The Kreidlers: June 2008

Saturday, June 28, 2008

The [extra] Big Mo

Amy is waving in this picture

[click on the slideshow for a larger version]

We went downtown this morning to check out the Mississippi River which is over flood stage in many areas of Missouri. The water was 1/3rd of the way up the stairs to the Gateway Arch, and it looked massive.

We grabbed some lunch at the Feisty Bulldog and let the kids do some running back at the Arch before heading home.

Fireman

Adam and I walked down to the fire station this morning, as we often do, to see if the firetruck was "home". Today it was out of the garage and the firemen were doing their daily inspection to make sure that all their equipment was in order. We stopped and talked to the fireman for a while, looked in the truck, and talked about the bell, lights, hoses, etc. They gave Adam a new fireman hat (he's broken about 3 of them already) and a trading card with the picture of the truck on it.

He wore the hat home as he rode his bigwheel and made siren noises the entire time. The people we passed seemed to enjoy it.

Friday, June 27, 2008

That's More Like It!

Nick Swisher is congratulated after his grand slam in the third inning by Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome and Joe Crede. (Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune / June 27, 2008)

Camp Sugar Creek

Emily attended camp this week also! She went to Camp Sugar Creek, sponsored by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri and held at Kirkwood Park. The girls spent the week fishing, learning archery, eating snow cones, crafting, as well as running in the water that the Kirkwood Fire Department truck sprayed on them! Emily was sad camp ended today, but is looking forward to next year already! Here is one picture of Emily and her BFF Madison one night this week. I took the girls and Adam swimming to cool off one night after a hot day at camp!

Camp Rock!!!

Emily hosted a sleepover last week to celebrate the premiere of Disney's Camp Rock! The girls had a great time eating pizza, making ice cream sundaes, watching the movie, and generally, just being silly girls! A GREAT time was had by all!

Dinosaur Camp!

I decided that since Adam is napping I'd update everyone on what he's been up to this week.

Adam attended camp this week at his preschool. The theme of the camp - DINOSAURS!!!

When I saw the theme of the camp a few months ago, I knew that camp was made for Adam! Paul and I used "Dinosaur Camp" as an incentive to get him completely potty trained. Well, it worked and this week he attended his first summer camp! He enjoyed getting back to school with his teachers and friends. He's attending two more camps at Glendale Pres later this summer - themes are Weather/Seasons and Under the Sea. Since Adam LOVES whales and sharks, the Sea camp also is right up his alley!

Here are a few recent pictures of Adam. Enjoy!

Ready for Dino Camp!!! Adam practicing his "RRROOOAAAARRRRR!!!!"

Right after Miss Alicia cut and spiked Adam's hair.

On the way to Adam's Dermatologist appointment! He fell asleep at 1:15 in the car. A GREAT indication that he is not ready to give up his naps!

Earlier this month at the Turner House. He was the Tin Man from The Wizzard of Oz dressed up at Spider Man!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Happy Belated Flag Day & Anniversary!

June 14th was Flag Day and Ninny Cindy and Papa Jack's anniversary. Here is a picture of them with their loyal subjects, and their flag.

Yet again, poor planning on my part not to post a draft of this before we left for Florida, but better late than never.

Note: I want the record to reflect that when I searched my picture database for a picture to use in this post, I chose NOT to use the entertaining ones!

Happy Birthday David

Happy 10th birthday to our nephew, David. Thanks to Grandma Kreidler for the picture!

Happy Belated Birthday, Angie!

Happy belated birthday to our friend Angie! I wanted to wait until we got back from our trip so that I could include a picture in the post, but I couldn't (quickly) put my hands on one. So, I stole one from Brian's collection.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Ft. Lauderdale, Day 6

The morning in Ft. Lauderdale was nice, but the afternoon was a gloomy, rainy mess. Our flight left 2 hours late and we got back to the house at 11. The kids were absolutely wonderful this entire trip. No complaining, good listening, great behavior all around. This was the first trip where I think we both would say that we enjoyed every minute of it, even with small kids.

One funny note - I looked up the aisle of the plane tonight to see Adam come out of the restroom with Amy. While Amy was talking to the flight attendant, Adam made his famous "dinosaur claws" and started growling at the passengers in row 1. Good thing they didn't know he was the reason they had to take back all the peanuts they started to hand out! (it was supposed to be a peanut-free flight, but they flaked out and forgot)

The last pictures of our trip...

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Ft. Lauderdale, Day 5

For me, it was another full day at the GFOA national conference. Today's keynote speaker was Donna Shalala. Her speech focused on the need to recruit the next generation of public finance officials, and healthcare issues. Her speech was much more academic than Mary Matalin's, but it was good nonetheless. The rest of the day was full of sessions on knowledge management and bond ratings - exciting stuff.

Amy and the kids went to the pool for a while this morning. In the afternoon, Amy met up with a friend and her daughter and they went to the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park a few miles down the road. The kids had a good time looking for lizards, running, and playing.

We ate our last dinner here at Quarterdeck, which became kind of a home away from home for us. It had a good atmosphere for kids, and was very inexpensive. Thanks to Aunt Shawn for the recommendation on that one.

Tomorrow I have a half day at the conference and then we head home in the evening.

Some pictures from today...

Monday, June 16, 2008

Fort Lauderdale - Day 4

Hi All!

Paul asked if I'd do the blogging tonight as he is pretty tired! The Government Finance Officials Association must be a rocking time to tire him out.

Anyways,

The kids and I decided to mix it up today and start the day at the pool. The kids played hard for two hours before we broke for lunch. After lunch, we headed to the beach and I actually shelled out the $10 for an umbrella since Adam looked pretty darn tired by the time we got to the beach. (I don't know if you all know this, but Adam still naps 3-4 hours per day. While on this trip, I've been lucky to get him down at a decent time since we've been having so much fun at the beach/pool!) I had visions of Adam falling asleep under the umbrella, me reading the paper, and Emily playing in the sand/water. However, this was not to be. Adam decided that he'd rather run some more in the waves and sand. But I did enjoy the umbrella for a bit before it clouded up and the kids joined me under the umbrella while it rained a bit. While sitting under the umbrella as it rained, he almost fell asleep!

After Paul came back, we headed to the 15th Street Fisheries for dinner. The restaurant had two places to eat and we chose the less formal one because we had kids. Dinner was AWESOME. After dinner, we grabbed the Water Taxi for a ride up and down the intercoastal. We saw more yachts and mansions than we could count. It was a neat ride, but it turned out to be a bit long for the kids who weren't impressed by the multi-million dollar boats and houses!

We're finally back in the room and the kids are about to go to bed. We're all wiped out tonight again.

Tomorrow Paul heads back for the last full day of the conference. He said todays keynote speaker - Mary Matlin- was REALLY interesting. He sat in the front row and winked at her. (JUST KIDDING!!) He did say she looked younger and better in person than on TV.

The kids and I are heading to the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park with a friend of mine and her 3 year old. We'll have some new - hopefully interesting pictures - to post tomorrow night!

All ready for the pool!