Wow ...look at them grow

One second I' bringing the girls home from the hospital all wrapped up in my arms and the next they are walking, talking and showing off their own personalities:

Baby Ryann gets a new hair style (yes note the scratch on her nose from her first big fall walking with a remote control in her hands).

Natalie sits down for a second to strike a serious pose

Instead of me giving Grace rides on the old 4 wheeler, now she is giving her younger sister rides (picture taken during this years deer season)

Happy Birthday

Just wanted to drop an entry into the blog to say "Happy Birthday Baby Ryann and Grandpa Bernd", Just after Halloween Ryann turned 1 yrd old and Grandpa Bernd also sharing the same birthday had one also ....Again Happy Birthday to you both :)

Halloween 2008

TRICK or TREAT ...Trick or Treat ...this year we had our three girls go trick or treating with the grandparents (Grandma Lindsey and Grampa Bernd) .......Grace was a scrary old woman, Natalie was a beutiful good witch and little Ryann was a fluffy white lamb.

New Baby Boy

Just wanted to post a congratulations to my Friend Nathan and his wife Korina for having there first baby.

Please meet little Evan who was born at 1:16am in the morning on Sept 19, 2008. Baby Evan weighs 7 lb 14 oz, and is 21 inches long. Mom and dad are doing well at the hospital after an 18 hour labor period.

Congratulations again :)

About time I wrote something :)

Sorry for the long delay in updating this blog but the family has been very busy over the summer:

1) We have had a family vacation back to Wisconsin to visit the grandparents (with some fishing on the side with Natalie catching her first fish and her bigger sister catching some also).

2) Cindy and I made a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate our friend Todd's 40th birthday in August.

3) The family has endured living in half our house while the master bedroom and master bathroom have had a make over. Yes even the deck that I started last year finally got done (no I did not finish it ... I paid someone to do it).

New York Vacation - Day 6: Travel Home

The travel home was fairly uneventful. Our flight from LGA to Minneapolis was 1.5 hours late, but this time we had a 2.5 hour layover so we made our connection to Portland and ultimately back to Redmond. Ryann had been absolutely perfect on the way to New York – she fell asleep during takeoff and woke up at landing on all three flights – but wasn’t as great on the way home. She spent a good 20 minutes screaming on the LGA to MSP flight, but was better after that.

We feel that we saw everything we wanted to and it definitely puts the things you see on TV shows into perspective. Although we missed Natalie, I have to admit it was much easier to play tourist without a three-year-old and her attention span (and her afternoon naps). The baby was able to easily sleep whenever she wanted in the baby carrier, although she seemed to be quite sick of it at the end of the trip and would cry when she saw me take it out. But she survived too. Our legs had quite the work out. If only our weather would improve here at home, we could start walking here too.

I would recommend this trip to anyone who hasn’t been there; although I don’t feel a burning desire to go back anytime soon.

Next big trip…. Maybe Vegas this summer for Cindy's 40th.

New York Vacation - Day 5: Midtown

After another subway trip, we started our day by visiting the Today Show at Rockefeller Center. They didn’t have any outdoor events that day due to the cold weather, but we were featured in one of their fade-away shots. Nothing like a baby to draw the camera’s attention. J We got our 15 seconds of fame before walking over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We followed that with a shopping trip down Fifth Avenue. While we saw Tiffany’s, Gucci, Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik stores, amongst others, we limited our stops to places like the Disney Store, FAO Schwartz, and Build-a-Bear. We lunched at the famous Carnegie Deli and it was absolutely as good as they say it is. We shipped a sandwich back to Bill’s dad and he concurred as well.

We went up the Empire State Building in the afternoon and it was another series of long, long lines that I’m not sure was worth the time. The views up top were certainly good, but the crowds make it difficult to enjoy. We stopped by Grand Central Station and saw the New York Public Library before heading back to the hotel to rest our very tired feet and pack up. After the lunch at Carnegie, no one was very hungry, so we had a light dinner and early evening.

New York Photo's: Day 5 (Select slideshow in album to view pictures)

New York Vacation - Day 4: Easter and the Museums

We had planned on doing some uniquely New York Easter activities, but decided against it at the last minute. We had talked about going to services at Trinity Church, seeing the Easter Parade, and going to the Easter egg hunt in Central Park. Instead we settled for letting Grace have an Easter egg hunt in our hotel room followed by another subway ride and a visit to the Museum of Natural History. We toured that at a whirlwind pace in the morning, followed by a stroll through Central Park where we had limited success finding a decent hot dog vendor. Misty, Dawn, Bill and I toured the Metropolitan Museum of Art while Dad, Marie, and Grace continued to explore Central Park. We went back to Times Square that evening and had dinner at what some call the “best” pizza place – Bella Vita. It was good, but certainly different than what we are all used to having as pizza, with fresh buffalo mozzarella and ground sausage rather than sausage balls.

