Visit Recap

We enjoyed a week-long visit from my parents. It was a nice treat, especially since I hadn't seen them in over a year! Apart from just enjoying their company and watching them enjoy their grandsons, we were able to do some fun things around Richmond since my dad hadn't been out here before.

I know I already posted about Owen's dedication, but this picture captures Brennan's relaxation during the service. We tried to have him stand near us, but he much preferred to watch the event by lounging on the nearby stairs!

The fresh strawberries were fantastic! It's amazing how quickly 10 pounds of berries goes when five people are eating them!

Daddy and Owen bonding at the berry farm.

We took a day trip out toward the mountains one day. One stop we made was to visit Appomattox. This photo is of the McLean House, where the surrender was signed to end the Civil War.
We spent some time exploring Maymont Park and enjoying watching the bears.

This was the closest we've ever seen the bears! Normally they are up in a tree or laying on a rock toward the back of the enclosure. This time, they were hanging out right on the other side of the fence!

We sure do love this little guy!

The grandparents and the grandsons. Gotta love trying to get a two-year-old to sit still for a photo!

Grandma's Visit!

My mom got to come visit for a few days to spend some quality time with us and her favorite (only) grandson. Brennan was a little shy at first, but he quickly overcame that and Grandma became his favorite buddy! We'd go out places, and he'd reach for her hand to hold. They read lots of books together, played with toys, and enjoyed each other's company. It was definitely a nice treat to have my mom here to visit--made even better by the fact that I got to celebrate my birthday with her for the first time in eight years! Yes, today is finally my golden birthday--on the last possible day that anyone could ever have their golden birthday!

We spent one morning at Maymont Park. This tree had perfect limbs for a photo op!

Daddy helped Brennan navigate the stones

Feeding the goats was a fun activity!

We visited Short Pump Town Center and got to explore a bit before dinner. Brennan was desperate to get a chance to play in the water instead of sitting on Grandma's lap.

This child is fascinated with water. We went to play in the pop-jet fountains at another mall a couple days ago, which he absolutely loved. Then we took my mom to visit Pony Pasture, an area along the James River with huge rocks that you can walk on to get out in the river a ways. Brennan wanted his shoes and socks off so he could stick his feet in, and then had a fit when we needed to leave the water!

He needed to pat every light pole we passed (and there were a lot of them!).

What a fun visit with Grandma!

The other benefit to having my mom here to visit was she got to help us pack. Yes, pack. We got the good news that the applications to sublease our current place have been approved. The two guys who will be renting it are signing the lease on Tuesday, and we will be moving in just under two weeks! While the whole idea of packing and ultimately moving (again) is not all that appealing, we are super excited to finally get to move to a single-family home and have a huge yard for Brennan to play in. He definitely needs more outdoor time than we can adequately give him in our current place! Stay tuned for pictures of the new Downer home!

Arizona Adventures

Brennan and I arrived home last night after several days in Arizona. We had a great trip hanging out with my parents and enjoying some wonderful Arizona weather! Sitting out on their back patio, we got to see rabbits, a jackrabbit, quail, and even a coyote!

Grandpa and Brennan enjoyed their big country breakfast

Story time

Mama and Brennan enjoying his very first carousel ride

Grandpa and Brennan enjoying the weather and checking out some of the wildlife from the patio

We went to a huge park for the playground options and discovered this neat little water park. Since we didn't have his swimsuit with, we opted to give Brennan the opportunity to check out the excitement from a distance.

Grandma taught Brennan how to sweep the patio. He sure enjoyed holding that broom!

Grandma, Grandpa, and Brennan

We flew back in last night after having an incredibly rough 24 hours with Brennan--refusing to sleep (the night before we left, Brennan got about 6 hours of sleep and I got maybe 3 hours) and general crankiness resulting from the lack of sleep. It made for a rather interesting and incredibly difficult journey home. But we made it. It wasn't pretty, but the end result of our homecoming was achieved. It was nice to be back in my own bed last night. It was also nice to have Brennan back in his own bed and to have an incredibly wonderful husband who got up with him in the night and again this morning so that I could sleep/rest more. What a treat!

On a different note, we found out the morning that I left Arizona that my Grandpa Prechel died. It's a very strange feeling to be 30 years old and this is my first grandparent that has died. Over the past several years, my dad witnessed to him and also led him in the Sinner's Prayer. We know that we'll see him again one day. My dad and grandpa talked for a bit on Sunday and he got to say hello to Brennan. We appreciate your prayers for the family!

Fun in the Sun!

