Revelations in Cake

Most of you know that we planned a fun little way to reveal the gender of Baby #2 to family. We had an ultrasound on Monday, but asked the ultrasound tech to not tell us the gender, but write it down and put it in a sealed envelope. We then gave the envelope to Justin's family, who mixed up a white cake, colored the cake either pink or blue (according to the gender of the baby), and baked and frosted the cake. Today Justin and I got to cut into it to find out our precious little secret! Guess what we found out??

It was PINK!! We will be welcoming a little girl to our family in April! :)

A Secret Message from Owen

Hello friends,

I wanted to tell you something pretty important, but I didn't want to just tell you straight out- I wanted you to have a little fun doing some detective work! All you need is a mirror-just hold it up to your computer screen, and you'll be ready to decode my message. Ready? Here's the secret message:

Did you get it?

How about now?

Couldn't find your mirror? That's okay, I'll just tell you...

I'm going to be a BIG BROTHER!! Mommy is going to have a new baby at the end of April. I don't know if it's a little brother or a little sister, but Daddy says we'll find that out around Thanksgiving. Mommy is pretty tired lately, but she says that will get better in a few weeks. I am so excited, mostly because I'm going to be an awesome big brother!

Singin' with Guitars

Here's Owen and Justin's version of Old MacDonald. Warning: This video is PG because Owen needs to be ready to use the potty at a moment's notice. Don't worry, the guitar is well placed. Enjoy!

"Two in Uhlie"

Whenever anyone asks Owen how old he is, he always says, "Two in Uhlie". We weren't quite sure what he meant by that, until our niece Jordyn figured it out. He was saying, "Two in July". He actually turned two on July 12, but we had friends and family over to celebrate on Sunday, July 18th.

Owen's favorite gift was a sand and water table, which after about two minutes was a mud and mud table. :) Owen, Natalie, and Nathen spent about an hour on the deck playing. In two year old time, that's forever!

Here are some more pics of that fun day!

Lakeside Vacation!

After driving for a few more hours, we came to Lakeside, Ohio. We were so excited for a whole week of relaxing and visiting with Babu, Bibi, and Aunt Debbie. We stayed in a cute little cottage on Sycamore Street, and were within walking distance of a coffee shop, a bike shop, a beach, and a playground. What more could you want?

Owen's first order of business was the beach.

Babu, Bibi, and Aunt Debbie came with lots of early birthday presents for Owen, and we were less than patient for the actual date. :) Here's Owen playing with some new blocks.

Speaking of birthdays, Babu's birthday was July 6th. We had a small family party, and enjoyed our time together. Owen was was excited about Babu's birthday, but was too enamored by the balloons to be vocal about it.

We even had a chance to visit with our friends the Bredbergs, who live nearby in Ohio. Lucas was almost three, and Isaiah was almost one. It had been too long since we'd seen them last, so it was great to visit.

Lucas was doing his pirate face. This picture doesn't quite do it justice. :)

It was a great week, because we had plenty of opportunities to stay busy, but nothing we were obligated to do. It was the perfect blend of busy and relaxed. Here are a few snapshots of us out and about.

Visit to Illinois!

In July, all three Rimbos piled in the car for a trip out east. Our final destination was Ohio, but we had a wonderful stop in Lemont, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago. We stayed with Justin's cousin Christine, her husband Joe, and their three kids Nicholas, Caitlyn, and Christiana. They have a beautiful pool in their backyard, and Owen hadn't been swimming yet this summer. Last summer he wasn't a big fan of swimming, because the water was too cold for his taste, but this summer was a totally different story! He LOVED the water!

When we were in Illinois, we also had a chance to visit with lots of other Rimbos! Owen was especially enamored with his great Uncle Ricky, because he knew a lot about one of his favorite things- fire trucks! He even made a special phone call to the fire chief in Lemont to arrange a special visit to the fire station- just for Owen!

This is our whole family plus Christiana just lounging on one of the fire trucks. Owen got to sit in the driver's seat of every truck in the station!

The station had a kid-sized pressurized water canister to simulate how fire hoses work. Owen LOVED trying that out!

What is that on my head?

Looks like I've got a little growing to do..

What an unforgettable visit for Owen! Before we left, we had a great lunch with more family. Thanks, Rimbos!

Museum Trip!

Last Friday, my friend Nathen and I went to the Children's Museum of Minnesota. We had so much fun!

First Nathen's Mommy let him drive.

Then it was my turn.

Just hangin' around..

Time to head home!

Road Trip!

Right after Mama got out of school, she decided she wanted to take a long trip in the car, and she decided to take me too! Daddy stayed home from this trip, because he needed some introvert time.

First, we stopped at Gaga and Grandpa's house in Iowa for a few days. It took about 5 hours to get there- I kept very busy in the car. I slept, read some books, drew pictures, and listened to Curious George on CD. Once we got there,we had a fun time! We played with monster trucks, went shopping, and went to church on Sunday.

After church and lunch on Sunday, we took off for another state- Missouri! We met by a big river to have dinner with the Schades- our cousins on Daddy's side. Donald met me in the parking lot to show Mommy and I how to get into the restaurant.

Once we were inside, my cousin Caroline made me giggle...

Then after we were "Ah Doe"(all done) eating, Caroline and Donald showed me around a little more. I love my cousins!

After dinner, we said goodbye, and Mama and I got back in the car to go to Aunt Christi and Uncle Brandon's house. It didn't take very long to get there (Thanks to Mama's GPS. I helped her understand what it said. I told Mama "Turr Righ" and "Turr Leff" too!)

When we got there, we had lots of fun things to do. On Monday, we went to the zoo- it was pretty great, but we forgot the camera. On Wednesday, we went to this place called "Sih Flagg", which is an amusement park/waterpark in Saint Louis. I loved it!

This is my cousin Kendall, who came with me to six flags. She's six.

This is my cousin Jordyn- she came too. She's nine.

Mommy wanted to see if I liked riding rides.We tried out a few different ones, and I liked all of them except for the Scooby-Doo ride. That one was too loud. One of my favorites was the carousel. The horse went "Rou and rou" and "Uh and Doww". I thought it was great!

It was starting to get hot, and so my cousin Kendall and I decided to play in these little fountains that squrted water straight into the air. They looked like this:

Here's a live action shoot, so you can more fully understand how awesome these fountains really were.

What a fun time in Missouri! On Thursday morning, we said goodbye to Uncle Brandon, Aunt Christi, Jordyn, and Kendall. Then we got in the car again to head back to Iowa. We stayed with our friends Gail and Elijah at their seminary house in Dubuque. The next morning Elijah and I and our Mommies went to a cool river museum!

First we looked at the turtles and fish under water.

Then we learned about lizards, and played under their cage.

Then we even decided to pretend to BE lizards! Our Mommies thought we were cute.

Before Mommy and I drove back to Minnesota, Elijah and I played outside on the cool river animal toys too. We had a great time visiting the Brechts! What a fun road trip!