2 year anniversary of Gotcha day and Weekend with the grandparents, day 2 and 3!

On with the story.....finally! (sidenote: I do have a Karen weekend post but I have to catch up first with back posts!)

So, we left our fabulous lunch and playtime with cousins to travel to our "surprise" for the grandparents and Nick. An Irish themed train ride thru southern/central Ky to celebrate Gotcha Day! The Irish/St. Pat's theme for the grandparents and the train ride for Nick!

Oh, my could it be....a very exclusive, one of a kind picture with me, the mama! Since our camera was on the blink......I was in more than one on this fun weekend since Ata Bob was the usual photog!

We left the Kentucky Railway Museum in the Dinner car and lucked out with the entertainment being one table away....this was awesome luck o'the Irish side of the Kitzman/Tracy clan because Nick was the ONLY child and it was Close quarters! He loved the music and entertained everyone by dancing in the aisles after we finished eating a surprisingly very good meal!

Nick in the "IRISH zone"....this picture cracks me up! It really was great music and we had a great time celebrating family and two whole years with the Kazmanian Devil!

The very handsome Kitzman men!

We had a harrowing ride back to Pat's parents condo with a hilarious encounter with the GPS guidance on a round-a-bout. Pat and I had never been to this part of ky either so it was the blind leading the blind!

Day 2 included a visit to the Dinosaur museum and Nick's first attempt at miniature golf.

You can actually see these wooly Mammoths from bluegrass pkwy along with a big obnoxious T-rex which was the official place that our camera really quick working so no pic.

We ended the day with a round of miniature golf and theatre.....Nick providing the drama! He could not comprehend that his ball would not go in the whole at first putt so in true 5 year old fashion proceeded to rant and sigh and toss his putter......maybe he will be a pro? Now, this was the most hilarious golf venue any of us had ever been a part of until this day. We , thankfully, were the only golfers and the equipment was just in a hut for you to grab and use. We are talking ripped up carpet, holes, broken windmills, rusted ramps.....it was awesome! I actually played a killer game.....hole in one even! I vote NO MORE nice courses for me! :)

Day 3 took us to Lost River Cave in Bowling Green. It was a short boat ride but Nick loved it. The cave was well known as a big band spot (Benny Goodman and the like!). The opening had a big bandstand and dance floor. Apparently, it was known for its "natural" air conditioning so you could dance all night in the heat of the summer! Nick was great on the boat ride and we even had to practically lay flat to get into the main part of the cave......the ceiling was VERY low for the first few feet. He totally thought that was cool!

Getting ready to DUCK to go in the cave.


At the entrance building for the cave, they had a mining area for the kids to "mine" for stones found in the area. I think Pat and I enjoyed digging thru the rocks more than Nick. He has a nice collection of "jewels" as souvenirs!

We had a great lunch on the square in BG and drove by Western Ky Univ on the way back to the Condo. Yeah, they were the ones that didn't pay their coach millions and millions and actually made it to the NCAA tournament...hmmmm?

We had a great time with Grandma Ruth and Ata Bob and look forward to seeing them in June for their big 50th wedding anniversary celebration in Mexico....hopefully??

Spring break pictures and stories will be next and then the most anticipated Kcubed weekend rap up will debut.......

Technical difficulty and the Kcubed weekend!

Our camera has now kind of expired.....still can use it but the connection point to download the pictures is broken so now we will have to transfer another way which will take longer.....must solve this problem soon! I got lots of pics of Nick to show you! I did get some downloaded so I will work with those til we are up to date!

On another most FABULOUS note.......3 kazamommies are uniting this weekend for super-duper, nothing but relaxation, uninterrupted conversation chick weekend AND we all happen to be named Karen.....my friend here in town dubbed it the Kcubed weekend! We are going to a beautiful Inn in Ohio that has the word SPA in it so how bad can it be???? We have a cabin with a porch and hours of conversation time. Being "mature" first time moms, the conversation could go anywhere between matchbox cars to menopause! It is so gonna rock! I am making homemade caramel corn chex mix and beer cheese for snacking because all good girl weekends involve food, don't they?! Please pray for safe travel and health mercies for all of us.....will give fun details when we return!

