Elena and Dave

This series of photos just makes me laugh. Elena is getting to the age where we can really have fun together (at least I was having fun:-)

While feeding the bulls with oranges, I happened to get a little 'residue' on my hands. What happened next was only what any loving uncle would do to his unsuspecting little niece...

Oh, come on...what's a little orange juice mixed with bull slobber? :-)

Dave eyes up the bull. Elena watches closely.

The delivery...

The 'residue' on Dave's hand...

Elena tries to run...

...but, not quite fast enough to escape the reach of her devious uncle.





(In full disclosure, Elena was not harmed during the taking of these pictures:-)

The highlight of the day...feeding oranges to the cows:-)

There are always things in life you can find that you've never done before. Feeding orange halves to cows would have to be on my list. Elena was rather daring and was willing to hold one or two out for the cows. "Just hold your hand out and they'll come to you", Uncle Don would say. Then the sandpaper tongue comes out and....

Ooooooooooooh

Picking Oranges

Elena picks a beauty!

Uncle Dave! You're not going to eat that, are you!?

Dave, Josh, Elena and Andrew hard at work.

Josh and Uncle Don reaching for the ones up high.

Here are some pictures from our 'orange picking' adventure. Some we picked for ourselves and some we picked for the cows (more pictures to follow:-)

Pictures from Christmas

Walking on the ranch

Lily leading the way

Elijah and Natalie on the beach (it was a cold day... by Florida standards:-)

Here are some great pictures from our time in Florida with Amanda's family. These pictures were taken by her brother and sister-in-law, Andrew and Ellie. There were a lot of good ones to choose from, so I'll probably load a few at a time.

Natalie's First Swim

When in Florida, one has to swim, right?
Here is video of Natalie taking a swim at our hotel in Sebring. She did very well and enjoyed splashing around.

2009

Happy New Year to all...

I am going to try to catch up on the blog over the course of the next few weeks. We do have a fair number of pictures from our Christmas vacation with Amanda's family in Florida so I will have to pick out a few good ones.

Here is a short video of Christmas morning at the Skipper ranch in Sebring, Florida. Amanda, Natalie and I were down there visiting with the rest of the gang for a few days around Christmas.

We did also spend some time in Tampa and Charlotte over the Holidays so hopefully I have some pictures of those travels, as well. It was a lot of fun, but it has also been good for me to come home. My dear wife, however, is still 'on vacation' but I hope to see her again before the summer rolls around (I think she is trying to avoid cold weather as long as possible:-)

Here is the video from Christmas Day- I especially like Elena's very honest comments about her views on Christmas:-)

Pre- Thanksgiving Dinner Video

Doesn't the food look great!

And... the best part is that 'Uncle Amazing' makes a guest appearance at the end (Elena and Emily started nicknames for their uncles and Andrew's new nickname seems to stick!

For those that are interested, I am warmly referred to as 'The Juice King' due to my dependance on a couple glasses of OJ to get me started in the morning :-)

Thanksgiving Pictures

Natalie in Santa's Chair

Elena, Emily, Natalie, Eli and Lily

The whole gang at Oglebay for dinner

Natalie at Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving Dinner at Grandma Fontaine's house

Here are some recent pictures from our visit with Amanda's family at her Grandmother's house in Ohio. The three pictures at the top were taken the Friday after Thanksgiving at our dinner trip to Oglebay in West Virginia.

Sunday Dinner at the van Bastelaar's House

Liz and Jeff van Bastelaar, Rick and Marina Allen, Amanda and Dave.

Rick Allen with Natalie.

Joost, Natalie and Grace playing together. Joost and Grace were very gracious and allowed Natalie to share their toys. Natalie doesn't have many trucks so she was very interested in Joost's collection :-)

Amanda, Lauren, Liz and Marina.

Dave and Grace with the two bunnies:-)

Great food and fellowship with Jeff, Liz, Rick, Marina and Lauren!

Thanks to Lauren for forwarding these picures to us:-)

More pictures from trick-or-treat night

Here are some more pictures of the gang at Halloween tonight...

Natalie's First Halloween

We had a fun time tonight trick-or-treating with my brother's family. Liam was dressed as the UPS delivery man, Sophia was a chicken, and Natalie was Tigger.

Young Liam figured out the candy thing very quickly and came back with quite the 'stash'. Fortunately, he was kind enough not to complain when his Dad and Uncle did a 'security check' on the candy (someone had to try the candy to make sure it was safe:-)

Happy Halloween!

Exercises?

So this is what happens when I'm not around:-)

Here are some more pictures...

Here are a few more proofs from our photographer's web site. I was told that none of our family shots came out that well this time, but Natalie's pictures sure came out well. Maybe she has a future selling baby cereal:-)

6 month pictures

Amanda scheduled time with a photographer this past Saturday for Natalie's 6 month pictures. While it will be a little while before she has them available to view, she did make this one picture available to us.

To see the photographers website, click below:

http://www.custom4keeps.blogspot.com/

Driving in the Kitchen

Has it really been a month?!

Well I guess it's been a while...

Having a new role with my company and a fairly busy schedule has limited my recent blogging. Here are a few pictures from the last month or so.

The pictures include a visit here from Grandma Fontaine and Aunt Amy as well as a couple of pictures taken during Amanda's recent visit to North Carolina to see the Charlotte Creasons.

Love to all!
Dave




Natalie learning to 'enjoy' solid food



Playtime

Natalie with her cousin, Elena. Princess Natalie

Emily Natalie with Grandma Fontaine

Who dressed you like this!?