"Basket World"

We concluded our weekend with a stop at what Travis calls "Basket World". It was really the Longaberg Homestead in the Dresden Ohio area.





We started by touring some shops and the Crawford Barn. The "barn" has discounted merchandise from the homestead and a little cafeteria restaurant. We had lunch there.




We then took a shuttle to the actual factory. The factory was closed and we were short on time, but we were able to go to the factory store..

We found a "seconds" section of the factory where we found lots of baskets at a reduced price. I kept filling the cart with "possibilities". Travis was a good sport!


On the way to the hotel for Saturday night we drove past the corporate office. It is shaped in the form of a HUGE basket. It was really cool watching it come over the horizon.

Pictures from this weekend

The Pez weekend was a lot of fun!
We started the weekend pulling into the hotel at 1:15AM! Long Drive....

The next morning we got our registration packets and began room hopping!


The first night's PEZ purchases tucked safely into bed!


On Friday night we also played a game called Diceamania. It is similar to Bunko. Both Travis and I stunk...we didn't win once. The goal is to try to get the highest number....the winners were winning with 30's, and some 40's. I think Travis and I scored 3,4, and 5's all night.


The next morning was the actual Pez show and sale. We had a few things left to hunt for and had a great time looking (oogling) over everyone's stuff!


Travis looking for some final buys and the two of us by a fun PEZ umbrella.

Travis took this video from inside the Pez convention. When you see me make a silly face, it's because I backed into a woman and stepped on her toe. Oops!

We had a great time and can't wait to go again another time!

Hello from Pezamania!

Hello from Pezamania in Cleveland Ohio! Travis and I arrived safely yesterday after a LONG 10 hour car ride. The ride wasn't bad until the last hour. Which happened to be at 12:30AM today! We left Galesburg at 2:23PM and between my mandatory hour bathroom/walk breaks and dinner breaks and a short getting lost period in Gary Indiana due to construction we finally arrived here at 12:30AM....but.....it was 1:30 here! Yep, there is an hour time change.

Today we slept in, got registered and did some room hopping. Room hopping is when you "hop" from hotel room to hotel room to see what the vendors have before they have their big show on Saturday. Travis was very pleased with what he saw and was able to cross several things off his wish list. Today he got Roar the Lion, the Giraffe, Pony, Cockatoo, Cat with Derby, Duck with a flower. All of these are vintage rare PEZ. We also added an older Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy as well as the new Ava, Wall-E, Melman, Skipper the Penguin.

Travis' quote of the day was "GEEZ, I think I'm a real collector now!"

Tonight we went out to eat and then came back to the hotel to play a dice game included in the registration fee. It was fun....went on too long, but fun. We didn't win. I played that game about as well as I play Yahtzee! I stink! After the game we room hopped some more to make sure we didn't miss anything.

Right now Travis is making out a final wish list for the actual "show" tomorrow morning. Because we are convention attendees we get to go an hour earlier than the general public.
We are looking for: a PEZ gun, Elephant, Dalmatian, an old Donald Duck, a monkey with a ball cap, and a long faced clown....along with about a page of other "wishes"

This has been the biggest convention we've been to yet. We've seen some familiar faces from previous conventions and met some new friends. Several people have been asking about "the baby" and making guesses as to if it's a boy/girl. One guy even tried to give us naming advice!

The plan is to leave here tomorrow around noon and head south to the Longaberger factory and homestead. I am SUPER pumped about THAT! We'll only have about 4-5 hours before the homestead closes but I'm sure I'll be able to find something..................

We're spending the night at the Longaberger hotel tomorrow night and heading back first thing Sunday.....as long as there isn't something I just have to go back for. :)

The good news is the ride back is only supposed to be 7.5 hours so we should be able to make it back in 9 with all the pit stops we have to make.

I'll post pictures when we get home. Here are some links to what we've been doing though if you're interested:
www.pezamania.com
www.longaberger.com/homestead.aspx

Trav-RAV

We bought a new car. A new new car! Travis and I decided we needed a safer family friendly vehicle and during a toss up, the neon won the contest to go to a new home. We traded the neon for a Toyota RAV 4. We LOVE it. We got it Saturday night at 5PM. This is the first new new car that Travis and I have ever had. It's pretty cool!

Good Bye Neon! It was a really good car that served it's purpose.

Hello RAV 4! Travis starting it up for the first time.

6 whole miles on the odometer! WOWIE WOW WOW!

On the road for the first time!

The Trav-RAV!

Non-Stress Tests

Ok, I'm warning you I have some REALLY bad stretch marks. I am going to humiliate myself and show you, not by choice, below. If you are grossed out by ugly, ugly stretch marks I would skip this entry. Seriously.