And, I would be a horrible mom blogger if I didn't try to include just a few pictures of the reason you all still come here anyway! Nick has had a hard two weeks (including springbreak)....somehow, we think we rocked his security world by not taking Daddy with us to TX to visit Gma Martha and Ata Bill. I have a few good (funny now) stories to tell but will wait for more pictures....they are slowly and surely getting here ( got the train pics today....thanks Gma Ruth and Ata Bob!) We did manage to get some smiles at Easter so I will share those......unfortunately he shed his Easter garb quickly and we did not get an "Easter shot" but he is still the cutest bunny boy in Ky!

On a final note, Spring is a glorious season around central Ky. I am not sure why the only stereo type of Ky is barefoot and toothless people from the mountains?? kinda makes me mad because frankly, Central Ky is a bit on the wealthy side if you ask me and most horse barns rival the biggest mansions (which happen to be many) around here. But, THIS is why we love Ky....on a quick detour just a mere 5 minutes outside the main drag, below is what we experience, NOT trailers and moonshine! These horses were so beautiful with their babies that I made Pat stop so I could take a picture....Enjoy and LONG LIVE KY....moonshine, mansions and millionaire basketball coaches (yeah, not so happy about the last one but don't get me started on that!). :)

Grandparents and cousins, part 1

OK, OK.....feverishly trying to get caught up on the adventure's of Nick Nurik, private eye....remember 2 years ago, we made that name up for him in Kaz on one deliriously boring evening in minus,minus temp. apartment lockdown. Now, on to the story........

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As the snowbird Wisconsin Grandparents made their way back to the still cold north (yes, they were dreading it), they made plans for us all to be together at a timeshare (exchange) near mammoth caves....timeshares in Park City, Ky? I can hear the confusion in your voice......yes, they have "timeshares", No, Grandma and Ata Bob would not consider them prime real estate......ever!

BUT, I digress......we started out the trip wonderfully and fortunately being able to meet up with Pat's cousin Sarah and Family. I had only met them once at Pat's sister's wedding (we had the children that were banned to the nursery......must be why Nick and Ruby are so connected) but have chatted often with Sarah on FB.....love it! Her husband Tuck is from the Ft. Knox area (yes, the gold place) so we met them in Elizabethtown for a great lunch and fabulous park visit!

Our lunch at Cheddar's was followed by a visit to the big Etown mall for some play time while we waited for it to warm up outside......the sun came out and we headed to the park!

Our handsome Boy! Nick was excited to be with his cousins and we were also celebrating his Gotcha day! 2 whole years buddy.....can't even believe it!! We had more surprises to celebrate the big day later!!






Nick loves "babies" and always wants to help and make them laugh....so endearing but not quite sure Ruby and sweet Ezra below felt the same way! :) Nick is say tickle tickle or something of the sort.




Nick wanted so badly to help Ezra be happy! He was patting him on the head....awwww!







Nick is looking so cool and grown up here....I think he looks like he could be Yoko's and John's son.....what do you think? Is Ruby not the cutest little punkin ever!?!





He is totally into the bars right now.....he wants you to help him at this point but I fear it won't be long til he is monkeying across with ease.




I absolutely love this picture of Ezra that his mom took......she is our photog by the way...our camera was having issues! He is the cutest baby and has the greatest belly laugh ever!

Pat's mom, Ruth with her second grandson and great Niece, Ruby!

Nick has been into Knights and castles lately and was begging for a suit of Armor.....we found a nice set at Target and he HAD to take it to show Grandma and Ata Bob. He is thrilled to wear it most any time and gets a little mixed up because he says it so fast and calls it his "sh-army Army......instead of Shiny Armor! :)

We had a great time with the cousins and hope to make it an annual visit and playfest! Hope to see them in Wisconsin once and awhile too! We left them to go to our next adventure......an Irish themed/St. Patrick's day train ride and dinner. The grandparents have the pics on this one and we still don't have them downloaded or transferred to us for posting so be patient as I try to get all of the pictures collected. I may post out of order and go ahead and get started on our springbreak trip but you will just have to wait and see.......this is all I got for tonight. :)

Up, Up.....and away we go!

Spring has rushed in and out already this March. On Saturday last week, we had high 70's and Kite flying by the end of week, we had snow. If you don't like the weather in Ky, just stick around and it will change......much to the chagrin of our sinuses and allergies!


We tried out the new Kite from sweet Max and it did a great job but I will say the wind was so strong that day that the kite was literally ripped off the string but not until the boys had a nice time flying it and watching it swoop and dive! :)

Short sleeves and shorts........then SNOW!

