Christmas Number 2

Christmas seems to last all month long nowadays. Early in December, our neighborhood had its Christmas Party. They had "reindeer", singing, food, music, carriage rides and even Santa made an appearance. Griffin seemed to enjoy the water fountains in the lake more than anything else. Although, he did enjoy the music and food with Mom.

As the month went on, there were family get-togethers to attend. We made the drive to Beaumont twice within 5 days for parties with Kristi's family. The first trip was for the party with her dad's side. We had a big lunch and then headed to her parents house to open some gifts. Then on Christmas Eve, we drove back to see her mom's side. Kristi's aunt, uncle and cousin Amy were in from Nashville and her cousin Nathan and his wife, Morgan, came in from Birmingham. We stayed for a lunch of shrimp creole and hopped back in the car to head home.

At home, Uncle Clint and Grandma came over to see Griffin open more presents. I think we should've just given the kid bags and wrapping paper. It was a busy, fun holiday and we enjoyed seeing everyone. On a closing note, I think we are going to contact the maker of the Sit 'N Spin and let them know that Griffin has decided it is much too boring of a toy and should be re-named the Stand 'N Spin as this offers more danger and entertainment.

Snow Day

In early December I had to go to Philadelphia for work and while I was there, it snowed back home. I called Kristi to tell her the weather up north was nice and pleasant. She then let me know that the snow was falling and sticking back in Texas. Poor Griffin was battling an ear infection and didn't get to play in the snow. Kristi did take him out to see it, but he was too sick to have any fun. You see that Wrigley was not much of a fan of the white stuff.

Turkey Day Road Trip

So for Thanksgiving, we all loaded up in the car on Wednesday to make the drive to my dad's new house in Sun City near Georgetown and then head on to Fredericksburg for Thanksgiving with Kristi's family. This trip would be Griffin's first "road test". Apparently, he didn't seem to mind the drive. Upon arriving in Sun City, Griffin fell in love with the hills and was even happier to see that his Grandpa pulled some strings and had the street named in his honor. While visiting with Jessie Boy and Honey, we took several rides in the new golf cart, toured the community, ate BBQ and Mexican food, and saw 2 deer in the backyard. I was also forced to help hang Christmas lights. I guess that was the price of admission for a free night's stay.

On Thursday morning we hopped back in the car for the drive to Fredericksburg and arrived at Aunt Nesi and Tommy's house around 11:30. Griffin had fun playing in the yard, watching the cows and guineas, and learning how to run precise routes during his football game with Dad.

We had a great lunch with all of Kristi's family and then headed back into town for our first hotel stay with Griffin. He did great and we all got a full night's sleep. In the morning, we headed over to have breakfast with Kristi's parents and Kimmi and Shon. After a filling breakfast cooked by Shon, we headed down to the main drag in Fredericksburg for some shopping. Actually, Kristi and G went shopping while I toured the Nimitz Museum and National Museum of the Pacific War. These museums are certainly worth the time if you want to avoid shopping and don't have time for golf. We all met back up in the town park where the Taylor photography session was underway. Success was achieved when ONE photo of the cousins was attained.
Griffin also enjoyed having his YaYa carry him through all the Christmas displays. After lunch, the three of us loaded back up to drive back to Sun City for the Georgetown Christmas Lighting. Griffin was a trooper and seemed to enjoy all the lights and caroling in the town square. We had a great time seeing everyone over the holiday and enjoyed seeing Jessie Boy and Kathleen's new home. I'm sure Griffin is now wondering if his Grandpa can get anything else in Sun City named after him.
Thanks to everyone for a wonderful Thanksgiving and now let's try to survive Christmas!

Friday Night Fights

"This is Jim Lampley live from Humble, TX and the Eagle Springs Sports Arena. After a long, tough fight, let's go to our unofficial judge Harold Letterman. Harold, how do you have it?"

"OK Jim, I've got it 10 rounds to 2 for Griffin "The G-Man" Resendez! Even after taking the big shot to the right eye that caused all that swelling and the uppercut to the chin late in the fight, Griffin dominated every other round and showed the chin of a true champion! Resendez retains the belt in my view!"

"OK thanks Harold. And we'll see all of you HBO viewers next week when Griffin takes on the undefeated challenger Wrigley "The Slobberer" Resendez. That's all from Humble, TX. Goodnight to all the boxing fans around the world."

