Went to Kentucky last weekend to play D&D with the boys. Got to get some family updates on everyone. Gene, May and Arwen will be welcoming another baby girl in a few months!

Owen loves to chase us around the house, as long as we stop and say "BOO!" at every corner - even if he can see us there!

Gleefully stolen from Melodie

is THIS fabulous link... Make sure you have the sound on!

No Higgys were harmed in the making of this film.

Which includes this nifty ride-on scooter from Aunty Wendi and Uncle Rob...

Then it's home to play on more of our Xmas presents...

We take him to the park around the corner to play on the slides there. Of course, he's more interested in eating the wood chips...

Doesn't Owen look groovy in his new coat?

Take two to see if I can post pictures from the PC...

Why didn' t the other picture show up? Oh look, it's a ship...

Reflections on a year gone by, and other mindless ramblings...

I meant to write this earlier this week - but things got kinda hectic...

1. This year has gone faster than any other that I can remember. I'm sure this is going to be true every year from here on out, but I'm absolutely and truly gobsmacked that a year ago, I became a father.
2. Owen is constantly changing - I look back at some of the (ahem) 3250 pictures I have of him and am amazed at the almost daily change that has occurred. He's a beautiful, smart and happy little kid. Can you blame me for taking that many pictures?
3. My world changed forever a year ago. I remember driving home from the hospital and calling my dad. I swear, it felt like the entire world was in 3D for the first time for me. Leaves were popping out of the trees, colors were more vibrant - it was odd, but in a great way. The funny thing is, my dad said the same thing happened to him when my brother was born!
4. This Xmas - while it was the first "real" one for Owen - was the least Christmassy I've felt since I was in retail. Of course, it was a tough month - what with Lisa's aunt passing away, Owen and me being sick, and then not being able to decorate the outside of the house because we were waiting on the darn gutter people. Felt kinda grinchy. Oh well, next year will be better.
5. Work is slowly picking back up for me. I swear, I might as well sign off around December 15th, and sign back on around January 10th. Nothing happens between those days.
6. One of Lisa's gifts to me was a set of surround sound speakers for my PC. 70 watts of bass-thumping power, baby! I hooked them up this week. I honestly think they're more powerful than my old stereo. I'm almost done tinkering with the PC. Now I just need to tidy up the power cable mess and I'll be all set.
7. I've lost enough weight this year to officially start wearing size L clothes. Which is weird - I haven't GOT many size L clothes. Lisa got me quite a few as presents. My plan is to keep losing weight this year until I hit "normal" BMI. I managed to get to "Overweight" from "Obese" last year - now to keep it going. I haven't posted much about my diet here because I didn't want people constantly asking about it!
8. I absolutely LOATHE buying clothes. Especially the "trying-it-on" part. I'd much rather buy it, take it home, try it on and return it (if necessary) rather than go into those damn fitting rooms. That might explain why I still have clothes from college in my closet.
9. I'm going to be 37 this year. Not sure how I feel about that. Overall, probably pretty relaxed, I'd say.
10. It seems like 2007 is the year for a lot of our friends and family to have second (or third or fourth) children. We have at least 7 different couples having babies in the first 6 months of the year. I wonder how many the second half of the year will see?

Anyway, by now you've fallen asleep on the keyboard, and are drooling onto the space bar while developing a nasty case of "QWERTYitis." Hope 2007 is a great year for you and yours. Keep stopping by for Owen-y goodness updates!

One of the things I got Owen for Xmas...

Was a giant dog. Do you think he likes it? It is SOOOO soft. I also like to see him wearing my Bills hat around.

He got some Monster Bowling toys from Uncle Matt and Aunt Whitney too.

They're pretty cool - taking up all our focus for a while.

We're SOOOO tired when we get home...

We can barely keep our eyes open... Even playing outside is a drag..
At first - then we get into the spirit of things.
And that night, Mom gives us our first bubble bath! We're so excited. We LOVE bubbles!
And so do our rubber duckies!

As to Lisa's post

Nothing is cuter than a toddler in footie pajamas walking around an airport - except for a toddler pushing his own stroller in footie pajamas...

Video of this can be seen here!

The day we leave to come back to CA

Starts with Nana Dee in the emergency room! A quick tweak of her meds and she's well enough to go home... Which is STRAIGHT from the hospital - as her flight was that morning. No time for pictures with the boys, but we do get one with Owen. As you can tell, he's had a big morning!

We then head back to Paul and Kim's to pack up for home. They were heading off to Florida to see Kim's family - so the boys packed their art sets...

On the way home, we stopped off in Atlanta - long enough for a bite to eat. Here we are at Houlihans.
The glass case at Houlihans is pretty interesting. So is playing food-tag with your wife and toddler!

More park...

Reece shows excellent monkey-bar form.
Owen didn't quite get the hang of the slide - he tried to put his feet down and would flip over. He loved them though.

It gets a little brisk as the daylight faded...

So we headed home for hot drinks and a nap.

We then head off to the park.

Where we try out the swings...

We like swings...
We're also big fans of the jungle gym...

Even if it's cold and we squish our face against it...

Mom makes a pretty good jungle gym herself...

More playing...

Neo doesn't realize he's only 2 and 1/2 - and wants to play with the big boys.
Although he stays away from Paul's Ticklefest.

Instead, we try to fit as many of them on the ski-do as possible...

Until Neo figures he'd rather play with Owen instead...

Lazy days of winter...

The next morning, we get up and lounge around the house...


The boys (Dylan and Reece) got an inflatable jet-ski that hooks into the TV and plays video games!

Then they tried out their electric scooters. This picture should have come out more blurry, because Reece is doing at least 10 mph down the driveway! If you look closely, you can actually see Grandpa Gary's hair turning whiter by the second...

Owen was quite happy to play on the grass, while Kim and Lisa chatted. The big black thing? That's a bike ramp (upside down) for the boys to ride over. No, they're not spoiled....

More Post-Xmas pictures

Owen hangs around with Nana Dee during the karaoke... Until he finds the long tunnel by the ping-pong table. This was fun to crawl through!

We get back to Paul and Kim's - where Dylan shows us his prowess in playing the Nintendo DS even while people are having a conversation around him!

People such as Reece and Grandpa Gary...

Traveling with a toddler

We interrupt this Xmas journey for a few observations about traveling with Owen:

• Don't wear low cut shirts on the plane ride; leaning over to walk him up and down the aisle will surely reveal more than intended.
  
• Everyone loves seeing a toddler in foot-y pajamas wandering around the airport (yes, even a few businessmen turned away from their magazines to watch).
• No matter how well behaved your child is (2 short squeals in a 4 hour period), at least two people will give you a dirty look.
  
• I'm going to miss the detachable car seat now that he is getting bigger. It was great to leave him in it and carry him to the seat, then back to the stroller on the jet way. No worry about him squirming out or running away.
• Freeze dried fruits and vegetables - what an invention! A healthy snack that is easy to bring and so light weight, even better, he loved it!
  
• Having a seat for Owen was worth it - at least when he was asleep we were able to read, rest and eat.
• Once you get used to thinking of travel time as play time and not reading / resting time, it is much more enjoyable!