St. Louis, MO with Francis and Faye

Trevor and Mommy flew into St. Louis, MO to kick-off our 3 weekish getaway. We specifically wanted to see Uncle Francis (Papa Steve's brother) and Aunt Faye since we didn't get to see them last summer when Grandma Hillins was sick and our flight to the Roslansky reunion was cancelled due to weather.  We had been anxiously awaiting our time to see them and it was just like Mommy hoped. 

 Trevor couldn't get enough of Faye!  They were best buddies.  He showed off all of his tricks and wanted her to play with him.  Trevor even chose her to cuddle when it was nap time! 

Sara's parents drove down to meet us in St. Louis which was super nice of them. We stayed at an Embassy Suites during our one night there and boy does Trevor take after his Mommy and Daddy by enjoying happy hour!  He ate more snacks and drinks than his Mommy!

That night he was a tired camper and had no trouble falling right to sleep.  What did the adults do while Trevor was sleeping?  We played the game 'left-right-center' (Faye consistently won it seemed) and had late night sandwiches and chips.  Almost felt like we were in college :)

The next day we headed back to Francis and Faye's where Uncle Francis made bubble solution for Trevor and showed him how to get the best bubbles using a fly swatter and fan.  Pretty clever! 

After lunch it was time to say 'see you next time' and we hit the road.   

We had planned to drive 3 hours to Kirksville, MO (where Sara went to undergrad) so she could see the campus and what not, but that would have added extra time to the already 8 hour car ride so she decided against it.  It was better to get to Papa Steve's and Nana Jeanne's house yet on Sunday night so we had all day Monday to play!  Can't believe we didn't take a picture of our most awesome traveler.  8 hours in the car....one stop for dinner (Steak-n-Shake - YUM!) and one other stop to fill up and go potty...and no ipad, iphone, or other technology used once!  Nana Jeanne sat in the back with him and had plenty of toys, books, and other activities on hand to keep him entertained the whole way!  They also had an old TV tray to use on top of his car seat which helped him keep his toys and books from falling.  So smart! 



Trevor's 2.5 pics

We had Trevor's 2 and a half year old pics taken on June 22 in Old Town Scottsdale by the photographer Sara found a few years ago who has taken the Hillins yearly Thanksgiving photos (that also double as Trevor's yearly pics).  Once again she did a great job capturing fabulous memories of our little (um not so little guy), especially this one of Mommy and son which is just priceless!

We have yet to receive the CD of all of the pics but she did post an album of 33 or so pics on Facebook so these are downloaded from there.  The CD will be much better quality and it won't have her watermark on the pics! Plus there will be like 300 more pics....yikes!

Such a ham! 

You can see him saying 'cheese' here: 

His GQ pose: 

One happy, happy family! 

Nice to cool down for a sec! 

He loves, loves, loves water! 

But he loves Skip It a lot more! 

He's announcing to all of Old Town Scottsdale that he's 2 and a half (not just 2)! 

His big smile after getting to sit up in a tree!   

Trevor's serious look....don't smile buddy! 

And one of Mommy, Daddy and baby girl :)

Monkey see, Monkey do

Okay, so maybe we shouldn't call our son a monkey but he is very into copying whatever Mommy and Daddy do right now.  Including literally taking Mommy's headband off her head and wearing it proudly as his own!  Whatever floats your boat buddy :)

First Trip to AZ Pediatrician

Call it Mommy instinct but before we got on an airplane, Mommy thought she better take Trevor in to have his ears checked.  He's been waking up at night crying and usually that's a tell tale sign something isn't right :(  So we got a referral to our friend's pediatrician and off we went. 

It's a bit far away and a bit outdated if you ask Sara but they had the right equipment to check out Trevor and we learned that now both tubes are out (sad) and he had fluid in his left ear.  Because we were flying she wanted to get that treated - that and he's had a cold since he started daycare as well as diarrhea for a week so he has some sort of bacterial virus.  In addition after she looked up his nose she announced he also had a sinus infection.  Poor guy!!  But he's on meds and all is right in the world again!

Baby purchases

Baby girl is already getting a tad spoiled by friends and family who are so generous and giving her adorable gifts - mainly cute clothing!  It's fun to see so much pink after all the blue with Trevor!   It's also hard when all retailers are practically giving summer clothes away right now and Sara has the time to shop :)
Not sure if we mentioned but the home we bought had a pink bedroom already so we lucked out there although there is a kids wallpaper border up that we're not entirely sure that we'll keep.  We'll see.  It kinda fits with the bedding we purchased but we're just not really wallpaper people. 

