Keeping My New Year's Resolution...Sort Of

So, I talked to my Mom today. She reminded me that I made a pledge to post on this blog once every two weeks. I feel guilty. One post and it's the end of May. At this rate, you might get three by the end of December. Anyway, here's what we've been up to in April.

Phil, Erin, Olivia, Sam, and Owen came down to San Diego over the Easter holiday. We had a great time. Particularly during the coloring of the eggs with 4 rambunctious children. Phil and I enjoyed it. We sat outside and chatted!

How can you not love that face?

It's a work of art! It belongs in a museum!

This was Lizzie's first Easter and she seemed a bit taken aback by the festivities. Andy rapidly schooled her on the important aspects, like inspect all your gifts right away.

The Easter Egg hunt was a hit. They could barely contain their excitement!

Andy was pretty motivated to find him some eggs, especially since they were plastic and filled with chocolate.

Olivia zoning in on some treasure!

Sam gets the Bravery award for climbing under the trampoline in the face of known spiders living under there. You're a braver man than I am, Sam!

Even Lizzie found some eggs (with the help of an excited 36-year-old man who was stoked that he got to hunt for Easter eggs this year)!

The group with their loot. It was a good day for egg hunting.

The decorated Easter eggs right before they were made into my favorite food of the holiday...deviled eggs!

The next day we went to the San Diego Zoo. I think this is one of two pictures of Julie. I need to turn the camera on her more often!

Sam looking at some giraffes.

Andy contemplating the meaning of it all.

Lizzie excited to be taller than everyone!

No trip to the Zoo is complete without a picture riding the saber-toothed tiger!

Looks like Sam annoyed one too many elephants!

Andy, not to be outdone, met the same fate. His answer to the question, "If Sam jumped off a bridge, would you?" is a resounding, "Yes!"

Andy and I rode the Skyfari for the first time. We had a good time, but were both happy to be back on the ground after the ride was over.

To finish the festivities during Phil and Erin's visit, we went to Legoland. Andy did very well in Lego driving school.

Meanwhile, Lizzie was content to be chauffered around.

Just had to get a picture with the Lego court jester!

Chewbacca and R2-D2. Gotta love it!

The small Darth Vader. Andy likes to say, "That's you, Daddy. I'm Luke." I've taught him well!

A life-size model of Darth Vader made out of Legos. It doesn't get any better than that!

The kids after a day at the park. They were definitely ready to go home and rest, but not as much as I was!

To close this update, here's some pictures of Lizzie. She's growing up fast! She can already do amazing things, like climb up to the counter on a step stool (all by herself, I might add).

Very proud of herself.

She can also look heart-meltingly cute at the drop of a hat!

She can hang with her brother and her cousin Reef and create absolute chaos as Mom tries to get just one picture of all of them together!

And she is not afraid of trying new foods, like fresh seaweed, recently harvested from the Pacific Ocean!

Although the seaweed was not to her liking.

Well that does it for most of April. Look out for May sometime in the not too distant future!

Updates

It's the end of March and high time for some updates. Enjoy the pics!

Over the New Year holiday, I forced myself to find the time to clean out the garage enough that we can park one of our cars inside. It only took me seven months. My goal is to be able to park both cars inside by Thanksgiving!

My 36th birthday was at the end of January. Julie made me a Darth Vader cake and I was able to be home at a decent hour to celebrate. I think Andy was more excited about everything than I was.

I must say that my wife makes some pretty awesome birthday cakes!

Gifts included a model of PT-109, the second season of The Big Bang Theory, a Star Wars coloring book (from Andy), and a skull and crossbones surgical cap. A very good haul, if I do say so myself!

Black tongues from the birthday cake! They lasted for an entire day.

Flowers for my sweetheart on Valentine's Day!

Julie made hearts for each of us in the days leading up to Valentine's Day, each one with something that she loves about us written on them. Here are Lizzie's hearts.

And here are Andy's hearts. Yet another reason I'm married to the greatest woman on Earth!

Enjoying popsicles in February. Gotta love the warm San Diego weather!

Just like her brother, Lizzie loves to pretend to drive cars. I had a hard time taking her away from the steering wheel.

Lizzie crawled under this chair, sat up, and was then unable to crawl out. Our response...take a picture and laugh!

Lizzie is able to pull herself to standing and get into things now. The result is...

...an absolute mess!

