Time with Family and Friends

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Yesterday we had a wonderful visit by Grammy, Kurt, Cherie, Harper, and lil' Vaughn. It was a little after Christmas, Christmas and a great meal. It's always fun to see the kids getting together and playing. They're a great group of cousins.
Pictures of the kids from the day.

Then the kids took off for Christmas with their father, and Robin and I went out to meet her friends Skye & James. I've seen James play one other time, but hadn't met Skye. They live in Australia and he gets the band back together when ever he's home. It was a great night with great friends.

Now, the 26th will also be known as the three shovel day, and I thought it was over when we went out for the night, but we woke up to a couple new inches of snow and it was coming down again. The best part.... we're going no where all day long! Might be hard to go back to work tomorrow though. Here are a couple pictures from this morning and keep in mind at midnight last night the drive way was clear.

Christmas Day Pictures

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Last post of the Christmas day frenzy of catching up on things.

This was the scene this morning in the living room. As you can tell, Santa was good to everyone involved. Even Nuts dove into the pile with his christmas treat in his mouth that made it look like he had a smile on his face.

Here are the pictures.

Also, a link to the our formal pictures shown down below. This will jump you down to that post.

Thanksgiving Cruise

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This one deserved a post of it's own.

Dar, Mom, Robin & I took a little four day get-away for Thanksgiving weekend. It was a great to spend some time away and to just be away for a minute. Trip seemed quick, but was still good. We did make some new friends with our table mates for dinner and another couple we met out on the sun deck each day.

Here are some pictures from our camera.

Also, a first for all four of us, we swam with dolphins. The unanimous highlight of trip for all involved. Here are the pictures from that.

Christmas Traditions

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Just wanted to share one touching moment. Between this year and last, Jillian and I have formed a new tradition where she helps me create the gift bags for my team at work, including a personalized Merry Christmas from her to each person. She also helps me do the final assembly. It's been quite nice, and this year I snapped this shot.

Merry Christmas!!

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It's that magical time of year, where I say, "Shoot (or something like that), we haven't put up any pictures of all the fun school and sport activities that have had us running around crazy the last three months."

Some things might be out of order, but I'm going to start with some shots from the Christmas Card photo shoot. Look close, some of you might recognize the "studio." The picture we used for our card is at the bottom. Also, from that, we've made the first ever update to the blog's banner - about time, right?

Saga of an Easter Picture

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We just wanted to take one nice picture (which we did)...



But then Peanut felt left out...



And gave everyone a good laugh...



So we went ahead an included them:




Here are some other pictures of the kid in their outfits too.

Christmas Cruise!!!! :o)

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Last post about 2008, and it's a great one!

As we didn't have the kids for Christmas week this year, we jetted off for some fun in the sun! After we finally relaxed from our travel (see post below), it was an absolutely amazing week. I'll give my run down, Robin may add more later. Use the links to see day by day pictures.

The first afternoon & evening were really spent getting aquatinted with our surroundings for the week, meeting our great waiter team, and settling in. Here are some pictures of us on day one and the lido deck as said good bye to Miami.

Our first full day was a day at sea. We didn't carry the camera for all of our basking in the sun, we did capture an amazing sun set over the water. That night also included our first formal dinner, which a minor time change almost caused me to cause us to miss. I would have never lived that down. My good friend, our waiter, Homer, saved the day, double lobster for anyone an hour late he said!

Day three brought us to an evening visit to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I haven't seen many cruise stops that dock at 5pm, but we did. It was fun too. While we may have turned in a bit early, we saw the area, found a great little restaurant, and did a little bit of shopping. The Bacardi tour we hoped to take didn't fill up, but the bright side is that gave us time to see the city and a reason to go back!


Fourth day and stop two was spent in St. Thomas. Beautiful area, and another that we put on the map for a potential return visit!. Intermixed in these pictures you will find pictures we took while para-sailing, some taken of us by the boat operators, and some that the para-sailing company preloaded for us from the island. Again, we shopped a bit and walked the main street area. Great story about having lunch with a young lady born and raised there, and meeting the most known officer in all of St. Thomas! Ask us sometime. You may also see a picture of us at www.coconutsvi.com, that was where lunch was. Also in the pictures of St. Thomas, you'll find Robin's next purchase, the yacht with that isn't complete without the hela-pad!

