Baby Blake

This sweet little boy was born almost a month ago, but he still deserves a post, even if it's late.


Blake William Haas was born May 5, 2009. His mother, Alyson, has been a buddy of mine since junior high. Alyson moved to Houston after we settled here, so I was excited to have another Waco buddy in town. If you've ever met this little one's father, you will see that they look exactly alike! Looking forward to watching this little boy grow, and hopefully I can keep him sometime soon as well. Congrats, Colton & Alyson!

Lost Pines

Derek, Justin, and I (oh, and Roxy too) went to Lost Pines for Memorial Day Weekend. I feel like I should get a small compensation for the weekend after giving them such rave reviews and publicity with this post. We decided this year to start a trend of a family vacation - just us, no friends or family involved. We had an absolute blast!

Lost Pines is owned by the Hyatt and located in Bastrop, Tx. The drive took us exactly 2 hours - can't get much better than that for easy travel to a great location. I last minute realized dogs were allowed, so we got to save the kennel fee as well. Roxy had a blast looking at our balcony, which looked onto the hummingbird garden.

The resort is located right on the Colorado River, and some people could kayak, float the river, or go canoeing. Horseback riding and other trail adventures were available for older kids as well.

Justin would sleep until 7am every morning and we would go on a walk with the jogging stroller and Roxy. We would come back, eat breakfast that we had brought (and stored in the little fridge in the room), and he would watch a quick video as we got ready for the pool. I love this photo of him in his mother's hat.

Even funnier with a toothbrush in the picture now.

There was so much to do and totally geared towards kids. A balloon artist came one day and made balloon swords for the boys.

There was a shaded playground area near the pool area. Kids were always going up and down the slides. There were also hammocks for people to swing in, picnic benches to eat at, etc.

What's a day without Justin lining up something? Here he is lining up the basketballs near the river on one of our morning walks.

Justin & Derek are actually running after a soccer ball in this photo. Their stances were too funny. There was always a good game of soccer going on right by the pool.

A big lift from dad to make a basket.

They had bikes for everyone to check out on an hourly basis. There was only one that Justin could maneuver. There were several small bikes, but this one had a long seat that enabled him to reach the pedals better.

I would hunt this bike out and grab it whenever we saw it get returned. Justin wasn't great going uphill, so we would stay in this covered pavilion and ride around.

Ah, the lazy river. Derek and I could have stayed on this thing all day. Intertubes were always floating around, a bar was located on the route for people to pick up beverages, and it took 15 minutes to float around once. Most of the time Justin would just lay in one of our laps like a limp noodle and just float with us. It was a fun bonding moment.

So there was a slide at the pool where kids had to be 42 inches tall to ride. The first night we got there Derek took Justin on the slide in his lap right before it closed. Come to find out that's really not allowed - kids have to be the height, have to go down solo, and must be able to swim. No amount of coaxing from this mother could get any other employee to let Justin down again. After some tears of yearning, he finally realized that we would have to wait until next year.

There was an adult pool off the lazy river that I went and laid out at during one of Justin's naps. The other two naps Derek was playing at the golf course on location, but who's counting. There was a wedding that weekend, and all the wedding party was at the adult pool. I felt like I was on a scene on the Hills. But it was free entertainment. The great thing about the pools is that there were waiters all over the place. So you would just order your food, sign your room number, and be done with it. I could get used to that!

Where is Justin? Oh, on the other side of the beach ball. We played volleyball with the beachball, and no, it didn't bring up any fond memories of my short career with the sport. Though I do serve better with a beach ball.

There was a beach on one side of the pool. We made sandcastles and threw a lot of sand into the water.

The pool was incredible. Justin could touch the entire way across. One day he and Derek were holding their breath under water and then shooting out of the water. I got a fast shutter speed on my camera and got the water coming out when Justin popped back up.

We had an overcast day and a quick rain two evenings. That made for some chilly water at times. We definitely said we wouldn't go any sooner in the year to this place. But Monday, the day we were leaving, was the prettiest day there. It was perfect.

My two big smilers.

Justin just standing on the side in the big shallow pool.

There was an activity room that we visited twice while we were there. There was a big jumphouse that Justin romped around in, as well as ping pong....

...the Wii (first time he had ever done this - I couldn't even begin to show him how to do it), and a bean bag toss. They also had board games, a lifesize checkers game, and other various activities.

Face painting was everyday. Justin got a #4 (don't know why), a snake, and a whale. He wanted his face painted all day long.

On Memorial Day the kids got to color a flag puzzle and then take it home to use. Justin, being the artist, thought that was a great idea. We also fed the ducks every morning. There was a pond off the golf course where they would hang out. The first day they wouldn't eat Justin's cereal, the only food we had on us. So the next day we took some bread with us, and they thought that was a much better option.

S'mores - every night at 7pm the resort would have a big fire pit where everyone would cook s'mores.

Justin was all about roasting the marshmallows...

...though he never wanted to eat them. Probably didn't help that we completely burned a few batches. Then there would be a movie on the lawn for all the kids to watch. It started close to 9pm on two nights, so we didn't stay up late for those. But the last night they had it in an auditorium, and we went and watch Aristocats while eating bags of pretzels. Justin's "first real movie experience", if you even want to call it that.