So now the truth. Griffin was bitten under the right eye by a mosquito Thursday night which caused some swelling that made him look really silly. Then on Friday night while playing in the front yard, he fell and hit his chin on the brick window ledge on the front of the house. That tore off some skin and resulted in a nice red "strawberry". He is doing fine and seems to enjoy the Diego band-aids.

Just a Typical Saturday

Starting out the day watching cartoons in bed with dad



Shopping at the outlet mall, trying on fashionable hats

Putting out fires with Bert & Ernie

Teaching Wrigley how to play in a pile of leaves

Smelling my stinky toes at the end of a long day!

The First "Real" Haircut

So, I have trimmed Griffin's hair in the past, but thought that we needed a professional to get rid of his "party in the back". This adventure turned out to be as fun as bringing him to the doctor for his shots! I feel so bad for all of the nice folks in Great Clips just wanting a nice, quiet trim! The chocolate ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery after his hair cut, seemed to be exactly what the stylist ordered!

Happy Halloween

Grandpa Jessie and Kathleen got Griffin a chicken outfit last year for him to wear this year. As you can see, he loved wearing it! It was too hot to wear to the Eagle Springs Boo Bash, so we had a back-up doctor's costume that he was able to wear.

European Vacation

On September 25th, Kristi and I left to see our friends, Dustin and Amanda Olson, and their son Jacob in Holland. Luckily a few days before we left, Griffin decided to start walking.

We left Houston around 8pm and after a 9 1/2 hour flight, landed in Holland at noon. We hopped a train and headed for Amsterdam. We were shocked at the fact everyone rides a bike to get around. While here we saw the Anne Frank House, ate Dutch pancakes, walked along the canals, wandered through the Red Light District, and posed for a corny tourist photo. We headed back to the Olson's house in Voorburg and passed out around 9pm after having been awake for about 30 hours straight.

The next day we tried to sleep in and then headed to the local Saturday market for a breakfast of apple flaps and stroupwafels. This was a really neat experience to hang out with the Dutch people in their environment and see how they live. We bought fresh food to take on our picnic and to have for our fondue dinner later that night. We rode bikes to Clingendahl? Park and enjoyed a nice picnic in a beautiful park.

On Sunday we loaded up and made the 3 hour drive to Brugges, Belgium to sample their chocolate and lace. While here, we saw what is said to be a vial of Christ's blood in a local church and a real Michaelangelo sculpture in a second church. This is a really old, beautiful city. The town is built around an old bell tower in the town square. The chocolate and Belgian waffles were life-changing.

Monday, we got back in the car for a 3 hour drive to Cologne, Germany. Dustin really enjoyed driving on the Autobahn. We went to Cologne to see the Cologne Cathedral. It is a gothic-style cathedral that I believe was built in the 12th century or so. During World War II, nearly the enire city of Cologne was destroyed by Allied bombing, but the cathedral survived nearly untouched. The church is enormous and is said to be one of the two largest cathedrals in the world. Dustin and I decided we were still young and in good shape, so we climbed over 650 steps to the top of one of the church's spires for a breathtaking view of all of Cologne. ( I discovered I am no longer young or in good shape. ) While in Germany we made sure to eat weinerschitzel and try a Berliner (basically a raspberry filled, sugar-coated donut). Our plan was to leave Cologne and drive to the castle Berg-Eltz, but we were wiped out and headed 3 hours back home to Holland.

Tuesday was a day to rest and spend in Holland, so we went to the town of Delft. This is where they make the famous blue and white porcelain dishes and vases. We took a tour to see the pieces being hand-painted and also bought a piece as a souvenir. After our tour, we walked to the town square for lunch and then the girls went shopping and Dustin and I toured the New Church. This is where William of Orange is buried.

