Blogging from Baltimore.

Most of you know that we are able to take a military flight in and out of Baltimore for MUCH cheaper than a commercial airfare. However, we are only able to fly on a space available basis. On the flight we were hoping to be on Tuesday back to Aviano, there was no space available. Grrr. So here we are in Baltimore, biding our time until Saturday when we forked over big bucks for a commercial ride home. To top it off, the kids get to ride in our laps the entire time. Goody! We're praying for an empty flight so hopefully we can use an extra seat or something. We also have 2 lay overs. Not fun!

Although we'd much rather be home., we are trying to make the most of our unexpected vacation. The hotel shuttle will take us to the light rail train which will take us downtown. The first evening we were here, we traveled downtown and checked out the Inner Harbor. The first picture is taken at a water wall type place. Then we walked around and saw the USS Constellation; the last all sail ship built by the Navy and the last Civil War ship. We didn't go in--maybe tomorrow when we head back down there for a trip to the National Aquarium (pictured on the left). Here are my two fire crackers beside two cannons in front of the Constellation. We walked around a little more then ate dinner at Hard Rock Baltimore.

The second evening we attended a Orioles baseball game at Camden Yard. The picture of our family is just outside the front gate and the other picture is the front of the park at night. The Oriole mascot came up to the upper deck where we were sitting, though not for lack of seat in the lower levels. Baltimore is the birthplace of Babe Ruth. We took this picture at the Babe Ruth memorial at the entrance to the park.

Daddy and Ezra reading the paper in the hotel room.

PapPa went home to be with the Lord early on the 20th. While we mourned our losing him, we were all happy that he was no longer suffering. After that, it was a whirlwind of activity making preparations for the visitation, funeral and graveside service. We got some pictures after the funeral since everyone looked so nice. You don't see these guys in a suit for just anyone. There's Garrett with the money shot and some of the beautiful flowers people sent for the funeral. PapPa has a blog at www.doylegreer@blogspot.com

First are during and after shots of Ezra eating some pudding. What a mess?!

Then there's Meme holding Jonas.

I just can't resist a sleeping picture every once in a while. He just looks so sweet.

I have to say that Ezra and Jonas LOVED to go shopping with Momma and Nana. Of course it usually included a cookie and a trip to the kid's play area and who wouldn't love that? On tax free weekend, the Chik-Fil-A cow was around. Ezra liked him from a distance and kept moo-ing, but wasn't as enthralled as we got closer.









Daddy came back to Houston to attend the funeral and be a pall bearer. He and Ezra found a couple of toads in the backyard. Ezra did NOT like them very much. I asked, "What kind of boy are you?" I'm sure it won't be too long before he's trying to stuff them in his pockets (or worse if he takes lessons from his Dad--I hope not!).

Ezra loves to empty things. Cabinets, drawers, baskets,...anything. These are a few pictures of him emptying the cabinets in Mom's kitchen. The funny thing is that he doesn't just randomly pull everything out in a hurry and throw everything on the floor. He meticulously takes items out one at a time, turns them over examining them closely, and then places them very carefully at a pre-selected spot on the floor. We would all be really impressed if he was able to put them back into the cabinet. :)

Next is a picture of the kids chilling with Jennifer.

Every time we pull into the drive way at Meme and PapPa's house he starts saying Meme and Pap-pap-pap-Pa. He finally let PapPa hold him today and gave Meme a hug when we left. What a sweet boy! This picture was taken the day before PapPa was confined to bed. As PapPa was saying goodbye, he recalled this moment and was thankful that Ezra was finally that comfortable with him. Truly a blessing.

Here's a picture of Jonas with his pouty lip out. He must have been having a bad dream. Jonas is awake more and more. Every time I get the slightest little giggle out of him, he gets the hiccups. I feel bad, but I just can resist.

Behind again...

I'm actually so far behind that I don't have accurate dates/ages for when some of these pictures were taken. Jonas will be 8 weeks on Thursday. Crazy. Ezra will be 18 months.

I think the pictures of Jonas in his bug outfit might have been a week ago when he was 7 weeks.

It's nice to be here and have all the stores so close by, but

running around with two little ones

is still a pain in the neck. Especially, with out my trusty husband. However, Nana is filling in pretty well.

We attended Garrett's graduation from non-destructive testing school on Friday night and

took some pretty cute pictures.

We also found time to hit Fuddrucker's with Mike's Dad and introduce him to Jonas. And later, we went to the Potato Patch with the rest of Mike's family. The other pic is Aunt Jen with Jonas.

We enjoyed a visit with my cousin Adam and his friend Amanda when they came into town. We went bowling and indulged in some arcade games.

So I know I haven't blogged in a while. When I'm out of our normal routine, it doesn't happen as often as it should. We have been enjoying our time here in Houston. PapPa's had some really good days and some not-so-good days, but we are so glad we made the long, hard trip over the pond to be with our family during this time.

We have also enjoyed taking the boys to the mall. Ezra liked playing in the "big tree" play area and although he was a little unsure of the carousel at first, he loved it in the end. We could see it from where we were eating in the food court and he kept pointing at it indicating that he wanted to go again.

We also took him to a park where he got to chase the ducks, swing, and run down the slide.

At PapPa's, cousin Adam took Ezra for a ride around the back yard on PapPa's scooter.

Jonas' neck muscles are getting stronger every day. The picture of him holding his head up was actually taken about a week ago. He's smiling and every once in a while, we can solicit a little giggle.

PapPa has enjoyed holding his second great-grandson. They even took a little nap together. :)

Aunt Laura and Uncle Gary bought the boys Astros outfits. Jonas wore his to his first Astro game.

Today, Ezra is 17 1/2 months old and Jonas is 6 weeks old!

Yesterday, was Jonas' 1 month birthday and today is Ezra's 17 month birthday. These are some funny things Ezra has done lately. One day for lunch I was scrounging around for something to eat and I thought I would make us some corn dogs. Everyone knows they taste so much better cooked in the toaster oven as opposed to the microwave, but that takes like 20 minutes. So in the meantime, I gave Ezra some pudding (for calcium...). When his corn dog was ready, he insisted on dipping his corn dog in his pudding. He at most of it, and seemed to enjoy it. Yuck!

In the other picture you can get an idea of how much of a climber Ezra is. He pulled the clothes basket over to the kitchen door and succeeded in opening it. He however, did not manage to coordinate the opening of the door to the dismount off the basket. The first time he did this, he had a pretty good fall, but I wasn't sure how it had happened--I thought I had just left the door open. So I scooted the basket over, comforted him, and set him back down. A few minutes later, I heard the door handle rattling and went to investigate and this is what I found. :)

We had a get together at Andy and Jane's house on Sat. night and Ezra loved the kiddie pool. They also had the sprinkler on for the kids to run through, but Ezra was less enthralled with that. We had an enjoyable evening including dinner and games with 2 other couples.

Jonas has some baby acne going on, just like Ezra did. But other than that he's doing great.