Already a Busy Fall!

It was early November of 2006, a young'ish' lucky girl from Montana met this great looking, funny, charming, and muscular guy from Bellingham.  About a year later, that girl was married to that very modest guy....and poof, four years and one kid later we're celebrating another anniversary.  It's been a great four year, and there will be many more to come.  I love you babe!!!

Every now and then, or really every weekend, daddy gets to spend some time with his favorite daughter.  OK, really his only daughter (but still his favorite).  So, while Karen is out training for an upcoming race, or busy volunteering with the parrots, Sydney and I get to spend some quality time together.  The pictures in this post are from last weekend, in which we got to spend some time playing at Hovander and visiting with the animals.  Afterwards, we rounded out our outing with a quick trip to Woods Coffee.  And since you know me, it really took Sydney a lot of arm-twisting to make that happen :)

With only minor setbacks that are few and far between, Sydney is pretty much now 'house-broken.'  Oh, whoops, I meant potty trained.  I always mix those up.  In fact, she hasn't gone on the newspapers...er, I mean in her diapers, he he...in quite some time.  This should help us with some of our upcoming adventures.

In other news, we continue to prep for an upcoming trip to Montana.  As a family, we've endured 15 hour flights from Australia, 3 hour flights to and from California, layovers, and everything that travel brings.  We've got a daughter that has been on more continents and in more U.S. states by the age of two than most people have by their teens.  So, we are only hoping this well-traveled toddler will be open to a 14-hour car-bound 'road trip.'  While flying to Montana seems more appealing, the advantage of having a car is important and gives the flexibility to visit Karen's friends.  This also opens up the possibilities of experiencing different things along the way.  We hope we can keep our little blond one entertained through enough books, activities, and an occasional movie.  The idea of a road trip...the adventure, the excitement, and the fear, are all a very fascinating combination.  If we survive, I'm sure we'll have great stories and pictures to share.  So stay tuned!!!

 Have a great weekend!!!

Resisting Urges

One of the great things about being a dad to a two-and-a-half year old is the fun perks that come with it.  Playing around, tickling, rough housing, and all of those activities make life fun.  Lately though, it has been an interesting time because I have had to resist multiple urges to tickler her.  Sydney, in her advancement in potty training, is now mostly out of diapers during the day.  This is great and we are very excited about this, but the drawback is knowing that I must resist the temptations to tickle her with the same intensity as before (so as to avoid any potential 'accidents').  As she gets a little older and her ongoing success of potty training is secure, then I can increase my level of activity.  And let me tell you, that little blond girl is full of identified tickle zones.  Under her neck, as well as her armpits, are a couple of key areas.

In family news, Sydney recently got to help celebrate her Great Great Grandpa's birthday...who happened to turn a young 85!  I can only hope that the family genes for long-life pass down to me, as well as Sydney :)

Sydney also looks forward to spending time with her Nana from Montana...in...well, Montana.  This will be a road trip, so hopefully we will be lucky with a happy toddler and smooth traffic.  And perhaps the weather will be nice, too.  It'll also be great to spend some time with Karen's friends that live there.  And Sydney also volunteered to take her shift driving.  While I thought this was very thoughtful, I'm not quite sure she can reach the pedals and steering wheel at the same time.

It also appears that Sydney will rejoin swim class this fall.  This is great since it looks like her welding class, as well as her heavy construction equipment class, have both been canceled.  She's always loved swim class, so it'll be nice for her to get her fins wet again.  Until next post...

Have a great longgg weekend!!!


(And thanks to my Mom for the first and last pictures)