Merry Christmas Travels

We had a great Christmas this year. First, we went and had fun at Nan and Pop's House. Even before opening presents, O had a great time playing with the truck bank, putting coins in and getting Mom or Pop to shake them out.
Nan and Pop got O this beautiful toy chest - full of wrapped gifts, of course...
Here is O, playing with his new Weebles and Weeble boat.
O really liked opening and closing the doors on his new truck bank.
... and sitting on presents before opening them.
Here we are outside ready to ride his new bike. Unfortunately we did not get any good shots of him riding.
Drilling with Pop. He was so cute copying the technique!


After a couple days of fun with Nan and Pop it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. O was enthralled with the train under the tree.
Christmas morning - straight to the train control box!
Then on to tackling the presents!
Big grown up man with his new backpack...


Spontaneous Mom hugs! I will take that for a Christmas present.
He was very determined to get himself and his owl into this small box...
When backwards did not work, he decided to just lie down with his head in the box.
And finally, O with Santa Grandpa!

Christmas Party

O's classroom at daycare had their Christmas party on Wednesday last week. The kids and parents all had a lot of fun. His teachers had smoothies for the kids' treat, and O kept on asking for more, more, more.

After smoothies, the kids opened the presents that all of the Moms and Dads bought for the classroom. O really liked playing with the picnic basket he opened. He was very intent on getting everything out and put back in.

Very, very intent...

And, of course, some trucks.

The Bahamas and Back

Last week our little family traveled to The Bahamas. I had a conference for work so we all went a couple of days early for family time. O had a lot of fun playing in the sand and swimming. While I was working he and Tom hung out at the beach, went to the water park at the Atlantis Resort and to a local bird zoo. Unfortunately, Tom did not get a lot of pictures being on his own with the energetic little man and we had a little camera trouble also.

Here is O having fun in the sand, He would say "dump dump dump" whenever he played with the truck. The hotel had a little beach and they had sand toys for kids to borrow in the little cabana, O would go each morning and ask for his bucket and some trucks. He had those guys wrapped around his finger (just like Mom and Dad).

O was not thrilled about the bird on Tom's hand, but he warmed up a little after a few minutes. They also saw a flamingo show..

We happened to be there for a street parade called Junior Junkanoo. O loved the drumming and dancing - this junior version was a precursor to the big parade on Christmas.

Silly

Thankful

We have much to be thankful for, like this guy...


And this guy is thankful that Mom is making whipped cream for the pumpkin pie!


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

You Talkin' to Me?

This picture cracks me up - he really looks like he is thinking "What, Mom?". Actually his is thinking "When are you going go give me another bit of that granola bar?". Cutie pie.

This next shot is us on Roosevelt Island overlooking Georgetown. We had a nice outing on Sunday - the weather was gorgeous and warm. It was actually much to warm for the fleece I was wearing, but not too warm for the monkey hat... of course.

Nan and Pop come for Thanksgiving fun tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Yesterday was Grandma's Birthday. O got her some nice flowers in the morning before she and Grandpa left to go home to PA.

O had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa over the week while I was gone. He is all better now, we are thinking about heading out for a little bit of a hike today to enjoy the beautiful weather. Maybe we will head over to Roosevelt Island. I have been wanting to check that out for a while now.

I got my Thanksgiving shopping done yesterday, for which I am thankful since I don't want to be anywhere near the commissary on Wednesday!

Panama

Panama has been very interesting. I learned a lot on this trip about the canal operations and the ongoing expansion project. Panama is also a beautiful tropical place. I am looking forward to coming back again and maybe taking a day to explore. The hotel was right on the canal with a view of the Bridge of the Americas (one of two bridges connecting North America and South America across the Panama Canal.

Here is a photo of the bridge and one of a ship outbound towards the Pacific:

We went to dinner last night at the Miraflores Locks. It is pretty impresssive to see huge vessels in the locks. I will put pictures of it up when I get home (I am in the airport).

I can't wait to get home and see my little guy - I miss him!

Panama

I arrived in Panama tonight. Iwill be here through Thursday for work. I miss my guys already.

We had visitors in town over the long weekend. Grandma and Jennifer and Jenna came to see us. We had a fun day on Saturday touring the Capitol building and the U.S. Botanical gardens. I think I got some good shots on the tour, I will get some pictures up when I get back home.

In other news O has been a little sick again, but he is on the mend under Dad and Grandma's care at home and some medicine.

Halloween Fun!

We had a fun Halloween today! O had a parade at school - he did great in his costume, once he got used to it. The parade was a little overwhelming for the kids, but fun too. Nan and Pop came over to school and had fun seeing all of the kids in costume.


Once we got home from work, we headed over to Eastern Market for the "Hilloween" event. I was a little skeptical of whether O would get much out of it, but he had a blast. He loved watching all of the kids and the horses for the hayride.



Stomp, stomp, stomp, the elephant herd is coming...
A little rest...
Happy Halloween from our family to you!
I can't tell you how many comments we got today on his beautiful costume. So many people asked me if I made it, even strangers on the street. Grandma did a wonderful job (as always) - Thank you Grandma!!!