Breakfast with Ryan

Here's a taste of this morning's breakfast for you. Lots of talking, not much eating...but boy is it cute. It's funny how much Ryan's babble sounds like a real language -- plenty of inflection, phrasing, etc. Maybe he's speaking Czech for all I know. :) Enjoy a very short clip:

A trip to the fair

This weekend is Manchester Homecoming at the park just down the street. That means music, funnel cakes, rides, a fun house, games -- it is the real deal. We took Ryan, along with aunt Kelly, cousin Haedyn, grandma and papa, and by the end of our two hours there, the kids were exhausted. It was ridiculously fun watching them enjoy themselves, even at their young ages.

Here's Ryan and daddy enjoying a giant bubble maker:

Here's Ryan and mommy in the "dizzy dinosaur" - and yes, I immediately regretted agreeing to ride on this with him once it started moving.
We all rode helicopters, too - Haedyn picked the Marines chopper -- Semper Fi!

Ryan and I picked a "rescue chopper" - and he loved the steering wheel.
Here's a shot of our chopper from the front:
Ryan even had his first pony ride...pretty sweet:
Haedyn rode the pony as well - with only a hand held by mom!
Ryan loved getting his face painted -- we went for a paw print to match his "roar" t-shirt:
Haedyn got her face and her hand painted...so sweet:
Here's the crew, post-face painting:
This is probably my favorite shot -- Haedyn, face painted, prize in hand, carnival and blue sky behind her...adorable!
And, last but not least, here's the ride home - Ryan was asleep in about 3o seconds, while Haedyn enjoyed a paci and some serious A/C

Ryan's new trick

It's been a long time since we've posted any video of Ryan, so here's a short clip of his newest trick. Enjoy!

A labor day with many 1sts

This past weekend, we spent some time in the Dallas area visiting friends and family. Traveling that far meant a lot of firsts for Ryan -- first plane rides, first bus rides, first time in Texas, and first time meeting dozens of people, including Stephen's Granny.

Based on Ryan's short, but colorful history, we were prepared for the worst during the plane rides. We had a new toy and two new books, suckers, cookies, and as a last resort, Benadryl. However, Ryan had something to prove, and he was a complete angel the entire trip. He slept peacefully during both plane rides, entertained our gate areas in the airports, enjoyed gathering after gathering and happily went from person to person the entire weekend.

In just 2 days in Plano, we enjoyed a 50th wedding anniversary celebration, a surprise 30th birthday party, meeting great Trammell family friends, and some quality time with Papa Trammell's family. Enjoy just a few pics from the weekend below:

Ryan and daddy pose with the Texas sunrise behind them at DFW. Ryan holds up 1 finger to celebrate his first flight (ok, ok...or he's just doing it for some unknown reason, but isn't it cute?)

Here's Ryan's digs on the plane...pretty sweet set up for a nap:

Ryan loved meeting his great-Granny:

He also loved exploring Granny's house (and found her candy jar within just a few minutes of arriving):

Here's Ryan with his great aunt Melissa and grandma - (somehow great aunt Patty missed the photo opps, but Ryan loved meeting her, too!):

Here's Ryan with great uncle Brian, great uncle Gary, Papa and Daddy. You can see where Ryan gets all his hair -- the Trammell gene pool!

Four generations of Trammells - very cool:

Trip to the farm...wait, no - a park

Today we were supposed to enjoy this outstanding weather with a trip to Grants Farm with cousins Haedyn and Autumn. Instead, all of the kiddos sat patiently in the car for more than an hour while we waited in line to turn onto the park property. Once we got in, we saw that the parking lot was full and there was a huge line of people waiting to even walk onto the property, much less board a tram to the farm. It was craaaazzzzy, so we left, and instead went to Laumeier Sculpture Park.

It was a gorgeous day, and Haedyn enjoyed running freely around the park grounds and making friends with other kids -- it was a window into the future for both Ryan and Autumn, who watched Haedyn intently from their strollers or the grass. Here's a few shots to recap the afternoon:

Haedyn, striking a pose by a sculpture:

Ryan enjoyed playing with a stick at the base of a sculpture:
Autumn and Ryan played in the grass:
That pink spot is Haedyn doing her free-form running. Arms flailing, head bopping...the whole nine yards - pure, unadulterated fun:

Here's the group making their way across the park:

Autumn, showing off some grass she'd just picked:

All in all, it turned out to be a great afternoon!

A Playdate

Today Ryan had his girlfriend, Sienna, over for a lunch playdate. While Ryan has plenty of girl friends, (Ella, Clara and cousins Autumn and Haedyn to name a few), he has only one, true "girlfriend," and that's Sienna. My good friend Chrissy and I declared them betrothed from the womb...so we'll see how things pan out for them in the long haul. :)

Sienna is about 6 weeks older than Ryan, and is one of the most laid back, sweetest, funniest babies I've met in a long time. It's always fun to see her, and Ryan just smiles and smiles at her...oh, and grabs her face...and steals her toys. Meanwhile, she's just trying to touch his hair, smile at him and share toys with him. What a sweetheart. At this age, it's nearly impossible to get a cute shot of the two of them next to each other and both facing the camera, so here's a few action shots of Ryan giving Sienna the tour of the kitchen.

Ryan: "So, Sienna...here's where my mom puts a chair so I don't unplug the laptop over and over. It's ok, I guess - I just wish I was strong enough to pull it out myself."

Sienna: "Rockin' chair, dude. Someday soon we'll be strong enough to tackle this challenge together."

Ryan: "Awesome...I knew you'd be on board. Now, while I have you distracted, I'm going to poke you in the eye. I do it to my mom all the time, and she doesn't seem to mind too much."

Sienna: "Whoa, what? Hey!"

Ryan: "Sorry about that - I just can't contain myself when I see a pretty face! Now, here's the oven door where I often check out my handsome reflection. Look at you! You're gorgeous. Now, let me check out your teeth..."

Sienna: "Um, dude - why do you have to be man handling my face all the time? I'm older than you, you know - just wait...I'll get you back."

Ryan: "And over here, we have the....wait, ow..."

Sienna: "Ha! Two can play at this game, my petite pal!"

You get the idea...they had fun exploring together today -- and I can't wait until they're old enough to talk to each other and run around together. So many fun times are in store for us!

A visit with Da-Da!

So, it's been a few weeks since we've updated the blog...we've been busy, but not with anything exciting enough to share, I guess. Today, Ryan and I took a field trip to Purina to take daddy to lunch and to check out his handsome mug hanging in the lobby. Yep, a gigantic banner of Stephen is hanging in Purina's lobby right now. Pretty sweet. Here's hoping he gets to keep it afterwards -- just think of the possibilities!

I finally learned how to transfer the photos from my BlackBerry to our PC, so you can see our visit a bit -- pardon the poor quality! And yes, that means I was the obnoxious wife taking a photo of her husband's banner in the lobby. I think it's pretty cool, mostly because it's not me. Ha. Anyway, the photo-taking was awesome for me, embarrassing for Stephen. I did it as quickly and discretely as possible. Here's daddy's banner:

Yeah, I know - that was a crummy shot -- here's the mock up...you get the idea:

And, here's Ryan having fun with us at Blues City Deli for lunch. He loves straws: