Our first family vacation

My Dearest Addison,

We went on our first family vacation on August 22, 2008.  I would have posted pictures much much sooner, but I was up to my eyeballs with work... now that I have some time, here's a pictorial of much of what we did...

This trip included your first ride on a plane... thankfully, you were as sweet as an angel the whole time.  It may have helped that your Mommy packed a whole lot of munchies to snack on and toys to play with and your uncle Dewey kept you smiling!

We arrived at our first stop in Colorado Springs to meet your Auntie Liza, Uncle Jon, your cousin PJ and Alex and the rest of your Mommies relatives.  Here is a picture of your Grandma, some of her brothers and sisters and of course your little cousin, Alex.

We were in Colorado to celebrate the baptism of your cousin and the wedding of your Auntie Liza, and Uncle Jon.  This is Auntie Liza giving her daddy a big kiss during the rehearsal.

You also made a new friend!  Here is Noah and her mommy, Auntie Terry.

You two are soooo cute!

Right after the rehearsal, we jumped right into Alex's baptism.  Here's mom and baby sharing a moment.

Family picture!

Your Uncle Jon and baby Alex

Here's your Auntie Liza after her bachelorette party... I think she had a whole lot of fun!

Your Auntie Liza and Uncle Jon had their wedding at the Air Force Academy where your Uncle went to college.  I won't put up any pictures on this entry because I already put up a slideshow... 

Anyhow, the day after the wedding your mommy and I really wanted to take you up to Pikes Peak for some mountain adventures but chose instead to go see the Garden of the Gods.  

It's a really neat place to walk around...

and... although you slept through most of it...

we managed to catch a picture of you awake as we were leaving.

On Monday, August 25 we flew to San Diego, your Daddy's home away from home.  I lived in San Diego of nearly 12 years miss it just as much as I miss Hawaii. 

August 25th is also your Uncle Marc's birthday.  We went to go pick him up from the 32nd st. Naval Base where he is stationed so he could spend the day with us.  I took this picture of him as we were unloading the rental car.

We took Marc out to this awesome Korean BBQ place... 

...mmmm Kim chee!

Mommy wanted so much for you to make a present to give your nana and papa so we went to Color me Mine of Rancho Bernardo

Here you are getting your hand painted for a coffee mug that you made for your Nana and Papa.

Awwwww... tiny little hand print!

This is a paint brush!

It's... for... ummm... painting...nevermind.

The final product.

We even took you to the San Diego Zoo

Here's you and Mommy at the petting zoo.

You are both such dorks... really! =)

At the Panda exhibit... How cute!!!

Hammin it up!

Your beautiful Mommy.  Oh how I heart her!

On our way out of the zoo, we decided to get a caricature of you... I see the resemblance.

We even visited one of Daddy's very good friends, Rick, his wife Thelma and their family for a portrait session.

This is Anthony...

...Jaelyn

...JR

...Tim

and of course, Justin

Woohoo!!!

The Miller basketball team!

Your Nana and Papa, my parents, arrived on my birthday, the day before we were to fly back to New York.  Here is a pic of your reunion with them.  We were all amazed at how fast you warmed up to them again... It seemed that you still remembered them from their last visit

back in June... Oh how they missed you!

.

On our last night, we as a family, celebrated your Daddy's and Uncle Marc's birthday by going out for some sushi!  Here you are proposing a toast! =)

So here we are again, back in New York.  You are now 9 months old.  A couple of milestones this month... You grew so much just in the 9 days we were away on vacation.

-You learned to stand on your own.

-You can finally hold your own bottle.

-You can say, Mama, Papa, Nana, DaDa, JoJo... although you haven't quite figured out who's who yet... =)

It's been a crazy summer, but we've had a blast little one.  Today, we're packing our things to go on a road trip to Newark, Delaware for a couple nights...  Hope fully you and I can have some fun while mommy is at her meetings huh?

With love,

Daddy