Busy Summer!

Time flies when you're having fun - or in our case, travelling! This summer has found Matt and I going all over the place, as well as bringing two new members into our little family.

In June, Matt and I adopted a little Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix.  He's as cute as a button and his name is Guinness.  Matt rescued him off of a busy four lane street we live next to, after nearly running him over.  He brought the little guy home, and we began the process to locate an owner.  Things looked bleak, as he had no license, we didn't see posters, and had no luck with the pound.  He didn't look in great shape either, his fur was dirty and matted, he wasn't fixed, he was skinny and had this odd bump on his side.  We think he might have been abused, but anyway, he's got a loving home now! This picture on the left is after his first trip to the groomers!

Our second new addition is our growing baby! I'm about 9-1/2 weeks along now, so the baby's about the size of a quarter.  We are so excited to prepare to be parents!  We're moving this September to a two bedroom place, and I can't lie, I am VERY excited to start planning the baby's room!  He/She is due March 17th (St. Patrick's Day), so we definitely have plenty of time, but we just want to move before the holidays.  We also already have names picked.  If it's a boy, he will be Roy Matthew Ott, and if it's a girl, she will be Emily Candace Ott.

Midway through July we flew to Stockholm, Sweden, and then London.  We had this trip planned before we knew about the baby, otherwise we might have postponed it.  Travelling pregnant is really not that great, but thankfully I only felt queasy and never got sick.

Harbor in Stockholm, Sweden

Sweden was really amazing, the city we stayed in was very cute and the buildings were all old.  We went to a couple museums, ate out at some of the local restaurants, and walked everywhere!  Probably our favorite site there, was the Vasa Museum, where we saw a Swedish Viking ship that was hundreds of years old.  It had sunk on its maiden voyage, and 333 years later it was recovered and restored!

Vasa Museum

In front of Sweden's Royal Palace

After 3 days we took a plane to London, and spent another 3 days there.  We both enjoyed London a bit more, as we were more familiar with some of the famous sites to see.  We took the Tube everywhere (their name for the Metro), saw Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge and more!  Overall it was a once in a lifetime experience and we are so happy we were able to go!

Big Ben & Parliament

In front of Buckingham Palace

The beginning of August found Matt and I then travelling to Michigan to spend the weekend with his Aunt and Uncle.  It was my first time getting to meet them in person, and we really enjoyed our stay! The weather was really neat, and I got to see fireflies!  Les and Jackie showed us around their town, and gave us so much family history we had no idea about! For instance, Matthew has some Jewish heritage! And I saw old pictures of his grandma and grandpa (his father's parents), and now know exactly where he got his eyes, chin and eyebrows from!

Anyway, things are slowly winding down, and we're looking forward to settling into our new place and looking forward to all the wonderful times ahead! (oh yea, and today marks my 25th birthday!)