A Special Birthday Greeting

Henry wanted to make sure that he wished four very special people a very Happy Birthday today. Without further ado ...

Lots of Crazy Kids at our House!

We are blessed to have very dear friends. We are cursed that, with some very notable exceptions, they are all out of town, and most are out of state. It shouldn't be hard to imagine that we relish the times when they visit us, or we can visit them. Our last two weekends were dedicated to such visits.

First, Bryan, Sarah, and Annalia descended on Columbus to help us celebrate our many (OK, three) November birthdays. The three cousins got to play a lot, with Annalia starting to get into the groove with her older cousins. Henry and Asia flew around the house (as usual), trying not to maim the baby.



Just before the visit, Sarah had an epiphany ... Henry's cousins (as of December 11th) neatly arrange themselves by age. Every year is covered, and French Fry makes for a very dapper Zero. We found a great shirt maker (all done on the internet, even though the store is about a block away ... perfect for a geek like me) and made shirts up. Don't be surprised if you get one for Xmas! Revelry was had, and BSA (Bryan, Sarah, and Annalia) made it safely back home.

The very next weekend we got a visit from Chris, Kim, Matthew and Emily (the Williamses!). We watched the Bucks game (a surprisingly calm 42-7 drubbing of that team Up North (don't know if we'll see such a lopsided score again anytime soon). The kids were in their Buckeye finery (of course). We then went to dinner, and finished it up huddled in each of our cars at Sonic (not a very social plan), talking to each other through cell phones because it was too cold to get out of our cars. Que ridiculo!



Good times! Thanks for coming, everyone!

A friendly game of chess

Henry loves playing games now, and a recurring favorite is chess. And why not? His pawns can run really fast. His King has superpowers (and sometimes takes breaks on the sidelines). All of his pieces move in mysterious ways. Fun.

Baby Number Two! Code name: French Fry

Baby Number Two!
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

OK, OK, OK ... I get it. You knew all along. You've seen Sarah in the halls, or heard about her getting nauseous, or wondered "Why no more feta?" -- or -- "Why isn't Sarah having her usual weekend benders?"

Let me just confirm it for you then. The secret is out. The cat is out of the bag. The monkeys are roosting. We ... are ... pregnant (wait, am I allowed to claim that, too? Is it endearing or haughty?)

Henry has informed us that the baby is in the French Fry phase right now, and will advance into the Cantaloupe and finally Watermelon phases (which, by the way, we are using as baby names until we find out the gender). Henry also gives the baby a kiss and a zerbert each night, and asks all kinds of great things about it ("Will the baby have a beard?")

It's a blast so far, now that we're past the puking. And the vertigo. That was not fun.

Sarah's only current affliction is Thirstinasia Moltocrazentia. She sometimes drinks so much with dinner (ethanol-free ... stay with me, folks) that she doesn't actually eat any dinner. Ask my parents ... her dinner from last weekend is still in their fridge. In its entirety. Maybe we can have it bronzed.

So call me up, call me a schmuck because you had to see it on the blog, Facebook, or Twitter. Some of you already have. And thanks in advance for all the well wishes ... we'll need 'em.

Calling Gramma ... Earth to Gramma

Hey Gramma ....



A very pushy young man asked me to post this movie. There's an APB on a certain Gramma Schmidt ... do you know where she is? We couldn't find her this morning on the phone or on the computer, so we're going for broke.

Oh yeah, there's a lot of other updates that I've been neglecting, too ... they're coming.

Tic Tac, Henry?

So, Henry's first encounter with breath mints was not what I would call an enjoyable one.  Where did he get a breath mint, you ask? We will not reveal that, for fear of mob-like retaliation.

Anyway, after a wonderful meal at Cap City, Henry asked for a Tic Tac.  A wintergreen Tic Tac.  The first fell into the booth, and so he was given a second one. I was a bit nervous about it burning his mouth, but after a split second thought ... what the heck?  What's the worst he can do ... spit it out?

No worries ... he swallowed it right away.  Not necessarily savoring the flavor, but not dangerous. After this transpired, though, he found the first one.  I made it very clear that he shouldn't eat this one. It was dirty.  So, as he sat on my lap, I starting talking with my "will be unnamed" company at the table.  As I'm talking, I see that the first Tic Tac is gone.

