Giraffes & Gruffalos

Now that it's getting (a little bit) warmer, we've been spending more time at the Zoo again. Lucas is now at the perfect age for it. Loves it! Talks about the giraffes, elephants, and monkeys non-stop during the zoo trip and for days after.

Last month my dad came and spent a weekend with us. It was great to see him and to get some rare quality time.

Back again on a different pretty day at the Zoo:

Nap time came and we didn't make it around the whole zoo. We had to skip the giraffes. (They were napping). Ever since then Lucas has been asking about going back. "See gi'aff. Gi'aff sleeping?" Karen tried to take him back and it wasa too cold so the giraffe was still (!) napping. Bummer. When he couldn't see the giraffe, he asked to the see gruffalo.

If you don't know the gruffalo, check out: www.gruffalo.com. The gruffalo books and the other books (such as Room on the Broom) by author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler (who is from Hamburg!) are our favorites!

The Gruffalo

"He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws

And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws."

"He has knobbly knees, and turned out toes,

And a poisonous wart at the end of his nose."

"His eyes are orange, his tongue is black;

He has purple prickles all over his back."

Good luck to us finding him at the Zoo!

Squid

Lucas and Matt's newest favorite silly game results in lots of laughing:

Afternoon at the Playground

It's been a beautiful and very welcomed start to the spring. We took the opportunity and took Lucas, our "adopted" puppy, and the tricycle out the the park. As a fun surprise, we ran into our favorite twins and had even more play buddies.

Sporting the new helmet. Yes, mom's a pediatrician and makes Lucas wear one already.

Lucas and Ella

Lucas and Anna

Practicing to be a good dog walker with Nash:

Picnic Time:

Anna joined our family for a quick snack

Thank Yous & Kahlua Cake

Matt & Lucas fight over "Matt's" birthday present and say Thank you!

How old is Daddy?

Baking the Birthday Cake

Ever since I got the recipe for this cake it's been one of our favorites. So moist and yummy. The alcohol bakes out ... as shown by the fact that I was first introduced to this cake on morning peds rounds in med school. Try it:

Recipe for Kahlua Cake:

Mix together:

1 cup oil
4 eggs (beaten)
1 yellow cake mix
1 3 oz package instant chocolate pudding

Then add:
1/3 cup kahlua
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup vodka

mix together, batter will be runny

bake at 350 in bundt pan 45-50 minutes

Glaze (I personally am not a big fan of the glaze and usually substitute with powdered sugar only):
1/4 cup kahlua

1/2 cup powdered sugar

stir together then pour half of glaze on bottom of cake while hot, then again on top when cool.

Enjoy!

For Matt

Matty,

Happy Anniversary to the best husband a girl could ask for! I cannot believe it's already been 5 years since we tied the knot. It seems like yesterday that we stood at the altar, exchanged rings, and had our first dance.

It's been an amazing five years filled with so many experiences and it has meant the world to me to have you by my side for everything from the little daily things to the big events.

In the past five years we have:

Graduated from Medical School & survived Residency (almost)

Traveled

Venice, Italy

Dubrovnik, Croatia

2006 World Cup in Germany

Moved Back to Nashville & celebrated many Homecomings

Bought our 1st House

Oh the Memories of the beautiful original colors

Found out we were Pregnant!

And most importantly, spent an amazing 2 years being first time parents

Our baby on the day he was born

And now the most amazing toddler we could wish for

Some days it might seems like a rollercoaster but it's been a wonderful and exciting one. I would never have thought it possible but I now know that I love you a little more every day and that sharing a life and loving you only gets easier every day. You are my best friend and the best father in addition to an amazing husband and I am thankful for you and for us. Makes me think back on my dad's speech on our wedding day "I hope this is not the happiest day of your lives but instead that every day after today is even better."

I Love You!

Steph

Colorado - Videos

Fun in the snow. I didn't post the videos from our Colorado trip with the rest of the pics so here they are.

Sliding & Snowball fights:

Hideaway Park & Snow Angels:

Sledding:

Colorado - Denver

We spent our last vacation day in Denver museum hopping. It was definitely a Lucas day! We started off in the Children's Museum.

Our little firefighter

In the Treehouse

Making Bubbles with Daddy

Cooking in the Kitchen

Grocery shopping

Next up was the Natural History Museum. Someone was super excited about the dinos and all the other animals in the exhibits! It was great to see his big eyes taking everything in.

Dinos!

Lucas made it through about 3 minutes of the Imax movie. He loved it and was glued to the screen until the first animal attacked it's prey. Then he shrieked and started crying. I felt horrible! My poor baby. We should have done our research. Under water life is apparently not PG-2.

Our trip back went smoothly as well. Check out the contraption we got for $8 to help us transport the carseat (and Lucas). It's just a sling that attaches the carseat to any rolling suitcase. I definitely recommend it.

Good-bye Colorado. Looking forward to our next trip. Back to real life it is.

Colorado - Winter Park

In January we had another of our always highly anticipated weeks of vacation. We spent the week with Matt's parents in Winter Park, Colorado skiing, playing in the snow, and getting some much needed R&R.

Lucas' fun started with the trip itself: airport playground, airplane ride, train ride, shuttle bus ride, and then a car trip to our destination.

Having a blast at the airport playground:

Enjoying the rest of the trip:

Ready to go "High in the Sky"

Riding Thomas at the Denver Airport

We arrived in Denver after a smooth trip (amazing for the Israel family). No chickens even had to be sacrificed. The snow was fresh and high the next morning and we took our rusty ski-selves (well who are we kidding - I was the only rusty one) up the mountain. The first day was rough for me with large amounts of snow, unsteady legs, and a nice tumble with a flip down the slopes, but after that I got the hang of it again and had a blast.

Winter Park Resort

Matt in the midst of "Manuary" and preparing for his beard of contest later that month. That ice in the beard was impressive.

Beautiful tree-lined slopes

After skiing the mornings with Matt and Paul, I joined Karen and Lucas for some playtime in the afternoons.

Choo-Choo!

Lucas enjoyed a wagon ride

Trip to Hideaway Park (thanks for the tip Christy!):

Stomp, stomp!

Nana helps with stomping

A buried rocking horse

Fun on the sledding hill at Hideaway park (will post video soon; stay tuned)

Learning how to make a snow angel!

A little fuzzy, but couldn't help posting this pic. Look at my little skiier to be, so cute! Lucas asked every day "Luca ski?" We told him next year.

Family pic with the polar bear

Taking a ride on the Cabriolet. Lucas could have done this all day!

More Choo-choos! This one had a slide too!

Watching "Choo-choos" with Grandpa. We were on a train kick that week.

We found a cute little Crepe & Coffee shop in the resort. Yum! They had fabulous hot chocolate too:

We left with all bones and tendons are still intact! I was a little bruised and everyone a little sore but we had a great time. Lucas I know loved all the attention and all the fun playing time. We went on to spend a day in Denver before our flight home. Will work on posting those pics... too many to put them all in one.