The Kriz Family

We celebrated Lukas’ second birthday this weekend. He sure had a lot of fun. All the grandparents were here, Maria and Marcos and Derrick too. And Kevin and Erin came by after their long drive from DC (the birthday boy was in bed already, but we were still really glad they could come). It was a really special day for Lukas, he was the center of attention and just ate it up.

So here are some highlights from the weekend…

The grandparents were all in the kitchen, and of course Lukas had to be in on the action

Lukas had a tiger hat (to go with his tiger cake) – he wore it for all of 30 seconds

Starting out his fleet of vehicles, we have a Big Wheel (yes, the Original Big Wheel, the same one you probably had when you were growing up!), from Grandma and Crapaw Kriz, and the Cozy Coupe from Granny and Opas. (That little car has been in production for 30 years this year, and actually was the best-selling “car” in America in 2008!)

Derrick got Lukas a basketball hoop (with breakaway rim no less!). Crapaw Kriz and Uncle D put it together, and then we all shot around. Is that MJ dunking?

The next day, Lukas got to play with some of his toys. First we have a really cool Indiana Jones “Taters of the Lost Ark” Mr. Potato Head (or “Table Head”, as our son says…) from Kevin and Erin. When you press his hat, it plays the theme song. This is a big hit. Anything that makes noise…

Next is a Disney Mickey Mouse fire engine from Gladys and Tony. Also a big hit, as it makes LOTS of great noises. This one was also a hit because it required no assembly, which meant Lukas got to play on his new car, and Dad actually got to relax on Father’s Day

Here’s Marcos assembling the “Strider Running Bike” that he and Maria got Lukas.  It’s a bike without pedals, that’s supposed to help kids learn balance, etc, so they can ride a bike without training wheels.  Cool idea!  (Notice Lukas “helping” with the assembly – he’s got a frog horn that attaches to the handlebars).

Maria is helping him out on his first ride – he did pretty good!

And these are the next day – we decided to give the bike a try outside. What do you think of his helmet? Luckily we already had this from when we did the “Ride Cincinnati” bike ride last year.

My dear Heidi gave me a coupon for part of my Christmas present last year. It was redeemable for one weekend camping trip (I haven’t been backpacking since just before Lukas was born). So I redeemed this coupon over Memorial Day Weekend this year. Derrick, Kevin and I went to the Smokies for the weekend and got to be one with nature again. I have to say, I really miss “the great outdoors”, and it was a great trip, but it was bittersweet, since I was away from Heidi and Lukas all weekend.

So what did this trip consist of? Here’s a journal to the best of my recollection.

Saturday, May 23, 09:30
Pack up our gear into Derrick’s Jeep, and get on the road. We were heading to the Abrams Creek trail, which is at the western edge of the Smokies in Tennessee. It should be about a 5-6 hour trip, but with lunch stops, etc, we didn’t arrive at the ranger station til about 17:30.

Saturday, May 23, 17:30
We arrive at the ranger station, fill out the checkin form (in case we get lost in the woods, someone will know we’re out there…), cinch up our gear, strap on our packs, and start hiking. Since it was a little late, we thought we’d only hike in a mile or so and stop at the first backcountry site (site #1, ironically…). This “backcountry” site was just under a mile away from the actual campground, and you were still hiking along a gravel road, so it didn’t really have that backcountry feel. We decided to keep going.

Saturday, May 23, 19:00
After a total of about 3 miles of hiking, we arrived at the next backcountry site (you’re thinking #2, but hah! it is actually #17). This is where were were going to set up for the night. I immediately scoped out the trees I wanted for my hammock, but I looked over and Derrick and Kevin are cracking open beers. They each lugged in a not-insignificant number of cans of brew, so I felt obligated to at least help them drink them so they wouldn’t have to carry them anymore.

Saturday, May 23, 20:00
After several beers each, we decide to set up camp, forage for dry wood, and spark up a campfire. Luckily there was plenty of wood around, and even with all the rain they’d had in recent weeks, it was all dry and lit right up.

Saturday, May 23, 21:00
We’re all cooking our dinner (we each brought enough food for all 3 of us, by the way…), drinking some beers, and enjoying being in the woods. Let me tell you, it is such a great feeling to be sitting around a fire in the middle of nowhere, cooking some just-add-water meal on a camp stove, wondering what tomorrow will bring. Being Memorial Day Weekend and all, there were several other campers around, but the area is so huge, you feel like you are all alone. (I really missed being out there with Heidi, maybe in 5 or 6 years we can take Lukas on some overnight trips in the backcountry).

Saturday, May 23, 22:00
I was beat. I mean completely wiped out. I was up pretty late Friday night packing, etc, and out wakeup time even on weekends is 6 or 6:30, so 10pm was LATE. I went to bed. Or I guess I should say, I went to hammock. Apparently I was snoring like crazy, at least that’s what Kevin and Derrick tell me. Luckily we were near a stream, so it drowned out my noise.

Sunday, May 24, 09:00
Apparently we were all beat. We didn’t get up til 9:00 – normally, we’re breaking camp by that point. So we made some breakfast, got a little fire going to burn up some trash, and planned the day. Derrick wanted to do some fly fishing, so Kevin and I messed around with the fire for an hour or so.

Sunday, May 24, 11:30
We ate lunch, then got on the trail for a day hike to Abrams Falls. It was about 3 miles from our campsite, but with elevation changes, it took over an hour to get there. It was well worth the hike!

