Pioneer Day

Robby got to witness his first fireworks while we were in Utah.

I kept him up late so he could enjoy the event with the fam.

He was very amazed at the sight...

...but, not too sure about the loud noise.

Though my niece, Kahri, adored the booming sounds......(not).

Robby was barely keeping his eyes open by the end.... but, still kept his gaze fixed on the awesome works of fire...

...good times, good times....

Family

It was fun to have all my siblings there while I was visiting. Megan and her husband and kids live in Switzerland, but luckily we were able to schedule things so that we were both in Utah at the same time!

Daniel (15), Megan (24), Me (26), Jordan (13 next week), Chris 28

And here are the three cousins...

Kyler (6), Robby (turned 1 a couple days after this picture), Kahri 2

Utah- July 2010

Well, Steve started his first rotation on July 12th at a hospital in Lima, Ohio. That is about an hour and a half from Toledo, so they provided housing for him there and he was staying there for 3 weeks. We had decided that this would be a good time for Robby and I to make a trip to Utah, since Steve would be gone anyway.  

We arrived at the Salt Lake City airport at 10 p.m. (12 a.m. eastern time....) on Wednesday, July 7. Needless to say we were a bit exhausted. But, that of course didn't stop us from staying up for a couple hours once we arrived at my parents house! Robby was so excited to start exploring and become reacquainted with everyone (including my parents dog, Toby).

The next day we were able to celebrate my older brother's birthday (Happy Birthday Chris!) by going to out to dinner with my family. We went to a really good Japanese restaurant.

Robby insisted on eating with chopsticks like the rest of us!!!

  

(sorry for the poor quality phone pictures)

He sat there and tried to stab his food to pick it up. After a couple failed attempts, he would grab the morsel of food by hand and shove it into his mouth. But, this didn't stop him from continuing to try with the chopsticks.

He ate so much food there (as usual). At the end of the meal when everyone else was done, he wasn't satisfied and everyone started handing over their left overs for him to devour.

The most hilarious part was when he decided he didn't want to wait for grandma to give him more fish off of her plate. He would just get it himself. He suddenly swung his arm over and started digging around my mom's plate with his chopsticks. When he retrieved his chopsticks, he was completely surprised (as were the rest of us) to see a large flab of fish skin hanging from his sticks! He seriously just sat there holding the chopsticks straight up and just staring at it for a while, amazed that he made such a catch (and wondering whether it was edible).  We all just sat there laughing and hurried to try to get a picture. Eventually (probably because nobody was making any move to remove the mystery object from him) he decided maybe he should give it a try, and went to grab it with his hand. 

At this point, I did snatch it from him before he could eat it.

(more Utah adventures to come)

Halfway Done!... (sort of....)

Well, Steve is half way done with Medical School! Now, that sounds great, until you think about the fact that after 2 more years here in Toledo, he'll move on to Residency for at least 3 years, then he'll have a few more years AFTER that if he decides to specialize...

But, for now, we'll just say WE ARE HALFWAY DONE (with Medical School)!!!! It sounds much less daunting that way.

Steve has definitely been working hard.

Here he is with his piles of papers and books that he studied through his second year of medical school.

He took what is referred to as "Step One" on June 18th. This was a huge test (7 hours I think), the results of which will help determine which residencies he is qualified for (at least that's how I understand it).

I am so proud of him and all his hard work and dedication.

We were happy to send all these papers to their new home-- the recycling bin.

But, of course, Robby had to dig through and see if there was anything he wanted to keep first.

Steve got one week off after his test, and is now one week into his 3rd year of Medical school.

"Swimming"

Robby has always loved the bath and loves splashing in any water he can find (a puddle made by him pouring his water out on his high chair, water pooled up in the dishwasher door, etc.).  So, I thought he might enjoy a little pool to play in in the heat of the summer! 

He did have a lot of fun!

But, he didn't hessitate to let us know when he was done....

(I'm outta here!)

This kid LOVES to eat!

He was thrilled when I let him hold the whole banana.

Yes... that is how he eats.... .shoving entire handfuls of food into his mouth!

Steve’s parents came to visit May 13-17. It was so nice to have them here! 

Before they came, we were nervous that Little Robby was not going to let them hold him or anything. He has had major separation anxiety for the past few months! It probably doesn’t help that he is with me pretty much all day every day and has only been left with a “babysitter” a handful of times (3 to be exact) over his entire 10 months of being around!

Anyway, we were very pleased that he warmed up to Grandma and Grandpa Toller rather quickly! I was able to walk out of the room without him freaking out within the first hour. Haha…. He actually does a lot better if I am out of sight. (We have been working on getting him to go to other people more over the past couple of weeks. He is progressing.)

We were very glad that he got to spend time with his grandparents! We really enjoyed having them here.

We went to...

...to the Toledo Botanical Gardens and Wildwood Preserve Metropark.

(I loved watching Little Robby with his Grandpa Robby! So cute. And neat to see just how much Robby is already like one of his namesakes.)