Well, that brings us up to date for now. Look for some Easter updates in the next couple of days, since I have a few days off of work and Phil, Erin, and kids are visiting. We're having a great time and can't wait to share our adventures!

Christmas

Well, the final post for 2012 is here (don't tell anyone, but I'm writing it on January 1, 2013, and then changing the time, so that it displays as being written in 2012)! My New Year's resolution is to post at least twice per month. We'll see if it lasts longer than my decision to quit drinking Coke, but I'm cautiously optimistic!

Anyway, for Christmas we stayed in San Diego. My brother Dan flew down from Idaho Falls to spend the holiday with us. We enjoyed having him here, especially since it gave me an excuse to visit my favorite tourist spots...the Maritime Museum and the USS Midway museum. Andy particularly enjoyed Dan's visit and was quite sad to see him go.

We started our visit to the Maritime Museum on the SS Star of India. The highlight of the tour for Andy was getting to hang on the "steering wheel". Lizzie liked it too. You can tell we're a Navy family!

Our next stop was the HMS Surprise of 'Master and Commander' fame. As you can see from the figurehead in the picture, she was in a festive mood for the holidays.

Once again, Andy was all about steering the ship. So was Dan!

We also toured a Soviet Kilo-class submarine. It was a tight fit below decks, and I forgot to take pictures there. Trust me when I say that I'm glad I'm not a submariner!

As part of our Christmas tradition, we paint ornaments to place on the tree. Daniel was included, of course, and made a soldier. I'm surprised he didn't make a Marine.

Andy also painted a soldier. He eventually painted the entire ornament green. It's his favorite color. Everything ends up being green right now.

On the night of December 23, we were visited by Santa's elves. Andy and Lizzie did well during the year and got apples. Julie did well with an orange. Daniel was borderline with a coconut. I had red flags waving with coal. I guess I was a bit too cranky this year!

Andy was very proud that the elves thought he was such a good boy!

Our other tradition is to get new pajamas on Christmas Eve. Julie decided to make them this year and Andy picked out the pattern. She always waits until the last minute, griping as she goes. That's all I'll say!

On Christmas Eve we went to the USS Midway. We toured the flight deck first, to get it out of the way since it was raining. That didn't dampen Andy's mood. He was way excited to be in a helicopter. He even buckled himself in!

The flight deck of the USS Midway. Remember, this is small compared to modern carriers.

The next series of photos reinforced my decision to become an officer in the military instead of remaining enlisted.

The Admiral's bedroom.

The Admiral's closets and private bathroom.

The Admiral's sitting room.

One of the enlisted set of bunks.

One of the enlisted berthing areas with their locker and one bunk each. As I said, I'm glad I'm an officer!

Since I'm in Navy medicine, the trip wouldn't have been complete without a trip to medical. Here's the inpatient ward, consisting of 18 bunks. Cozy!

One of two operating rooms. I was told that, since the carrier didn't have an anesthesiologist assigned, one of the dentists filled that role.

The F/A-18 ready room. Andy went straight into the CO's seat. I see a future in Naval aviation!

Given that green is his favorite color, Andy insisted on a picture with "the green guy".

The night before Christmas, all through the house; not a creature was stirring...except for Dad, who was unhappily putting toys together!

The stockings after Santa's visit. Apparently, my last minute attempt to be good worked!

One happy 4-year-old and a somewhat confused 7-month-old. It was a good Christmas morning!

Happy to have her hands on a box of Mum-Mum's.

Dan going through his stocking. He's really styling in those pajama pants!

Andy helping Lizzie go through her stocking. She was distracted by the banana.

She rapidly decided that she didn't like it in its skin nearly as much as she thought she would.

Wrapping paper, however, was an instant hit!

Julie with her stocking. We were both wishing that Andy had let us sleep in a bit more!

Andy picked this necktie out himself. Notice that it's green.

Andy thoroughly enjoyed tearing into his presents, as the following picture shows...

The chaos after all the gifts are unwrapped. I guess it's a sign of a successful Christmas morning!

Andy modeling his Spiderman knit cap (thanks Santa), Best Big Bro t-shirt (thanks Lizzie), Spiderman lunchbox, Spiderman wristband, and Spiderman watch (thanks Leta). This kid sure loves Spiderman, and he is the best big brother ever!

Well, that does it for 2012. Keep your eye out for at least two posts in January. I promise, I'll try!