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).

At the zoo

It was a bit chilly, but we took the kids to the zoo on Saturday.  The pictures are from inside the Children's Zoo.

A visit to the Lake St Louis Kendalls

Our great friends Todd, Paige, and their daughter Hadley invited us over for dinner last night.  Walt was a little concerned because they do not have a "boy", but it turns out Hadley had some super cool toys for a GIRL!!!  The kids played great and the adults got to have some fun as well! 

The Langkaus and Wichards come to town

We celebrated the Wichard side of the family Christmas over MLK weekend.  Jennifer and family came down from Wisconsin and Diane and Wally came up from Cape.  It was fun to have everyone together.  Walt and Baxter had A LOT of fun.  As can be seen by some of these pictures.  Baxter is always very sweet to his younger cousin.

Oh, and check out that sandwich that walt has while they watch bob play hockey.

Francine is 18 months!

Dr. Schmidt said that Francine looks great.  She is jumping, running, and talking a ton!  She knows the sounds of about 8 animals (will try to get it on video soon).  She loves to say please, especially when it is for cheese! 
We love her so much! 
I also included a picture of Walter, helping to celebrate his sister being 1 and 2/4 (as walt says)

Back in St Louis with the engaged...

Troy and Jessica actually came back to St Louis before us.  They settled right back in to their old "home".  They are getting married in St Louis on Sept 22, 2012 (if i have not told you) and they had some planning to do.  They got a lot done, and we got back to spend some good time with them as well.  We hope that someday they might come back to live in St Louis, we LOVED having them here. 

Although Francine and I will see them in March, we booked a ticket to go to LA for a long weekend over spring break.  YES!!!

More Des Moines Photos

Sorry Blog readers, I am sure that it is super annoying to see that we have updated the blog day after day (I am the most sorry to Wally!). 

Here are some more pictures from our wonderful time over the holidays in Des Moines.