Day five, known throughout the rest of the world as Christmas Day. We docked at St. Martin, made a bee line for a beach we knew was close to the dock, and sat there all day. Spending a day like that doesn't really feel like Christmas, but it didn't feel all that bad either! What can we say, our White Christmas this year consisted of White Sand and a Pina Colada! Ok, the pictures speak for themselves, I'll stop bragging. Another yacht was sited, but no hela-pad this time, very second rate!

Day six marks the end of the cruise, a wonderful final sea day where the water was the calmest of our trip and the waiters knew just where to find us! During the day, we gave up resisting the crazy on board water slide and each took our turns. - Ok, I went twice! - And after dinner we took some final shots of the boat we called home and reminisced just a little.

A steady part of Carnival is the formal pictures. We took a bunch, only bought a hand full, but here they are to complete the full photo tour.

Our travel back was delayed a little bit, but it was just an ordinary airport delay, and didn't have the drama involved in getting there. Thanks to Kurt for getting us to and from the airport, and again, thanks to Mom for getting us there!

Living Christmas Letter

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Ok, so many of you have or will receive our Christmas card that essentially says to look here for what we've done all year. Easier said than done, given that we've now nearly reached three months without a new post. Shame on us, but we've been so busy doing, that it's been tough to capture it all, so here goes the fourth quarter wrap up...

Starting immediately after the waddle, we kept the charitable walk theme going with the full family taking part in a local heart walk. Also that weekend our friend Julie took some amazing pictures at Miller Park, one of which became our Christmas Card. See more of that day's photos here.

Moving into October, Robin and I spent the first weekend of the month at the site of our one night honeymoon to celebrate our one year anniversary (slightly early). This time we had the opportunity to explore the local area, and we continue to recommend Lazy Cloud to anyone who may be in the area. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Robin and the kids took in the Homecoming Parade.... I'm sure a preview to future years when they are all participants.

We also spent a quick weekend in Nashville to celebrate (in belated fashion), Mom's birthday. I still love that town, area, and all that goes with it. For this trip, we lodged at the famed Gaylord Nashville Resort. Great, great place to stay..... once. :o) I have many friends in the area, but wasn't in town enough to venture out. Apologies to all who I missed, but I promise, I'll be back! Can't upload all the pictures, but here are some.

October ended and November began with the wedding of Robin's friend Joanne. It was a beautiful, traditional Greek wedding.

November still had the flurry of activity, but not the photographic opportunities as October, so there seems less to report. Thanksgiving was at our house with Robin's mom joining us. The Monday prior, Robin tagged along for a 2nd grade field trip in the yuck of winter. For her trouble, she was rewarded with a virus that will come back to another mention soon.

That bug kept us from spending the weekend following Thanksgiving in Chicago, but we still made it up Sunday morning to sponsor our family's most recent addition, Vaughn, at his baptism. A great family meal and a snow filled drive home promptly followed.

As we plan to travel for Christmas this year, but the aforementioned virus spread and got stronger, Robin and I visited the clinic together to start December, receiving his and hers Z-Pak's last weekend.

We're improving steadily, so all is well.

We even cleared it with Santa for an early arrival so that the kids can have Christmas here as well as with their father.

Throughout all of this, we've had Basketball and sometimes Volleyball on Mondays, Thursday Gymnastics, and Saturday Basketball games, filed trips, friends, dinner parties, and so much more. Sometime, we'll find time for rest too!

That brings us current. We will have another exciting adventure to report back on soon, so stay tuned, and I promise more than quarterly updates. This is our 55th entry in two years.

Happy Holidays to all - See you in '09!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas 2007!

Hope that this finds everyone happy & healthy!

Here's to a great 2008!

From Thanksgiving to Christmas

Yes, the blog has been quiet. I apologize to the few who are loyal viewers.

Thanksgiving was great. I spent a weekend in Chicago with Robin & her family. She was able to come here for the long holiday.

Right after that, her dad gave us a scare, but he’s here with us for another Christmas.

December was a return to court, and continues to be. One date remains this year, that much I can be sure of as it is a full day on New Year’s Eve. Beyond that, we haven’t planed as there are various possibilities. All of the continued thoughts, love, well wishes, and prayers are needed and appreciated.

For now, we’re setting about enjoying the holidays to the best of our ability and minimizing our thoughts and conversations about the things we can’t control.

Although I haven’t been punctual with all of my updates, know that more news, as we have it will be posted here.

Merry Christmas to all!