Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Mickey House

While in Florida, at Disney World no less) we got Rock a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. He loves it.
And he calls it his Mickey House shirt. Too many Dr. Seuss books rhyme those two words.
He showed it off for the friendly mannequins at Old Navy.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Father's Day

For Father's Day we went out to dinner with my parents, Fix's parents and their friends Mary and Rick. Rock referred to them as Grandma and Grandpa because he knows no one else by those names.
Three generations of cute. Fix poses with the boy who made him a father and the man who is his father.
We had so many people we had to split between two tables. Here's the female half of our dining party.
Sister shot.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Copeland, Jay and McCrary

On the way home from General Assembly, we stopped at the Hudgens casa where we got to see Copeland...
Hold on -- is that man behind Copeland a friend or a foe?
Phew! He's a friend! So Copeland taught him the ins and outs of Leapster 2.
Then Jay showed me some games on his Leapster 2. They BETTER bring these to the beach!
Finally, little McCrary was quite the little hostess. She showed her obvious affection for me by crying when I gave her a kiss. We can't wait to see them all again soon!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

General Assembly 2009

Last week, Fix and I drove with Annie and Nick down to the General Assembly of the PCA.
All the commissioners assembled and the meetings began. Oh wait. That's not a picture of the commissioners! Let me back up. When we got into town after a 14-hour car ride, the four of us hit up Downtown Disney for dinner and a little fun. The Lego store was awesome.
Align CenterDon't you just love things made of Legos?
London Legos for Zuni.
Fix posed with this Lego-dog so we could show Rock later. His dog obsession continues...
I know, I know. I look crusty. And my attempt to pull out my jeans didn't work. Sigh...
Anyway, the next day we went to Disney World, "where dreams come true."
Dreams of going to Disney's Coronado Springs Resort for G.A. that is.
Here's what the scene looked like in the Meeting Hall. Although I did skip a few of the more mundane reports, I thoroughly enjoyed taking covert pictures during sitting in on the Assembly meetings. In all seriousness, I fell in love with the Presbyterian system of voting/decision making. I love how it's not up to one person or group of people who determine what happens in our denomination.
Instead, at G.A., all the commissioners (pastors and elders) make decisions together and no voting happens until both sides of the story have been fully represented. Fix liked it too.
Nick... hmmm.... I don't know about Nick. Anyway, right now you are probably thinking "That's all fine and dandy, but can you list the four best things about G.A.?" Sure I can! Thanks for asking.
1) The Westminster Seminary California luncheon. It was a good time to catch up with alumni, eat a good meal, and hear about what's new at the Sem.
2) Reconnecting with all sorts of friends/fellow pastors who we see on a rarely-to-never basis. Above, Fix chats with Anton, a fellow WSC alum.
3) The little alligator I saw at the resort's lake. Please ignore the gross stuff floating in the water.
4) Last but not least, the Mickey Mouse butter. This just barely beat out the $12.99-unlimited-refill-souvenir-cups that Fix and I purchased because, in the pricey world of Disney, they were actually a good deal.
They finished all official business on Thursday afternoon, so we spent Friday morning relaxing at our resort's pool. It was there that we discovered our sunscreen is most likely past it's expiration date because after only 2 hours, Fix and I were both fried.
Thanks again to Annie and Nick for being such delightful traveling companions and for driving/letting us drive your car! After we took this picture we drove off to South Carolina on the first leg of our trip home. But more on that in my next post...

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Fire Engine...

For some reason, Rock's terrified of the dinky carousel at the mall so we stick to the fire engine.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Molly's Party

Rock was thrilled that Molly had her birthday party at a park. That is, he was thrilled that it was at a park with swings. He spent most of the morning hovering three feet in the air going back and forth.
We did manage to woo him away for some yummy food and birthday cupcakes. While the rest of us sang Happy Birthday to Molly, Rock sang "Happy to YOU!"
Appreciate how Sophia's eyeing/reaching for the cupcakes in the background.
I can't blame her though -- they were adorable and DELICIOUS!
Someone couldn't get enough.
Then, while everyone else hung around and had fun together...
Rock went back to the swings.
I included this last picture just to show how together Carrie is. Not only did she make adorable cupcakes and yummy food, and tote all the necessary party gear to the park, she also gave each of the kiddies a personalized cup with a fun squiggly straw! Good work Super Mom!
p.s. If you wanna see what we gave Molly for her present, click here.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Watkins Park

Two weeks ago, it was my distinct pleasure to go to Watkins Park...With the Saladas and the Rohals...
And this cute boy in his daddy's hat.
We started the day by looking at all the cool animals. While he warmed right up to the extremely loud peacocks, Rock didn't know what to make of the turkey.
They don't really mean it when they say "KEEP OFF," do they?
Next, we did the hayride.
It was an excellent opportunity to get our kids back to nature by exposing them to some powerline foliage.
After the hayride, we hit up the train. Will my repaired lens ever be returned from Nikon? In the meantime, so many of my shots were blurry.
Although, in the tradition of tooting ones own horn, I must say I am rather proud of this picture as it captures Rock's wowed-by-the-cool-train-seriousness.
And I took it while holding this sweet baby girl.
That was it for my photog skills that day. As I took this, I thought perhaps I should ask the man in the back to scoot over. Shoulda coulda woulda.
The highlight of the day (for me) was riding with Rock on the carousel. The animals, including the exotic buffalo that Rock mounted, were expertly painted and beautiful.

Rock and Amelie were the only ones on our carousel ride and they loved it!
After an abbreviated pause at the playground swings, everyone was sufficiently tuckered out so we headed home.
Thanks again to the Saladas and Rohals for inviting us out for some good ole exhausting fun in the sun!