Jamaica Vacation & Carrie Miller Wedding

We are back in the states and somewhat catching up with being gone for almost a week. Tim and I had a great time in Jamaica. It's not too bad vacationing without kids we decided. Not a lot of responsibility, sleeping in (somewhat), not planning around a nap schedule, and enjoying the amenities of an all-inclusive resort. Tuesday evening we met Grandma and Grandpa Papke in Palmyra, MO to drop off the kids then headed to St. Louis to stay at Chris and Carey's house as we had a 6 AM flight. So our day on Wednesday started at 3 AM for our journey to Negril, Jamaica.

Here we are at our layover in Atlanta. With the time change it was 9 AM by then so we figured it was time to visit a bar.....

We arrived in Negril around 3:30 PM after an "adventurous" ride from the airport to our Sandals resort. Our first stop was some rum punch in the lobby at check in. Second stop our room.

Here is our room for the 5 days, we were on the first floor and had a garden view. The majority of the people staying were actually right in our area pretty much as well.

Here's my first drink at the "Beach Grill" - bringing back the Miami Vice.



This was our rowdy group for Wednesday night - mostly just the friends and Miller family. Matt's family was getting in to town the next day.


The happy couple - Matt Sims and Carrie Miller.

Our first evening of a Jamaica sunset, it was probably the best one we saw all week.

The next morning at breakfast we were attacked, not really attacked, but these birds jump on your plates as soon as you leave to eat your food if someone hasn't cleaned your table. Some guests actually fed them so that probably doesn't help the situation either.

This was our garden view from our back patio. There were some nice fountains and flowers. There were actually some weddings back here as well. We had a nice view.



Thursday night we went to Rick's Cafe - one of the top 100 places to visit in the world. It's a restaurant/bar on a cliff basically that has been rebuilt several times due to huricanes. Locals will put on some good diving shows for you and do a 60 ft. jump as well. The tourists also can jump - so of course I had to do it. The highest point on the cliff is 35 ft. My jump was about 30 ft. Carey Moore has a video that should be on her facebook page and Carrie's Mom got some photos as well which will be on the lovely slide show at Carrie and Matt's reception in January.
Since the cliff was only 35 ft. They put some platforms up in trees to get to the 60 ft dive.

Thursday night at the Barrfoot On the Beach (yes it was spelled that way) restaurant. Mostly seafood type meals, but thankfully for me there was a steak. You can see Tim's shirt purchase from the craft fair.

Chris and Tim enjoying the cigars they got at the duty free shopping area.

This is Friday night and after the rehearsal dinner. Carrie and Matt had a beautiful rehearsal dinner on the beach. This is our group shot of the UMR crowd.

Of course a shot of the ladies as well.



This was our view pretty much every morning when we walked out to the beach. Everything was so calm close to shore - 8 miles out on a fishing boat was a different story.

Tim, Chris, and I did some deep sea fishing and we did catch one fish. Chris caught this dolphin fish and it was pretty large. The deck hands were happy to keep it for us. Chris caught the fish, Tim got sick, and I took a nap during our 4 hour boat ride. It was pretty exciting though for the one bite we got.

A little Schmidt photo on the beach on the wedding day.

Here is where the wedding took place. We had rain earlier and it looked like it was going to rain again, but the resort said we were outside and good to go.


This was my effort at some wedding photography. Matt and Carrie were married at this point.


The bride and groom's table.

Cutting the cake - rum cake what else - we're in Jamaica mon!

And shortly after we ate and did a little dancing another storm came in and blew everything away. Thankfully the piano bar was close by and we migrated there.

Tim and I had a great time and were very happy to be able to be there for the wedding. Sunday started our journey home and we arrived back in Columbia, MO at 11 PM. Seeing the kids on Monday was the best part of that day as we did miss them quite a bit, even with all the fun we were having. Abby gave us great big hugs and had lots of stories to tell us of what she did.

This weekend Abby turns 3 years old. We'll have photos of the party next week.

Happy Halloween!

We had a very successful Halloween weekend I would say. The weather was nice, the pumpkins turned out great, and Mizzou and Iowa both won. Here's a little wrap up of photos of the weekend.

