, going through Cinderella's castle was a pretty big deal in Orlando!

We stayed at the Sheraton Vistana Resort with the Gamblin family all weekend and I would highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Orlando for vacation. It is 3 miles from Disney and way cheaper and nicer than the hotels on Disney property. Ben and Ridge had lots of fun together. They loved bath time and it was hard to convince them when it was time to get out!

Their second favorite thing to do involved playing in the shower. We had nice big walk-in showers with sliding glass doors and they had fun pretending to hop in, close the door, and lather up! Miraculously, no fingers were smashed all weekend!

These are a few pictures of Ben and Ridge on the playground. There were also several ponds with fountains and ducks, which the boys loved, of course!

We spent Saturday afternoon at the Magic Kingdom. I despise taking pictures at Disney because it is such a pain to get the camera out and try to take a picture with a mass of people around, so I'll post a few pictures from Mary Shelton's camera later! The boys had fun people watching, riding a few rides, and seeing a couple of shows. One of the highlights for Ben was the Country Bear Jamboree. We had never done this before, so it was nice for Carl and me to do something new as well! We actually did quite a few things at Magic Kingdom that we haven't done this past year, further disproving my theory that you actually can wear out Disney World!!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous all weekend - sunny and 80! Ben had 7 heated

pools to choose from at the resort, so we spent all day Sunday swimming. Ben swam for 4 and a half straight hours, with just a short break for lunch. The kid is definitely a fish like I was! He would have stayed in the pool the rest of the day, but we finally needed to get on the road!

One of the large pools was pretty much a glorified kiddie pool. It never got deeper than 3 feet and there were several islands with fountains of water shooting up that the kids could run through. Ben was a little unsure at first because the fountain water was not heated, but eventually he was having too much fun to care and stood shivering while playing in the water!

We left at 3:15 and Ben was passed out in his car seat by 3:20. Check out the drool running down his chin!

We had such a great time that I ended up booking 2 more nights in Feb when my parents come to visit! Our time here is already half way over, so we are trying to take advantage of the warm winters and great Florida resident rates while we can!!

Christmas in Illinois

Carl had 2 weeks off, so we traveled back to IL to spend the holidays with our families. We had a busy vacation, but it was great to spend time with family and see so many friends!

We started by celebrating with the Drake siblings. Ben has 7 cousins now, so opening gifts was complete chaos, but lots of fun to watch! Ben got a pretty sweet Bears uniform from his Grandpa and Grandma Drake!

We went out to the Myers' cabin Christmas Eve morning to do Christmas with the Myers side. Uncle Denny made his famous omelets and Dad grilled french toast. And since I'm pregnant, I didn't feel the need to show any restraint with Grandma's bacon or cookies! This breakfast is seriously one of my all time favorite meals!

Ben had fun playing with his cousins, Drew and Maddie, upstairs in the loft. Maddie was also nice enough to help him play with his new kitchen toys!

The negative degree wind chill still didn't stop these guys from enjoying the hot tub! I look forward to enjoying a nice glass of wine out there next year - there's nothing better than hot tubbin' in the winter!

We headed to Carl's Grandpa and Grandma Drakes in the evening for the extended Drake Christmas, so we had our second fantastic meal of the day! Ben's favorite part of the night was singing Christmas carols!

Early Christmas morning snuggle time

Ben's obsession with toiletries had matured into a love of kitchen utensils (and Tide bottles!).

Ben enjoyed the Christmas rolls and "hot" punch while opening gifts with the Nelsons Christmas morning.

Lovin' the new bean bag from Aunt Kimmie!

Ben loved being able to spend the whole week with his cousin, Lottie. He especially enjoyed filling her food and water bowl in the morning and giving her snacks throughout the day. They were quite the team - Ben learned how to pretend to eat a Cheerio or Goldfish and then when we turned our backs, he would pull it out of his mouth and feed it to Lottie!

Grandma Nelson modeling her new robe with Aunt Carol

Ben is the first grandchild/great-grandchild on my side of the family, so he is definitely the center of attention when we come home. Everyone gathered around the kitchen table and Ben performed his favorite songs. He is doing the Itsy, Bitsy Spider in these pictures! It is really special to see the reaction that he gets from Grandpa Myers. Grandpa definitely lights up when Ben is around!

We spent Christmas afternoon and night with the Beagles side of the family. Santa even came for a visit!

Ben was still waking up when this picture was taken with his Great-Grandma Beagles.

Lucas and Ben on the trampoline! Ben thinks that Grandma and Grandpa Drake have the best basement in the world! He liked watching Grandpa's trains and also had a great time playing in the playhouse and having Grandpa pushing him around in the Volkswagen!

We stayed up late playing cards with Carl's siblings. I must admit that Apples to Apples and Catch Phrase make the evening much more enjoyable than Settlers!

Grandma Myers prepared a delicious meal for Mom's birthday on the 28th. Ben helped his Nana celebrate all weekend since Carl and I left him in Gridley while we spent Saturday night in Chicago. It was the first time we had left him overnight in is 18 months of life, so I was both ecstatic and nervous. He had such a good time that I don't even think he missed us! It was great to have a nice dinner in Chicago with Kimberly and Andrew. We have been missing all of our favorites back in Indy, and it was so nice to eat at a non-chain restaurant again!

We were so glad that Ben's friends, Jude and Caroline, were able to come over one afternoon. It was impossible to get a picture of all 3 of them! They were pretty cute cooking in the kitchen together! It was also nice to catch up with their moms, as well as Sarah and Esther!

Ben learned a new word while in IL. Each time we would step outside, he would announce that it was cold! He plays outside every day here in Florida, so he was starting to go a little stir crazy by the end of the trip. The day we left, Grandpa bundled him up and they played outside. Ben wasn't too sure about it at first, but eventually started to have a good time!

My friends from college, Carrie and Kristin, came to visit us on New Years. Ben adored them both - he must have remembered how fun they were on our beach vacation last summer! Kristin and her husband are expecting a little girl on May 11th, which is Carl's birthday so we know the baby is going to be extra special!

We stopped in Indy the on way back to Florida to visit our good friends, Rob and Melissa, and their 2 boys. I'm so upset that I forgot to take the camera in because it would have been fun to have pictures of the boys together since we don't see them very often! There was a lot of dental talk going on between Carl and Rob - it was just like old times when we got together with our dental school group! It is hard to believe that it has been a year and a half since the guys graduated - I really missed my Indy girlfriends after that! I could definitely go for a movie and coffee or brunch at Cafe Patachou right now!!

We also did a drive (okay, we drove by twice, plus a swing through the back!) by the old house. It looks exactly the same as it did when we lived there, except for the fact that it had a bright yellow truck parked out front! It is kind of sad to think of someone else is living in our first home, but it looks like they are keeping it up nicely. There were quite a few foreclosures in the neighborhood, so we felt pretty thankful that we were able to sell when we did!

The 16 hour car ride went surprisingly well, thanks to the help of Elmo dvds and the new cd that Aunt Sarah got Ben for Christmas. We seriously listened to that thing like 10 times on the way home! Thank you, Sarah!

It was nice to be back in Florida after being gone for so long, but I miss my mom! Now I have to do my own laundry and cook meals again! The awesome babysitting was also much appreciated. Carl and I got to watch the exciting Illinois/Purdue game on Uncle Denny's big screen and go out for dinner and a movie on New Years. Carl did meet with several orthodontists in the area while we were home, so we couldn't help but think that she may have had some ulterior motives when pampering us! That kind of bribery certainly works for me!

We look forward to seeing everyone again in March!