So This is Christmas

Let's get this straight: We totally didn't spend too much on the kid this year, everyone else did. Everyone bought the kid too much. I've heard this happens every year. It's totally going to happen for the rest of her life until the family stops loving her. This, as I understand, will never happen. So my conclusion is that she's going to be continuously littered with items of semi-usefulness on this Christmas night, forever. Awesome isn't it? We're getting a shed next year for the plethora of presents V will get next Christmas. So to all those who gave: Thank you! We appreciate it very much!

V's Christmas #2 is in the books and we are happy to say that we survived. Twas a good time for all and I'm sure that the pictures will speak volumes. We are, needless to say, tired but excited to play with V and all her new toys. One of the coolest things we've unearthed is that we've started reading her Bible to show her the story of Baby Jesus and she's enjoying it. She's actually requesting it at night time now to read before bed. It's a great feeling having a child that is already requesting to read the Bible. Parenting? Yeah we got this! Enjoy the pictures:

Yes, Friends, the proverbial tree. Over 9 feet tall!

Dad got a new headset for Christmas so guess who gets the old one?

After 40 tries of trying to capture the kid Christmas Breakfast...

Dad just takes the camera and captures a great moment!

We all get presents so we dance the dance of joy!

Her favorite present: An exact replica of Millee!

It Rained

And rained... and rained... and rained... It rained for a week. 7 days straight. I'm not lying, I started tearing up floorboards to build an ark. To top it all off, Black Fursday was in the middle of the rain so I didn't have time to finish the ark. I can't remember the last time it actually rained for that long in one continuous downpour. I'm completely exhausted from working this weekend and today is the first day it only rained for 6 hours instead of 20-24 hours in a day. In honor of the fact I saw the sun today, here are some more pictures of Hawaii. This is essentially me wishing that I'd went to Hawaii last week instead of last month. VIVA HAWAII!!! Now I'm depressed:

Here's the view from our balcony. Notice that there's no rain.

I'm able to drive with the top down because there's no rain.

We can watch the sunset outside. We couldn't if it was raining.

Enjoy the serene scenery untouched by water from the sky.

We chose to stand under the tree to take the picture. Still no rain.

We can set the camera up on a table, sit on a dry stone wall and smile because we know those clouds behind us aren't rain clouds, they're happy clouds. I hate rain.

It's the Holiday Season...

Ah yes, the Holiday season is quickly approaching and that means that we're totally insane at The Land of Red & Khaki. We really want everyone to buy stuff but do it in an orderly manner and be sure to tip your waitress. To be honest, if I keep talking about work I might throw the computer through a wall make The Boss angry so I shall digress slightly.

Halloween was a couple weeks ago and V went as the proverbial superhero Booyah Baby. It was a homemade costume that April painstakingly spent hours crafting. I thought it went very well and the pictures below definitely do it justice. We went trick or treating around the block and V definitely got the hang of it at the end. At the beginning, she just sat there looking at people drop candy into her bucket. About halfway through, she realized the candy was coming at every door so she'd hold up her bucket to them saying "Triwteet" which is French for "Trick or Treat" (we think). Towards the end, she'd drop the bucket in the driveway, run up to the door and just hold out her hand. It worked. I think we got the most candy.

Since we didn't do Christmas cards last year (we had an 8 month old at the time), we're going to do them this year. Here's some pictures below of some pictures that didn't make it to the card but still have class and refinement. Enjoy these as you wait for the Christmas card you're not getting:

Red cheeked back from Trick or Treating and still smiling!

She's practicing her football stance for next year.

V: HA HA HA! Extreme close-up! Look at me! Look at me!

V: I'm sorry. I offer this leaf as a peace offering.

V: If I get do the "Cute Pose" I get kisses from Mommy!

V: Yessssssssssss... SMOOCH!

Mt. Rainer Excursion

October is almost over and we're gearing up for the Holiday Season at the ole red & khaki. It's really a whole buncha hype for a seriously huge shopping period. Retailers make between 17-20% of their yearly sales in just a four or five week period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's pretty insane. So yeah, there's a lot of prep work going into the planning stages to make sure everyone is happy and no one dies. That's right kids, no one must die. We have to take quizzes on how to ensure people are let into the building in a safe and orderly fashion. This module is called "The Opposite of What Wal-Mart Does."