New York Photo's: Day 4 (Select slideshow in album to view pictures)

New York Vacation - Day 3: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

We went down early for tickets Saturday morning and were able to get the last Monument passes given for the day. After waiting in line for what seemed like forever, and going through airport-like security, we finally got on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. It was a bit of a letdown. We had to wait in more lines to go through yet another round of security in order to go in the monument, where you are allowed to climb the 156 steps up the stone base. No one is allowed to climb up into the statue itself anymore. It had some nice views, but I’m not sure it was worth the long lines to get in there. If you didn’t have a monument pass, all you could do is walk around the outside of it. And it was so windy, and pretty cold, that it wasn’t the most pleasant experience.

We took the ferry from there to Ellis Island, where we realized we were pretty pooped. Bill was the only one who walked through the entire building. You can only see the main building at this time – the rest are being renovated. We took the ferry back to Battery Park – there are some great views from the boat – and it was practically dinner time. We went back to Little Italy for dinner this time and had a wonderful meal at Da Nico’s. The food was absolutely fabulous – the best we had the entire visit. There isn’t much left of Little Italy – it is getting swallowed up by Chinatown. We were impressed with the street vendors and their fresh produce. All the markets had great looking food and reasonable prices.

After dinner, we got adventurous and took the subway to Times Square. It is impressively busy with huge TV screens many stories tall. There was a large police presence and it didn’t feel dangerous at all. The stores were jammed, just like the streets, but we managed to get some Easter goodies for the next day.

New York Photo's: Day 3 (Select slideshow in album to view pictures)

New York Vacation - Day 2: Lower Manhattan

Our hotel, the Marriott Downtown, was in lower Manhattan, a mere 2 blocks from Ground Zero. We started there in the morning and walked to St. Paul’s Chapel, which was across the street. We then went to Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange, and the Federal Building where George Washington was inaugurated. It was the original capital building for the U.S. before they moved to Philadelphia . We continued on to tour the NYPD museum and then went to the South Street Seaport. After lunch we split up. We visited the Maritime Museum. Dad and Marie went to Battery Park to get ferry tickets for the next day to visit the Statue of Liberty, which didn’t work out because the ticket sales ended before they were able to get any. Misty, Dawn, and Grace went shopping at Century 21. Apparently the place is quite a zoo, but it does have good deals.

After meeting up at the hotel, we walked past City Hall down to Chinatown and Little Italy where we had dinner and dessert, respectively. We walked back to the hotel thinking that we really needed to learn how to take the subway.

New York Photo's: Day 2 (Select slideshow in album to view pictures)

New York Vacation - Day 1: Travel, Travel, and more Travel

Our trip started poorly, in that we had to leave Natalie at home due to an ear infection that hadn’t cleared up. The doctor told us if we took her she might rupture her ear drum and have permanent hearing loss. It wasn’t worth the risk, given that we had the option of leaving her with Grandma and Grandpa Ashforth. It was hard to be away from her over Easter, but it was the best choice, given the situation.

We left Redmond Wednesday night (3/26/08) and connected in Seattle. The Seattle flight was 1.5 hours late due to a mechanical problem, and we missed our connection in Detroit. All direct flights to La Guardia were booked, so they transferred us to another airline that was supposed to connect through Cleveland. However, that flight was cancelled due to a mechanical problem as well. All other alternatives had us arriving at 5:30 in the evening or later (we were originally supposed to arrive at 8:00 AM on Thursday) and they still had us connecting through Cleveland. We finally convinced them to let us take a direct flight from Detroit to JFK, getting in a little after 3:00.

So we finally made it to New York, but what about the baggage? Luckily, my dad had the next direct flight from Detroit to LGA (that we were unable to get on) and our bags were on the plane with him! He brought it to the hotel for us, so we lucked out.
After finally arriving at the hotel after a LONG 1h 45m cab ride through rush-hour traffic (is it ever NOT rush hour there?), we had dinner at a nearby restaurant and spent the rest of the evening catching up with my dad, Marie, and my sisters who also joined us there.

New York Photo's: Day 1 (Select slideshow in album to view pictures)

Finally the weather turned sunny on this last Saturday and the family was able to get out and take a stroll in the old neighborhood.........it sure felt good after being stuck inside due to weather.

So It Begins

Today I'm taking the first steps on creating a family blog, so comments and suggestings welcomed :)