"Did you eat that Tic Tac?" I accused. Henry said no, but just as I saw a flash of pale green up his nose, the candy coating started wearing off, and his nose started burning.  And he started crying.  Loudly.

We busted him out of the restaurant, and went straight home.  I tried a straw, a bulb syringe, and gently massaging it out, but Henry must have been studying Kung Fu (in his free time ... maybe at school) and deftly defended his nose against all of these implements of alleviation.  He (shockingly) wouldn't listen to reason. And every time I said "blow", he "sniffed". !@#$!

"Is your nose still hurting?"

"Yeah"

"Well, let me in there to get that out"

"No"

After calling Grammie Bob, and by the grace of all that is holy, he sneezed and what appeared to be most of a Tic Tac came flying out.  We went to UA Clinic (a.k.a. Grammie and Grandpa Rayo's house) to make sure, and it appeared that all was OK.

And life was back to "normal"

Our first field trip

Didn't even ask him to do this ...
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Because of my recent career change, I have a whole lot more freedom over my schedule (especially if I don't mind getting paid a bit less on a given week). I took this new-found freedom and accompanied Henry and his class on their first field trip of the year (and Henry's first field trip ever!). We went to Lynd's fruit farm and picked apples.

We had a great time ... I was holding court with a gaggle of 3-5 year olds ... felt right at home! We went to the fruit farm, came back and had lunch in his classroom, and then I .... had to go .... back to .... work.

Work was not as much fun as hanging with the kids ... but the pay was better.

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Exhausted kids
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

We had an absolute blast last weekend (ok, the weekend before last) up in Cleveland at Matthew Williams's birthday party. I was a bit nervous because Henry is a lot younger than all the other kids, but I didn't need to be because (1) Henry loves playing with older kids, and tends to roll with the punches, and (2) they rented a gigundous (probably 15' x 15', and 15' high) castle-shaped bouncy thing. We had a great time, none of the adults broke anything (although we did sample the bouncy thing multiple times, and everyone had fun.

Matthew, by the way, is the one showing you his feet. Hopefully you can figure out which one Henry is.

Thanks for a great time, Chris, Kim, Matthew, and Emily!

Where were you 25 years ago today?

You know, most days, I wouldn't have any idea where I was 25 years ago to the day. Today, however, my Auntie Pammie (yes, I still call her that ... and Henry does too!) informed all of us in the Schmidt family where we were. We were at her wedding! And then she sent me a couple pictures to prove it.

It has been quite a while since my brother and I lived our dual existence, but here we are, co-ring bearers (I think ... my memory is quite fuzzy, actually) in our bow ties ... the MichaelAndBryan show. Hopefully we didn't upstage the bride or groom.

Thanks for sharing, Pammie ... this pictures are really fantastic, and even though it doesn't bring back a rush of memories (sorry ... I don't have many of being a 3rd grader), it's really great to know that I shared in the fun.

Thanks for the Trains, Gramma

Henry has always loved trains (which has caused many a tearful exit from toy stores), but he has really gotten into them recently, building tracks on his own and fixing track that he inadvertantly trashed (think clumsy but well-meaning Godzilla through a wooden Tokyo). Thought that Gramma, the source of most of this railed goodness, would like to see it in action.

Back in Business

We have power again (only six days without it!), and everything is back to normal. Henry the Fully Big Boy is doing great at his new school (N. Broadway Methodist) and is as active, curious, talkative and awesome as ever.

Power ... is ... out!

After a wonderful brunch with family at Northstar yesterday, I started having this terrible headache (still lingers a bit). As if taking a cue from my throbbing temples, the weather outside started getting quite turbulent. Winds from Ike and a cold front came together to produce gusts up to 75 mph. Fun, huh? At 4:00, the power went out.

It was kind of nice. Sure, I was down in the basement in the dark dealing with my headache, listening to Henry bounce through the house with Sarah. It turned out to be a nice quiet break, though.

Unfortunately, the power is still out 20 hours later, and AEP is saying that it could be days before power is restored. 300,000 people without power in Columbus, 1 million across the state. Schools are out, businesses are closed ... bizarre for September.

