So, it’s been a while since we’ve updated our blog. Sorry for the long blackout. I’ll skip over the details for most things, and just give some highlights of our past year, along with plenty of photos, of course!
We started the New Year off with a big change of pace when I was offered a job as a microbiologist for Monsanto, which is a big company based here in St Louis. I had a 3-month, full-time contract position with the company, and I loved working there (Jan thru April). I learned a lot of new skills and was able to complete an important project for the company. I worked with a really great group of scientists, and I am so glad for the opportunity I had to work there and earn some money for my family while Ben is in Chiropractic school. When it came time to extend my contract, I really wanted to keep working, but I couldn’t keep doing full-time; it didn’t work out to keep me part-time, so in the end I chose to go back home to be with my family full-time.
For Valentine’s Day Ben and I went to a Chinese dance production called Shen Yun. It was a great show, and a reporter interviewed us afterward about what we thought of the production. The next day, we found this article published with our quotes and picture:
Arianna enjoyed her first Easter eggs hunts this year. For a couple of months following Easter I would put Animal crackers or raisins inside the plastic eggs and hide them around our apartment for her to find – she loved it!
Some other random springtime fun included Arianna’s first car,
Playdates at the park,
Picking dandelions,
Arianna has also started helping out a lot more in the kitchen. She loves to mix things in a bowl, hold the measuring cups, and roll out dough. What a big helper! She also likes to sample while cooking, hence the full cheeks in this pic.
we went to the science center in Forest Park,
and did lots of other fun St Louis stuff. By the way, St Louis is awesome because almost everything is free admission!
In June Ben and I took Arianna to the St Louis Zoo. She loves all the animals, and there is so much to do and see, that she is all tuckered out by the end of the day!
then the Greek Festival,
Festival of Nations,
Art Fair,
Pirate Festival,
During Ben’s semester break we made a trip to visit family in Virginia. We had a great time: we went boating and waterskiing on Smith Mountain Lake,
spent lots of time in the pool,
participated in our nephew’s baby blessing,
and had a generally relaxing, yet exciting vacation.
That (finally) brings us to the present. (Well, except for one awesome thing that Ben wants to tell you about, but I’ll let him fill you in.) Thank you for reading my novella, and hopefully this post will make up, at least a little, for such long silence in our little corner of the blogging world.
I’ll start back at Christmas 2009 and work forward to the present. We had a fun trip to VA for the holidays with lots and lots of snow.
We started the New Year off with a big change of pace when I was offered a job as a microbiologist for Monsanto, which is a big company based here in St Louis. I had a 3-month, full-time contract position with the company, and I loved working there (Jan thru April). I learned a lot of new skills and was able to complete an important project for the company. I worked with a really great group of scientists, and I am so glad for the opportunity I had to work there and earn some money for my family while Ben is in Chiropractic school. When it came time to extend my contract, I really wanted to keep working, but I couldn’t keep doing full-time; it didn’t work out to keep me part-time, so in the end I chose to go back home to be with my family full-time.
For Valentine’s Day Ben and I went to a Chinese dance production called Shen Yun. It was a great show, and a reporter interviewed us afterward about what we thought of the production. The next day, we found this article published with our quotes and picture:
Arianna enjoyed her first Easter eggs hunts this year. For a couple of months following Easter I would put Animal crackers or raisins inside the plastic eggs and hide them around our apartment for her to find – she loved it! Some other random springtime fun included Arianna’s first car,Playdates at the park,
Picking dandelions, And throwing helicopter seed pods.
Arianna has also started helping out a lot more in the kitchen. She loves to mix things in a bowl, hold the measuring cups, and roll out dough. What a big helper! She also likes to sample while cooking, hence the full cheeks in this pic.
During Ben’s break from school this spring, we took a trip to Portland, Oregon to visit our friends for a few days. We saw the Multnomah Falls, where Aslynn and Arianna held hands on the hike up the path,
Visited the coast on a rainy day,
And even went to an Oregonian Earth Day festival.
From there, we hopped down to California to visit my family for the second half of our vacation, where we played in the mud of a river bank at Caswell State Park,
Panned for gold at Columbia State Park,
And toured an olive grove in Santa Rosa.
Shortly after we got back to St Louis Paul and Rayelle came out for a visit over Mother’s Day weekend. We went on a double-date to see a play put on by a community theater group,
we went to the science center in Forest Park,
and did lots of other fun St Louis stuff. By the way, St Louis is awesome because almost everything is free admission!
In June Ben and I took Arianna to the St Louis Zoo. She loves all the animals, and there is so much to do and see, that she is all tuckered out by the end of the day!
We’ve also started keeping an eye out for festivals going on in the St Louis area, and we’ve been to a few really fun ones so far. First was the Renaissance Fair,
then the Greek Festival,
Festival of Nations,
Art Fair,
Pirate Festival,
and Hispanic Festival, where Arianna got to meet Dora!
In August, Ben and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary. The traditional gift for the 4th anniversary is flowers and fruit, and my sweetie made me feel like a queen with this hand-crafted masterpiece:
During Ben’s semester break we made a trip to visit family in Virginia. We had a great time: we went boating and waterskiing on Smith Mountain Lake,
spent lots of time in the pool,participated in our nephew’s baby blessing,and had a generally relaxing, yet exciting vacation.We had to return home a bit earlier than usual from vacationing because Ben had to attend some review sessions for a big National Board Exam. The reviews were right in the middle of the semester break, and then the exam was right around the first week of school. We’ll find out his scores later this month, and hopefully get the good news that he passed all the sections of the exam.
For all our devoted play testers, we have good news about Ben’s card game, MALADY. We entered it into a St Louis game competition, and it won the first round of competition, and is now a finalist to compete against one other game. The winner from St Louis will be guaranteed a time slot with a game publisher (Rio Grande) at the Chicago Toy & Game Fair next month, where he will pitch his game in the hopes of getting it accepted for publication. Here’s hoping! The final round of the St Louis competition is this Saturday, Oct. 16th. We’ll post an update when we hear the results. Even if we don’t win the St Louis competition, we are still planning to go to the Fair in Chicago next month… we’ve never been to the windy city, and are looking forward to seeing some of the sights. Any recommendations from seasoned Chicago travelers?
That (finally) brings us to the present. (Well, except for one awesome thing that Ben wants to tell you about, but I’ll let him fill you in.) Thank you for reading my novella, and hopefully this post will make up, at least a little, for such long silence in our little corner of the blogging world.
October 14, 2010 at 3:34 PM
HOORAY for updates! I loved reading it! GOOD LUCK with Malady!
October 14, 2010 at 4:43 PM
Arianna is beautiful! What a cutie! I love the video clips of her (especially the dinosaur one). So fun to see updates. I'm glad to hear that life is treating you all well!
October 19, 2010 at 11:40 AM
I love everything about this!! Y'all have had such adventures this year! Thanks for posting so many pictures-- Ariana's adorable and you and Ben are such great parents. :)
Thanks for all the updates! Makes you feel not quite so far away... Enjoy Chicago and good luck with Malady!
November 18, 2010 at 8:51 PM
Congrats on the game you guys! That is so great! We LOVE your games, you know that already. We will be rooting for you when you go to Chicago! That's awesome!!
Thanks for the update. You guys look great.