Miller Visit 2010

For anyone who still checks up on my blog, I apologize for not updating in over a month!! Seriously, where did February go? Seems like we've just been so busy lately!

Well, my parents and youngest brother came down to visit us a couple of weeks ago. We were so happy to see them!! We hadn't told Kenzie that they were coming so when we walked in the door with them the night they arrived, she was just thrilled to see them! It was so cute!

Luckily the weather turned out to be pretty good, although I was hoping it was going to be a little warmer. It was around 60-65 everyday and no rain so that was nice!!

Here we are at the park feeding the ducks, geese, and birds.
Feeding them some more. Eventually the sea gulls started to swarm us for food!

Aydan on his new 'ride,' a birthday gift from Grandma, Grandpa, and Jarrad! Thanks guys; he LOVES it!!

We went to Kemah one of the days they were here. Here's my Dad and Aydan in front of an old Kemah Police car.

My brother Jarrad with Aydan. Kenzie wasn't able to be with us on this day because she had to go to school.

Then a few more poses with the Shark.

This is in front of a lighthouse in Kemah.

We also went to the San Jacinto Monument and Battleship. Here's Danny and Jarrad posing with Sam Houston (the founder of Houston, TX) Jarrad standing proud with his Texas flag, lol!

Outside in front of the monument. It was too tall to get the whole thing in the picture and still be able to see people.

We were going to go to Galveston for the day but the day we had planned to go was a windy cooler day so we thought we'd enjoy it more if we went to the zoo instead so thats what we did. The kids had never gone and Danny and I have only been once so it worked out well.

A baboon. I love all the colors on his face! He was so funny too. He'd just sit there and stare at everyone then he'd give us a huge grin! So cute!

Kenzie in front of the elephant exhibit.

This chimp was funny too. He seemed to know that he was supposed to entertain everyone. He'd do a trick then sit, scratch is head like he was thinking, then walk over and do a different trick. He was quite the show off :)

That Saturday, the day before they headed back to Illinois, we went to my Uncle Jerry's for a cookout. It had been a long time since everyone had been together like that so it meant a lot to me for all of us to spend time together. Jerry and my Dad are brothers, then their sister, who is my Aunt Vicki was there too, along with her husband David, her daughter Dani, and her 3 sons. Yep, it was a full house!! The picture above is all the kids. Yes, its impossible to get a perfect shot when there's that many kids involved! This is as good as it gets! lol! The 3 boys on the left are Dani's sons, then the middle two are Uncle Jerry's kids, then mine of course.

The 3 siblings: Jerry, Vicki, and my Dad. They all look so much alike!

My dad, Jerry, and Danny.

Earlier that day before we went to the cookout, we were looking around at a store and my Dad and Danny saw these shirts that were U.S.A. (United Space Alliance) shirts, which happens to be who my Uncle Jerry works for here in Houston. So they thought that was pretty neat and they both bought one to wear over to the cookout. Then Jerry put on one of his U.S.A. shirts too so they all matched.

We had to get a picture of all the ladies in the house.

Me, Mom, Kenzie, Aunt Vicki, and my cousin Dani.

We had a great time along with great food. It was great seeing everyone together.

Well, that about sums up their visit to Texas. We loved having them here and it was sad to see them go back home but we're glad they were able to come visit for a few days!! It was great that they got to see where we are now and to see that we are doing OK. It really helps calm any fears or worries that they may have had about any of that. We love it so much here and are so happy anytime that we can share it with people we love.

We're looking forward to our next visiters later this month; Danny's family!! :)

A day in the city...

I just realized that I had forgotten to post these pictures last week. They are from last weekend when we took the metro rail up to downtown Houston and then Herman Park.

Getting ready to get on the train.
Poor Aydan looks like he is holding on for dear life!

Kenzie preferred to stand up.

Downtown Houston

We were walking around but stopped to get a couple pictures.

We stopped to eat at Subway for lunch. After we left, we were walking around at Discovery Green park and Kenzie realized she left her backpack at Subway. We weren't sure if it would still be there but we walked back to anyway to check. Surprisingly enough, someone had took it to the lost and found so Kenzie was so excited to get it back. She didn't have anything important in it; just a few of her smaller toys and a notebook and pen, but it was still nice to know that no one took it.

We got back on the train downtown and headed to Herman Park for the kids to play some more. The weather was awesome that day so we wanted to get the most out of it.

Managed to get them both to stop for a picture.

A view from Herman Park. You can see some buildings downtown in the background.

I think he was mad about something but I can't remember what. Makes a funny picture though!!

This is a giant ball of granite that is on display at the park. There's water trickling down underneath of it so you can spin it around.

Ahoy matey!

Sitting at the train stop waiting for the train after a long day.

Aydan's 3rd Birthday!!!

On Friday, Aydan turned 3 years old! I can't believe how fast he is growing up! Here is he on the day he was born--January 29th, 2007 at 7:05 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and he was 20 inches long. Its hard to imagine he was ever that little!!

Here he was on his birthday 3 years later, weighing in at about 40 lbs!! Its amazing how much kids can change in 3 short years! I think he will surpass his big sister pretty soon!! Some of the things he says just crack me up, and at times, get him into trouble!! His personality is in full swing! He's such a little character.

His daycare teacher made him his 'Birthday Crown' that he is wearing in these pictures. She also got him the remote control car that is next to him. He loves that thing.


We got him another Thomas and Friends train set. This one has a farm theme and pulls a trailer with a cow. He has so much fun putting the track together and watching the trains go around and around.

Here's his cake that I made; please ignore the ugly looking pizza pan that the cake is sitting on!! I was going to do a train theme but couldn't find a train that would work for the top and I didn't want to use his toy train so I just did red and blue to match the Spider Man cups, plates, and masks we used. Nothing fancy, but it worked.

Here's the birthday boy waiting patiently for his cake.

Spider Mama and Spider Aydan. I don't know why I was trying to smile for the picture with my mask on?? Habit I guess.

Spider Daddy with Spider Aydan.


Hope you enjoyed your birthday little man!! We love you so much!!!

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Gloomy Galveston

Saturday, we went down to Galveston and got some lunch. We thought it'd be neat to eat along the seawall so we found a Mexican restaurant called Salsas. It was a gloomy day. The waves were very big and choppy. To our surprise, there were actually a bunch of people out in the water surfing!

We could see the ocean from our seat at the restaurant, but its hard to see in the picture.
Another view from our window.

They had these horses in the lobby of the restaurant.

Here's a pic of one of the surfers. The waves were bigger than him by far! That water had to be cold too!

Feeding the birds...

Saturday we took the kids over to the park. We had some bread and cereal that we took to feed the birds and ducks.

I just love this picture of Aydan.

Posing by a palm tree.

Tossing some bread out to the ducks.

Aydan's turn to pose in front of a palm tree.

Aydan watching the birds as the swarm the food.