Christmas 2009

Carys got a lot of wonderful presents this year. Thanks everyone!! We gave up on taking pictures without backup camera, Aunt Desi got plenty of photos once we got to my parents to open the rest of the presents. Here are a few from when she finally woke up (9am) Christmas morning and found the new kitchen Santa had brought her. She's been busy making us meals all week.

My Oggie Boggie is 2

My baby is no longer a baby. While everyone was here for Kim's baby shower earlier this month we threw Carys a Sesame Street birthday breakfast. The pancake cake was a big hit.

Sick, Sick and Did I Mention Sick? Oh, and a Funny Video.

So, since Thanksgiving I've been sick three times, once with the flu. Carys has been sick three times, thankfully she didn't get the flu, and Sean's gotten sick twice. In between illness and work we've had family visit (Carys had lots of fun with cousins Artie and Keaton), Aunt Kim's baby shower, Carys 2nd birthday party, Aunt Desi's graduation from Texas A&M, emergency doggy dental surgery and Christmas. There hasn't been any time to do anything, let alone update a blog.
Carys had a great Christmas and got tons of toys. I, on the other hand woke up with a fever and spent the entire day on my parent's couch. Oh, and I also lost the camera days before Christmas and only found it yesterday. Good thing I held on to the old one so we've got a few pictures. I'm hoping to get those uploaded soon...

Anywho, here's a funny video of Carys and Keaton knocking each other over, classic toddler video. Of course I'm the bad mommy getting a good chuckle instead of running to the aid of my baby. They were both fine, just few tears.

Santa Visit

This year's visit with Santa went so, so. While there weren't any tears she really didn't want to sit with him... until she saw his stuffed dog. Then he was okay but we still couldn't get her to smile. This is the best we could get.

Trick or Treat

Here are some pictures from the big night. We made it about half way around the block before she didn’t want to walk anymore. Next year we’re bringing the wagon. She wasn’t really interested in all the candy but she had to pet every dog she saw. After making the door to door rounds we grabbed our chair and headed across the street to sit with our neighbors and pass out candy.

And they're off!

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Super dog! Cedar, Desiree's new puppy, was dressed as Snow White until her skirt ripped

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Hanging out with Maggie and Nick

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Carys and our neighbor Nancy

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Chillin' after a hard nights work

Cabela's

Last Saturday we spent the day with Uncle Brian and Aunt Kim. Here are some pictures from our trip to Cabela's. Cary loved the all the fish, turtles and the animal displays, especially the giant elephant. We also could get her away from the giant plane hanging from the ceiling.

Halloween at American Airlines

Sorry these are so late. Busy, busy this past week.

These are from Carys' vist to work last Friday.

Pumpkin Time

Last Saturday was a great day for carving pumpkins. Sadly, the newly carved pumpkin met it's demise shortly after the last photo.

Makin' Brownies

Pink Poodle

Here's my cuddly pink poodle

Texas State Fair

Yesterday Sean and Carys went to the Texas State Fair. Carys worked on a farm feeding chickens, collecting eggs, watering a tree, picking peaches, milking a cow and driving a tractor. For all her hard work she was paid $1 and got to buy something from the store, she choose peanut butter crackers. She won her first stuff animal selecting a winning rubber ducky from the pond. She also got a pet and feed a bunch of animals.

Waiting for the train.

Big Tex



Working on the farm.


Feeding a camel and some animal that's apparently not a cow.

Hawaii Video Overload

I finally got the chance to go through the bazillion videos from our Hawaii trip. Sorry in advance about the wind in some.

A quick video to show you some of the terrain on the Big Island.

Like I said before Carys just jumped in the water. In this video she saw a man swimming and wanted to try it too.

Here we are at the black sand beach during our drive around the island. We just stopped to stretch our legs. Lesson learned, anytime your kid is near water put their bathing suit on, especially if they're already wearing their backup change of clothes. She rode the rest of the way back in her t-shirt and Pull Up.

During the last hour and half or so of the drive Carys was done. She was really tired but wouldn’t fall asleep. There were many requests for “out” but this one was the funniest.

Hawaii 2009

Our trip to the Big Island of Hawaii over Labor Day weekend was a blast! Carys took right to the ocean this time and you couldn’t get her out. She kept her balance really well in the waves right from the get go and even tried swimming. Once again, sand was a big hit. We did A LOT of driving, including an all day trip around the island, and she did great. Only one major melt down at the end of the long island loop day that we have some funny video of that I’ll post later. Here are a few pictures from the trip. We’ve got a lot of video and once I get through looking at them all I’ll add a few clips.

A feral cat colony outside our balcony. We learned that the hotel has about 100 wild cats in several different colonies and that about 90% of them now are now fixed. The kittens get adopted out when the can find them. Every morning we had to look for the "moews" and they were by far her favorite thing at the hotel. Although, she was always a little disappointed when she would “call” (patting her hand on the ground or clapping) for them to come over to her and they wouldn’t.

An Irish restaurant/pub a block from the ocean, hence “Almost By The Sea”

The Waipi'o Valley

Once the home to many of the rulers of Hawaii.

A stop for lunch at Ken's House of Pancakes in Hilo during our unintentional trip around the island. We had only planned to go to Waimea for lunch but ended up being way too early (I had no idea it was so close to Kailua-Kona). We went on to the Waipi’o Valley but were still to early for lunch and decided to keep driving. Once you hit Hilo you’re at the halfway mark and it’s a little bit faster if you just keep going instead of turning around. Ken’s has been opened since the early 70’s and I’m sure has never seen any updating. I think our waitress had been working there since they opened. Carys is pouring coconut syrup, I think there was also mango. Sean had coconut pancakes, coconut inside, topped with coconut and served with coconut syrup. He said it's better than anything he's ever had at IHOP.

We stopped at this amazing black sand beach totally by chance. We were surprised how soft the sand is, by far the favorite beach we visited. The waves were a little rough, and I didn’t anticipate us getting in but Carys had other ideas.