Mikayla laughing it up

March Madness

Mikayla only has one team she likes (so far)... let's hope they do well in the tournament!



Go Tar Heels!

This is what happens when you watch too much basketball...you are too tired to play with your toys!

Celebrity Baby Look Alike

Many people have told me that Mikayla reminds them of baby Shilo, Brad and Angelina's baby girl. I tried to find a picture where we might see the resemblance. This is the best I could do. I'm sure it's the LIPS that make people think that.

Mikayla on the left and Shilo on the right.

Their lips might be the same... but who has the better HAIR???????

Happy St. Patricks Day

Miss Mikayla in her new dress that her Grandma made for her.

And now an old Irish Joke...

A man stumbles up to the only other patron in a bar and asks if he could buy him a drink.

"Why of course," comes the reply.

The first man then asks: "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Ireland," replies the second man.

The first man responds: "You don't say, I'm from Ireland too! Let's have another round to Ireland."

"Of Course," replies the second man.

Curious, the first man then asks: "Where in Ireland are you from?"

"Dublin," comes the reply.

"I can't believe it," says the first man. "I'm from Dublin too! Let's have another drink to Dublin."

"Of course," replies the second man.

Curiosity again strikes and the first man asks: "What school did you go to?"

"Saint Mary's," replies the second man. "I graduated in '62."

"This is unbelievable!" the first man says. "I went to Saint Mary's and I graduated in '62, too!"

About that time in comes one of the regulars and sits down at the bar. "What's been going on?" he asks the bartender.

"Nothing much," replies the bartender. "The O'Malley twins are drunk again."

Florida...The Sunshine State

Third stop on our road trip was Pensacola Florida. Unfortunately it was just to spend one night and then get up early to drive to Atlanta. From Houston it took us about 10 hours. In the morning we went to the beach to get some pictures. It had been windy all night and the temperature dropped to 42 degrees...nearly half of what it was in Phoenix. Miss Mikayla Rebel did not like the cold weather at all. I had her bundled in layers and a blanket but the cold wind was too much for her so we only went on the beach for about 5 minutes...just to take a picture and say "we've been there". This is the beach where Jon lived in 97-98 when he was playing professional ice hockey for the Pensacola Ice Pilots.

Before we left town we were able to get in another quick visit with Jon's #1 Ice Pilots fan and friend Diane Russell. Thanks Diane for meeting us at Waffle House for breakfast. We have so many more friends we would have liked to see in Pensacola, but our trip was just a quick overnight. We will plan a vacation there someday with Mikayla, as I know in summer it is a fabulous time to be there!

Driving thru the Southern States

When we left Houston on our way to Pensacola we drove through the southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. We only stopped for lunch and then kept driving. It was another long day in the car, this time about 10 hours. Of course we stopped at each state border to get the pictures with the "welcome" sign again. We finally arrived in Pensacola Florida around 7:00 pm at night.


Louisiana state line.


Mississippi River.Mississippi state line (see the small sign to the left of Mikayla).



Alabama state line.Florida state line.

Texas...The Lone Star State

We left Las Cruces New Mexico on Thursday February 26th at 7:00 in the morning and continued on our journey to Houston Texas to visit our good friends Brian and Lauren Simpson, and their daughter Sophia Simpson. Of course we stopped at the border again to take a picture with the "Welcome Sign", pictured below with the state of Texas and a big star above it. If you've ever driven through the state of Texas you will not argue with me that it is a long and BORING drive. We traded off driving every two hours and made it to Houston in 13 hours. Thankfully we were entertained by movies we brought to play on our DVD in the car... got caught up on seasons 1, 2, and 3 of HBO's Entourage!

Jon played golf with Brian on Friday the 25th while Lauren and I took the girls for a walk in the stroller. We walked over to the golf course and saw the guys on the 18th hole. Here Jon is showing Mikayla Sophia's pink putter. Jon is really excited for the day when Mikayla will be walking, that's when she'll get her first set of clubs!

Mikayla has been doing great in the car. She has an easier nap time with the help of the car vibrations rocking her to sleep. Here she is pictured in her stroller from our walk. I was having fun with the functionality of my camera.

The same afternoon the guys went golfing we set up a mini studio in Laurens upstairs loft and she took pictures of the girls hanging out together. Here are just two of the many cute pictures. There was a moment where Mikayla started to lean into Sophie and knocked her over. Lauren posted these on her blog. The progression of pictures is hilarious. Check them out here: http://brianandlaurensimpson.blogspot.com/2009/03/weekend-with-friends.html

On Saturday we had a nice day out in the suburbs of Houston. We did a little bit of shopping followed by a trip to the Cafe and dinner at BJ's Brewery, one of our favorite restaurants. After dinner we split the largest cookie dessert I have ever seen. It was the family sized Pizookie with about 8 scoops of vanilla ice cream.
After the girls went to bed we were able to enjoy some drinks in the jacuzzi. Thanks so much Lauren and Brian for hosting us in your beautiful home. We really enjoyed our time together. We left Houston on Sunday March 1 and headed through the southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to our next destination, Pensacola Florida.