Robert's Body Building Competition

After 6 months of intense weight lifting, waking up at 5 a.m. to run for an hour, eating practically nothing (1200 calories a day), all while dealing with realtors and brokers, shopping for appliances, appeasing his pregnant wife and of course working daily the body building competition arrived and HE DID AWESOME!!!!!

He competed in two different areas:

Novice (for those who have never one a competition) and the Open Class (for anyone regardless of experience or age).
He also had to do a 90 second choreographed muscle showing performance.
Choice of song: "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" by Offspring.
The audience loved his wit, facial expressions, and big muscles... yes I did hear other girls hootin' and hollering for him.

Back up girls, I'm 8 months pregnant!

(Layla was flexing too!)

He won second place in the Novice class and third place in the Open. Let me tell you... There were some big dudes out there. Competition was stiff! What an accomplishment!!!

Finally, real food!... it's not lettuce, tuna, or broccoli.. just the greasiest, fattiest, American meal he could find. He was in heaven! :)

Blueberry and Blackberry Picking

It's berry time!
Busted!

Lots to pick from

Me helping too! But it was HOT!!! So after about 30 minutes I sat in the shade and sipped water. Robert kept on picking berries as our bucket wasn't even 1/2 full. Needless to say, we came home with a new appreciation for high cost of berries at the grocery store.

Update on the Friedmans:

We're in the process of buying a home 2 miles from where my big brother and his family live. We are hoping to close by the end of the month! Meanwhile, every weekend we're out looking for appliances, furniture, home decorations etc., so once we do get into the house we'll have a bed to actually sleep in. :)

Robert is training for a body building competition that will take place in 3 weeks. His 5am runs, followed by a day of work, and then lifting at the gym, and helping his pregnant wife are really paying off. I'm just amazed at the discipline he has. He really looks amazing!
I'm planning on working up until Layla Jane comes or when my mom gets here in November. We're super excited for Layla Jane to arrive. She's moving around all the time and my belly is getting bigger and bigger.

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day!!! Unfortunately, in Virginia there are laws and limitations as to the fireworks that can be used. Furthermore, it's really hard to find fireworks in this state and I had to drive about 40 minutes to the NC border to get ourselves some sparklers and small fireworks to celebrate. Here is Madison starting off the light show.
Here is the family (check out Tia's growing belly) happily celebrating our day of Independence.

Behind Madison's head is Layla just brewin' and a stewin'. She's been kicking up a storm lately, and Tia even claims that she actually saw belly movement a la Aliens.

In order to accomodate the new member of our family, we bought a brand new car to bring her home. A 2010 Honda Accord which we absolutely love. I got a new car too! A 2002 Kia Spectra with working radio and door handles. Just 2 of the additional features that were not included in the Toyota Tercel. I would like to take this time to say good-bye to my car, which was donated to charity. She's in a better place now, and hopefully the charity will be able to benefit from her. She gave me 10 great years. Good Bye, WhiteHawk, you will be missed.

We made it to Virginia Beach

We have arrived here in Virginia after 3 long driving days. We are so thankful that our cars made it here without any problems and that we arrived safely. Thank you, God! The Horn family welcomed us into their home as this will now be our home too for the next month. Robert and I are a bit overwhelmed with so much going on: unpacking, looking for a home, finding and starting new jobs, finding new doctors, and very possibly buying a new car as Robert's really on its last legs.

On a fun note, it's great to be with family! Our nieces have changed so much in the 4 months we were in Texas. We're looking so forward to summer fun at the beach and pool and evenings of grilling and s'mores.

More fun news: This week, Layla Jane is the size of a mango.

Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas is very eclectic.

This man had to be over 60 and was playing a bunch of instruments in the heat and smiling and having a blast performing next to the strip of restaurants. Everyone was taking pictures with him so we thought we'd join and get into the spirit of Austin.
Flowers are in bloom and gorgeous!

The state capitol is behind us. We toured the large building and wish we had, once again, paid a little more attention in high school history when they taught the differences between the different legislative branches.... Hmmmm... maybe we just need to get internet on our cell phones and all questions will answered with a click of button ;-)

Take our poll and let us know if you think Baby Friedman is a boy or girl.

Answer will be posted on Wednesday after the doctor's appoinment.

