Dad's 66th Birthday

My dad has had some unfortunate health issues this year that have required him to stay in a rehabilitation center for the last several months. He has been working really hard in therapy and is feeling much better. All that hard work paid off yesterday when he got to come home for the day to celebrate his birthday! We had a nice time visiting and ate a yummy lunch at Red Lobster. I think the highlight of the day was watching Grandpa and Tyler together!


Grandpa Breclaw and Tyler
Bonding while reading a book

Tyler and Grandma Breclaw

My dad and me

My dad, me, Tyler, and my mom

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 actually kicked off on October 11th this year, when we took a visit to Rader Family Farms in Normal to pick out our pumpkins. It's a great little pumpkin farm with lots of things for kids to do and tons of picture opportunities. I didn't get a chance to post these pictures earlier so here they are.

Tyler showing off his height

A perfect autumn scene

A sweet candid shot of Tyler and Daddy enjoying the goats

Tyler picked out his own pumpkin this year!

Riding in the wagon with our pumpkins

Halloween weekend was very busy this year. Friday afternoon I took Tyler to the nursing home where I work to go room-to-room trick or treating. I thought he might be a little shy or scared of the residents since most were in wheelchairs but it was quite the opposite. Tyler got the hang of going from person to person, saying "Trick or Treat" and then reaching into their candy dish for a treat. He was able to fill his entire pumpkin in less than an hour. And I have to say, I think he made some of the residents very happy. A lot of them told me when I returned to work on Monday how sweet he was when he said "Trick or Treat", "Thank you" and "Happy Halloween" (promted by me of course)!

Saturday morning we decided to carve those pumpkins we picked a couple weeks ago. We did most of the work but Tyler did a little of the scooping and had fun watching.

Tyler with his own pumpkin

Tyler's turn to scoop

Jack-o-laterns

Saturday night we went to Uptown Normal for their annual Trick or Treating with the businesses. We had no idea how crowded it would be--there were hundreds of kids. Unfortunately I think Tyler was a little too young for it because he got impatient with waiting in line and didn't want to hold hands to stay together. So we only went to a handful of businesses before we came home. It was still another opportunity to show off the cute Frankenstein though!

Halloween night, we went trick or tricking--again! We decided to go to our babysitter's neighborhood this year since she lives in a great family neighborhood and there were kids everywhere! Tyler did a great job going right up to people and saying "Trick or Treat". He especially enjoyed his treats!

At the start of the night

At the end of the night

At home with his loot

Enjoying his hard work

Our Little Monster

Tyler's 2nd Birthday Party

This year Tyler's birthday party was held in Morris, IL at John and Sue's (Tyler's Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth's) house. It was a more central location for all the guests but it was also in part because Matt and Jean (Tyler's Great-Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth) were in town from Wyoming. The theme of the party of course had to be Thomas the Tank Engine. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

While Tyler was outside playing in the leaves, we were busy decorating the house with Thomas stuff. Tyler had so much fun jumping in the leaves.


The Thomas decorations
Tyler's first reaction to seeing his Thomas party!

We had one of Tyler's favorite foods for lunch--pizza! Although for once in his life, Tyler wasn't interested in eating. Rather he just wanted to open his presents!! Amd Tyler was really funny when it came to opening his presents. Some of his gifts were wrapped in Thomas wrapping paper so he only wanted to open those gifts. When another gift wrapped in different wrapping paper was presented to him he would say "No, another one." We even tried to fool him by putting a Thomas napkin on one of the gifts but he still didn't want to open it! Opening his first present

Literally, just about every gift was something Thomas related with the exception of a baseball glove and a couple books and toys. But the big gift came from Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth. Grandpa Ellsworth build him this train table while Grandma Ellsworth added her personal touches with the paintbrush. He loved it!

Big smiles playing with the trains

He loved it so much in fact that he didn't even seem too interested in his Thomas birthday cake (also made by Grandma Ellsworth). He brought all of the trains to the table and played with them while we sang Happy Birthday. Then all he ate of the cake was one of the Oreo wheels.

After the celebration, we went outside for some updated family pictures.

All the guests
Tyler with his 3 Great Grandparents
Tyler with 3 of his 4 Grandparents (Grandpa Breclaw couldn't make it this year due to heath complications)
Tyler with Mommy and Grandma Breclaw

Tyler with Grandma Breclaw, Mommy and Daddy

Tyler with Mommy and Daddy

At the end of the day, it was a great party and Tyler was a very happy little boy!

