Our Digs for the Week

We are officially spoiled with the great resort we're staying at for the week! Back when we bought our timeshare week in 2004, we often wondered, "should we have done that?!" But, then when we have opportunities like this to stay at great places like Marriott's Grande Vista, then we think, "well, I guess it was worth it!"

Here's why:

Keira has her own room!
Not bad, huh?

Dining room & full kitchen (= not having to eat out for every meal!)

Living room

Our room

Night view of the lake from our balcony

Watch out!

We're staying in the right-hand building

Keira enjoying the kid's play area!

Toddler time in the play room

Building with Daddy!

She made a friend and did such a great job sharing the blocks!

More night shots of the lake and fountain

Well, there's a quick tour of our resort! It's quite extravagent for our little family, but oh so fun!!

Destination: Orlando!

Yesterday we started our journey to Orlando for our first vacation as a family of 3! Here are some snapshots of our travels...

Waiting to board in SD.
Keira is signing "airplane"

Made it to Dallas!
On the shuttle to the next terminal

The flight to Orlando wasn't full, so they let us take this whole row!
We all had a seat of our own!

Sunset from the plane window

Coloring helps pass the time!
Are we there yet?!

Keira did so awesome throughout our day of traveling! We could not have asked for a more smooth travel day!

These are just a few snapshots we took on my point-and-shoot camera. Of course, Noah has all the good pictures on his camera, but those aren't ready to be uploaded to the blog yet. Stay tuned for more pics of our adventures in FL!

P.S. It's super cold here! On the radio this evening, the DJ said it's supposed to be a record low for all of 2010 tonight (25 degrees) and a super cold day tomorrow! Yikes! And the wind is whipping around like crazy as I type this! Brrrrr!

Christmastime is here!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here and it is so much fun!

Many houses in our neighborhood decorate with lights and Keira is enthralled. Every night we go on a walk so she can see all the pretty lights. Throughout the walk, she says "d, d, d..." which means "deer"--her favorite decorations by far!

Here she is admiring the deer

On Sunday we went to get our Christmas tree. We always go to the same place in Santee where you can cut down the tree yourself!

Keira trying to "smell" the tree

Peek-a-boo!

Found our tree!
Now Daddy is getting ready to cut it down!

We had a coupon for a free "baby" tree, which Keira was so excited to take home

Snuggling Jack, a favorite activity

Back at home, she's helping set up the nativity

Placing Baby Jesus

"Helping" Daddy with the lights

Hard at work

She melts my heart

Stockings ready for Santa!

Ready for ornaments!

Placing her special "First Christmas 2009" baby booties ornament

There it is!

We are having so much fun sharing this Christmas season with Keira! She is at a fun age to take it all in and enjoy it! Stay tuned for lots more pics to come!!

That Forgotten Holiday

I actually came on here to post Christmas pictures, but then I realized I never mentioned anything about Thanksgiving. So, here's a quick snapshot...

We were blessed to have both of our families come down here to celebrate Thanksgiving! Keira loved spending time with both of her Grandmas, her aunt and uncle, and, of course, Willy (Nana Sheila's dog).

Three mamas in the kitchen--watch out!

The big feast!

Take 2 (w/ Noah)

Happy Thanksgiving! We have much to be thankful for!

How to make a pizza...

This post is dedicated to the Wannenwetsches, who gave us the awesome learning tower that Keira is standing in!

Last night Keira helped me make a pizza:

First, spread the sauce...

Next, add the cheese...

Next comes the toppings.
First, add pepperoni...

Then the mushrooms...

Then some olives (but only on half because Daddy doesn't like olives!)...

Making pizza is fun!

Next, it goes in the oven
(she was very apprehensive about taking this picture, can you tell?!)

And finally, EAT!!

Yum!!

And a few nights ago she helped me stir up the vegetables! What a great little helper!

Santa

The concept of Santa isn't something we're going to focus on too much at our house; however, the classic "kid-sitting-on-Santa's-knee photo" is a must-have during the Christmas season! (Sadly) it's even more classic if the kid in the photo is crying!

Thankfully, we didn't have to venture to the mall and pay money for said photo. Instead, we got the chance to take a free photo with Santa. Free is good because when I attempted to place Keira on Santa's lap, she let out a high pitched scream and clung on to me for dear life! Then, Santa promptly got up and fled the scene. The experienced photographer had me sit down in Santa's chair while she distracted Keira, who was none too happy with the photo with Santa idea. After Keira was significantly distracted, Santa eased his way back in to the picture!


Phew! What an experience! Don't think we'll be doing that again!!