But there is a silver lining. Sarah is out today, and so is Henry. Hey! There's my phone ... they're coming to pick me up for lunch.

Myrtle Beach redux

Oh wait, maybe we didn't tell you ... we went to Myrtle Beach! It was really quite fantastic ... our Fully Big Boy is digging on more and more of what the beach has to offer. Sand castles, running, napping, eating ... what more could a growing boy want?



We went with Sarah's parents (Gaga and Papa to Henry), who trucked down there with their camper. We did not go with our camper (I'm having a hard time remembering where I put it) so we made due with what was already there, a single-wide trailer that they called a Villa. Henry called it the camper that didn't move. Same difference.

About three days into the trip, I decided to dust off my bike and go for a ride with Papa. We were trucking along, enjoying the sites, and having a grand time. As we passed by a golf course, I heard a pop and noticed that my handlebars were no longer attached to the bike. At this point, it felt a whole lot like I was riding a unicyle. I don't know how to ride a unicycle. I'm sure that I had a myriad of choices as to how to get myself out of the predicament I found myself in, but in my haste I chose the first thing that came to mind ... JUMP! So I did, and ended up tearing up the palms of my hands. A ton of fun, really, especially when the two major activities for the remainder of the week were to be (1) jumping in the ocean and (2) jumping in the pool. Neither activity proved to be life-threatening, so I did them both. Often.

Good times!

Opa!

Henry kicked off his Labor day weekend by going to the Greek festival. Here he is shaking his booty. We all dug the music, food, and torrential downpour that made us scurry back to our car.



Sent from my iPhone

Our Fully Big Boy

Henry and I were talking tonight before he went to bed. After we talked about his friends parents, and his friends' parents' children, I asked him who my little boy was. He said "No Dad, I'm a ..." and I interrupted him and said "Oh, I mean who is my big boy". He again chided me, "No, Dad, I'm a FULLY big boy.

Which he is, now. Let me tell you why.

#1: The boy is three! Henry turned three almost a month ago. He will make sure you know all about it if you ask him how old he is. For his birthday, we went to see Kung Fu Panda. We also had a big family party, for which Mommy baked him a Lightning McQueen cake. That's him licking it. Much like he licked his birthday cupcake the year before.



#2: He digs on fireworks! Long gone is the boy that cowered and cried at the Clintonville fireworks in 2007. That boy has been replaced by a running, wiggling dervish that exclaims "Whoa" every time a firework would go off. We had the entire Thornburg family together (no small feat) to see the Clintonville 'Works this year, after getting the entire Rayo family (even more difficult) together to see the UA parade. It was a minor Family Miracle, as well as being a ton of fun. We also got to see our good friends Josh and Jen, who have been to every one of Henry's fireworks experiences (the streak is alive and well at, well, 2 years in a row).



#3 (and most importantly): Henry goes potty! Yes, you read that right - no more poopy diapers, and all other accidents are very rare. We had taken advice from everyone: some told us to bribe him, so we started amassing a small toy store in the bathroom. Others advised a more visual reward system, so we charted out the progress and amassed a small nation's worth of "potty stickers". We've been doing that for over a year. Do you know what worked? None of that ... we just let him have accidents in big boy pants. And boy did he ... he pooped right on Lightning McQueen underoos ... he peed on Carpet City ... he had accidents at school so bad that we had to take his clothes outside and hose them off ... with the "laser" high pressure setting.

But it worked. Henry is a very proud young man, and we are ecstatic for him (and for us!). Now the mountain of prizes (read: bribes) is whittling away quickly, and soon he'll just be pooping for pooping's sake (or he'll hold out for more prizes ... we'll find out soon!)

Three cheers for Henry! Our Fully Big Boy.

Life after Disney ... Hangin' on the Beach

After the craziness and wonder that is Disney, we really needed a vacation. The beach obliged. Our hotel and resort had 3 cabillion pools [Editor's Note: 6], a beach out the window of our hotel room, a pirate (and his parrot, Bones), a frickin' mascot (a dude in one of those "character" suits -- think Philly Fanatic or, oh yeah, one of the Disney characters that walk around the park).



Henry's latest trip to the beach was marred with the realization that if salt water gets in your eyes, and then you decide to rub them with your hands that have a briney sand mixture on them, it's a little offputting. That being said, he managed to soldier on.