Happy 2nd Birthday Tyler!

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Tyler,
Happy birthday to you !

Many more birthdays to you,
Many more birthdays to you,
Many more birthdays dear Tyler,
Many more birthdays to you!

On October 17th, Tyler turned 2! And my goodness does he seem like a big boy! He went to his 2-year well child check-up and the doctor was very pleased with his development. He is now 34 3/4" (75th percentile) and 32.4# (90th percentile). His language skills just blew up over these last 6 months. His vocabulary is well over 100 words and he can put 3 word sentences together. The doctor was impressed that he can consistently count from 1-6. Tyler loves books and he is obsessed with Thomas the train. In fact, his birthday party this year was Thomas themed (pictures to be posted soon). Here are some of his 2-year portraits....

Road Trip 2010

We arrived at Myrtle Beach on Sunday, May 16th after a 2-day, 16-hour, 6-state journey. We were thrilled with the weather Sunday because the forecast was calling for rain all week but it was quite the opposite--sunny, blue skies and 80 degrees! View from our balcony
We weren't able to check into our suite until 4 pm so our first day there was spent getting to know the town. It's a really easy place to navigate about--everything is off King's Highway, which runs parallel to the ocean. We wanted our first meal to be seafood so we went to a place called Sea's Captain. It is one of the oldest and most reputable restaurants in Myrtle Beach. Unfortunately, we didn't find our meal lived up to the reputation but we enjoyed our oceanfront view nonetheless.


Monday was the only bad-weather day we had all week. The morning started off very cloudy and the forecast called for rain all day. We decided that would be a good day to hit the Ripley's Aquarium. There is another Ripley's Aquarium in Pigeon Forge that we went to on our honeymoon and we loved so we knew we definitely wanted to go. It was everything we expected--it was awesome!
In front of the sting ray statue
Awesome Tiger Shark in walk-through tunnel
It rained the rest of the day Monday so we went to the outlet malls and then for margaritas at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. We had arguably the best nachos and Cheeseburger in Paradise!!


It started off cloudy on Tuesday but it wasn't raining so we decided to play golf. Myrtle Beach is known for it's golf courses and there were so many it was hard to choose one. I felt more comfortable playing at a Par 3 course where there is less pressure so we found a cute one right up the road. We didn't even keep score although we both managed to have a couple good holes out of the 18 we played. It cleared up in the afternoon so we went jet-skiing on the ocean. We decided to get a jet ski for each of us. The waves were pretty rough at times but we had a blast. We then went out for a dinner at a restaurant right across the street called Liberty Tap.


Wednesday was clear and sunny so we spent the morning by the pool. In the afternoon we went to a place called Alligator Adventure. They had hundreds of alligators of all sizes and breeds, along with tropical birds, lizards and other animals (a donkey, zebra and camel).
Outside one of the Alligator exhibits
One suspicious alligator
Mike planned a 3-hour ocean sailing cruise for us on a private yacht Wednesday night. We got there at 5:30 and met the captain and his wife. They were so nice and easy to talk to. In front of "The Enchantress"
We started out at Little River, which was about 15 miles north of Myrtle Beach and then motored out to the ocean.
Cruising to the ocean
Entering the ocean was pretty turbulent--we now understand why the captain called it the washing machine! We got soaked! Once we got into the ocean, we started sailing. I even got to steer the boat for a few minutes, which was about as long as I felt comfortable doing so. We went about 3 miles into the ocean before we turned around (in part because I got sea sick) and then watched the sun set from the river.

It was a pretty amazing experience--so romantic and was definitely the highlight of the trip for both of us!


Thursday was our last full day to enjoy so we spent all day soaking up the sunshine. We spent the morning at the pool and all afternoon at the beach. We took a banana boat ride out to a motor boat and then went parasailing.
Lifting off over the Atlantic Ocean
We were up around 300 feet over the ocean. It was surprisingly calm and very refreshing. Overall, it was an awesome experience and definitely the most adventurous thing Mike has ever done given his fear of heights.


On Friday morning we woke up early and watched the sunrise. It was the only clear morning the whole week we were there and I really wanted to see the sun rise over the beach. It worked out well because we then left at around 7 am and drove home.
Sun rising on the beach

Mike enjoying the view
View from our balcony
Good-bye Myrtle Beach!!
We had an amazing couple's retreat--we had a wonderful time and will cherish all the great memories!