I just put up a few new pictures that Grandpa took during his trip to Tucson. You can find them in the Joel and Julie/January photo album.
This evening we went over to a neighbor's house. They have an 8 week old dalmation puppy that is all over the place. Alia was in heaven as she has taken to dogs like nothing else (okay, maybe not like her books). She was giggling and following the dog all over the house. It was quite fun to watch. She also got so excited she forgot she was walking (well, sort of walking). She took a good 5 or 6 steps before she realized what she was doing and promptly sat down.
Today we got some pictures back from Costco so I thought I would put some of the highlights up in the gallery. You can see them here.
We are so glad that Mom and Dad were able to come down for a brief visit. Alia definitely had a great time as she was able to stare at more people than just mom and dad. We are now ready to host the next set of visitors. Better come quick while the weather is still sub-100!
In other exciting news, Julie nearly hit a javelina on her way home tonight. Mom and Dad, aren't you glad you came so you now know what a javelina is? Some days it really is fun to live in the desert. I also really enjoy living/working near an Air Force base. A-10s were flying overhead all day long. I also saw a C130 and a pair of F16s while I was running this morning. Very cool.
We had such a great time visiting in Utah. It was a big highlight of the past several months. We were so happy to see family and friends during the holiday season--we enjoyed bingo, dancing on the dance pads, helping stuff/cut out/stich millions of footballs/teddy bears/balls for the humanitarian effort, and eating more homemade goodies than we should have. It was especially fun to see snow, since we certainly don't get any of that stuff in sunny Florida. Mike enjoyed a day of snowboarding at Brighton, and I was able to help my brother get set up for the semester. Humanitarian pictures are in the Heaton's folder and New Years Eve pictures are in the Bacon's folder. We love you!
Hello everyone and welcome to 2004. I'm so glad that others are using the site and it isn't just me on here. I was just about to post a long story about my cats to fill the void but Chuck saved the day with his update. You should thank him for that. On a side note, I will be updating the instructions for the gallery sometime soon. I need to add a thing or two so be on the lookout for that... but it looks like Mike has given the correct instructions to ya'll.
New years here came and went quickly. We spent the night watching the extended edition of the Two Towers. That was about as exciting as we get :) Actually, we weren't going to watch the whole thing (because of its extreme length) but I got sucked in and couldn't turn it off. Hooray for Julie being a good sport about it.
I posted some new pictures taken from Alia's birthday. You can see them in the gallery (click here for a shortcut). She is growing too quickly. On our walk this evening Julie pointed out the moon to her. Alia was fascinated by it and kept pointing up at it as we finished our walk.
Well, I do need to round off this update with a quick story or two about the cats. Buddy is absolutely the most patient cat around Alia. She loves to crawl up to him and pester him while he is sleeping or relaxing. Alia squeels with delight when she gets near him. Then she proceeds to plant one hand directly on his head and the other on his body to pull herself into a standing position. About this time, I'm racing across the room to pull her away before Buddy can retaliate. However, Bud was not about to do anything to her. He sat there patiently as her hand smashed his eyes shut. Talk about amazing. I think Miyah has learned by observing this. Miyah runs away when Alia starts making the first movement toward her.
The other funny Buddy story (okay, last one for tonight) is that he actually likes to be around Alia. She will start pushing an empty laundry basket around the house and Buddy will run and jump in it. It is quite funny to see the two of them scoot across the kitchen floor.
Hope all is well with everyone. Wish you could have been here in the desert with us!