Remember the Alamo!

We went to San Antonio for the weekend! This here is the Alamo. Unfortunately, we don't know our history too well, and for some ridiculous reason the audio tours were unavailable on a very busy Saturday, and there wasn't too much information posted on walls explaining what things were (like in a museum). All this to say that we walked around the Alamo for a good 45 minutes wondering what the heck the Alamo was. I finally got the skinny and then enjoyed myself a little more... Tia... well, let's just say the baby could care less what the Alamo was after 45 minutes. Quick History: Davy Crocket and other Americans and Texans were defending the Alamo against overwhelming numbers for 18 days before finally being taken over. They were defending Texas and its independence against Mexico. Although, most died, their courage and passion continue to be a integral part of the great American spirit. So, we struck back at Mexico and Santa Anna years later yelling "Remember the Alamo" as we defeated Mexico and took our soon-to-be-state.

Here is Tia hanging out where Davy Crocket used to hang. By the way, Davy Crocket was the one who said the famous words "You may all go to hell, I'm going to Texas".

We then took the boat tour around the San Antonio river named after St. Anthony the saint of lost items. The area is awesome. A bunch of restaurants decided to plant themselves on both sides of the river and then put tables on the river side. So, we got to sit (and I got to drink a little) and eat and enjoy the river and people watch. Very nice.

The Buckhorn Saloon was like the oldest saloon in TX (Buckhorn saloon may not have been the oldest saloon in TX). We really don't know too much about the history because we refused to shell out the ridiculous 18 bucks a head to check out this pretty cool albeit very cheesy museum. Either way, here I am next to ... um .... supermoosebuckelk? I don't know what that is.

For a museum which we didn't get into we sure got a lot of pictures for it. Here's the outside of the Buckhorn saloon. Here's Tia auditioning for the part of Buck"horn"...

Here's Tia looking like a million bucks and Robert looking like $47. Well, next to her, I'm happy to get up to 47 bucks. Anyway, we thought we'd enjoy going out and having a nice fancy dinner before the baby turns our world wonderfully upside down.

See what I mean? Right there by the river, people watching, eating, drinking(me: beer, Tia: sprite in a wine glass) and feeling great! We then walked around and enjoyed the nice San Antonio Riverwalk. We had a wonderful time.

We're EXPECTING!!!!!!

Baby Friedman is due November 4!!!

We are so excited to share with the world that we have a little one on the way! I am 12 weeks pregnant and feeling good. Compared to what I have read, I think I've been really lucky with minimal morning sickness, food aversions, food cravings, exhaustion and mood swings. Robert may have a different opinion ;) He's been an absolute sweetheart and 100% supportive as I change my mind a million times, tell him that yes I AM hungry but don't want anything thing he's offering thank you, cry at comedy shows, and keep stashes of Cheetos Twists in the house...we never buy chips... until now ;) It's been a whirl-wind of emotions and conversation and decision making have been in full-swing. After much chatting, praying, and area searching, we have decided to move back to Virginia Beach in June to "settle down" near my oldest brother and his family. There are still many things were trying to figure out but we're taking it step by step and trust me when I say that it IS and will be a memorable climb :)

P.S. We are hoping to find out if Baby Friedman will be a boy or a girl in June before we leave Texas. We'll let you know as soon as we find out! We can't wait!

Texas Tourism

Each weekend we try to see a little more of Houston. It's such a large city!

Here we went hiking and enjoyed the day at the park.
We went to a professional basketball game. Go Rockets! It was exciting.

We were impressed with the Houston zoo. It was a very large and clean.

Houston Rodeo

Love the new look?! Yeehaw!

The Houston Rodeo is one of the largest in the country.
It lasts for 2 weeks and is filled with Texan food, live concerts, a large carnival, livestock shows, and of course the rodeo shows. A whole another world for the us... but we looked the part so no one knew we were tourists. ;)

As we walked around there were cows everywhere!

It made me giggle that there were all these "prized" cows in a line with their derrières aimed at the pedestrian path... I quickly found the exit after this picture and decided I like the "cowgirl look" better than the actual cows.

Tia says, "Hunny, go stand next to that cow so I can get your picture and give me a cool cowboy look." Just as I clicked the picture the cow moved towards Robert and sneezed on him. Yuck!