Conversely, the time at home is more relaxed than usual. With our trip to Hawaii complete and nothing seriously pressing on the horizon, we are trying to ensure our sanity is intact before the craziness of the Holidays begins. I was able to go through some over the summer pics and found some good pictures when we went up to Mt. Rainier with Evan & Ali, April's brother & sister-in-law. We went up there on the last Saturday of the year that the park was open. Fortunate that we did because it was probably the most gorgeous day on the mountain. It was sunny & hot with great visibility AND the kid actually wasn't a complete disaster area. Here's some pictures from our escapade up the mountain:

C'mon Evan, even Vivian has sunglasses on!

Beautiful backdrop with a beautiful lady!

Check out this waterfall next time you're up there. Most tranquil!

We dared V to rip off that piece of wood.

Um... We didn't think she'd actually do it.

Then she got mad because we doubted her and tore apart this fence.

Hawaii Is Better Than Work

Yeah that's right: This is two straight posts without the kid. We didn't bring her with us to Hawaii and since that's all we've been doing or thinking about for the last two weeks, the exuberance continues. Our minds were free, our bodies bronzed and our egos in check... until we came back home and went to work. Don't get me wrong, we both enjoy our jobs but there's a certain letdown once humans return to the "old life." I really think there's preconceived notions with the problems that one has returning to work after a long break. Things like exhaustion, inability to focus and a general lack of drive. All of these preconceived notions are true.

So here we are back in the swing of things and fighting through all the notions that come in our path. We're pretty much going to kill ourselves on the right path to success. Just let the kid at home bring you back to reality when the perils of work fail. Speaking of the kid, we'll get back to her pictures once I decide we're done talking about Hawaii. I don't want to throw April under the bus but she totally tried to get rid of me whilst we were on holiday. Check out these pictures as the proof of the mockery:

She first tells me to go stand by the edge of that big rock.

That's me getting incinerated by a huge wave.

That didn't work so she tells me to walk over there by that rock face.

I'm thinking "YES! EPIC WAVE CHUMP!"

But her plan works... I am officially vanquished.

With husband gone, she's resigned to showing off her exquisite derriere.

Fifty, Five Zero, Cincuenta, 50

We did it! April and I have been to ALL FIFTY STATES! BOO to the YAH! It only took us about 30 years and a lot of gas money but we're done. It's fun to think that we have seen so many different cultures in our own country. From the free spirited Floridians and bigger than life Texans to the easy going Hawaiians and reserved Vermonters... Vermontians... People from Vermont. If I learned one thing from our travels its that you don't have to leave the States to see some great places and have a lot of fun. Don't get me wrong, I'm still jealous of our friends Doug & Carla sailing the ENTIRE Pacific Ocean. I'm just glad I can say that I've done something that, well... frankly I don't know anyone else that's done this achievement in so little time. If you do know of someone, don't tell me about it because I need this.

So yes, we finally made it to Maui, Hawaii. It's a beautiful part of the country. It's weird saying that because it's a 6 hour flight from Seattle but it's a state nonetheless. I must say that if you only get a chance to go to one tropical vacation, it's definitely the easiest because you don't need a passport to visit. Monetarily it has to rank as a Top 3 most expensive place I've ever been. $5 for a gallon of milk? Even the pineapple that's grown there is expensive. It's grown there people. Coffee was grown about a mile from our hotel, roasted two miles from our hotel and it costs: $20 a pound. We just picked up 2.5 pounds of Starbizzle with a coupon for $15. Think about that the next time you buy a Starbizzle.

We had a blast and I want to post a giant synopsis later but I'm still recovering from jet lag, kid lag and work lag. Here's some of our favorite pictures and I promise to tell some stories soon:

Our amazing view as we land in Hawaii!

The view from our Condo was much better.

As if on cue, the waves come up right behind us!

Dinner at sunset 20 feet from the beach... aw yeah...

See? We did have fun!

We totally got mad tans and here's the picture to prove it!

Summer No Mas

There's no way to say this easily... Summer No Mas. I was totally punished this year for the last two nice summers that I had when we moved here. The rain this spring was torrential and then there were no days over 90 degrees. NONE! This is like saying "The sky is blue" but at least the last two years we had some sort of summer. I'm thinking it's just fate that I moved here to a couple nice summers to keep me here and then we get this. So what am I going to do about it?

