SAN DIEGO! (Part One)

We had SO much fun and packed in SO many adventures over 2 weeks, we have to break the pictures down by each day. Here's the first week. It was quite a trip!!!!

Day One: The plane trip and exploring the beach!





Day Two: The Fleet Science Center and the ships at the harbor downtown



Day Three: The Birch Aquarium and the Model Railroad Museum (we of course could have went there everyday if it were up to Levi! It was actually really cool!)



Day Four: The famous San Diego Zoo!







Day Five: Drive down the coast, over the Coronado Bridge; checking out the USS Midway. Afternoon run and hike at Torrey Pines State Reserve





Day Six: Automotive Museum, Harbor Seals at the Children's Pool in La Jolla, playground, hangin' out









Day Seven: SEAWORLD!

Catching up - Christmas '08

Cool workbench from Grandma and Papa




A great hike on Christmas Day

Baking cookies for Santa!

Levi's class Holiday show - the kids (well, mostly just the teachers) sang three songs, but Levi was an awesome bell-shaker!

The Fam

More brotherly love...

More winter fun

CJ 15 month checkup

Our Pediatrician pretty much summed it up:
"You should rent him out to other parents; he's so perfect"

Here's our little man's stats:
Height: 31.5 in. - 70%
Weight: 22 lbs. 2 oz. - 20%
Head: 18.5 in. - 45%

CJ just gets cuter and cuter every day. He can now say "ball" really clearly (because clearly it's his favorite thing!), says "mama" and "dada" and "byebye" as he waves. He eats just about everything we give him and if it were up to him, he'd be eating constantly. He's just so full of life and energy and LOVES his big brother! Levi and CJ are having many more episodes of playing together happily and make each other laugh to no end! It's so great to see them becoming best buds.

Winter fun

It was a cold but fun night for the Louisville Parade of Lights!

Levi builds his first snowmen! They unfortunately didn't talk, like Frosty.

Thanksgiving '08

We made the 8-hour road trip to Uncle Dave and Aunt Kristin's house in Manhattan, Kansas for a Stone Family Thanksgiving. Thanks to the portable DVD player, Elmo, Thomas the Train and Lightning McQueen, along with a multitude of snacks, the boys were fabulous! They handled the drive better than mom and dad! Once we reached our destination, it was 4 days of Stone mayhem! 8 kids (3 of them teenagers) and 8 adults made for a gloriously fun and exhausting time!!

Almost there! Taking a break at a rest area to kick around a soccer ball and witness a pretty Kansas sunset before hitting the road again!




CJ and Julianne had some serious bonding. They were just smitten with each other!

Cousin Evan reads to CJ while Mike has fun with his iTouch. Good trade!!

Evan (14) and Claire (16)
They were the ring bearer and flower girl at our wedding! (Older sister Caroline, now sophomore at college, is around the house somewhere.) What a difference 10 years makes- They're so grown up. So great with our kids, and such a lovable family!

Nail painting party in the bathroom!! Yes, that is Levi. He ended up with pink fingernails and purple toenails. (He was also wearing pink princess pullups because we temporarily ran out of his "boy" pullups) Our boy had a nice time with his girl cousins getting in touch with his feminine side!



Levi and Danielle as the wonder twin Jedis. The two of them were just like two peas in a pod all weekend. Danielle would just say "Come on Levi!" and they would trot off together and play...

The girls showed off their Halloween costumes (and Levi joined in as a little Jedi)


CJ freely and lovingly doled out lots of hugs!

The Cousins

Silly Faces!!

Rock n Roll Lifestyle

Visit to the Fire Station!

Levi, CJ and friends had a treat of touring the Superior Fire Station. Firefighter Dan put on all his gear and the kids got to sit in a REAL fire truck! Levi had a blast!

A Gaggle of Toeheads

Friends Cooper, James, Ella and Evan came for dinner recently. The kids had a blast!

Halloween Hoopla!!

Levi had a blast with Halloween this year!! He insisted that he wanted to be a "car" (go figure!) for his costume, so Mike had a great time riggin' an old cardboard box into a racecar masterpiece. We went to a Mod Moms party last weekend and Levi won the Best Costume award! And how appropriate that his prize was two matchbox cars.
Given that CJ refuses to wear any kind of hat, we improvised with the punk rocker costume, complete with the mohawk. He wasn't quite playing the part with some crying and his sippy cup full of milk, but he looked good!
On Halloween, we went to a neighborhood party and then Levi and Mommy trick-or-treated with pals Grant and Bennett. Levi was a bit anxious at first, but after a few houses, really got into it and wanted to keep going and going and going. We circled almost the whole neighborhood and he just had the time of his life!

Levi's school pictures

Too cute! (Tip: sure it's pretty easy to get a smile from our happy little man, but the pros know: put a frog stuffed-animal on your head for a guaranteed great smile)





School picture from 1 year ago --- the same happy little man --- but, oh boy how time flies!!