Sunday, May 24, 14:00
Arrival at the falls. What a sight – the falls itself was beautiful, and there was a huge pool at the bottom that was very refreshing. Derrick and Kevin swam in the pool, and up to the falls (wisely, they turned away once they felt the current sucking them closer…) I did not go in the water. Unwisely, I did not bring a change of shorts, and the hike back to camp with wet shorts did not appeal to me.

Sunday, May 24, 15:15
Leaving the falls to head back to camp. We got back to camp in less than an hour. I guess the water was rejuvenating, though Kevin and Derrick did say they were tired from having to swim away from the falls when the current was sucking them in. Imagine that…

Sunday, May 24, 16:15
Packing up camp. We wanted to have a short hike out on Monday (looking forward to steaks for lunch at Patrick Sullivan’s), so we decided to pack it up, hike to campsite #1, and set up there for the night. That would leave us a short mile or so hike back out in the morning.

Sunday, May 24, 17:15
After an hour or so of hiking, we arrived at campsite #1. We promptly set up camp and gathered some firewood. Luckily we were on top of this, since it started raining later on. We managed to get a great fire going and had no trouble keeping it going even with the rain.

Sunday, May 24, 22:30
After eating dinner, drinking a box of wine, and stoking the fire, we hit the sack. The rain is always kind of soothing, especially when you don’t get wet in your hammock.

Monday, May 25, 07:30
Early risers today. We were really looking forward to those steaks at Patrick Sullivan’s. We made breakfast, broke camp, and started our mile hike back to the car by 08:30.

Monday, May 25, 09:00
Back to the trailhead. We wanted to clean up a bit, so we all jumped in the (very cold) river near the car. This was not only refreshing, but it helped make the car ride home much less pungent. Now all we can think about is getting packed up and heading out so we can get to Knoxville and get some steaks at PAtrick Sullivan’s. We’re a little early, but we figured they would be open by 11:00, which is about when we would arrive.

Monday, May 25, 11:00
Disaster. Patrick Sullivan’s is CLOSED! We were either too early, or they just weren’t open at all on Memorial Day. Either way, we were devastated. Part of the whole Smokies camping experience is having a peppercorn steak and a frosty brew at Patrick Sullivan’s. Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!

Monday, May 25, 11:30
We settled on O’Charley’s outside of Knoxville. It is not quite the same as Pat’s, but it was a good meal after days of freeze-dried food.

Monday, May 25, 16:30
Arrival back in Cincinnati. It was a great trip, and I definitely need to go again, since I missed out on Pat’s. But it is really good to be home too. It is amazing how attached you get to your wife and kid… Thanks for the “ticket” for the weekend Heidi! And Kevin and Derrick, thanks for sharing another memorable trip with me!

You can check out the photos from our trip if you are so inclined.

Lukas loves his dog Boone. I mean, he tries to hug him all the time, he’ll throw his toys to him (especially his stuffed sheep), and crack up when Boone pounces on it, he even has to make sure to say “night night” to him before he goes to bed. It’s really sweet. Those two are going to be great pals. Here are a couple photos of Lukas (really classy ones in his underwear…) and Boone.

And another thing Lukas really loves is water. When he goes to Granny’s, he gets to take cups of water and basically dump them everywhere. He doesn’t get to do that at home. That’s how it’s supposed to be, right? Anyway, now that the weather is warmer, we’ve been spending more time outside, and we can let him play with water outside. Here are a couple shots of our (soaking wet) son playing with the pail that Grandma and Grandpa gave him.

One last thing Lukas loves is to imitate anything you say. This is better captured on video, but since I didn’t have the camcorder out, this photo will have to do. This is our son yelling “James!” at the top of his lungs. He heard Heidi yell for me, and decided to try it too. He had to yell really loud to try and drown out the lawnmower running in the background.

There are a lot more things he loves – peas, Goldfish, Thomas (the train), George (the curious monkey), and on and on. These are just a few of the things we have photos for. He sure loves Mommy and Daddy too, and that’s what really makes you realize that even though raising a child is a LOT of work, it has so many rewards and is so definitely worth it. We love you Lukas!

Today I was having some trouble with our desktop computer (running Windows XP, of course…), and ended up getting some advice from my almost-two-year-old son on how to fix it.

“Reboot”, he says – and sure enough, it worked, the computer is running fine now.  He’s learning this stuff early… 

We had a nice little Easter celebration with our family today. We went to church this morning (that only lasted about 45 minutes before Lukas was ready to go…), and went to Granny and Opa’s house for the lunch and the Easter Egg Hunt. Our boy was more interested in collecting eggs this year, but still was easily distracted, especially by his cousin “Okie”. Times like these make us realize how fast Lukas is growing up. Last year, he really didn’t care much about the eggs, we were just dropping them in his little turtle basket for the heck of it. This year, he was running around, picking them up, chasing the kids, and generally enjoying himself. Before you know it, he’ll be going off to college – at Miami U, of course… – and moving out.

Here we are in the morning – Lukas spotted his Easter baskets (one from us, one from Grandma and Grandpa Kriz) on the way into the kitchen for breakfast…

At Granny & Opa’s house – Lukas, Okie, and Irving

Eating a banana. Why are we taking pictures of this, you ask. We just recently found out that Lukas likes to eat bananas, and he doesn’t want them cut up anymore, he likes to eat them like a big boy. He has some trouble peeling them, but he’ll gobble up the whole thing with some help.

Collecting some eggs

Granny is pointing one out (this was during a distracted moment…)

This one is the best – everybody has their cameras out taking the same pictures of a little boy collecting Easter Eggs