Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Christmas Morning

We celebrated Christmas Morning at our house, with Nana, Grandpa, and Tadd

Kazoo!




Legos!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Cruise to Mexico Day 4


The fourth day of the cruise we woke up in Cozumel.  It had grown quite a bit since the last time Dave was there in 2001. We walked around the downtown area and then took a taxi to Playa Mia.  Playa Mia was a great resort beach – very nice facilities and nice sand and beautiful water.  After several hours we taxied back downtown and did some touristy shopping.   

 This wave won't get past me!

 Moving water


 Barbara's happy feet

Worn out little boy

Sean on Beach in Cozumel

With sand: over here I'm thickening up bread crumbs with eggs. Here I'm making chicken with EVOO.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Cruise to Mexico Day 3


In the morning we docked in Progreso.  We took a 30 minutes bus ride to the Mayan ruins of Dzibilchaltun and climbed all over the ruins – allowed and encouraged.  We heard from the guide that you can no longer climb the Mayan temple at Chichen Itza (half-way between Progreso and Cancun) which Eric, Anida, and Dave climbed during our diving trip to Cozumel in 2001.  For lunch we went to a restaurant and horse ranch where we ate lunch and watched a horse and Mexican dancing show.




This window is not as high up as it looks 

6 horsemen of the apocalypse 

Sean plays the classic game of "punch the pinata"

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Cruise to Mexico Day 2

On the second day of the cruise we had a day at sea.  We played mini-golf (twice), and used the hot tubs and waterslides.  We finished up the day with some late night stargazing.  Tonight was “formal night.”  We wore our formal shorts and t-shirts.

Sean in his bunk bed 

Mini-golf 

A little chilly when wet and walking into the 30+ MPH wind 

In the hot tub 

Water slide 

Night time hot tubing

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Cruise to Mexico Day 1

We set out for our cruise to Mexico on the Carnival Ecstacy in the late afternoon.  Dziadziu, Grandma, and Joanne had lunch with us and Galveston and saw us off.  The sun set as we were leaving Galveston, and Sean fell asleep at 7:45pm - unheard of but he was tired from a day with no nap AND grandparents.  Mom and Dad took turns exploring the ship while he slept.

The family on land after waving goodbye to us 

Barbara and Sean on the Lido deck 

Watching Galveston sail by

Saturday, December 04, 2010

Kerrville Thanksgiving 2010


We celebrated Thanksgiving in Kerrville this year.  Sean filled some of his normal Kerrville itinerary, like feeding the ducks and taking walks.  Grandpa also took us on a very special trip to the Y.O. Ranch for a "safari" trip.  The six of us loaded onto a safari truck and headed through several parts of the ranch, which has game animals from all over the world.  In one area we fed a mama giraffe cookies and lettuce.  In another we had a goat jump into the truck cab and fed a runt longhorn. We all had a blast, especially Sean.

See all of the pictures HERE


Sean models his new coat

Sean feed the giraffe

Barbara kisses the giraffe

Hello!

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Mouse in Explores Union Station

Today Mouse explored the festive lobby of the Union Station hotel in Nashville.

Mouse sees what is under the Christmas tree in the lobby.  None of the presents say"To: Mouse" 

Mouse climbs the tree to see if any of the ornaments have his name on them. 

The weather in Nashville is very chilly.  High of 42F, low of 27F.  Mouse found a warm spot by the fire. 

Mouse waited a little while for his shoes to be polished, before he rememberd he does not wear shoes! 

Mouse once heard a rhyme about mice and clocks, but he really does not understand the attraction.  The clock looks dangerous!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Mouse in Nashville

Mouse and Dad took a week off for Thanksgiving, but now they are back on the road again.  Dad has not even had time to post pictures from Thanskgiving in Kerrville (and, yes, there was a giraffe involved!) They flew to Nashville this afternoon and are staying at the Union Station Hotel - an old railroad station that was converted into a hotel!  Mouse had very little time to explore this evening.


 Mouse checks out the Christmas tree in the lobby, the old passenger arrival area

Mouse goes to bed early (he is still digesting all the turkey from Thanksgiving!)


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Mouse's Day of Safety

Mouse could not go to the safety conference again today.  Dad has to take Mouse tomorrow or he will miss out on all the fun!  Dad asked Mouse to spend the today inspecting the fire safety equipment at the hotel.  Hotels are built to be very safe, so they have lots of things to protect people from fires.

Mouse inspects a pull station.  They are located at every exit on every floor so that hotel employees and visitors can alert the entire hotel if they see a fire. 

Mouse inspects a fire hose.  The hotel keeps fire hoses in many places to help firemen put out fires. 

Mouse inspects a smoke detector, emergency light, and fire warning strobe light.  Every hotel room has a smoke detector to warn of any sign of a fire.  If the hotel employees want to warn people about a fire they can just press a button and lights and alarms sound to tell people to evacuate. 

Mouse inspects a sprinkler.  Every room in the hotel has a sprinkler head.  They have a liquid filled fusible link (bulb) that bursts if it gets too hot.  When the link bursts, it allows water to spray out of the sprinkler head and into the room to extinguish the fire.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Mouse's Day at the Pool

Mouse spent another day at the hotel while Dad was at ISP.  Dad promised to take him to work the next day.  Mouse decided to check out the hotel pool.

Mouse slid down the railing to get from the 3rd floor, where Dad's hotel room is, to the 1st floor, where the pool is.
The pool had lots of pool toys to choose from. 

Mouse checks the water temperature before diving in.

Mouse checks out the life saver ring to make sure it is in good condition in case he needs to rescue a swimmer.

After a full day of swimming, Mouse was too tired to climb the stairs, so he took the elevator back to Dad's room on the 3rd floor.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Mouse's Day at the Hotel

On Monday Dad went to a training class at ISP.  Mouse decided to take the day off and stay at the hotel.  Mouse spend a good bit of time at the hotel gym, working off the blue cheese he ate yesterday.

Mouse gets some fresh air 

Mouse tried the exercycle, but could not reach the pedals 

Mouse used a weight ball to exercise his stomach muscles 

Mouse used a dumbell to do some chest muscle exercises 

Mouse then went for a run on the treadmill