baby update

So, we decided on a name.  Grace Elizabeth Hanson.  Considering we didn't have a name for Jake until 2 weeks after he was born, the 2 days we took to decide on Grace seems like nothin!  

We came home from the Hospital Monday afternoon...and it was nice to be back at home.  Things are going great...Grace is letting us get some sleep at night and Jake LOVES being a big brother.  He likes having a turn to hold her and is alway ready to help out when we ask him to.

 

Yesterday we all piled in the car to go run some errands.  Grace wasn't too happy, so Brooke suggested to Jake that maybe she would like him to sing her a song.  He started to belt out Happy Birthday...it was pretty cute.  We will try to keep you all up to date with pictures and stories.  Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday!!

Well, today was the day.  Our little girl was born.  We haven't completely decided on a name for her yet, but that should be coming within the next day or so.  It was an exciting evening and morning for us.  Jalynn started feeling some contractions starting around 10:30pm, we arrived at the hospital at midnight.  She was born at 1:19am.  We figure that there was only about an hour of real labor.  She was 6 lbs 4 oz and 19 inches long, with a healthy set of lungs.  We are all very excited to have her in our family, Jake is especially grateful to be a big brother finally.  Thanks to everyone for their support and love.  Here are a few pictures, expect more to follow.

The winners: Marcy got the day.  Paige got closest to the weight.  A few guessed 19.5", but no one guessed 19".

take a guess...

Well, we made it back home safe and sound.  Our Alabama adventure has come to an end and now we are looking forward to all the adventures that will come our way in the next few weeks.

So, I've been thinking that it would be fun to have a little contest about the birth of the baby.  There will be three categories...date of birth, weight and length.  The deadline for entries is Monday April 7.  You can either leave your guesses in a comment or email me with them.  There will be a prize for those who come the closest.  Good luck!  

easter weekend

Friday evening, after Brooke was done with his classes, we set off for a quick trip to Florida.  We have some friends that we met in England who are now stationed there.  Of course, we had to take a picture at the Florida state line.  I think that will be the last one we get during our stay here in Alabama.

Saturday morning we met our friends, The Sophies, at Hurlburt AFB where there was an Easter egg hunt.  We weren't able to find an Easter basket for Jake, so Brooke found a bunny bag at the store and that worked just fine.  He is so resourceful!  For the 2 year old age group, the put tons of eggs on the playground area of the park and let the kids pick up all they could.  

Jake was doing pretty good at gathering eggs, until he realized the eggs were full of surprises.  Then, all he wanted to do was open the eggs and see what yummy treat or cool prize was in the egg.  

After all the eggs had been claimed, Jake sat down with Shelby (the Sophies 2 year old girl) and they compared their loot.

The two kids had fun at the playground and Jake kept wanting to hold Shelbys hand.  What a ladies man!  After the Egg hunt, the guys took the kids back to the Sophies and Kristin and I hit the outlet mall.  We had a great time shopping!  That night, we all went to dinner at a local seafood place.  The food was great and we had such a fun time.

The next morning, we had to go back to Montgomery so Brooke could finish his last big project.  We couldn't leave Florida without taking some pictures by the ocean.  It was VERY windy outside, but very pretty.

We had a great time on our little trip and it was so fun to see our friends again.  Our only complaint is that it wasn't long enough.  We hope you all had a great Easter weekend too.

weekend fun

Last week, there was a kids party that Jake and I went to. There were several activities set up for the kids to do and things for them to play with, one of which was a play bowling set. Jake bowled with a few of the other kids and he had such a blast. Since he enjoyed it so much, we decided to take him to a real bowling alley on Friday night. We went with a couple other families and everyone had a great time.

We got some dinner there and the most extraordinary thing happened....Jake ate some green beans! They weren't your average, healthy green beans though. They were fried. (yes, we are in the south) The boy just likes anything that is fried!!! But, i must admit, they were pretty tasty.

On Saturday, we left in the morning for a little trip to Birmingham. It was only about an hour away, so not too bad. We went to do a little shopping, but while we were there, we also went to an air museum.

At first, Jake was excited to see all the airplanes. One of the displays had a motion sensor and when someone got near to it, a recording would play of an airplane engine starting up. The noise scared him and he was a little reluctant to walk thru the rest of the hanger.

This actually ended up being the highlight of the museum for Jake...the kids playroom.
And this was a close second...Jake was helping Brooke fly one of the simulators they had set up.
It turned out to be a nice relaxing weekend!

half way there!

So, we are at the half way point of our time here in Alabama. I've been a slacker at keeping up with the blog, so this one might be a little longer. Let me back up and start with last Friday. Jake and I went with a few of the spouses to a place called Pump It Up. They had some of those bouncy inflatable things that the kids could go crazy on. Jake was a bit hesitant at first, but he got more comfortable with it and ended up having a great time.

After we got back from that, we headed over to the field to cheer on Brooke and his flight in their first Flickerball game. It is a game they play here that has a bunch of confusing rules. They didn't end up winning, but it was a close game and we had fun watching them.

After Brooke finished with his game, we packed a bag and headed to Atlanta. The drive was only 2 1/2 hours and it went pretty quick. Plus, we got to add another state line crossing to our growing collection....BONUS!

On this trip, whenever we have stayed at a hotel, Jake has enjoyed being able to pick out which of the two beds he will sleep in. This hotel had lots of big comfy pillows and he was so excited to crawl under the covers and relax.

Another highlight for Jake was riding up and down the Elevator. We stayed at the Marriott downtown and our room was on the 37th floor. The elevators were super fast and that made the adventure even more fun for him.

The next morning, we were up and ready to explore Atlanta. It was a chilly 43 degrees outside, but we were pretty much indoors, so it was ok. Our first stop was to the worlds LARGEST aquarium. Jake loves fish (both looking at them and eating them) so we knew he would have a great time there.

This area of the aquarium had a huge glass wall with TONS of tropical fish behind it. Jake was more interested in looking at the fish on the touch screen computers they had set up in the area. One of us would take him over to look at the fish, but he wouldn't stay there long before he headed back to one of the touch screens. It was amazing to us how fast he caught on to the menu set-up and knew what buttons he needed to push to go back.

After the aquarium, we went across the street to Coca-Cola World. It was pretty much a museum for Coke. The best part of that was going into the taste testing area. They had about 70 different Coca-Cola drinks that they sell throughout the world. Some were pretty tasty, but there were a few that tasted like soap.

After we finished drinking a bunch of soda, we found somewhere to eat dinner. It was called Ted's Montana Grill and it was fabulous. After stuffing ourselves silly, we rolled back into the car and headed back to Alabama, capturing another border crossing. It was a great weekend!

fire, fire!!

Yesterday we were able to go take a tour of the firehouse here on base. They showed us around the place and then we got to take a look at the fire trucks. It was pretty fun! Unfortunately, they were out of the little hats to give the kids, but that's ok, it was still a great outing.

Just a little side note: As part of Brooke's class, they bring in different speakers to talk to the guys. Spouses are welcome to attend and if they have kids, they will set up a video feed of it in a separate room. Well, today Gene Kranz was here to talk about his experience with NASA...mostly the Apollo 13 mission. (Ed Harris played him in the movie) I decided to take the opportunity to go listen to his lecture. He was a great speaker and I really enjoyed it.