We also got not one, but TWO chance to see Papa Henry. After our first Papa encounter, a lunch at Fountain Court, it dumped two inches of rain in about 25 minutes. For about 15 of those minutes, I was running to the car, running back to the restaurant, and wearing a garbage bag to stay dry. I think that bag might still be in the rental car ...

We also got some dinner with Papa, and got to pilfer his freezer for some of his Tin Roof Sundae ice cream afterwards. I felt a little bad, because he was "low" on ice cream (he was just opening up the last half-gallon ... down from three).



Henry had a great time, whether it was singing in the rain, running miles at a time on the beach (he literally ran a half mile, straight line, down the beach on the last night -- if you could only see how fast those little legs fly!!!!), and playing in the water.



Say Bye, Bye, Buddy!!!

We're back!

We had an absolute blast in Florida. Sarah's conference / training went well (or so she says), the weather more-or-less cooperated, and the H-man had a great time. The flight down was kind of rough, as we had to go Columbus to Reagan National to Orlando to Tampa, due to weather. I gutted it out, but I'm told my face went three shades whiter than normal (no small feat) during the duration of the flights. That's Henry being tired on the first flight. We woke him up at 4:30 that morning.



In semi-related news, Henry has found a new friend: Buddy the sock puppet (pictured above). He is the unofficial mascot of Blue Diesel, the company I work for. Henry saw him on my work laptop, and start asking about him non-stop. Fortunately for me, Buddy not only lives in cyberspace, but as a real live sock puppet (thanks, Paul, for this incredible gift for Henry). He took it everywhere on the trip to Florida. And I took some action shots with him ... more on that later.

He also met all of his Disney friends when we went to Disney Hollywood Studios on our first day of vacation. This was his birthday present from Gramma Schmidt (a.k.a. Gramma Marti a.k.a. the Gramma with the guitar). Thank you, Gramma! We all had a great time! He met June and Leo from Little Einsteins (his favorite show) and Jo Jo and Goliath at breakfast. June held his hand and danced him around the entire restaurant. Pretty cool.




After meeting these characters, the encounters got kind of rough. After we waited in line to meet Mater and Lightning (two actual cars that they trot out to meet the kids), Henry decided that he didn't want to meet them. We thought that he might change his mind if we got up close. For all of you that know Henry, you know that changing the little dude's mind is no small feat. Here's what ensued: a lot of crying and burrowing into my shoulder.



He then pulled the same drill with Mike from Monsters, Inc. I don't blame him, the dudes can be scary. But why does he have to wait until we're in the front of the line?

We canvassed the joint, saw all of the shows, rode the Toy Story Arcade ride (fan-freakin-tastic!), and finished it off with a sleepy midnight drive back to Tampa.

Thank you thank you Gramma for everything

P.S. to the purists out there, I didn't mention Henry's dinner with an elephant, his Mickey Mouse ice cream-on-a-stick, his lunch at Pizza Planet, or the smooth moves that he put on some older Guatamalan "women" (and their Mom). Rest assured, though -- all of that happened too.

The Pool Fixes Everything

This was going to be entitled "The Columbus Arts Festival Ruined My Sunday", but the local pool saved the day.

We've been knee-deep in building our new bathroom, and Sunday was no exception. We wanted to get out, and we had an enormous decision to make. Possibly the biggest of our lives. The Arts Festival ... or the pool. Arts Festival. Pool. Arts ... well, you get the idea. We decided to brave it, and take the bus downtown to regale ourselves with the finest fine art that Columbus can assemble.

As we were getting to our stop, we caught sight of the north end side of a southbound bus. We missed it by about 45 seconds. No fear, right? The next one will be along soon ...

40 minutes later, the next one came. We brought a big thing of water and had the proper gear on, so the sweltery 90+ degree weather wasn't too overpowering. Just boring. The bus ride itself was nice enough - it is quite clear, though, that the only folks in Columbus that ride public transportation are the ones that have to. It's really inconvenient, not overly comfortable, and doesn't drop you all that near where you want to go (unless you're willing to wait even longer for a connection).

