Happy Mardi Gras!

We had a 4-day weekend at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Not so much a restful vacation, but, we had a blast! We are still in withdrawal from the cajun food...the restaurants were amazing. Somehow, we managed to work in 4 meals a day. Seriously. The people-watching was crazy. Rob came home with a fat lip...wish there was a better story but, he got smacked in the face with some beads flying off a float. Cassie loved all the goodies we brought home, too!

Cassie's Dance Party

Evidence again that Cassie loves the rapper Flo Rida. This time, she performs to "In the Ayer".

Go, Cassie, Go!!

Cassie, the fearless one, had a blast at Christmas learning to move on skates! First, she went ice skating. After only a few minutes on the ice, she adamantly refused any help. If you ask her if Uncle Rick helped her learn to skate, she will tell you "No, I did it myself". (We are grateful to Uncle Rick, especially after he took a blade to the leg when it was time to go home!) After she enjoyed that so much, Grandma and Grandpa got her some rollerblades. She will take a hand on the rollerblades, but, never gets tired of cruising the street. Look at her go on the ice! (I should mention that everyone is dressed warmly because we had one very cold snap during the week...temps went into the 50s...no worries, it was back to 80 degrees the next day).

Christmas 2008!

We had a wonderful Christmas in Florida with both families and a celebration every day!! Here are a few of the many, many pictures of the fun!

Cassie holding and kissing her cousin, Baby Nathan

Learning to ice skate with Uncle Rick and Julia

Decorating Christmas cookies for Santa

Reading "The Night Before Christmas" with Uncle Rick, Aunt Patti, Julia and Katie

Opening presents with her buddy, Jack

Cassie and Julia and Katie on the slide in Cassie's new Bouncy House

Christmas day at the Magic Kingdom, watching the Christmas parade

Siemens Christmas Party

There were several pictures of us that evening for Rob's company Christmas party. But, this seems to be the only one where we weren't focused on the Blackjack table or where our mouths weren't full of food. And, since we got dressed up, I am posting a picture.

Poor Jackie-Boy and his silly haircut

Jack before his haircut, when he was a dopey-but-cute-dog.


Jack after his haircut, just plain dopey!

The kitties never get any airtime...

Not that they are of particular interest to anyone, but, the kitties never get any pictures on the blog. So, here are a couple. The 1st was when the 2 kitties were actually close enough to each other to get them both in the picture because they were playing with their new Christmas mice. The 2nd one was during our 3-week long renovation of our front bedroom/bathroom. The bed was in the dining room and Reece found shelter from Jack and Hershey sleeping there.