Spring

Easter

Well after a stressful and not so peaceful Mass, we came home to a fun Easter Egg hunt and played wtih some new toys from the kids easter baskets!  Francine LOVES bubbles!  So we played and played.  Now my 3 kids are sleeping.  I just took a 3 mile walk, and we are just enjoying such a beauty of a day.  Thankful for this time together.

Francine and her shoes

This is one of the best pictures Francine has taken!  She is so proud of those shoes!  She completely takes after her Nanny! 

Franny and her animals

We have been meaning to take a video of Franny saying her animal sounds for awhile. This weekend we finally did it.  The best part is that you also get to see her newly found ability with her spoon!  Enjoy!  We love it.  Bob's favorite thing that she says is "Bibbit" for Ribbit!

LA day 3

Today Jess and Troy had to work.  So, Mom, Francine, and I took Troy to work so we could hang out at the beach today.  It was another picture perfect day in Santa Monica.  God I love that city.  We parked at the beach and then walked to not one but TWO coffee shops.  (we were looking for some breakfast protein for Francine).  Then we headed to the playground next to the beach, to play.  Francine loves the sand.  She just played and played and played in the sand.  It was very fun for my mom and I to watch.  After an hour or so at the playground, we walked down to the ocean.  Set up our beach blanket and spent as long as Franny let us just enjoying the day and the sound of the ocean.  Even sitting here typing, I can take myself back to that moment and I just love it!  After our beach time, we headed to lunch at the Omelet Parlor on Main.  They have a great outdoor patio and amazing food.  My mom and I both had fun omelets!  Then it was back to the beach for a few more minutes before Francine's nap.  I went on some walks while my mom and Francine napped.  Then it was off to get Troy and Jessica.  We went to dinner at a Favorite Mexican restaurant in Venice- La Canasta.  Francine was a favorite of the wait staff and got some compliments from other diners about her amazing behavior!  That made us feel good.  She loved dipping the chips into the enchilada sauce!

LA day 2

OUr 2nd full day in LA was Monday. Troy sadly had to go back to work.  Jessica had taken the day off.  We went on a morning walk it was a beautiful day.  Our first stop...the coffee shop!  THose of you who really know me, know that I love coffee, I don't even drink caffinne but I LOVE to have it every morning.  Francine loves that we usually get a treat with the coffee.  Then we continued our walk to this great Culver City Park and playground.  Francine had a bunch of fun, I think that she truly enjoyed the entire trip because she got so much adult attention... all the time.  After the playground we continued up this big hill, where we could see the ocean as well as Beverly Hills and others communities of LA.  After our walk we had lunch and Francine took a nap.  After the nap, we headed out to the mall to shop.  And it was a successful trip, Mom found her mother of the bride dress and Francine found her flower girl dress.  We had a little time before we picked up Troy from work so we headed to this new(ish) open air shopping center in Santa MOnica.  We went to a wine bar for happy hour.  I mean Francine loves her some good happy hour specials!  We had some wine and food.  Franine LOVED the green olives that they brought us.  After getting Troy we headed home and our hosts made a delicious dinner for us!  An awesome day!

The Girls to LA part 1

I know that bob is recent blogs has apoligized for him not being a good blogger, but I have been completely off my game.  I am sorry to all of those people that check the blog often looking for cute pictures of the kids (wally! ).  I am going to make an effort to change my ways.  As bob mentioned I went to LA for a few days over spring break, but I also took Francine with me.  My sister lives there with her fiance Troy.  They used to live in Venice, but now they live in Culver City.  This is more inland, but only about a 20 min drive to the beach and where they used to live.  Culver CIty (from what I hear) is an up and coming city to live, it is also the home to Sony Studios, which takes up blocks and blocks of bulidngs. 
We arrived late on Saturday night because of some bad storms in St Louis.  My mom also came in from Des Moines, so it was a girls' weekend with Troy. 
So we didn't do anything on Saturday night.  On Sunday we woke up and it was a little overcast and cool.  We were all hungry for brunch.  We went back to a favortite place of Troy and Jess' called Rose Cafe.  Then we walked down to the Venice Boardwalk, but the wind really picked up, so we headed off the beach to a shopping and restaurant strip called Abbott Kinney.  We went in some shops, had some coffee, and Francine was a doll.  Then it was home for nap time.  Jessica and I were not so interested in napping so we walked around Culver City and had a late lunch and a few drinks at a restaurnat called Rush.  It was great. 

That night for dinner we went out for sushi.  It was super delicious.  A fabulous day all around!

Big Hockey Post

These pictures and videos are from the past few weeks of hockey - not from the same session.  I've been meaning to post them, but I'm a bad blogger, what can I say?

In all of the pictures or videos, Walt is in his red sweater which makes it a bit easier to tell him from the other players.

These next two are of Walt passing with a coach (although he's pretty far away, so it may not be that clear):

 This is just Walt progressing from one side of the ice to the other in the next couple of shots.  It's really hard to tell with the phone pictures.

I'll label the next two pictures the filibuster files as Walt is talking off the ear of the coaches:

Here's Walt with the puck (kind of):

 

I have a few videos that I'm trying to post, but they don't come through very well on the blog, so I'm working on that.  Hopefully I'll be able to post those shortly.

Walt and Dad at Blues Practice

This is from a few weeks ago.  Walt had the day off school (because for some reason, they need to do that once a month, but I digress...).  We took a journey to the Blues practice facility and took in a Blues practice.  Needless to say, the pace of the practice was only marginally faster than one of Walt's.

Walt and Dad at the Arch

I know that it's been WAY too long since we've posted a new blog, and many of you may have stopped checking in.  Sorry about that.  Aside from the fact that we've been pretty busy, there really hasn't been too much going on that is "blog-worthy" (although I'm sure that some of you may disagree). 

Anyway, Sara and the kids are on Spring Break, and Sara chose this time to go visit her sister and Troy in Los Angeles.  That left Walt and Dad to hang out for 4ish days in St. Louis, and they're making the best of it.  On Monday, we went to the Arch, and here are some pictures.  Walt loved the whole experience (including the elevator ride).