Update on Kindergarten.......Nick was accepted at an immersion school for spanish thru our public school system so we decided that we would send him as it is a hard school to get in (lottery system) and we would love for him to be bilingual again. He should do well in their environment as he needs structure and challenges to stay focused. He would not do well in a Montessori

system.

Speech and OT -- we are still waiting for an OT eval thru the school system but may also look into getting some stuff done thru the university as well. When Nick is bored these days, he has increasingly obvious and annoying sensory seeking behavior. He did not do these things in the early days and we really have seen them more in the last 6 months than ever. On the days he has school, we see little to none of this behavior. I do wish we had sent him to everyday school this year but every thing is so crazy the first year, we had no way of knowing what he REALLY needed. His speech teacher tried some sensory exercises on him in speech last week and said she saw a marked difference in his speech and focus. She is going to work on this the rest of the semester as well as give this info to the OT. I have always sensed that he needed structure all day but thought that the 3 days of structured activity would be enough in those early days....and they probably were but now they are not. When he is given free play time, he is at a loss....he wants to snack, yell, throw, spin, pick at mom, etc. I realize that I need to be more intentional about our day especially getting ready for the summer. I try to get him to do "school" or games but he gets extremely hyper with me and it can turn into conflict......thus, I believe, school will be great for him. I am going to "attempt" to write out a daily schedule for us so he knows what we will be doing and see if this helps the randomness of his behavior at times. He has come so far with his behavior and speech that I don't want to be anything less than proactive with making changes quickly to deter any further behavior regression. It really is a full time job just making sure that these sweet children with a "different" beginning have a fighting chance to be the "uniquely normal" that they are supposed to be......

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We have lots of fun activities coming up for the rest of Spring....Pat's folks are coming to Kentucky on their way back from Florida and we are meeting them at Mammoth Caves for a few days and then Nick and I are heading to Dallas to see my family for spring break. None of our (Pat's, Nick's, my sister's kids) spring breaks match up but Nick and I can travel the easiest so off we go on our first plane ride since Kaz.....should be an adventure! Pat's sister Tracey and little Colin will be joining us this year for Easter.....the bunnies better watch out for these little Kitzman boys! We are getting anxious for Kazapalooza 2009 in Nashville this year and that will be our first summer activity......we cannot wait to meet some more of our blog friends as well as the adoptafamilies that we already know now! Fun, Fun!

Hope everyone is starting to thaw out and getting ready to enjoy the beauty of spring......

Birthday weekend Day two and three.......delayed due to technical difficulties!

We had a bit of a break with computer difficulties but we seem to be back in business so on with the story. When we last left you, I was awaiting permission from my sweet friend Krescene to post our pictures from the reunion so I also had to sneak in a "that was then" picture. We had not seen each other since this night ....project graduation event, graduation eve 1985....yikes!

Krescene is in the middle and I have the lovely Hawaiian shirt on....with pale Pink shorts? have mercy!

24 years later......we both admit a few more pounds and a tad more wrinkles....but she still has the same exact laugh and bubbly personality and it felt like no time had past at all.


We arrived at the GWL (great wolf lodge) Saturday afternoon after a trip to Jungle Jim's international food store....grabbed 3 big bottles of Kazakhstan-like sour cherry juice...yum!
We were able to check into our room early and as I said before opted for a calming Nap time before the extravaganza.


This is slightly out of sequence but this is a picture of evening story time. Kids wear their pajamas and they have disney like animatronics that sing and tell stories. Cute but Nick wanted to go swimming some more....so we did! ;)


The orange slides to the right were the highest kid ones and Nick went down them many, many times. It was so hard to capture great pics because it was so wet and mommy was actually participating so who would snap the shot while hurling down the tube? He wanted to go down backwards, on his tummy, frontwards, spinning.....the lifeguards thought he was pretty funny.


This was the younger kids pool.....we only stepped foot in there two or three times...not fast enough for our boy! :)


Daddy holding onto the wild boy as it was hard to catch a picture as he rushed by.....

Our attempt at a self family portrait....hilarious.....Pat will need to sit next time...we could not get us all in.

I loved this big ol bear and the little Kaz bear is cute too. He has on his new swim attire from Gma and Ata Kitzman.....so handsome and swim vogue.

He called this water feature the rainstorm and wanted to go in it over and over again!

