The Island of Many Treasures

We just returned from our annual trek to Treasure Island, FL for our 4th of July vacation with Nick's family.  We had a great week at the beach visiting with family and friends. We missed Aunt Jessica this year. She just finished up as a unit leader at Camp Pinnacle for the summer.

Ryan loved playing on the beach in the sand, running into the ocean, and jumping into the pool.  He is our fearless toddler, which meant that Mommy and Daddy did not get much rest on this trip.  We went to the beach and the pool usually twice a day and luckily, there was a long nap for Ryan (and sometimes Mommy) between the two!

Ryan liked to sit in his stroller right when we got to the beach
every day and people watch before exploring!

Ryan started saying a few more words while we were at the beach, including ocean, Oskie (aka, Oscar the Grouch), sit (thanks to our dog, Maggie) and sky.

Sky!

On the 4th of July, we had a great time. Nick's dad (who lives in Florida now) came to our place to have homeade tacos with us for dinner. And, then we all headed out to the beach for the fireworks. Let's just say that Ryan was not a big fan of fireworks and he had a hard time sleeping through them. The city of Treasure Island shoots off fireworks on the beach every year and they were extremely loud! 

Daddy & Ryan

Mommy & Ryan

Sweet Ry-Ry

Kisses from a precious little boy!

Maggie got to come with us for the first time.  We had to pack a little lighter, but it was so nice to have her with us. She loved being with us and enjoyed the beach. We picked one morning to take Maggie to the dog beach at Fort DeSoto. Maggie had a blast running in the ocean to chase balls. Ryan also loved being at the dog beach and seeing all types of dogs. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring our camera to the dog beach.

Maggie on the beach

Brother and Sister on the ride home! 

We had a great time at the beach, but we were all glad to be home. Ryan was so excited that he ran around the house kissing all of his toys and the vacuum cleaner (his newest obsession). 

So it's been a while

It has been a while since our last post!  The Awesome Arnolds have had quite a schedule lately.  To catch up somewhat, let's start with our recent trip to the beach.  We went to Surfside to visit Mimi (Mandy's mom) over Memorial Day.  We had a nice relaxing (well as realxed as one can be with a 1.5 year old BUSY boy!) time.

Due to the busyness of our trip, we took only a few pics.  I'll post a couple more at the end.  Ryan enjoyed the sand, and ocean, and LOVED the pool!  Our friends, The Fullers were vacationing at Surfside with some of Nick's co-workers while we were there also, so we visited them one day while we were there.   As I mentioned before, Ryan loved the swimming pool!  In Mimi's neighborhood there is an indoor and and outdoor pool, both with kiddie pools...Ryan was back and forth between both pools making for one tired mommy and daddy since he had to constantly be chased!  We're so happy that he loves water, as we both enjoy swimming!  

Ryan's 1st Swim Lesson

Upon our return from the beach, we enrolled Ryan in swimming lessons at Swim Atlanta.  We'll do five lessons for this semester.  So far he's learning to float, blow bubbles, pull up on the side of the pool, kick and splash.  The lessons are a tad long for his (and dad's) attention span!  40 minutes of holding a squirming child is a long time!  After about the first 20 minutes, he's over it and ready to do his own thing!  But, all in all he's doing really well, and learning, what more can we ask?!

On June 4th, Mandy threw Nick a SURPRISE 30th birthday celebration.  Nick turned 30 on May 25!  Several neighbors and friends/family attended the special occasion, and we're really unsure how Mandy pulled off a surprise for Nick - given his inquisitive nature!  But, she did and a good time was had by all! 

Nick's calculator cake!

So, here's the deal with the cake - it was so cool!  Nick wanted a calculator cake as his grooms cake at our wedding. He's an accountant, grooms cakes are typically "themed."  Long story.  So, he finally got it, and it couldn't have turned out more perfect!  The actual calculator was a rice krispy treat covered in fondant icing.  Very, very cool!

June has brought us more busy weekends and more HEAT!  We've been in the 90s pretty steadily for the better part of the month.  

In Ryan news, he turned 18 months on May 13.  He weighed 25 lbs, 12 oz, 33 inches tall - 50% for both.  He is ALL BOY, into EVERYTHING!  He keeps us on our toes!  He is eating like a champ, talking up a blue streak, and keeping us very busy and very entertained!  Some of his newest words are apple, ball, car, daddy, duck, HI!, mommy, outside, sister (Maggie).  He LOVES Chick-fil-A (can't imagine why?!)  He has learned his way to the chick, which we have dubbed "the cow" - Eat Mor Chikin, anyone?! and when we get near CFA he starts saying "MOOOOO."  It is really too cute!

We are just enjoying Ryan to the fullest, and enjoying our summer!  We will leave next week for a week at the beach with Nick's mom at Treasure Island, Fl.  Looking forward to more beach and July 4th!  

We're getting back on the blogging wagon, so we'll update more frequently (when we're not chasing Ry-man!)

Ryan loved chilling in Mommy's beach lounger!

Ryan and Mommy enjoying the pool!

Catching UP

Hello there fellow readers!  It's been a while since our last post - no good excuse - just been having fun with our favorite one year old!

So, Christmas was great at our house.  Santa was really good to Ryan - he must have really impressed the jolly ole elf!  We spent Christmas Eve attending church and having Nicholas's family over for food, fun and presents.  We then went and spent the rest of the evening with some great family friends.

Ryan's Santa presents

Christmas day we spent with our little family for breakfast and Santa stuff, then Mandy's mom and sister, Beth, came down for Christmas dinner.  This was all of our first WHITE CHRISTMAS!  It's been over 100 years since Georgia has experienced a White Christmas, so it was quite a treat.  Hopefully we'll see  another one, but it's not likely.  Here are a few pictures of our Christmas gatherings and our white Christmas.

January - things started off normal, we were just getting back in the groove from the holidays, when more snow came.  This time, we had about 6 inches of snow that turned into 6 inches of ice and remained in that state for the better part of the week.  It was an unexpected break, but a very welcomed break where we enjoyed family time and relaxing from the hustle and bustle of December.  We had been on the go pretty much since Ryan's birthday, so it was a nice break!

We've had a pretty chill January with not too much going on.  We were able to celebrate Libby's first birthday right before the big snow hit ( If you want to see pictures, then you can link over to Libby's blog to see them or we have some on our camera that we need to download)!  That was lots of fun!  We also got to spend that weekend with Aunt Jessica.  Other than that, we've just been enjoying playing with Ryan and watching him grow and learn.  He is walking all over the place, into everything and keeps us on our toes!  One of our favorite new things is asking Ryan where his nose is. He points to his nose once or twice. Then, he wants you to ask him where you nose is, so he can point to it. It is so cute. Mandy and I have decided that this is our favorite age - as they all have been!

Libby's 1st Birthday Party (Libby, Ty and Ryan in her new ball pit!)

Isn't Libby's outfit so cute?

We're enjoying a heat wave of sorts in Atlanta this weekend so we've taken advantage and headed out to the park to enjoy this break in weather.  Ryan and Maggie have loved being outdoors after being cooped up all winter.  I know it's just a tease, and will make us long for spring to get here.