GO TO HAWAII BABY! That's right, the ole 50th state. In honor of the weather we're going to see whilst we're up there, here's some of the crazy stuff we did in September while the weather was decent: The Zoo, The Fair, The Grandparents, The Mountain, The Wild Thing and The Fits. We'll talk about The Fits later.

We'll start with The Zoo and move onto the rest in some later posts. We went to the Woodland Park Zoo in downtown Seattle and it was a perfect day! The weather was nice, the animals were out and we saw some really cool stuff. Honestly, I think we took pictures of one animal the whole time but V was a Champ and endured the day with flying colors. Here's a recap:

V: Dad! Dad! What's that?
Dad: It's a tapir.
V: We went to the zoo and the only animal you took pictures of was a tapir?

V: Let's go! That tapir was boring!

V: Hey Dad! Look at this Bamboo! It's as interesting as a tapir!
Dad: Watch it!
V: This is SOOO cool! Just like the REALLY AWESOME tapir.

V: Mom was scared to get on the carousel so I had to let her ride with me.

V: Sssh... I'm totally grabbing this elephant's trunk.

V: Gammy's funny when she smells flowers! 

AMEN!

V sure does some crazy stuff every now and then. Just when you think it's not going to get any weirder, you say "Yooooooooo!" and she repeats it just about 47 times cuter. I'm always curious what goes on in her head. I'm actually not entirely sure what the processor speed is of her brain but it's always fun when she has to take 5-10 seconds to answer a question or react to some kind of stimuli.

Take yesterday for instance: We're sitting down to eat dinner after our 10 hour days have concluded. This usually entails an elaborate five course meal complete with mixed drinks and a mariachi band frozen pizza. V had already eaten her dinner because she gets antsy while we cook. We made spaghetti (the quick version) and sat down to eat while V was in the living room playing with her car. April & I prayed together and we started eating. V comes running into the room saying "Sit! Sit!" This is Toddler for "I want to get in my highchair and eat too." She'd just ate but we figure we'll give it the ole college try. We get her in the highchair and pull her up next to the table and she holds out her hands to her sides and says "AMEN."

This wasn't the first time she's said "Amen" but it was the first time she'd ever instigated a prayer so blatantly. April & I hold hands at our house when we pray so now it's customary for us to hold V's hands while we pray. I have to admit I had to hold back a tear. She knows that she's part of our family and that when we pray it's something that she wants to do with us. What else do you want? Pictures... yeah I know. All ya'll want pictures. Here's some good ones:

Dad let her eat some whipped cream in a cup unattended. Never again.

Puzzles are not exactly V's forte but we're working on it.

 

Dad doesn't go to the optometrist any more, we've got one in house.

Petting bunnies is just as cool as petting goats!

Aunt Karina is one of a select few that can make V smile.

But the biggest smiles always come from Mommy!

Best Weekend... Yet

Best Weekend... Yet™. It's Trademarked now so you can't take it. I know it's something that you all wanted but it's not like I didn't give you time to Trademark it yourself. It wasn't even this last weekend! It was in July so you had a whole lotta time to do it. Here's the deal, we went to the zoo with a one year old. Not exactly the greatest idea in the world but it worked. V was great! She had a great time with the animals, pointing at them or mimicking their sounds. She liked the goats because she can pet them and they smelled like her dirty diapers. I would imagine that she's already forgotten it but we'll remember it for a long time.

Then we went for a walk on the beach and she enjoyed that too. We walked along the shore, got popsicles and then played with the rocks on the beach. V was having a great time throwing rocks and running away from the water. We had a lot of fun. There's a lot of things that have happened since the last blog post so I'll probably do a couple more here in the next few days to catch up. Check these pictures out and get back to me.

Dad: Look at the monkey V! Do you see it V?
V: Yeah, Dad, I saw it the first 80 times you pointed at it.

V: This starfish is stuck to the tank so I can't eat it. Someone help me!

V: Are you telling me this is what a goat feels like? He needs to be brushed.

V: That's much better. We should get a goat for ourselves!
Mom: We've already got a Sophie and that's "goat" enough for me!

 V: At the beach with Mom is the coolest!

V: Our beach day is done. With the wind at our back... It's time for a nap!