Friday afternoon we headed to Tim's work for some "practicing" as Abby liked to call it. You might remember the fish costume...as long as Megan had her pacifier in she was okay with it.
Our fish and fisherwoman.
Doing a little pumpkin carving, quite detailed.
Grandma Schmidt and Great Grandma and Grandpa Dietz came in to town again for the festivities. Abby and Grandma were working on their Scary Witch.


All dressed up and ready to trick or treat. Abby did not keep the accessories on very long. They were too heavy and she needed to carry her "bucket".

The fish was content for her first wagon ride.
Posing by the pumpkins before we headed out.
The pumpkins at night.

And of course Megan's first Halloween shirt. This was at the end of the night before pajamas so she looks pretty worn out.

We actually had a pretty quick trick or treating run. Abby kept asking for candy for her baby sister and she got it so her bucket filled up pretty quickly and then she said she had enough and was done. We weren't going to argue so we headed go Barb & Frank's house for our last stop and then went home to count the loot. We'll have candy for weeks.

This will be a short week for us, Tim and I are off to Jamaica on Wednesday for Carrie Miller's wedding and the girls are off to Grandma and Grandpa Papke's house for the week. I think we'll be having fun all around.
We'll update when we return!

Tailgate/Betsy Baby shower weekend

Usually we have pretty busy weekends as it is, however this weekend I think we managed to push the limit on things we could try to accomplish. We started off Friday afternoon with a trip to Jefferson City for Tim's PE ceremony. Yes he did pass his test and we are VERY proud of him. They had a ceremony at the Capital Rotunda. Tim and I have actually never been to the capital building, but will be returning with the girls as it's pretty neat with the museum and all the artwork and architectural items that we find interesting.

Here's the stage prior to the ceremony starting.

Here is Tim accepting his certificate. You can't see him but in front of him is Dr. Munger who is a professor at UMR. I actually had classes with him as well. There were quite a few Rolla people there that had passed the PE as well.

Just waiting for the rest of the names.

A larger photo of the group. They then had a reception up on the 3rd floor of the rotunda. We just went up there to check it out and then headed back home because we already had people at our house for our 4th Annual Tailgate weekend. Friday night was "You bring it, we'll fry it" and yes we did fry a couple things. We found out that Hot Pockets will not float when they are done and usually need a double frying, and frozen mini tacos fry up pretty good. We also put together a little bachelor party for our friend Chad who is getting married this December. He had a t-shirt and everything and I did not manage to get a picture of him or anything at all Friday or Saturday - hard to believe I know.
Saturday was slow moving to start. The guys started tailgating at noon for a 7 pm game. The ladies took the kids to McDonald's to run them tired on the indoor playland and to get some greasy food for ourselves as well. Back home for naps and then off to the tailgate. It was extremely crowded. We found our tailgate and just relaxed. Tim and I actually took Abby and her friend Ashley in to the game for the whole first half. They had plenty to watch with the pom pom girls, Truman the Tiger, cheerleaders, the band, and yes we discussed tackling with them. Abby continued to throw out some "Go Hawkeyes" as well, and both girls mastered the "ZOU" part of the "MIZ" "ZOU" cheer as we were on the ZOU side of the stadium. We headed home after half time as Dave and Scott were tired of tailgating all day, plus the Mizzou game wasn't that great as they were already down 28 to 7.

Sunday we headed to O'Fallon, IL at 10:15 for Betsy's baby shower. It was a good solid 2-1/2 hour drive and both girls slept almost the whole way. So they were hungry and ready to go when we got there. This shower was for Betsy's mom side and the Bovee family so it was quite a crowded house. As you can see she did pretty well in the present department.



My cheesy Abby photo for the day.


A photo of the crowd getting some lunch. Tim's Aunt Val was kind enough to loan her brand new house out for the party. It is a beautiful home!

Here is Betsy opening presents - well really it was Abby opening presents and Betsy read the cards. It kept her entertained while I dealt with a crabby 8 month old as it was getting past nap time.

As a distraction we found some legos. Apparently all Megan needs is a box of something where she can unload them all over the place.


Happy baby, caught in the act of making a mess.




And yes, we officially have a crawler now - forwards that is. She's been going backwards for a while but on Sunday the back legs finally communicated with the arms and we have forward movement. The safety gate is coming back upstairs again.

We finally got home around 7 - a very long day and a little too much time in the car for the girls. The last 30 minutes was crying from Megan and singing from Abby. I was ready for bed.
We'll be recovering from the weekend and trying to put the house back together again.

