Cole's Creations

 Cole's new favorite toy is definitely the legos, he even says 'block time' when he wants to get them out!  I can't say that I blame him, they may be my favorite too :).  Here's a couple of his lego creations!

 

 

 

 

And then I threw in something that Ryan just found yesterday.  It was too cute not to share!  There are small cars that go with the truck but I guess he decided these cars needed to be hauled. 

 

 

 

This next one is definitely my favorite, Cole calls it 'doggie with hat', haha.  He even insisted on bringing it to my parents' house

 

 

And now I've also thrown in one of my 'creations'.  We'd been looking for a side table for Cole's room so every couple of days I was checking out craigslist and then I stumbled upon this set of furniture that included a side table, a dresser and a dresser with a hutch for less than I had budgeted for just the side table, I couldn't pass this up.  I didn't take a before picture of the bed side table, but here is a before picture of one of the dresser, so you get the idea.

 

 

Here is the after of the side table!  I love it!  Cole helped me paint it too!

 

January Catch All

 Where is the time going?  January definitely seemed to fly by.  Here's Cole sporting some 49ers attire ready to watch a game.

 

 

Cole has probably a new favorite phrase 'cupcake time'.  It's usually a question, sometimes a statement and once he meant business.  Cole and I had a cupcake date and GiGi's Cupcakes and he loved it.  We have since found out that when he asks for cupcakes he really means muffins tho...

 

 

We spent one day a couple weekends ago at the Home and Garden show.  Cole's favorite part was the John Deere tractor display.  He spent quite a bit of time pretending to drive and run the tractors! 

 

 

I spent a few days in Houston for work the last week of January and I was lucky enough to finally get to meet this sweetie, Adalyn!  She is the daughter of my oldest friend (20 years! going strong!).  She is a doll!  Unfortunately it was dark in the restaurant and to get pictures I needed to use the flash so the only pictures I got of her she kind of has a deer in the headlights look going on.

 

 

Cole has become obsessed with Mr. Potato Head's glasses.  They are a 'tad' small and he struggles keeping them on his face, but he really enjoys them!

 

Gaylord Texan

The weekend after Christmas Ryan's sister, Jamie and her husband, Bruce came down. They were able to make it to Cole's bday party (which I'll do a post about as soon as I get the pictures on my computer) and then we headed down to Dallas to stay at the Gaylord Texan.  It. Was. Awesome.  We definitely need to go back with kiddos. The Christmas decorations were amazing!  We did quite a bit of walking around and eating and perusing the shops.  (sorry for the blurry pics)

 

 

 

 

 

Lubbock Science Spectrum

The weekend before Christmas we headed for Lubbock for a family reunion. While in town we took Cole to the Science Spectrum. We spent many hours exploring there as kids so it was fun to bring Cole. It was just as awesome as I had remembered it being! Cole loved it! Ryan loved it too!

Snow Day

A couple weeks before Christmas we got several inches of snow and basically the entire city shut down so we got to enjoy a couple extra days at home with Cole.  He enjoyed the snow and insisted on wearing Ryan's snowboarding goggles!

 

 

Things were great for about five minutes and then some snow got down his shirt and he was ready to go inside.

Salisbury

Part Three of our trip we headed to Salisbury for a day to check out Stonehenge!  The area surrounding Stonehenge was gorgeous and it is neat to be able to say we've been there! Here are a couple pics:

 

 

 

After Stonehenge we stopped by the Salisbury Cathedral. It was gorgeous! We also got to see an original of the Magna Carta (no pictures allowed) and read up a bit on the history of democracy.

We returned to London and tried to do some more sightseeing, tried being a key word. There were people everywhere and it was impossible to effectively sight see. We tried to hop on a bus but it was so stuffed with people they would only let one stroller on.  Ryan and I decided to wait for the next bus which never showed up,  so then we just started walking.  Traffic was so backed up we're petty sure we caught up to the original bus. We decided to hop on the tube just to get away from all the commotion. We actually ended up finding an over ground line that stopped about a block from our apartment. (That could've really come in handy had we realized its location earlier in the trip, oh well.)

 

 

 

Overall it was a great trip and I am so glad we went. I am so glad we brought Cole and that he got to experience this, however, the time change was VERY difficult to deal with for such a short time and Cole was unimpressed with such long flights and I would not call London a stroller friendly locale.

London

 After Rye we got back on the train to head to London for the rest of the week.  We went to St Pancras Station and got the obligatory Harry Potter pic.

 

 

Then we stopped for lunch and got some REAL fish and chips.  They know what they're doing in London, it was fantastic.  They also serve fish and chips with mushy peas, I could do without that.

 

 

We met up with Darcy and Madi and headed out to explore the city.  Here's a pic of us at Green Park, it was gorgeous. 

 

 

This is a blurry pic of Westminster Abbey, it was gorgeous and a very intersting tour. 

 

 

Here's me and Miss Madi.  Just love her smiles :) 

 

 

Outside of Westminster Abbey there is a pretty good view of the London Eye and Big Ben. 

 

 

Here's a pic of our cutie patootie on Thanksgiving sporting his jack-o-lantern shirt. 

 

 

Obligatory pic with a phone booth and as a bonus also got a double decker bus. 

 

 

We stopped by M&M World at Picadilly Circus and Cole was much more interested in running around than posing for pictures. 

 

 

Jason met up with us on Friday and we headed to Winter Wonderland.  This is a huge carnival in Hyde Park.  There is tons of shopping, bars, food and rides!  We got a great commemorative Christmas ornament, some great souvenirs and gifts! 

 

 

Cole wanted to ride on the train. 

 

 

One humorous tidbit from our travels around London cannot go unshared.  We used public transportation the entire time and almost entirely without a mishap.  One of the times we were trying to hop on the tube (basically the London subway) we had some stroller/door issues.  We (attempted) to hop on quickly right before the doors closed and unfortunately, the door closed on the stroller when Ryan was trying to push it in.  When the door popped back open it hit the lever near the front tire and the front tire fell off into the tube car.  I picked up the tire and thinking that Ryan and Cole were going to be stuck on the platform threw the tire out of the car.  At the same time Ryan picked up the stroller and ran into the car.  Hmmm.  I then ran out onto the platform to retrieve the tire, I turn around in time to see the dumbfounded looks on Ryan and Darcy's faces as the doors close and I'm left on the platform.  Point of the story, mind the gap and the doors.