Our 'theme' for her nursery is pinks and aquas and bright colors in general.  We decided against a whole crib set, rather just opting for the sheet and skirt this time around.  We didn't really see any quilts we liked and they only use the bumper for 3 months or less anyway, but here is the sheet:


We've found some artwork and other stuff that will really tie the room together.  Once more of it is up we'll share some pics :)

The other big purchase we finalized this past weekend was the double stroller!  We went to the baby store just to look at strollers but ended up loving one and they had a great deal on it - 20% off plus a free 2nd seat or infant carrier!  Since we already have a great infant carrier and 2 bases for our cars we opted for the free 2nd seat even though the infant carrier was $80 more dollars. So it is the Britax b-ready which gets great reviews from Moms and Dads and it looks a lot like Trevor's Teutonia stroller system already so we're used to it!  It is such an easy to stroller to push too!

It can be used as a single stroller with the seat which reclines to 4 positions or take the seat out and clip in just the infant carrier:

And/or you can put in a second seat...which T loved and wouldn't get out of at the store.  He liked how he could stretch his legs and use the storage carrier for his toys (and he could reach them all himself). 


Matter of fact there are 14 different configurations for this stroller...we'll use the top row, the pic on the right in the second row and the first four from the left on the bottom row!  This is going to be so fun!!

And with that the blog is caught up.....WOO HOO!!!!

4th of July and Sickie B

Happy belated 4th of July!  Seems like a common theme around here - belated - although we figure it's better to be late than never :)  We enjoyed a relatively cool 4th here, about 80 degrees although some humidity.  Given the nice weather we took a bike ride to Desert Ridge shopping area and had some Einstein Bagels.  It almost felt like we were back in MN doing our Saturday morning ritual!

The boys swam a bit after nap but Sara stayed out of the pool.  After swimming in the Flamingo pool in Vegas she developed an itchy red rash from the chest down (ie the areas that were in the pool).  Could either be swimmer's itch or a chemical burn :(  Yuck!  Luckily it cleared up in a week....

In the evening we were able to watch our community's fireworks from our balcony.  That was great and they were so close!  We couldn't believe how long they lasted.   Even Trevor gave up after about 30 minutes. 'That's enough' he announced and went to bed!  Now we know what our HOA goes to ;)

Wednesday night B started feeling a little under the weather with aches and pains which surprised Sara given how much rest we got in Vegas (ie sleeping by 9pm, up at 8am or so) but even the rested come down with the sickies :(  Thursday night he was really having hot flashes and what not after the Dambowy clan left so he went to bed and stayed home from work Friday to feel better.  He just couldn't kick the fever, aches/pains/headache all weekend so mainly stayed in bed.  He went to work Monday not feeling the greatest and again on Tuesday but finally went to the doctor and learned he had a virus going around.  The doctor said his body was just hanging on to it longer than most.  How lucky :( 

We're just glad it wasn't Valley Fever which Brian's parents thought it could be because about a week ago Brian dug small trenches in our backyard for some new rock speakers by the pool and apparently something lives in the dirt here that causes people to get this airborne disease.  Good to know - next time Brian will wear a mask when digging!  Happy to report though that Brian is all better now and Trevor and Sara each only had it for less than 12 hours!

Vegas Baby!

We went to Vegas....with a baby...and had a blast!  So much so that 2 days in we decided to extend our trip!  We booked it last minute after getting a good deal on a hotel and besides who are we kidding, we love Vegas and couldn't wait to go since it is only 4.5 hours from our new house! 

We were going to leave bright and early Saturday morning but sleepy-head Trevor had other plans.  The stinker slept until 9am so we hit the road later than anticipated but that was okay.  Trevor was an excellent passenger, playing with the iphone and sleeping the whole way to the Hoover Dam.  He was pretty excited about the dam and kept saying dam, dam, dam which of course we cracked up to!  We packed a picnic lunch to eat there but it was so hot we ate in the air-conditioned car rather than a picnic spot.

We made it to Vegas mid-afternoon and Trevor enjoyed taking in all of the sites.  On our drive in he kept finding things (like the MGM lion) and saying "I want to go there now!"