Tamica's Baby Shower Weekend

This weekend we were in Columbia again and had a pretty laid back weekend. On Saturday we had our friend Tamica's baby shower for Lily Ann who is due around Nov. 19th or so. Jeremy headed over to our house to hang out with Tim to do manly things as there was just a little to much estrogen at his house. Abby also helped with the photos from this weekend. I had to edit some as most were of her finger, but she did a really good job.

Here is the lovely dessert table. The chocolate covered pretzels were a little too good and the cake was good as well. Hy-Vee made that and I think did a great job. The theme of the party was polka-dots as that is how Lily's bedroom is decorated. I think Abby and Landen were the only ones who ate the puffy things on the right, but they ate them all so they must have been good too.


Grandma Rice with Megan and Landen ~ photography by Abby.

Grandma Slenker (A.K.A. Slenker's Mom) posing ~ photography by Abby


Megan just wanted to see what Ethan was doing. Apparently she bugged him a little bit. She managed to get in to some of the presents with her scooting. She already likes tissue paper it seems and chewing on cards. No she still isn't crawling officially. She is extremely close and has maybe taken a few lunges forwards. She did pull herself up last night on her knees to an activity table which was a pretty big deal. I don't think she knew what to do with herself up there.



Abby and Landen playing, not sure exactly what, maybe Ring around the Rosy or something. This with the falling part of whatever they were doing.

Abby of course had to help Tamica with some present opening.

The crib bumper for Lily's room ~ photo by Abby

And what weekend wouldn't be complete without a trip to BWW's. Abby and Landen were cute with the hand holding in the parking lot. This was Saturday night prior to the Mizzou game. Tim and I only made it through the first half, but apparently that was the better part to watch. At least Iowa won again. GO HAWKS!!

Next weekend is packed full of activities. It's our annual tailgating weekend. Friday is "You bring it, we'll fry it" and I believe a little bachelor party for Chad, Saturday is the tailgate and game, and Sunday is Betsy's baby shower in IL.
So it will be very busy and we'll have lots of pictures to share I am sure.

Pumpkins

This weekend we headed to Bommarito's winery with the St. Louis crowd for a day of relaxing and a couple bottles of wine. The weather turned out beautiful and the sun actually made it feel quite warm. The girls had a good time and the adults didn't get in too much trouble.


Earlier that morning Abby and Megan were doing some coloring. Megan scoots on her stomach pretty well on the wooden floor.


Tim's parents came in to town Saturday night to spend the night and get some pumpkins on Sunday with the girls. Little did they know they had a project to do with Abby.
Here's is Grandma Schmidt working with Abby on the haunted house.

Grandpa Schmidt helping with the construction phase.
The finished product - very spooky, and they didn't make that much of a mess. Gracie kept the floor pretty clean if things fell.
Here we are at the Rt. B Greenhouse. McCoy's pumpkin patch is closed this year and we didn't feel like trying the crowds of thousands at the Hartsburg pumpkin festival. Maybe next year.
Megan found a couple big pumpkins she liked. She can stand and hold on to things pretty well.
Sisterly love. Abby had her wagon and was "collecting" things for us.


Here is a video of Megan crawling...backwards. She is rocking on her hands and knees, reaches for everything and can get back sitting up from her stomach. She'll be going forwards any day now. Abby tends to get her all the toys she is reaching for so we are trying to teach her that we want Megan to crawl. We'll see how much Abby likes that when Megan can touch all her stuff.

Do Abby & Megan Look Alike?

Yes it has been a while since we have posted anything. You'll be surprised to hear that we have actually been staying home and just working around the house. So really no post-worthy photos. However this weekend is a winery trip and pumpkin festival so I am expecting some photos. You might not see much of the girls since they will be bundled up due to the cold! We'll see how Tim recovers from standing out in the rain all night at the Mizzou game - or as Abby called it, the waterfall.

We get a lot of opinions on how Megan does or does not look like Abby. The majority say they look different. Some people think Megan looks like Tim; personally I think they just say that out of pity since both girls look pretty much like me.

So Megan had her 6 month photos a while back and I pulled out Abby's 6 month photo and put them side by side.


I'd have to say they look just a little bit similar. Megan's hair is a little lighter and more wild, Abby had more teeth; and those are about the biggest differences.