Brennan and I are on our mother-son trip to visit my parents out in Phoenix, AZ. John couldn't get the time off work, so we made the long trek alone this week. Brennan did so much better on the plane than I could have ever imagined, which made things so much easier. I'm a nervous flyer to begin with, but the nerves were compounded by flying solo with Brennan and trying to figure out to entertain and contain a wiggly 15-month-old for some pretty long stretches of time in very small spaces! Thankfully, Brennan slept for good chunks of time on each flight, looked at books, ate his snacks, and generally remained pretty quiet for most of each flight. Yay! Jet lag has been making the sleeping a bit challenging. Brennan has been napping great--as long as it is on someone or next to someone. He does well sleeping in his pack and play at night (praise God!). I just need to get over some jet lag and stop getting up so blessed early (3:30am=6:30am EST). Thank goodness for naps! We spent today at the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, this great train-themed park in Scottsdale. We all really enjoyed the time spent there. There was a kid-sized train to ride, a carousel, a couple of playgrounds, and picnic areas. There was also a Pullman car turned museum that was the actual car used by four different presidents, including FDR. Pretty impressive! I'm including some pictures for our outing today that were taken off my parents' camera since I can't upload the photos from our camera without the software that's on our computer at home!

We took a train ride around the park. Brennan didn't really know what to think of it at first, but then I think he warmed up to the idea of being on a train.

Brennan and Grandma taking a break

He's discovered the joy of the slide, in addition to the joy of the swing

Stagecoach driver? About a century and a half too late...

Jailbird!

Brennan and Grandma enjoying a carousel ride

Brennan and Grandpa in the Presidential Pullman Car

Vacation in Florida

Brennan and I had a father-son vacation recently that took us to Sarasota and Orlando. We had a great week staying with my parents and also visiting old PI and church friends up in Orlando. Brennan had lots of quality time with his Grammy and Grampy, his Uncle Dave and Aunt Ann and cousins Katie, Matthew and Timmy (who is only six months older than him). Highlights were: going to the beach and playing in the sand, Brennan eating his first whole hamburger, summer clothes shopping with Grammy (for both of us), Brennan putting his moves on Phoebe Kim (his moves = chasing her around the Kings' patio) and lots of fun reunions with people we hadn't seen in a year. Here are some pictures from the week...

Brennan and his cousin Timmy

My brother and I with our kids (l-r, Brennan, Katie, Matthew and Timmy)

Brennan and his Uncle Dave

Brennan and Phoebe Kim

Brennan and the Kim ladies

Random Trip Pics

This post concludes one of many from our trip up to Minnesota. We had a blast, and I hope you enjoy looking through the photos and videos!

Brennan with Uncle Nathan

Cousins!

Grandma with the grandkids

Grandpa with the grandkids

Looking all cute with his Christmas sucker

My dad really wanted this photo of him and Brennan in their flannel shirts

Brennan with his Great-Grandpa Ganun

Happy Birthday to Brennan!

Saturday, December 27th, marked one year of life for Brennan! We celebrated his first birthday in conjunction with the Ganun family Christmas (my mom's side of the family). There were 38 people there for the Christmas celebration, which also meant that there were 38 people at Brennan's first birthday party! He did amazingly well with the cake, eating the entire piece that we gave him!

He sure had fun with the cake!

The aftermath.

The Ganun family Christmas was a huge affair this year, as evidenced by the enormous table pictured below. Yes, all of us managed to sit around the table for one huge family meal. It had been a long time since I had participated in one of these shindigs, so it was pretty special to get to celebrate the Christmas season with my grandparents, parents, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and all the little ones that have been added to the family over the past few years. It was wild, crazy, chaotic, and overall wonderful. It was pretty special for us to have Brennan around so many of his relatives--all of whom doted on him and loved on him the entire day. Definitely a great experience!

Table for 38, please!

Snow!

The thing that I have missed most about winter is the lack of snow. This year, that wasn't a problem! My brother had a ton of snow out at his place and we spent Christmas afternoon sledding. Even though Christmas day was about 18 degrees, we all bundled up and had some great family time and got plenty of exercise as we had to climb back up the hill multiple times!

Brennan's inaugural sled ride with Daddy (and getting a little help from Grace and Uncle Nathan)

My dad and me (right before I flipped out of the sled)

He wasn't too sure what to think of all this white stuff.

First Christmas

This has been a year of firsts for Brennan. One of the more recent ones is that we got to celebrate his first Christmas! We ventured up to Minnesota for a white Christmas--and I was in heaven with the cold, the snow, the joy of Christmas feeling like I used to know it. We celebrated Christmas day with my parents, brother, and niece at my brother's house. Gifts in the morning, sledding in the afternoon, the traditional Prechel lasagna for lunch. John even got to try lefse for the first time (and he liked it too!). This was also the first Christmas my immediate family had been together in six years. All in all, Christmas this year goes down as the best one for me in a long time.

The baseball was a big hit.

One of his favorite parts was the wrapping paper.

My dad read the Christmas story to Brennan and Grace.