After getting settled in our room at Planet Hollywood (chosen specifically for it's location mid-way on the strip for walking purposes), we showed Trevor our favorite spot - the Bellagio fountains. 

Such a happy boy we have!

Trevor loved the fountains as much as us.  Although, he wasn't so sure when the tallest fountains went on.  Probably a little loud for his little ears :)

On our walk to dinner we came across some of Trevor's friends and boy was he excited about meeting Barney!  Daddy looks a little weirded out by the purple guy, but Trevor looks happy happy!

High five for Buzz Lightyear!  We also saw Woody and Elmo!

After a yummy dinner at Strip Burger (thank you Pooley's for introducing us) we started the trek back to the hotel but stopped along the way to check out the pirate show at Treasure Island, which Trevor was a big fan of - especially when the one ship started moving! 

We played a few kids games in TI - Trevor sure liked the racing game even if he was crashing into the side every second.

We found a prime viewing spot for Mirage's volcano but Trevor did NOT like that one bit.  Probably the heat and the loud noises were too much.  That's okay, maybe another time he'll think it's cool!

We tried to show Trevor the dolphins, lions and tigers at Mirage but it was closing when we got there so we walked down the strip and showed Trevor more stuff along the way, watched a few more fountains then went back to our hotel.  One thing we made sure of was to always have Trevor back at the hotel by bedtime as well as naptime.  We were not going to be one of those parents who ignores naptime and keeps their kids up well past bedtime in Vegas!

On Sunday we enjoyed chocolate pastries from our favorite bakery in Paris before heading out to explore the other end of the strip.  First stop, M&M world.  Trevor found a few things he had to have there like personalized stickers and Dad found something that reminded him of his old days in AAD at 3M....a Nascar car!

Trevor was all about M&M world - had to check out every display and every item for sale.  We were there forever :)

And alas we found the M&M station where Trevor could pick out what he wanted!  We think it was his version of heaven for a few minutes!

He's super proud of his selection!

We found the fun arcade for kids at Excalibur and Trevor was a big fan of all of the games, prizes and tickets!  He even won a blue rabbit/squirrel/not sure what it is after rolling a ball and seeing his horsey move across the stage.

Trevor reminded Sara a bit of Uncle Jim when it came to playing games as a kid.  He loved them all!  Especially those that you put a quarter in and watch what happens.  It was an extra bonus when tickets were involved!

Mommy and Trevor liked playing 'whack-a-mole' together.  Notice who is even winning :)

But Trevor's all time favorite game by far was 'Deal or No Deal' - he picked the suit cases and when the banker would call Trevor would proudly yell out 'No Deal' and hit the appropriate button with his fist!  Too cute for words!

The next day we took the monorail down to Mandalay Bay to check out the aquarium.  Trevor enjoyed riding that 'choo choo' a lot!

However, we learned it really was only an aquarium, it didn't have a lion or tiger like Trevor had been wanting to see ever since we missed it at the Mirage and learning that MGM got rid of the tiger exhibit.  So we hiked all the way back to Mirage to see the Siegfried and Roy exhibit.  It was amazing how close you could get to the dolphins.  Trevor was trying to be a dolphin trainer and would swirl his finger around hoping to get a dolphin to spin:

Yes Trevor you are a great catch :) 

He especially liked watching the dolphins under water: 

Before leaving Mirage, we checked out there fish display at the registration area.  We even found Nemo's (Trevor's current favorite movie)!

On Monday we checked out the pool at the Flamingo because we heard there were slides for little kids.  Our little Nemo loved cooling off in the pool and showing off his swimming skills to the other kids.

As you can see by his smiles he loved going down the slides all by himself.

Smiles from ear to ear!!

Monday night we enjoyed dinner at one of our favorite Mexican places in Vegas at New York New York.  After that we headed back to Excalibur for Trevor to play some more games at the fun arcade.  He won enough tickets for a plastic sword which got a lot of good use outside of New York New York while Mommy and Trevor waited for Daddy to play some blackjack!

We took in some more nighttime fountains.  Trevor just looks amazed here :) 

Nothing like being spoiled on vacation and getting to eat chips in bed on the last night! 

Before heading out of town Tuesday we took Trevor to Circus Circus where more games were played and tickets were won! 

And we also got to see a little circus act with a clown and juggler.  This kid isn't afraid of anything...even gave the clown a big high five at the end! 

So all in all, we had a great time in Vegas even with our 2 year old!!  Can't wait to go back again!!