The First Day of the Rest of My Blog: October 2005

Happy Halloween!

More pictures tomorrow when my photo hosting site isn't haunted anymore. It's doing some weird things right now.

Vacation

After our trip to Las Vegas, we all needed a break. And what better than to retreat down to Manasota Key to sleep, read and walk on the beach (I did all of the above).

Kisses from Daddy.

Walking with Daddy on the beach.

Driving the golfcart with Endy.

Found a seashell!

Playing air guitar while walking on the beach with Daddy & Papa.

Sick Day

It's hard to tell from the re-sizing of this picture, but it contains all of the following: snot, drool, a scabby nose, too short of a haircut and big blue eyes. We had a sick day today, both of us fighting colds from traveling and the rapid change in weather here.

If I had known that the lawn guys would have him so enthralled, I would have called them to come over sooner.

To the right of the blue swing is our lawn guy on his riding mower. Tate was mesmerized the entire time they were here.

Mostly our day was spent wiping snot, fussing and whining...and that was just me. Tate slept, drooled and cried. It was great fun!

Parkin' it.

The weather is so cool today (64 degrees!) that we decided to take the kids to the park. Tate & I, Kim & Ginni and Molly & Summer.

Ginni & Tate, riding the bouncy seat wheel toy. (that's the technical name for it)

It's a lot harder than it looks to walk on sand.

Kisses from Summer. Looks like Ginni has a little competition!

Sitting in the castle.

And the jet lag sets in. Time to go home.

Last set of trip pictures.

Climbing on the horned toad at the Las Vegas airport.

Just chillin' in Payton's chair.

My big boy walking in the Las Vegas airport.

More pictures from our trip.

Playing at the park by Michael & Candi's house. (Las Vegas)

Splashing with Brooke & Payton

The Dinosaur park

The Boys at the Dinosaur park

Just me and my shadow.

Oh what a trip!

I could put you all to sleep with the sordid details of our recent trip to Connecticut and Las Vegas, but I'm still so tired I'm not sure I remember them all. Let's just say it was tiring. Tate did very well, despite the interrupted sleep. We had a great time seeing family, some we even got to see for longer than an hour! (Sorry about that Michael.) But it was nice to be out of Florida when the hurricane hit and we're very thankful to not have had to pay for our flights. (Thanks John!)

Onto the pictures. (Blogger only lets me add 5 pics per post, so there will be more than one post w/pictures.)

Tate & Campbell snuggling.

Tate & Emily

Tate & Jonah

Sleeping on the airplane.

L-R: Payton (17 months), Jonah (8 1/2 months), Emily (3 1/2) & Tate (13 months)

October in Florida.

87 degrees. Not a cloud in the sky. Bee-you-tee-full.

"Water, here I come!"

"I can shove more crackers in my mouth than you can!"

These two, always with the secrets.

Strollin' on the beach.

Sitting pretty for a picture.

Walking the dog

Tate doesn't like his Halloween costume. The new one. The dog one. (I returned the bumble bee.) I've left it out in the living room, hoping that he would get used to it and maybe even like it.

Last night, he decided it might not be so bad and he took it for a walk all around the living room. So cute.

Tate's New Kicks

Tate got his very first pair of hard soled shoes yesterday. Now, he just has to re-learn how to walk. He was sooo funny when I first put them on him in the store. Very awkward and tripping all over himself. He got better pretty fast, but still needs practice. Today, Kim and I took the kids (Ginni got her first pair of shoes yesterday too) to the play area at the mall so they could practice their walking on the softish floor.

Walking! Walking! Walking!

In the red-hot-chili-pepper-canoe-type-boat-thing.

Sitting on the turtles head.

Again with the turtle! Me thinks somebody is a little obsessive!

In his defense, the ladybug TOTALLY stuck her leg out to trip him. (Ginni trying to keep her balance.)

He's learned the art of the cheesy grin.

I'm not sure how long it will be until I get a regular smile out of him now that he knows how to do this.

It's hard to see what exactly he's doing here, so I'll explain. Brooke sent him a really cute fish book for his birthday. He loves it. I had to hide it behind the chair or risk my tongue falling out from reading it to him so many times in one day. Well, he found it. If you look closely, you can see the cat is under the table as well. (that's the tip of her tail behind his bum) Normally, being that close to the cat and her holding still would *require* that he pull her fur, yank her tail or try to pluck her whiskers out one by one. However, because the book was in such close proximity, the cat was granted a reprieve. My tongue, however, was not. Thanks Brooke.