It's a BOY!!!

We are super excited to share that we found out that we are having a baby BOY!!!! He is healthy and everything is looking good! Today I am 20 weeks, so I am over the half way mark! And I honestly can't believe it! It is flying by! (I also can't believe Amy is due in a month and a half!!!!)
Thank you for voting on my poll, but it was WRONG!! :)
We plan on naming him, Benjamin William Ewert. Benjamin is a family name from both sides of Michael and my family's. Both my father and Michael's grandmother said that Benjamin was their favorite Grandpa. For various reasons we decided not to name Jonathan, Benjamin, but now it seems perfect. And as I am sure you all know, William is after my late father. I am so excited to have a house full of boys!! It will be gross and fun! :)

Here is the video during our sonogram today when we found out!

Jonathan was at his last day of school before the Christmas break during our appointment. I was so excited about telling him that I went and bought 12 Blue Balloons and surprised him and his class mates with them! He loved it!



One of Jonathan's best bud's. They were both pretty excited about the balloons!



Galveston! Part Five, Kemah

The last stop on our trip, we drove up the Bay about an hour to a little town called Kemah! If you have never been, than I hope you do now! About 7 or 8 years ago, Michael and I were heading down to Galveston for the 4th of July and we stopped at Kemah to meet Michael's brother James and his wife Debbie. I fell in love with the city the second we got there! Since then, Amy and Waylen have gone and loved it! Mom and Dad went too and loved it! After the 2008 Ike Hurricane, we were told that Kemah had been blown off the map completely. We were all sad and hoping that they would re-build! So, since we were down in that neck of the woods, I begged Michael to swing us by Kemah to see what it looked like! To our surprise, it had been re-built and looked better than ever! We ate lunch and then road the mini train. We will come back another trip to spend more time!

PS - this is the last 'Part' in the series!



Eating Ice Cream after lunch.





Kemah's big attraction is the Boardwalk. There are lots of restaurants and rides!




The Mini-Train that we rode!





That's a smoker from behind, Jonathan thought that was pretty cool! I posted this for you uncle Brian!!!





One tired little cowboy...we are heading home now!



Galveston! Part Four, The Ferry Boat Ride

The highlight of our trip was taking the Ferry across the bay to the Bolivar Peninsula! It was only an 18 minute adventure at sea (both ways) but I don't think any of us will forget it! Jonathan was so excited to be on the boat! We saw birds and dolphins!

I had never been on a Ferry boat before, so it was a first for me. I was a little freaked out about driving my new car on the boat and having it so close to all these big trucks, but it was okay in the end.

Once we got to the Bolivar Peninsula, we drove for miles just to check this out. It was actually kind of sad, there wasn't much of anything. Houses, but not many. I think we saw 2 gas stations, 1 very small no name grocery store and 1 bait store. No restaurants, not even fast food! Amy told me, after we got back, that the Bolivar Peninsula was one of the hardest hit places down there from Ike. So that explains why there was just nothing there!

We drove for a while more and decided to stop at Crystal Beach. It was a cool beach and we had lots of fun playing! I took some of my favorite photo's of the trip! Then we headed back! 



Driving onto the Ferry Boat!




Looking down on my car from the upper deck. Look, there is an 18 wheeler parked next to me! Scary!





Old War Ships



Ship Wreck

Another Ferry and a bunch of boats in the distance.

The Bolivar Light House



Dolphin!!!


 

King of the World!




Like father, like son!




It was a beautiful day! Sunny and 75, with a lot of wind!





We saw jelly fish washed up every few feet! Yucky!



Galveston! Part Three, The Birthday Celebrations!

We went to Galveston to celebrate Michael's Birthday! One of the reasons Michael and I keep coming back to Galveston is the good food! It did not disappoint this time! We ate at the Fisherman's Wharf, Shrimp and Stuff and Gaido's! All so good! I highly recommend! --- Happy Birthday Michael!!!!!



The Fisherman's Wharf. I surprised him by telling the waiter that it was his Birthday and the waiter brought him a very yummy pecan pie! Michael's Birthday Eve celebration!




At the Fisherman's Wharf. Jonathan LOVED being there and sitting by the water. One of my favorite Jonathan quotes from the trip...a boat had just gone by us and he yelled, "Turn around boat, I need to see your face!"




This boat, the Elissa is docked next to the restaurant. James, Michael's brother, worked on this boat one summer.




The family...looking a little tired...it had been a long day of driving!



One of the main reasons we came to Galveston, Gaido's! Amazing seafood! Michael had the sea scallops and I had the red snapper...Jonathan had a peanut butter sandwich! It was so yummy! 



B-Day Boy!



Galveston! Part Two, The Hotel

Michael and I have been to Galveston at least 4 or 5 times over the past 11 years and in all the times we have been there, we have NEVER liked the hotel we stayed in. The hotels along Seawall, the main street along the beach, are mostly older and haven't been updated in a while. They are musky and the carpet feels damp and gross. We haven't been staying cheap either. The last time we went we stayed at the Hilton and paid over $100 a night, but it was still gross feeling.

So this time, we decided to stay in downtown Galveston. We choose The Tremont House Hotel, a Wyndham property. The building is over 100 years old, but it has been recently updated. It is located one block from 'The Strand', where most of the downtown shops, restaurants and bars are located. And it is just 2 blocks from the Harbor. We walked down to the Strand both nights, it was so much fun!

We didn't have a single bad experience with the hotel, everyone bent over backwards to help us with every little thing. It was so nice. The only complaint I have is that it was a bit noisy. As ships would come into the harbor throughout the night, they would sound their horn! Yikes, that will make you jump out of bed! And there was also a couple of night clubs that I could hear the thumping of the music, which drove me a little crazy. Otherwise, totally awesome!



The outside of the hotel, on one of our night walks.




Jonathan loved our window. He was ALWAYS looking out and talking to the boats and telling us what was going on!




The View from our room.




The View



Our room



The Bathroom. Okay, it's weird to take a picture of the toilet, but I loved the tile in there and this was the only way I could get the whole wall!




Enjoying his morning milk.



He loved this mirror, if he wasn't looking out the window, he was looking in the mirror. He got a hold of daddy's sunglasses!



The Lobby




The Strand.




The Strand




A shop on the Stand that I have a really good memory of going with mom and dad on our trip 5 years ago.

 



Just for comparison...this was the first hotel we stayed in at Galveston. We thought it would be cool to stay in a hotel that was on a pier over the water...we were wrong. It was heavily damaged from Hurricane Ike, we assume it will be torn down.