The Adventures of Rylee Jane

Rylee and I have been busy this past week. . .not really, but we have found some fun ways to amuse ourselves while we miss Daddy and the boys. Needless to say things are a little quieter around here.

First, last Sunday we attended the 3rd Annual Heartland Triathlon and cheered Heidi, David, Daryl, and Erica on while they swam, biked and ran.

Then Rylee started her own blog.

She says it's a work in progress and not ready for public consumption. Although she did do some research on some other blogs and learned some line dancing on the Livin-Lovin blog.

By the end of the week we were reduced to peek-a-boo and silly hairstyles in the bath tub. We miss Daddy and the boys. . .we're going a little silly around here!

Teacher of the Year Festivities

Last week Jon and I headed to Orlando for 4 days of events surrounding the Teacher of the Year celebration for the whole state of Florida. Tuesday we dropped Rylee off at Grandma Frances's house and headed to Orlando to get checked in to our hotel, the Grand Bohemian Hotel in downtown Orlando. I attended the "Welcome Fair" with Jon and then hung out in the hotel room while he went to a Podcasting workshop. I was planning on some time at the pool but alas the Florida weather preferred I nap instead.

I took my nap and then headed down to the Starbucks in the lobby. . .yes, I said Starbucks in the lobby. It was a little piece of heaven right here on Earth. Did a little research on where we could walk to dinner and when Jon returned we headed to Hamburger Mary's (apparently, I didn't do enough research on dinner because Hamburger Mary's was not quite the dinner experience we were expecting-Ask Jon about it, he'll love telling that story.) We then headed back to the hotel for "Family Movie Night," we watched Nim's Island, which was really cute.

On Wednesday, I was invited to breakfast and then headed off to shop while Jon continued with his workshops and speakers. His favorite speaker on Wednesday was Coach Carter, the coach from the basketball movie. I met him at the reception later that night which was also really nice.

Thursday was more meetings for Jon, another run to Target for me, sometime by the pool and then getting all gussied up for the big event at Hard Rock Live coming up that night. It had been a long time since I really had to dress up for something and I admit it was fun, especially since I found a dress for $10.80. It was the find of the year! When we arrived we were greeted by a mini-Marching Band which followed us from the bus to Hard Rock Live.We had a really nice dinner and Jon was given his award onstage while Debra Norville talked about what a wonderful teacher he is. I have to say it was pretty cool.

Our Little Sparkler is One!

On Sunday Rylee Jane turned 1. It is crazy how quick time flies. A year ago my little princess entered this world a tiny, helpless baby whose family immediately fell in love with her. Now-she shakes her head no when she doesn't want something and loves to dance when music starts to play. What a difference a year makes.

We celebrated Rylee's birthday in Indiana with cake and ice cream and lots of our Indiana family and friends. We swam and played and had a great time. Rylee also had a first on her first birthday. Every time, so far, I have put her in a pool, even a kiddie pool, she has screamed-not just cried, mind you, but screamed blood-curdling, you're killing me kind of screams. Well, apparently, turning one makes you a big girl who loves the pool. Here she is floating on her back.She floated like this for a good five minutes, loving every minute of it. Peyton, on the other hand, had a full-blown anxiety attack at the thought of his father making him jump to him in the pool without a life jacket on.

We had a great day celebrating our Rylee Jane.