As we got off the bus, we realized that, in it's new location away from the river, the Arts Festival is (1) not nearly as close to the bus lines, (2) about 10 degrees hotter with the overabundance of asphalt, and (3) not all that well put together. We were pretty disappointed once we finally hiked all the way there.

So, salty at each other and our situation, we walked and Henry rode his bike back to the bus (sidenote: Henry had a great time with all this ... he had a peanut butter and jelly, some lemonade, and his bike ... pretty much a home run day for him). We decided that we would be going to the pool afterall.

And it was magical. Henry, who to now has only been marginally interested in the pool, jumped in and stayed in the whole time (we were there about two hours). We did alligators and motor boats in the baby pool. We did throws in the big pool (the higher I threw him, the more he liked it). We all had a blast.

And then we went back the next day. And today, I'm sure they're going again, even though I'll be unable to join them. Hopefully my hotel (in Philly) has a pool. I'm sure it won't be nearly the same though without Henry.

Mommy's done with school!

Today is the day that we get Sarah back. Ever since she started teaching, the running joke between the two of us on the first day of school is that she gives me a big kiss and says, "OK, see you in June!" After Henry's arrival, that joke isn't nearly as applicable -- Sarah has been amazing -- super teacher, super Mommy, and just plain super.

That being said, Summer Sarah is a treat that I excitedly wait for every Spring. As the stress and strain of the school year lets up and the weather warms up, life is splendid. We have our pool passes, zoo passes, COSI passes, and swim lessons set up. Sarah has rehoned her yoga schedule, I'm dusting off my running shoes, and we'll be getting plenty of chances for porch time (front and back).

We may even go to a double-feature drive-in movie tonight -- with Henry! He'll see Kung Fu Panda with us, then we'll see Indiana Jones. For $16 total.

Oh Yeah Summer!

Lots to catch up on

So, we had our 36 minutes of spring in Columbus, OH, and we're on to summer. OK, that's not true at all ... it was a really great middle of April, a colder-than-usual May (but still nice), and June looks to be it's normal mix of breezes and high humidity. The unfortunate part is that we went from regularly needing our furnace to strongly considering using the air conditioner in the passing of a weekend. So ... the spring cleaning and summer outings have to coincide. Henry's getting in the swing of things, too ...



He realizes that if he's going to be in any condition to cruise in his truck this summer, he's going to have to clean it. Which he did. The irony is that, after cleaned, he was much more interested in checking under the hood (we've relented and agreed with him that he indeed has an engine and that thing under the hood is not a oversized lithium battery).

After cleaning your rig, where are you off to (if you live in the 1950's or are incredibly nostalgic for times of old)? The Drive-in Movies! That's right, Henry has checked this off of his list. We crossed our fingers and hoped that all would be well. We chose a dicey movie for his first experience ... Iron Man. He did, after all, have an Iron Man shirt on all day, so he naturally chose it (PG-13) over Speed Racer (PG). It all worked out well, and no one should have to go through counseling (or endless conversations about uncomfortable topics) any time soon.




Soon after this summer extravaganza, Henry was invited to (and attended) his first all out kids birthday party. They made t-shirts, smacked a pinata, had cupcakes ... your basic 3-yr old free for all.




The one on the left is Henry getting jacked by some candy coming out of the pinata. Great camera work, right (the orange blur on his head is a Starburst). The one on the right is Henry opening Colby's birthday present. We've convinced ourselves that he's helping, not hoarding ("helping, not hoarding ... helping not hoarding ... there, I feel better").

Last weekend we kept the party rolling by hanging out with our dear friends the Willamseseses ... wait, is that the proper plural? Chris, Kim, Matthew and Emily came down over the Memorial Day weekend to hang out. It ... was ... a ... blast! We went to Magic Mountain and rocked the joint ... miniature golf, indoor play gym replete with plastic balls that your encouraged to throw at each other (which Chris and I did ... of course), go karts on a greased track ... we gorged on the fun.







Then we gorged on way too much food. Burgers at Red Robin (they'll substitute any burger with a veggie patty ... they're Sarah's new hero) and ice cream at Sonic afterwards (our other new favorite place ... have you been there? ... go! Seriously .. what are you doing still reading this?).

Fan-fricking-tastic.

