Intern "Family" Retreat

Back in July, Dan (who is considered an intern) told me about the Intern Family Retreat the pediatric program puts on every year for the incoming interns and their spouses/families. It is held every year at the Natural Bridge State Park. Yes, the one we've been to about 7 times since we moved. We signed up to go a while ago and I looked forward to meeting all the first year residents (interns) that Dan would be working with for the next 3 years. The retreat was a Monday night, all day Tuesday, and Wednesday morning trip. So, I packed us all up - with enough kiddie snacks to last for a week. We drove the short and beautifully scenic drive to the state park and arrived around 4:00. It wasn't until we got there that I found out not one intern (other than Dan) has kids. All these pediatric residents and we're the only one with a child??!! Well, the only Interns without kids. Anyway. Then I found out that Dan had a meeting at 5pm for two hours and we had dinner at 7pm (Ellie's bedtime... greaaaat!). I hung out in our state park hotel-ish room for two hours while Ellie ate her dinner and attempted a late evening nap in order to make it through dinner. At dinner Ellie behaved quite nicely and threw her ball all around the dining area. Everyone thought she was so cute, only she wouldn't really smile at anyone, especially the men. Especially the men with beards. haha. Dan had received a schedule for the retreat that consisted of solid meetings for him and not one single activity for Ellie and I. Since the only thing for us to do is hike, we decided that Ellie and I would spend one night and head home the next morning. Stink! Dan and I were both very disappointed. He also said he would talk to the lady in charge and tell her to suggest that "families" in the future stay home! However, before we left to go home, Ellie and I were able to hike about 20 feet before we took a break and studied some leaves. Then another 100 feet or so before we sat on the benches and she walked circles around the information display. She had fun and wore herself out and napped all the way home!

Happy Camping!
The Raz's

First Soccer Game

UK has such fabulous athletic teams that we decided to venture out into the nippy Wednesday evening and take advantage. The men's soccer team is pretty good and we could get in for free... so I talked Ellie into taking an early evening nap so she could go. We decided to sit on the grassy hill instead of the bleachers (which would have been a nightmare with a toddler). Ellie just watched the game for a good 10 minutes, then she requested a snack and her drink, then she got up and started playing. Ellie discovered rolling down the hill with her puppy dog is great fun. She eventually found my little camera and tried to take a few of her own images. We were at the game an hour and although we didn't finish it, we got to see UK score which sent everyone around us into a cheering frenzy. UK also has fabulous school spirit. You guys like my hat?

The Raz's

Horsie Horsie Horsie!

Ellie and I got bored a few days ago (imagine that) and decided to pay a visit to the horses that live 500 yards from our front door. I cut up some apples, grabbed Ellie a snack and drink and we were off! Walking towards the horse pasture at the clip of a 16 month old only took us about 10 minutes to get to there (we wanted to play with the neighbors toy police car) but I'm guessing we burned about 45 calories, so that was great! hah. We found out that some of the horses are friendly, and some of them buck each other out of the way for some tasty apples. We had a good time laying on the ground and watching the horses eat grass, so it was another fun Kentucky outing!

Love,
The Raz's

Stuffed

Does anyone else's children stuff their faces like this? Ellie just loves to stuff a disgustingly large amount of food in her mouth and I have never really understood why. Oh well. Here she is at Pranera Bread acting like a little lady... hah.

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!
The Raz's

All Busted Up

This just might be the cutest busted lip you've ever seen, right? So here's the story on this one. I took my own advice from the previous posting: "get out and do something fun today" and decided to enjoy our fabulous Kentucky Fall-ish weather by taking Ellie for a run. She carts along quite agreeably in her "chariot" (aka Baby Jogger). Once my 3 miles were up, I opened the garage and pushed the chariot inside. Ellie promptly wanted down (I knew this because she said "aaah. aaah" Banguage... isn't it wonderful?). She headed over to Burley which she loves dearly and would have rather ridden in than the chariot. Side note: Look at the "Burley" post to see what I'm talking about. Anyway. After saying hello to Burley, she walked over to Dan's mountain bike that was proped up against the mower. I had one of those trance moments where I was staring at Ellie watching her squat next to the bike and saying to myself "is she pooping?" In the same moment I realized she was trying to sit on the pedal of the bike, I bolted trying to stop the inevitable. Being post-run I wasn't fast enough. Actually, pre-run I probably wouldn't have been fast enough. Ok, ok, so I'm not really that fast... we can't all be as fast as Ryan. Needless to say, the bike knocked Ellie over and fell on top of her. I was horrified and picked her up and took her inside to clean her bloody lip up. She stopped crying after, like, 2 minutes and wanted to eat dinner. She's tough as nails, this one!