Wednesday we woke up really early to catch a train from Rotterdam to Paris for a 2 night stay in France. On day one we saw the Eiffel Tower, Saint Chapelle, Notre Dame and took a nighttime boat tour on the Seine. Kristi and I made our way up two elevators to the top of the Eiffel Tower for a fabulous view of Paris. We then took the Metro (subway) to see Saint Chapelle and Notre Dame. Saint Chapelle is famous for its stained glass and we were not disappointed. The entire inside of the chapel is covered in floor to ceiling stained glass depicting different scenes from the Bible. We walked across the street to see Notre Dame. While it is more famous than Saint Chapelle, we decided it didn't deserve to be. However, it was nice and we will always be able to say we were there. Our boat tour was cold, but beautiful. We got to see several of Paris' most well-known sites while they were lit up at night and the tour was capped off at the Eiffel Tower during the 10 minute light show.

Thursday was the day I had been waiting for since we planned this trip. The girls went shopping on the Champs Elysses and Dustin and I were off to Normandy to see World War II history.

We left the hotel at 5:15am to start our 3 hour drive to Caen, France. We arrived at Pegasus Bridge at 8:15am. This is one of the two bridges first captured by British Paratroopers just after midnight on June 6, 1944. In the cafe near the bridge, we stopped in for some breakfast and discovered that the only lady working there was the daughter of the couple who owned the cafe on D-day. She was kind enough to share some of her story with us before we left. From Pegasus Bridge, we set out to drive along the coast past Sword and Juno beaches to stop at Arromanches in the Gold Beach sector. Here we saw the remains of the makeshift harbour known as a "Mulberry". Now we headed to Omaha Beach. We arrived at the American Cemetery and took the tour of the new museum there before walking down a path to the beach. The tide was in, so it was difficult to get a clear picture of what is was like on D-day, but looking up at the bluffs from the beach was overwhelming. We made our way back up to the cemetery and started to walk among the crosses. This place is one of the pretty places I have ever visited in a very different way. To see ALL these crosses and to imagine what they represent was quite emotional. This is something I will never forget.

We jumped back in the car and made the short drive to Pointe du Hoc to get a few pictures of this battle site.

Next, we drove to Bayeaux, France to see The Tapestry. This is a 70 meter long tapestry dating back to the 11th century. It tells the story of William the Conqueror in pictures since most commoners of that time could not read. After seeing the tapestry and learning the story, we sat down for a very relaxing short film describing the story of the tapestry. Dustin woke me when it was over.

From there we drove back to Caen, France to visit the new D-day museum recently opened there. After a quick hour and a half of learning many new things about the war we set off on an hour or so drive to Mont St. Michel to have dinner. Mont St. Michel is an abby built on a rock island out in Bay St. Michel. When it was first built, you could walk across land while the tide was out. However, when the tide is in, the abby becomes an island again. In more recent times, a causeway was built so cars can reach the abby. This was one of the most spectacular things I saw on the trip.

Dustin and I finished dinner and made the 4 hour drive back to Paris and made it back to the hotel at 1:15am. Great day!

Kristi and Amanda spent this day visiting the Arc d' Triumph and Champs Elysees. They also each enjoyed a 10 Euro(15 U.S. dollars) Coke. They each stated it tasted about the same as the usual $1 Coke back home.

On our last day in Paris, we visited the Louvre and Les Invalides. Les Invalides is where Napoleon is buried and houses the French military museum(larger than you would think with a nice French spin).

We returned to Holland late Friday night and spent Saturday relaxing and eating Apple Flaps from the market. This vacation now goes down as the best trip Kristi and I have ever taken and we really want to thank Dustin and Amanda for their hospitality and time. It was great to spend so much time with such good friends.

Hurricane Ike

So early in the morning on Saturday September 13th, Hurricane Ike decided to pay me a birthday visit. Griffin and Kristi went to sleep at their usual times while Uncle Clint and I stayed up in the living room with the dogs and watched TV. That is until around midnight when the power went out and we listened to weather reports on the radio and tried to sleep with the winds howling around us. At around 3:30am the eye of the storm passed over us so Clint and I drove around to assess damage and check on his house. We found everything to be in pretty good shape and headed back home to weather the second act of Ike. This time around was a little worse, but we came through unscathed. Waking up without power didn't seem to effect Griffin and he was ready to do his usual thing in the morning.

We ended up plugging into our neighbor's generator to run our refrigerator and a couple of fans. This, in combination with a cool front helped us to survive 6 days with no electricity. We had the opportunity to get to know our neighbors better and spend plenty of quality time out in the front yard. We are also planning to write a cookbook on how to cook ANYTHING on a gas grill.