Move to New York

So, we moved to NY. I'm posting this about a month after the fact, but I thought I'd record the details of our little adventure out east.

We left Cape Girardeau about 11 am on Tuesday, May 25. We took 3 days to travel, and our first stop was in Cincinatti, OH. We stayed at a hotel with a dishwasher in the room, but the AC was terrible! It kept turning off throughout the night, and the room never cooled down. Needless to say, we had a terrible night sleep. So, with weary eyes we trudged on to our next stop - Olean, NY.

The drive went well. Cecilia took a 2 hour nap early in the drive (~10 am) and late in the drive (~2pm). It was the best napping she's ever done - before or since. When she was awake, she was pleasant and entertained by her toys. It was BLISS! The second leg of our trip was the longest, but Celia did so well it didn't feel stressful. We stopped at a McDonald's for lunch, and she made friends with 2 little boys in the playroom. It's amazing how having kids gets you to talk to perfect strangers. After the rest, we headed for our hotel.

In Olean, we stayed at a Microtel, which was a good night sleep. The room was clean and interesting, but more importantly - the AC worked efficiently! Even without the dishwasher, it was a better stay. Refreshed, we embarked on the last leg of our trip - Latham, NY.

The last day was the hardest and shortest. We made it to New York in good time and checked into the hotel that would be our home for the forseeable future. It's a good size room - 1 bedroom, a bath and vanity area, a kitchenette, and a living room. It's apartment style, and we get housekeeping everday - nice and bad at the same time. It's crowded, but it's a home and Cecilia enjoys it. Here we are New York!

Birthday Presents from the North!

Oma got to visit us right before our move to New York when she helped Aunt Allison move her things to MIssouri. They brought birthday presents from the North! Cecilia really loved them, and she especially enjoyed the guitar from Grandpa Yount!

Birthday presents from Nebraska!


Playing with her new guitar!

Cecilia's Birthday

Cecilia had a great 1st birthday party! We invited all our family and friends in Missouri on the Sunday before. We sang happy birthday, she got to eat her first cake (chocolate cupcake with white icing) that Mommy decorated for her, and she got to open presents! She enjoyed birthday presents MUCH more than Christmas presents. She got wonderful things, and there was even one other kid there! Breonna, Ashley and Nick's niece, came to the party! What a great day! To commemorate it, Ben's cousin Stephan took pictures for us. He's a very good photographer, and I'm only posting a couple. The rest will be on facebook soon.

Cecilia's Birthday Cake

A big girl blowing out her candle.

Opening a present.

The whole Swoboda family.

Birthday Cupcake - her first cake. She eventually got into it.



Birthday presents - to be posted when I break the 20 minute video into 2 shorter videos.

Nanaw's Birthday

R

We celebrated Nanaw's birthday! She requested a Rice Krispy cake, so that's what Celia and I made. Happy Birthday Nanaw!

Cecilia's 1 Year Pictures

Mother's Day

We had a wonderful Mother's Day! Ben greeted me first thing in the morning with breakfast and flowers and a movie. We both forgot I already had the movie, so we had fun that afternoon exchanging it for Terminator 4 (my choice). The day was relaxing and fun. Nanaw and Pawpaw were away at a wedding for the morning and got home in the late afternoon. We gave Nanaw a movie and had a nice time with Elliott and Becky too. It was a great day ending a great weekend. What a wonderful family! I love you!

STL Zoo

On a whim, we took Cecilia to the St. Louis zoo the day before Mother's Day. We only spent a couple of hours there, but we enjoyed seeing all the animals and being among all the people. I think Celia was just as impressed with the kids around as she was with the exotic animals.

A cheetah!
A statue of an asp right by the railroad tracks. She actually laughed at it! The RR was also thrilling.Asain elephants. These were especially exciting, and there were a lot of great views. We got to see baby elephants too!

A cave model with stalactites and stalagmites.
Celia looking at the monkeys. She LOVED the monkeys!We got one picture with the camels AND the zebras. Double score!The last picture of the day - the penguins!
After the zoo we ate at Pujol's 5, Abert Pujols restaurant. We had trouble finding it, but very much enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. We highly recommend it!

Swimming Pool

I got Cecilia a baby wading pool, and recently the weather has been nice enough to use it. I don't get it out unless it's in the 80s. Anyway, I got these pictures over two days because it's hard to take pictures and help her/watch her. She seems to like to step in and out of it, but there has been very little sitting IN the pool. She will also occasionally play with the sprayer. Nevertheless, we've spent two afternoons out by the wading pool. The first day, I filled it up when we used it and it was too cold. Today, I filled it up in the morning so it was fairly warm by the time we got to swimming. I think she would prefer to eat the potting soil, though, and so far has wanted Mommy to walk with her around the yard more than play in the water. We're getting used to it, though.

Cecilia's 9 Month Pictures