Have a lovely day!

The Raz's

We Have Art!

I think we have an artist! These are Ellie's first pieces of artwork ever produced. They can be viewed for a limited time at the Rasmussen Home Art Gallery for free. Then they will join the Smithsonian Young Artist traveling exhibit and be shown nation wide beginning in December. I think they charge $7 for admission, all benefiting the Shriner Hospital, of course. I'll be sure to keep you posted on the details of the exhibit. If you would like a piece of Ellie's artwork to hang in your home, get in line! She has many walls to decorate in her own home first. Once she's done with our house, we will accept orders on a commission-only basis.

Get out and do something fun today!

Love,
The Raz's

Sleeping Beauty

Ellie did not want to nap at MDO today so she fell asleep in the car.... isn't she a cutie?

Pint Size Table

We bought Ellie her very own little table from IKEA a while back and put it together for her a few nights ago while she was sleeping. Then next morning she ate her fill of two bran muffins and a hefty dose of whole milk and then convinced me to let her out of her seat. She played around in the kitchen for a bit but decided to walk into the living room after a while. I followed her and as soon as she rounded the corner, she made a beeline for the table, and hit both of her hands on it and just looked up at me in sheer delight. She sat in the chairs, read books, got out of the chairs, colored, got back in the chairs, got back out... she must have played with the table for a solid 45 minutes. It was wonderful! She's been enjoying it every since.

Love,
The Raz's

Dad!

Here's a picture Dan's parents sent to me of Dan when he was the same age as Ellie. Isn't he a cutie? Striking resemblance!

Burley

WE GOT A BIKE TRAILER! Yay! Oh, and I got a bike too! Now, I have to tell you guys how we came about a new bike and a new bike trailer. Well, both used, but in fabulous condition. It's one of those God things. Here's the story:

We've really been wanting to do the family bike thing for a while, but I didn't have a bike and Ellie didn't have a bike seat. Dan has two bikes, but that's another story. So we puttered around town a bit looking at bike shops, which Dan absolutely loved. Have I mentioned that Dan seriously loves riding? He rides to work two or three days a week. Anyway, back to the story. I fell in love with this commuter bike that was waaaay too expensive (of course!). We decided to see if we could find something used, since I'm not a "serious" rider. So, lo and behold, the very bike I fell in love with turns up on craigslist! The guy bought it in May and turned around and bought another bike. He wasn't riding it and wanted to sell it. He wanted $300 less than I could have bought it in the store, so I took it! Then the very next night a bike trailer (a pull behind the bike trailer for kids) came up on craigslist and I called to ask the owner about it. Aparently it was 10 years old, but still in great shape. [Side note: This trailer sells for $500+ new and he was asking $50 for it. The same model and age trailer are selling on ebay for $275 and up right now.] So Aparently he hadn't done any research before listing the thing. Sounded too good to be true, but I decided to go take a look at it anyway. So. I drove into his neighborhood and quickly realized why the thing was so cheap. I walked up the steps of an absolutely massive house, rang the doorbell and this intellegent little man answered the door with a few kids in tow. We chatted for a few minutes and I found out he is an anesthesiologist (no time to do the research and he didn't care about how much they were selling for on ebay!). "Burley," as we call the trailer, was in absolute mint condition. MINT. So I tried not to act too silly when paying him only $50 and left as quickly as I could... the way one leaves when they stole something. Hah.

So, this is another one of those moments when I smile to myself and know that God deeply cares for his childern and desires to bless us in all the areas of our life.

Oh, and Ellie absolutely loves to go for a Burley ride! Every time we go in the garage she wants to be put into Burley (we had to name it something... so the brand name fit!).

Hope you are all doing fantastic and soaking up life!

Love,
The Raz's

Mr. Potato

Does anyone recall the pictures of Ellie eating the plum? Well, she grabbed a red potato yesterday and chomped down on it. Needless to say, she was a bit surprised, but that didn't stop her. She paraded around the house with her prize and her cereal bowl. Ah, what fun to be so young and easily entertained again!!

Love,
The Raz's