Today I started my twice weekly non-stress test. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was no big deal, and kind of interesting. I go into this private room, sit in a recliner and get 2 probes strapped to my belly. The top probe measures contractions, the bottom probe measures the baby's heart beat. I hold a push buzzer that I push every time I feel the baby move. The goal is for the baby's heart beat to go up after each movement.

The top line sows the baby's heart rate the middle line with vertical arrows is each time I felt the baby move and the bottom line is contractions...I had none, thank goodness!

The yellow number is the baby's heart rate, on the top is where it averaged most of the time. On the bottom is after a really big kick.

OK, now is the last chance to click out of this to pass on the stretch mark pictures....

This is the top probe, the contraction probe

This is both probes attached to my belly of which will never be the same. Those are horrendous marks! Geeze!

Full swing baby mode

Tonight we started birthing classes at the hospital and for once we are not the procrastinators! We had the latest due date of September 15! One couple was due JULY 15th! I don't think they'll make all 4 sessions.

There are 3 couples in our group and both Travis and I found the information given tonight helpful and useful. Next week we will miss "class" due to prior engagements (more on that later), but will be able to view the birthing video at another time.

The class runs from 7-9PM on Thursday's throughout July. I am excited to get to tour the birthing unit. Travis is excited to get more information on what to expect when the time comes.

Tonight there were several instances where we couldn't look at each other in fear of laughing at an inside piece of information. I hope that doesn't continue to happen.....that would be embarrassing.

Today we also started to strip wallpaper in the office. It went MUCH easier because our friends the Kleine's offered us their wallpaper steamer. It was a breeze! I am thankful to have them for friends!

Another new development in preparation for the baby is where I'm writing this blog right now. We have moved the computer from the "office/nursery" to our bedroom. We purchased a really cute desk from Target and this afternoon Travis built the desk, reran the cable cord for the Internet and move the computer in addition to helping strip wallpaper.

Ahhhh.....we are for sure in full baby mode now!
More updates soon!

Office to Nursery

Today I am 30 weeks pregnant! Wow, this summer is going fast! We have decided to finally begin the transformation from office (which we love) to a nursery. We'll keep you updated on the progress. I'm hoping it goes quickly, and so far it has.

These are pictures from before:

The PEZ.

The build in bookshelf Travis and his dad built

The west wall, Misty's books, a small baby collection and the closet

rocker/recliner that will stay in baby room

The computer wall.

Travis taking down the PEZ. Neatly organized PEZ in a bucket. We're going to try to fit the PEZ into our bedroom corner so the curio cabinet doesn't have to go down the basement steps or up the attic steps.

Travis' dad is coming this weekend to help move some furniture around. The project is coming along. Tomorrow we plan to take down the fishing "decor" and maybe start stripping wallpaper. This project might be one of the smoother one's we've taken on....MIGHT is the key word here.

Ozarks 2009

This year the Vancil family went to Lake of the Ozarks again for a large family vacation. This year was special for several reasons. First, it was a celebration trip. My dad is officially retired from 38 years working at Case Corp. Second, it was the last trip we would take as a family with out a little one around.
Travis and I were only able to stay the weekend due to work obligations aka Summer School. However, the rest of the family is still enjoying the sun and water of the Lake.
We left Friday morning around 7AM and spend Friday lounging around the lake. Dad took us all out to dinner Friday night to a place called "The Happy Fisherman's". We all enjoyed our food.

After dinner Travis and I hit up a putt-putt place down in a gully hidden in the trees. It was cool. They had fans blowing and it was really cleverly decorated. We had a great time!

Unfortunately Saturday the 4th was a wash out, cloudy and rainy. Travis and I went to a large outlet mall. We could have stayed all day it was 3 levels, however, we did the entire mall in 2.5 hours. WHEW! This pregnant woman was tired!

When we got back to the condo we were blessed with about 5 hours of sunshine pool time. We enjoyed hanging out with mom, dad, Justin and Jane. I love extended family vacations!

The rain held off until the first firework went off around 9PM. We ended up with a large thunderstorm that drove us away from the open water of the lake/pool, and back to the condo to sit on the covered deck and just watch the rain and all the boats that were on the lake come flying back in.

Sunday wasn't much better, cold, cloudy and breezy. We rented a boat for the afternoon and took a boat ride with sweatshirts, towels covering our legs and hoods on. We had a hard time believing it was July 5th! Mom has a picture of that so when she gets home I'll post it.

We had a great time and wish we could have stayed longer. Almost as soon as we pulled out of town on Sunday night around 5:30 the sun came out! Go Figure! :)

We had a great time and hopefully will get to go again someday!