Strong Museum

Strong Museum

July 4th we had great plans to take the kids to some nice parks around here and just spend the day outside together. Then it rained and was crappy ALL day so we needed a new plan. If we stayed home it would be the same old thing as every other day. We decided to try out the Strong National Museum of Play. We have heard all kinds of things so we thought we would go there for an hour or so. We ended up coming home about 5 hours later! There is so much there to see and do for kids of all ages. Even Wilmer and I were looking at some of the display cases they have and saying "Oh I remember that game- I had one- I remember that doll/toy.." That was scary- does that mean we are old?!! There was even a lunchbox there that I still have at home! There were all kinds of hands on exhibits for both Aaron and Tyler to do. There was an indoor train ride. Aaron wasn't sure he wanted to ride on it, so I took Tyler. Of course then he wanted Daddy to take him! There were mazes for Tyler to crawl/walk thru. There were cars for Aaron to drive and play with. There is even a miniature Wegmans with working scanners and registers and receipts!! (Aaron was not impressed by this but Mommy was.) I can't believe how many things there were to do. No wonder people say you can spend all day there. It was fun! If you are ever in Rochester, especially if you have kids, you need to visit this place. It is great! Click on the picture to see more and videos too!

New House

Evergreen Dr

We bought this house the last day of May. We have been trying to get it since February. Wilmer saw it on foreclosure.com the day it came out. When he contacted the bank, they gave us the combo for the lockbox and said to feel free to go in and look around. So we did and we took a lot of other people to look too. It was a beautiful house. We had planned on trying to get the house to flip but when we looked around, we thought maybe we could keep it. It is a 4 bedroom house with 2.5 baths. The master bedroom is huge and has its own bathroom and walk-in closet. There is a formal dining room and formal living room, eat-in kitchen, family room with fireplace, first floor laundry room, HUGE full basement, and a back deck with a pool. Oh, and there is an in-law apartment. The house is gorgeous. If you click on the picture, you can see a lot of pictures before and after. Anyway, we started to negotiate with the bank and couldn't reach an agreement by the end of March so we told them we had to let it go cuz they wanted too much. We kept praying about it and in the beginning of May, the bank called us back to negotiate some more. They finally dropped to what we wanted and so we closed on it May 31, 2007. We began repairs right away and had our first open house to try to sell it on July 1. We have been going back and forth about whether to keep it or sell it. We have the potential to make enough money on it to get ourselves out of debt and breathe a little easier as far as bills. At this point we believe God is leading to try to sell. We are still open to move in but we have both reached the point where if we have to stay in our little house for a while longer, it will be ok. Eventually we will find the right house to move in. Anyway, when this sells, it will be our 2nd flip so that is exciting for us and especially for Wilmer, who is dying to get away from the call center!

Family Update

Tyler- Monthly Photos

Tyler is almost 8 months! I can't believe how time is flying by. He is intent on learning to walk. He will stand for a few minutes alone and he walks with a push walker. He loves being able to be do more with Aaron and Daddy. He has 6 teeth now and loves to use them. He is still not sleeping thru the night consistently. The past 2 nights he has slept until about 5am. So maybe he is finally starting to realize that Mommy needs sleep too! =) He is so mobile but not really interested in vocabulary yet. I try to get him to say mama or dada and he just starts to giggle. Then Aaron joins in the giggling and it's hopeless to get him to say anything! Tyler loves swimming. The temp of the water doesn't matter he just wants to be in the water.

Aaron is getting big too. I can't believe how much he can do and understand now. His vocabulary is just so extensive now and those of you who think he is quiet...yeah I don't think so! He plays with his brother only if no one else is around. When someone else is here he has to show off by beating up on him. For the most part, he's pretty good except for the terrible two thing! =) As for swimming, he's like his daddy, water has to be just right! But he would prefer to swim where he can touch the bottom.

My mom, Heather, and I went to Wisconsin in June to a reunion for our school from Papua New Guinea. (To see pics of the reunion and mumu go to www.zhzellers.blogspot.com my sister's website.) We camped out in a tent for 2 nights. We also travelled the 13 hours during the night so the boys would sleep. It was quite the adventure. And the nights were FREEZING!!! So it was nice to get home so we could actually get some sleep. The boys were pretty good travelling for that long. I was surprised but thankful.

Click on the pic above to go to the web album to see some new pics of Aaron and Tyler.