It' a...

GIRL!

and we couldn't be more excited!

there aren't many girls in our families so we though the chances of getting one weren't good...but there you go...it's a girl.

Happy 3

 

 Happy Birthday my crazy love.

We took jack to the dinosaur park first for his birthday.

He loved this soooo much.

He would run a few feet down one path and then dart back towards another.

He was so excited he couldn't decide which way to go.

He didn't like the fake dinosaur noises they had playing from "the dinosaur in the box" (aka, the speaker) because they scared him.

Other than that he was in three year old heaven.

 After the dinosaur park we drove down the road for cake with cousins and family.

This kid loves nothing more than a good party.

We ordered the cake from our downtown wal-mart (doing anything at that wal-mart is a bad idea)

and the poor lady who took my order didn't speak english.

I wrote on my order form for them to write:

"Happy Third Birthday Jack!" on the cake.

They wrote:

"Happy Birthday Third Jacki"

Jack #1 and #2 you're out of luck.

We thought it was hilarious and they gave us a discount so I wasn't crying.

plus. 

jack can't read...

Then I decorated with the "dirt" "dinosaur eggs" and dinosaurs.

He wore the dinosaur tail I made him last year while he played and he looked so cute!

We blew out candles

 Played, and opened presents.

 My favorite was perhaps the apricot wrapped in a piece of paper from cousin Robby.

I die at this picture.

Jack Finch:

you are strong and determined when you want to be.

you talk better than some adults I know and make us laugh all the time.

you are sweet and snugly occasionally which makes it an extra big treat.

you are proud of yourself (which I love)

you are creative

and you are spiritual and have a passion for the gospel.

I love you.

Happy being three.

good morning

sometimes we all just need a little love.

(aaaand since it's impossible to pick up chalk through a window. Allow me to expound.

Good Morning my love

The most beautiful part of my day just arrived!)

no time...

no time to waste! 

must study always.

Baby # 2

Well my little birthday present,

we are so happy to have you come!

Due Dec 14th, 2012

Also due the last day of Michael's finals

ergo the second, more tentative due date:

Dec 7th, 2012.

Either way, a christmas winter baby is on the way and I couldn't be more excited.

Germany Part 2

(Mirabell Gardens)

Germany continues...

with the second half of our Hallstatt day (Friday).

We drove over to another small town called St. Gilgan.

Equally as fabulous, equally as beautiful, but a tad more touristy...which most people would say is a bad thing, but after having angry Germans yell at you for two days, it was nice to see some friendlier faces.

We didn't do much here but we have a fabulous wooden horse to show for our wanderings.

We saw this sign that we could only assume means streaking is encouraged and we should do it that way.

The view from our restaurant.

Friday night we drove into Salzburg, Austria. 

We spent all of Sat. in Salzburg adventuring around in still more rain! First, we headed to a palace called Helbrunn. It was build by an arch bishop who had a thing for practical jokes. The entire place is rigged with trick fountains.

The tour guide was ruthless. I kept standing behind the old man in the wheel chair so I wouldn't get wet, but she had no compassion and set the trick fountains off on us anyway. Jerk.

I found solace, however, in getting to see the gazebo from the Sound of Music that conveniently sits on Hellbrunn's grounds.

It was nothing short of a momentous occasion. I felt like whispering.

But of course it was locked so that crazies like me couldn't go inside, jumping from bench to bench singing I am 16 going on 17.

smart.
We toured the inside of the palace and then headed over to "Old Town" and walked around the shops and tourist attraction.

We saw the Fortress above the city.

We saw a statue/man (I love those things)

We found the most quaint farmers market outside of the center with rows and rows of fruit and pastries. We got a bag of cherries and some sort of heaven sent pastry that we drooled over for a good long time.

Next was Mirrabell Gardens. Beautiful, not raining :), and there were statues of midget/gnome people. Everything we could have asked for. But it was the end of the day and we were tired so we mainly hobbled around sitting on every bench we passed.

The next morning was rough but we made it out to a Salzburg ward. We had to wear headsets and have it translated and everything. It was kind of dreamy.

And then we were on our way back to melissa and todd.

Hellbrunn

Grounds

Trick fountains

more gardens

Palace inside

 Salzburg Old Town

 Mirabell Gardens

We spent the next day hanging out with Melissa. Poor Gavin was feeling a little better post surgery so we went out the BX were Michael and I FINALLY found some much needed souvenirs.

It was great to have a recovery day before the dreaded flight home.

We were SO excited to see our jack jack after 10 days without his hugs and kisses but we never could have expected how horribly our flight home was going to go. 

At 6:00 that morning our flight was cancelled.

They had nothing that would get us home before 1 AM except for one flight that was too close to our connecting Atlanta flight time to put us on. 

We had to cross our fingers and say a million prayers that we would make it in time and the flight would still have room.

We got on our first flight over the Atlantic where I ended up throwing up in the back of the plane with my 200 new best friends.

It was a long 8 hours.

But real life fairy tale:

Prince charming is the man who will walk you to every occupied bathroom on the plane and then clean up your puke in the end. I've can think of few times that I have been so desperate and so grateful. Michael is amazing.

That flight ended and we RAN off the plane to customs only to find that we couldn't go through customs before we got our bags off of the plane to recheck to our new flight. We thought we were sunk but luckily our bags were one of the first off and we made it on our flight.

I have to say, I kind of wanted to curl up in a ball and die at this point. I felt horrible.

But getting to see jack in the end was well worth it.

He was SOOO excited to see us and he was so sweet. Hugs and kisses completely initiated by him and he kept saying "I like you" to us. He giggled and giggled and stayed close as he told us all about his fabulous 10 days with Grandma.

sweet success.