I asked him to pose again since he was looking sideways. He's such a good sport! Even though I did get a good second picture, I thought this one portrayed our animal interactions and reactions a little better. Try as we may, as you can see, we so not real Texans!

Houston... We have the Friedmans

We went to the Space Center in Houston. We had a great time! There really was a lot to do there, and I think we took advantage of just about everything. This is just a control center so no rockets or space shuttles take off or land here, but they do have a training center here. And they also do other things, like make the food. Which is actually kind of silly since after they make the food they have to send it to Florida. What? They don't have kitchens in Florida? Here is a picture of the training center. The shuttle is a to scale model and this is where the astronauts spent a lot of hours going over the current mission.

Here we are in front of a poster showing footprints on the moon and some other stuff.

Here is Tia posing with Neil and Buzz (I'm totally guessing), and some other guy who didn't smile for the pictures, (someone was nervous).

Take a look at those thrusters! They actually don't look as big on the picture, but these things were like one or two stories each. There are five of these things on the rocket and it burns like 1000 gallons of gas a second (don't fact check these figures).

Here we are on the tram going to see the control center and the training center.

This is what I would've looked like if I had fullfilled my childhood dream of being an Astronaut. But persistent, I was not, as I learned that pilots have to have good vision, and since I wore glasses I gave up that dream faster than the White House killing Bush's challenge to go to Mars... that's right, I got political on you.

Texas

So, we finally make it to Texas, and, of course, what does Tia find?
You guessed it! The most flamboyant bull in the entirety of this huge state. So, here she is truly taking the "bull by the horns". There are actually three "horns" in this picture, can you find the third?

This is in the middle of the Medical Plaza. It's a beautiful area and if you're gonna be sick, this is the place to do it. From a distance it looks like downtown with all the buildings, but really it's a bunch of hospitals in the same place. If you don't like how you're treated, you can literally walk to across the street to a different hospital.

We decided to go for a walk in Memorial Park, (or Hermann Park, I can never remember which is which). It was a beautiful park to accentuate this great looking park. Here is a mini Washington Monument with a reflection pond to go with it.

In the park, here is the Japanese garden (actually just a bit of it). May I remind you, this is in the middle of the city? Incredibly serene and peaceful. There's a crane somewhere in the background there that wouldn't cooperate, despite my best efforts. We would've loved one of those crane pictures with its wings all spread ready for flight, instead it decided to step out of the shot.

That's the Medical Center in the background. Quite grandiose, don't you think? The Houston Zoo is on the left side of the picture, and out of the shot to the right is the Museum of Natural Science. We have to hit ALL that before venturing out of our immediate area... hopefully we can get it all done. Stay tuned.

New Orleans

Hooray! Out of the car and touring the famous Bourbon Street!

We thoroughly enjoyed the famous beignets. They really are as amazing as everyone said!

Robert's ready for Mardi Gras!

Drinking the infamous Hand Grenade! Wow! It's powerful!

Ha ha! Did you really think I could handle TWO Hurricanes at Pat O' Brians?! I don't think so!

What a trip! We left Virginia on a Sunday and drove in two separate cars 11 hours to our first stop, Jennine and Ryan's in Tennessee. Poor Robert was sick but Jennine and Ryan welcomed me with open arms and were armed with cold medicine and tissues for Robert. It was great seeing them!

Tuesday we were on the road again and took the 10 hour drive to New Orleans. We stayed there for two nights. The first night we had yummy New Orleans food, but were asleep by 10:30 because we were so exhausted from the drive. The next morning we toured the French Quarter, went to the Cocktail Museum, and enjoyed drinks on Bourbon Street. We had a blast in New Orleans and will definitely go back to visit.

Thursday morning we were awake early for our drive to Texas. After 7 hours of driving, we arrived at our apartment and unloaded our cars. Even though we were absolutely exhausted, our driving wasn't over. The next morning we drove 3 hours (together this time) to Austin, TX to see Joe, Lindsay, and Grayson because they were in TX for a 1/2 marathon. We HAD to see them. They were too close not to. While in Austin, we enjoyed our time together and went to our first true Tex Mex resteraunt here in Texas. Sooo good! Saturday we drove back and of course on Sunday we prepared for work on Monday morning.

Whew!