This weekend had the dubious distinction of being the weekend following that weekend. We've been humming all this weekend, too. Henry's bike seat came in the mail, so we took it out for a couple of spins. It's really cool, and attaches to the front of the bike. (Note to readers: that's not Henry. Just checking)



Unfortunately, in our last trip, Henry had another first ... he got his pinky finger caught in the bathroom door at the restaurant we were at. It turned six different colors (none of them good) and he wanted nothing but his mommy to make him feel better. We weren't sure how bad it was, but he was not himself at all, so we were worried.

He brightened up on the bike ride home (the quickest family bike ride in history). Amazingly enough, it was the bugs that were smashing on his and Sarah's face that got him giggling, and by the time we got home, he was pretty much back to normal, even if his finger wasn't. We took him for a quick trip to Dr. Grammy (thanks again, Grammy ... you're a life saver!) and we taped it up, checking on it every couple of hours. I'm glad to report that the finger is coming along quite nicely. I'm pretty sure he'll be able to keep it.

One CRAZY weekend!

Man o man, did we have fun this weekend. We went to COSI, we rode on a tractor at a birthday party, and GRANDMA came for a surprise visit from Florida. Seriously, she surprised us all by bringing us breakfast on Sunday. She was in town for some other stuff, and wanted to make it a surprise. Well, it was. And it was fantastic.

Here is what Henry did at COSI the whole time ... RUN!


We are all pretty tired from all of the running, but a great time was had by all.




And some pics!

Mister Awesome

Mister Awesome
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Henry is retaining his title of Awesome Little Dude. Some of his latest exploits:

• He has a really awful Italian accent. And it's hysterical. It's a lot of accent on the first syllables of all words. i NEED to FIX up ALL the TIRes.
  
• He is learning to sing all of his nursery rhymes (and all other songs) like Bob Dylan. Yeah, you read that right. Jack and Jill is my favorite. And at the end, he always says, "Brown Paper ... EWWWWWWW" (don't know why ... never fails to crack me up)
• His favorite unicorn is Tom Cruise, and he knows the theme song for Planet Unicorn (http://www.planetunicorn.tv/)
• And the biggest news: this dude is GOING POTTY! I mean sure, we're not talking consistent poop on the potty, but there is some serious momentum building (I'm talking about peeing in the potty if you must know) and maybe, just maybe, there will be a general decline in diaper changing in our near future. We can only hope!
• Oh, and he can now open every door in the house. Bedtime, naptime, and even mornings have officially changed forever!
  

Snow day!

Looking at the Creek
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Man, this seems like three years ago, but it was last week. After our first (and maybe last) big snow of the season, Henry and his energetic parents took to the slopes (OK, hill) and hunkered down for some serious sledding.

Why no pictures of that, you ask? Because Henry got down the hill once and decided that he was done with that, thank you very much.

So we trekked through the park, checking out the creek and the trees and, of course, the snow.

Since then, we've been to Chicago (it was great, and even though we took a camera we seemed to have forgotten it everywhere we went) and I came down with a monster (monster!) cold. It was nasty. I'm just now getting over it.

But, we're back! And maybe, just maybe, spring will come. Pretty please?

As always, click the picture for more, well, pictures!

Best Political Video Ever

Alright, alright ... here is my second post (ever!) that has nothing to do with my family. Except, maybe it does ... I started wondering what can each of us do ... how do we move the needle. What can Henry do? That's what we're pondering as a family right now. Anyway, the video was too cool not to share.

And if you're not an Obama fan ... pretend it's someone else. And if you don't dig on Hollywood, pretend like it's someone else. It's a very cool message.

(Click the movie to get it going)

We Had a Merry Christmas

At least, that's what Henry tells us! Santa was quite good to our Little Prince, getting him some really cool superhero outfits, enough train track to restart Amtrak service to Columbus, and some really cool Cars (with names like Snot Rod and Wingo).

Here are some pics of the Rayo cousins ... click to see them all!

http://gallery.mac.com/hepcatrayo#100008&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=0

Daddy got a new iMac, Mommy got a feature film of Henry Reading the Classics (film to be uploaded soon), and all had a good time and slept often for the next week. Then I had to go back to work, and Christmas was but a dream.

But a really good dream.