He love, loved the wave pool and would charge at them screaming. :)

He had fun hopping across the lillypads and did hold onto the rope some but this time wanted to leap!

The Roller coaster was closed for most of our visit but he was not tall enough and daddy said it was quite intense. We did the big multi people raft from the top down and it was fast and furious. He squealed the whole time, so awesome although I squealed the whole time too because it always looked like he was getting ready to fly out of the raft.....There was one additional big kid one that he could have gone on but after daddy tried it out we decided that we weren't sure if he had the whole....hold onto the handles tight thing down...so we opted for next time around when he is one year more mature......

Two exhausted boys in front of the big lodge fireplace on our way out the door. It was a fun family weekend. He got a bit overstimulated but we were able to keep meltdowns at bay with some evasive actions and he did great. He has been telling everyone....lifeguards, elevator passengers, passers by, etc. that he is 5. It is so fun that he is enjoying the birthday thing this year.

He wasn't completely asleep in this pic but it was so funny how he travels.....old hand now. He has his travel blanket that keeps him warm, his hat, and good memories. Life is Good!

We got home and he immediately wanted to open all his toys. This was a neat helicopter from his Kaz buddy Max. He was so into the instructions. We are just having a little trouble keeping the helicopter together. Apparently helicopters should fly into the wall frequently?

He got many great gifts! Thanks to all the friends and family who sent their HB wishes. We had a great time and can't wait to do King's Island this year! Happy Birthday our big 5 year old!

Birthday weekend.....Day one!

We are sitting here in the Great Wolf lodge enjoying our great room and quiet boy. He's napping! We decided the excitement of yesterday and the forthcoming swimming extravaganza warranted a big ol' NAP.

We had a great time at Entertrainment Junction with our friends! My high school friend Krescene and her son, Nathan joined us. Nathan is 5 also. Ironically, they were visiting family this weekend in Cinci so we were able to schedule a meet-up. We have not seen each other since Graduation Eve! (24 years ago, yikes!) This is why I love FB! We also were joined by the cutest ever Max and Karen, my resident Cincinnati bestest buds.

The train cake survived the trip although had a little icing slide off in the back. We were OK with that since it was our first try and such a great team effort by mom and dad! ;) Nick was happy with it so really that is all that matters....right? Nick had a great time with Nathan and Max. They all got along great and we got some cute pics that I will share. We also ate dinner with Krescene and Nathan at a huge McDonald's with New playland which meant lots and lots of kids...didn't stay long! ;)

Nick has really understood and enjoyed the whole birthday thing this year almost to an obsession. If I hear "can I open my presents now" one more time, I might go crazy! Luckily, that part is now over! I can't believe our boy is 5. All day, we have been saying you are 5 now, we don't need to carry you, use the potty ring (we forgot it, ha!), purchase a mall stroller, etc. He may not like being 5...hee, hee!

Here are a few pics from yesterday's fun and the "Tiffany's" Train cake. Nothing but the best for our boy! I would also say that it was because of my love for Audrey Hepburn but really the icing was yellow because of the butter and I could not get a good blue for the life of me without dumping the blue food coloring.....We had some structure issues that I will do different next time but all in all it worked out fine.

We used a Nerd rope for the mouth.....not ideal but all our store had on this particular day....

Of Course, I had to prove that my Tiffany's coloring technique was perfect!


Nick got so excited when we started to sing HB to him. It was so cute.

This place had an enormous, I mean enormous model train display. It even had a place where you could climb up the stairs and view it from the top. Let's just say Daddy really enjoyed this also! :)

Little train ride inside. I think if the weather is warm, they have an outside one too! We happened to be having a snow squall ...no accumulation, but blizzard like none-the-less.

They had this cRaZy funhouse walk that made all the adults a bit nauseous but the boys were havin some fun. We sent dad back in with them....moms stayed away! ;)

Thomas Storytime

Nick trying to give Max a high five because he mastered the train whistle. It was just the cutest little toot! :)

Ky Karen and Cinci Karen.......happy Kaz moms and friends! Krescene is in the Witness Protection Program so no picks......just kidding.... I didn't have permission.....Girls are funny like that.....If she allows, I will post later!

Well, we are attempting to wake the sleeping Kazakh......could be good, could be bad. I believe the water Roller Coaster will turn the possible frown upside down! :) More pics soon!