Since the little man didn't get his dessert, we stopped at the little general store in the lobby and got him some Blue Bell ice cream. Only vanilla - no chocolate, no sprinkles, no fuss. So boring, if you ask me. And look at his feet - he is so proud of these flip flops that Henry gave us after he decided he didn't like the concept. Justin loves them because he looks like mommy and daddy.

This might be our newest 11x14 that will grace my downstairs room. It's time to replace some of those 1 year photos. It is only 2 years later, after all. And I am reading to start showcasing my photos.

Who told this kid that this is the way to smile? It's still cute nonetheless. But we always show teeth in the Michaelis household.

So I decide this one night we are going to try to get a fmail photo. And it starts raining. Of course. Not to mention I have to find some Joe Smo to use my camera with the external flash (which means it weighs about 10 pounds). Here is a photo as I was testing out the lighting. Love it.

Justin kept wanting to put our heads together.

Still trying to touch heads. This one might be my fave.

I decide to try for another night of a quickie family photo session. I find this employee who was majoring in photography and then decided to do something else. So of course I didn't think to explain to him that you should halfway push down to focus before taking the photo. Justin had both arms around us with a big grin, and all the photos came out blurry. I could scream.

This one is okay, but still not the best.

Funny kid.


On Monday, a few hours before we were supposed to check out, Derek looked at me and said he could stay at this place for a few more days. So I told him let's stay another night. We laughed nervously, and both said why not. They had a Family Stay 'n Play package based on the number of nights you stayed, so by staying another night we got a huge discount on the room and got resort credit that basically enabled all our food to be free. It was that great of a place. So I wheeled and dealed and got us a steal to stay for one more evening. As we left the next morning, Derek told Justin to say, "See ya next year!" And we plan on doing that very thing!

MDO class photo

We have loved our first year at Holy Cross ELC for mother's day out. So sad it's over, but so refreshing to be more lax on our schedule for the summer.

Mrs. Voran, JT, & Mrs. Gehman on the last day of school

I had the honor of taking both Justin's Tues/Thurs class as well as the toddler M/W class photo. It's hard trying to get 8 kids to all look and smile at the same time, as well as get good lighting under fluorescent lights.

Now why didn't I think of this? Next year- totally going to do this!

Easter weekend with the Michaelis'

I guess I am pretty consistent with posting about a holiday once the next holiday comes around. In this case, in honor of Memorial Day, why not do a post about Easter?

Derek's parents last minute came in town to do Easter with us in Houston. Since ole Ike did a lot of damage to the beach house, all the Morby clan decided to stay at their homes this year. It was weird not doing everything in Galveston, but it was fun to start some traditions of our own. Justin was in the process of getting over an ear infection, so he was a trooper on all the fun even though he wasn't feeling his best. In fact, we had to miss Henry's birthday party that weekend because his fever had not quite broken for 24 hours by party time.

Mary Beth came in town first and decided to fix "Puppy". Puppy, the original name Justin gave his huge stuffed puppy dog, has lost his stuffing a few months ago thanks to a bored little boy. So Mary Beth got out her sewing kit and made puppy a new dog again. Thanks Grandma!

Then we decided to make resurrection cookies.

It enabled Justin to be an active part in the preparation as well as learn a little about the true meaning of Easter. Here he is beating the pecans, just as the soldiers beat Jesus.

Next we added vinegar, letting Justin smell what the soldiers offered Jesus to drink on the cross.

Then we added egg whites. Eggs represent life, just as Jesus represents life for us. We then added salt (for Jesus' salty tears) and sugar (the sweet part of the story that Jesus loves us) and beat the mixture to a white color - the color of purity.

We then put the cookies on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven. We put a piece of tape to "seal the tomb".

When the cookies come out the next morning they represent the rocky, empty tomb that Jesus arose form. They were hollow, just like the tomb was empty. Justin was pretty unenthused at this point, but at least he heard the message. It was a lot of fun to do this - I highly recommend it next year.

Here we are waiting for the cookies.

We also dyed eggs. This was right before nap, so someone went and took a nap while Derek (yes, that's correct) was all giddy finishing the eggs! He was like a little kid. I've never been a fan of dying eggs, so I happily turned the job to my main man.

I pulled a Kathy Smith and put peeps in hot water while we watched them melt away until only their eyes were floating in water. Justin really liked this one.

Poor guys don't know what's about to hit them....

Easter morning checking out the stash from his parents and his grandparents

I saw this at Walmart and had to get it. It's a bunny that walks and then poops jelly beans out. Crass, I know, but my little boy loved it.

The egg hunt was not quite as special since we had been practicing everyday for 6 weeks. But he still got a lot of goodies. It was more for me than anything else.

Grandma, Justin, & Grandpa on our way to church. Like the matchy vests on the fellas.

The three of us

After a fantastic Easter service at First Baptist (I think the worship made me cry 4 times), we went to Grand Lux for brunch. Derek enjoyed the kid's meal toy immensely.

A great weekend to spend with family and a reflection of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for all of us.