Entertaining video of Adam at Kemah

Make sure you have the sound on! This is Adam on a little ride called the bouncer. It lifts you up and then drops you down over and over again.

Sunday family photos

We took lots of photos on Sunday since we were all together





and then here are some pictures after church with Baba.

Saturday-- breakfast with Helen and Open house

Saturday was another busy day. We started early with a 7:45 am breakfast at Mrs. Viola's house. Growing up she always hosted an enormous Christmas Eve breakfast (it was her wedding anniversary). When she heard that my family would be in town, she decided to throw the Christmas eve breakfast in February.

Mrs. Viola busy in the kitchen!

We always have blueberry pancakes, sausage or bacon, grapefruit juice, and homemade egg nog (made with blue bell homemade vanilla ice cream).

Then we started swimming. This time the whole pool was heated. We had an open house for any of our friends to come see us. We had so much fun catching up with so many of you.





In the midst of all this we were enjoying the company of my grandmother, Baba who arrived Friday from Seattle.

Kemah

Our entire week was gorgeous weather, but Friday was the best of the best. Not one of these photos is retouched in any way. The sky really was that blue. We headed out to the Kemah boardwalk. With the rodeo carnival in full swing, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We rode every ride to our hearts content with no lines!

Zoo Thursday

I just can't say enough about how great the weather was while we were there in Houston. It is just what we needed to get out of our winter blues! On Thursday we headed to the Houston Zoo. I must say, that I think the Houston Zoo is one of the best zoos in the nation. The exhibits are all outside and it is so well kept. The new exhibit on Africa was so nice. I loved seeing the chimpanzees. We spent nearly the whole day at the zoo.





























When we came back home, the house smelled incredible! My dad smoked brisket and ribs for dinner that night! It was delicious! Of course we had blue bell ice cream as well!

Working Wednesday! and yummy Food

Wednesday, I got up and went with my brother Shad to his offices in Katy, TX. (right next to where we used to live!) I took photos of his offices and staff. It was so much fun to do. I shipped my lighting equipment and backdrops and spent the morning having so much fun doing photography.

my brother, Shad.


the whole gang at Stevenson orthodontics!!!

Trent brought Catherine out for her orthodontist appt and then on our way home we picked up Chic-Fil-A for lunch. The kids spent the afternoon playing wii at Carrie's apartment and swimming at my parents house. By dinner time everyone was at my parents home for Pappasitto's night! There is nothing like Texas mexican food (there is ABSOLUTELY nothing like it here in CT).

The plane ride and arriving in Houston!

The alarm clock rang at 4:00 am. It felt pretty early. But the kids were excited and we were quickly on our way to the airport to go to Houston.

We flew from La Guardia, airport in NYC to Baltimore. We had fun during our layover.



We even played several rounds of nines.


But we were all anxious to get on the plane to Houston! It was so awesome to go from 18 degrees to 77 degrees all in one day. The kids were so excited to feel warmth. As soon as we got to my parents home, the kids changed clothes and ran out to the pool. My dad had started heating the hot tub. The pool was only 64 degrees, but that didn't stop my kids. They jumped in and swam like it was summertime. I only got in the 99 degree hot tub. As the kids jumped in and out of the hot tub and the pool eventually the pool was about 75 degrees.










Shad's kids came right over after school to join the fun.

Trent chilling by the side of the pool once Owen was all done.

It wasn't long before Amber and her little girls were with us too!

But the best part was getting to see my MOM! She has finished 6 rounds of chemo so far and is on a 1 week break while we are there. We are so proud of her for battling cancer with such courage and positivity. We love her.