We are in Oz!

Just a quick post to say we made it to Australia. We have been having an awesome time visiting with friends and family, spending time at the beach, and sightseeing. Aidan did as well as could be expected on the flight over. There was one point about 4 in the morning that I leaned over to Clinton and said that I would NEVER take Aidan on another international flight until he could entertain himself. However when we all got a little sleep I woke up with a different perspective.

With no central heat or air, 4 minute showers, no clothes dryers or dishwashers things are just a little different here. The weather here is very unpredictable. It seems we have experienced the whole spectrum. I was very glad when it warmed up enough to go to the beach!
My first experience hanging clothes on the line to dry!
Aidan and Clinton before it was warm enough to get in the water.

Chillin' out with dada after a long day of sight seeing.
Clintons dad and 2 of his brothers work for the rail way, so we went for a ride on the train and Aidan loved it!
Aidan and Grandma on the train.
Yeah finally some HOT weather!
Aidan looved playing in the sand and sitting in the water! He was also very sociable and made friends with this little girl ( he also scared 2 other babies away because he is so outgoing! Tee Hee)

Dirty boy after a fun day at the beach.

I have more cute pics and video to share but it seems our wireless keeps going in and out because we are basically "borrowing" the neighbors and Clinton needs the computer.

Aidan and I made it home from moms safe and sound the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We have been busy, busy, busy since we got home. We hosted our companies Christmas party on Friday at our house which was a BLAST! We had Christmas morning this morning since we are leaving for Australia on Tuesday. I am also cooking Christmas dinner today for 12 people! It should be so much fun!

I am just so thankful for the precious gifts and people in my life! I love this time of year and having Aidan just makes it so much more fun! He is growing up before my very eyes and is developing his gross motor skills ( although he still walks on his toes and falls ALOT!), fine motor skills, and language skills. He says new words every day and can repeat ( with approximations of course) just about anything! He is so busy these day exploring and figuring out how things work and climbing on things that you have to watch him constantly! Mom got him a lot of educational toys with letters for Christmas, so his new thing is just naming radom letters. He loves looking at signs as we are driving down the street and say P, Q, H,T, etc... Of course he is not identifying the correct letters but at least has made the corelation. He is just to stinkin' cute. He is a true joy and blessing to our family!

Here are some pics and video from this morning. For some reason my favorite video of him opening his books from Gigi will not upload, so I will attempt it again later. Now I have to get to cooking! The Christmas loot Santa left! Santa brought Aidan a "my first big wheel" I loved playing with my big wheel when I was a kid!

Spotting the goodies

soo excited! and a major case of bedhead!

Santa also bought Aidan a sorting caterpillar. I guess Santa wants him to get an early start on Word Sort!

Hi!

I havent figured out my big wheel yet, but just give me time!

Fun in Huntington

Mom, Aidan, and I went to Huntington for Marshalls homecoming. We stayed with Sheri, Lauren, and Jeff the first night and then in a hotel the other 2 nights. Mom was so generous to babysit Aidan at the hotel while I got a chance to catch up with friends! The weather was BAD - rainy and cold and the Herd LOST ( I can not believe they lost their homecoming game! Where are the national champions?) but I got to spend time with some of my favorite people, laughed A LOT!, ate a lot of GREAT food and had a great time. Aidan and I watched the homecoming parade from underneath the awning of our hotel as it poured down buckets. I went to tailgate for about 30 minutes before I wussed out ( this California girl can not deal with cold weather any longer!) and then we totally didnt even attempt to go to the game ( like I said- buckets). I hated that we missed the homecoming festivities, but like I said we had a great time anyway.

The first day we got to Huntington it was semi warm so my friend Sheri took some shots of Aidan at Ritter Park ( a beautiful park and one of my favorite spots in Huntington). We took over 100 pictures and these are just a few of my favs.
The first night we stayed with Sheri. Aidan looved crawling through Laurens tunnel.

and riding in her red convertible mustang- Sassy!!

and her rocking truck! Lauren was little miss mommy to Aidan all weekend. Too cute.

Aidan says.... GO HERD!

Decked out for the parade.

One of my favorite pics of the weekend. Doesnt the bridge and trees look like a back drop? Like I said- Beautiful Park!

Fun in the mountains

Aidan and I came to visit my mom last week. We enjoyed a fun girls weekend in the Smoky Mountains with my two aunts and cousin. The leaves were beautiful! We had a cottage right on the stream and it was a perfect location! We are off tomorrow to drive to West Virginia to visit friends and attend Marshalls homecoming. Yeah! GO HERD!! Aidan when we first arrived sitting in a rocking chair on our porch that was actually over the stream.

Mr. A's first ride in the "Big Truck". Thanks Sabrina for driving all weekend!

Aidan dancing on the back of the tailgate of the "Big Truck"! Every boy loves trucks! Right?

Aidan in his hat from Andrew that was handmade in Peru!

I LOOOOVE Autumn on the east coast!!!

Stampede!!!! We had dinner at the Dixie Stampede. They had a live show with horses and other animals while you ate. The food was o.k. but the show was GREAT!

Aidan posing with one of the Stampede girls and her horse. She actually made him blush!

We went in the woods and took some family pics on a bridge.

Aidan showing us his muscles

My favorite pic of the day! Nana and her baby!

Sabrina and me. By this point Aidan was DONE with having his picture taken.

I guess I liked this one so much I decided to post it twice. Oops

Our little Leo!

Here are some pics from last night. I attempted to upload a video this morning but blogger wasnt cooperating