Happy Birthday, Mae!

Mae Blowing Out Her Candles

Mae, Her Mom and Her Cousin

In The Leaves

Wyatt Havin' Fun with his Buddies

Baby Snugs

One of the best things by far about us relocating to Dallas/Ft.Worth has been reconnecting with one of my dearest friends from college, Michelle Garrison, now known as  Michelle Lackey, since she married a great guy named Barrett Lackey about 10 years ago. They have two awesome kids, Reese and Mae. And since we've moved here they've been my saving grace. Reece and Mae absolutely adore Wyatt, and he feels the same way about them. At first Michelle and I would say, "Oh they love each other so much, they're like cousins." Well now, it would be much more fitting to say that they are like siblings. Except that they don't fight. Not yet anyway.

Well, Mae's 6th Birthday was in the end of December. William was in Midland taking care of his dad at that point, so Wyatt and I met the Garrison-Lackey clan out a fun park in Arlington, and we had cake, kids played on the playground and Wyatt got buried in leaves. All fun stuff.

Christmas Day: Secular and Non Secular Fun!

Checking Out The Alter

Speed Crawling Toward the Nativity

Taking a Break on the Stairs

Wyatt Wonders, "Are These Christmas Presents or Are They Birthday Presents?"

Wyatt and Grandma Inside The Penguin House

It's a tradition on Wyatt's mom's side of the family to go to The Old St. Louis Cathedral under The Arch for noon mass on Christmas day. So that's what we did. Wyatt was 13 months old and still unable to walk, but he had gotten FAST at crawling, so when mass was over, that's what he did. He sped down the aisle to check out the alter, he sped down another aisle to take a look at the nativity scene. And that was just the beginning of his Christmas Day adventures....

In the afternoon, Wyatt, his mom, his Grandma and his Uncle Pat headed down to the St. Louis Zoo. Wyatt had already been to the Bronx Zoo, and this one really gave that one a run for it's money. The highlight was the Penguin House. That place must've had at least 150 little penguins splishing, splashing and jumping from rock to rock and into the water. At one point, Wyatt and I got too close and when one of those pengins took a belly flop into the water, we got splashed! Splashed with stinky, fishy, penguin water. Gross. But Wyatt thought it was fun.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Kids

The Family Stair Photo '08 (Sadly, Minus William)

Lots o' Presents

Hangin' with Cousin Reis

A Sleepy Wyatt Gettin' Hugs from Cousin Lauren

A few days after we arrived in Arlington, Wyatt, his mom, his dad, his grandma and his Uncle Pat got in an SUV and headed to St. Louis. About halfway there, we got a phone call from William's mom saying that his Dad, who lives in Midland, was in the hospital with a colapsed heart valve and he would need to have sugery asap*. What to do? What to do? Well, obviously, William needed to get on a plane right away and head down to Midland. But what about Wyatt and I? Should we go, too? It was a tough call. Stay together as a family for Christmas, or split up, Wyatt and I going on to St. Louis as planned? Well, William made the call, saying that we might as well go and have an enjoyable Christmas, let Wyatt see his cousins, etc. So that's what we did. It wasn't the same without him, but that's what we did. We scrambled to find William a cheap flight, backtracked an hour or so to Oklahoma City's airport and off he went to DFW. No direct flights into Midland until the next day, and luckily, our good friends Chad and James were heading to Midland earlier and could give William a ride.

Sadly, we ventured on to St. Louis sans William. Christmas Eve was the next day, and we spent the evening at Cousin Cathy, Dave, Dustin, Caroline and Reis's house with tons of other aunts, uncles, cousins and other relations and friends. The highlight was drunken carolling to a few houses in Cathy and Dave's posh neighborhood. Surprisingly, no one told us to get lost, even though they probably should have.

*Happy news to report: William's dad's surgery went well and he is now healthier than ever. He celebrated his 70th birthday in March 09.

An Early Christmas Present

Well, we finally arrived in Arlington, Texas after our 5 day southwestern journey and boy, did Grandma Connie have a fantastic Christmas surprise for the 'lil guy - his very own pony. He was delighted as the little horse went "clipptiy cloppity and neighhhhhh" when you pinch his ear. Discretely. The horse's ear, that is. I don't think I'd ever seen a look on Wyatt's face quite like that before. He was absolutely thrilled and he kept looking around at everyone as if to say, "Is this really for me? You mean I really get to keep it?" What a cutie.

On the Road Again...in Texas (Mid December)

Texas Sunset

"Speedy" Our Trusty Cross Country Mini-Van

These are a couple of shots that I took with my iPhone on the Texas portion of our Southwestern road trip.

Wyatt Stops in Midland and Gets to Hang With Grandpa Gary

Wyatt and His Grandpa

The Philpott Boys

Our last overnight stay on The Speedy Express was at Wyatt's Grandpa Gary's house in Midland, Texas. It was a short visit, but worth the wait. Wyatt got to see his grandpa and meet Four-Four. We had to get on the road the next day to make it in time to hop on the St. Louis Christmas Express. Whew, that's a lot of road-trippin'. 

Visiting Friends on Speedy's Southwest Express

The Family in Santa Barbara

Mom and Kat and Wyatt

Wyatt, Dad and Chris

Around the middle of December, we drove Speedy, Cha- Cha's trusty 1994 Ford Aerostar, from Novato, California to Arlington, Texas. The goal was to get there a few days before Christmas, beacause then, the whole family would hop into another van with Wyatt's Texas Grandma and Uncle Pat and drive to St. Louis. It was a long road trip, but Wyatt aced it like a champ. We got to visit various friends along the way and that made it really fun.

Our first stop was in Santa Barbara, and we stayed at our friend Chris's girlfriend's house. The place was amazing and Kat was a fantastic hostess. I think Wyatt fell in love. Kat plays drums in a band and she sat Wyatt on her lap in front of the drum kit and together they just rat-a-tat-tatted, and drum rolled and banged away. Wyatt had a blast! He's alwayed been into the drums, but with Kat, he got to totally rock out! 

We said our goodbyes the next day after a tasty Mexican lunch. Then we headed down the highway to L.A., where we stayed with our good friends Darrel and Lisa (not sure what happened to those pitcures. Sorry, D and L!). Tuscon was our next stop after that and then on to Midland, Texas, where we got to see Wyatt's Grandpa Gary.

Not Quite Sure About Santa

First Meeting With Santa. Ready to Bolt and Run.

"I'm not so sure about this guy.

You're not going to leave me here with him are you?"

"i'm ready to get out of here now."

"Maybe if I don't make eye contact, he'll go away."

Later the same day we walked across the Golden Gate, we drove north to Mill Valley and got out to explore the charming little town. We happened upon a small holiday gathering in the town square, complete with hot chocolate, apple cider and a Santa Claus who happened to wearing a Fireman's hat. Hmmm...perhaps because the event was hosted by the Mill Valley Fire Department?

Well, this was Wyatt's ever glimpse at Santa as was not really sure what to make of him. He thought he was okay from afar, but boy, once he was plopped down on his lap he really got the "worried look".He didn't really cry, but his little eyes filled up with tears and it just about killed me. How can little kids look so cute when they look so sad? Poor little guy.

A Walk Across the Golden Gate

On a beautiful and chilly December day, we took a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and back. Wyatt's a pretty well traveled litle guy. This being his second visit to the Golden Gate 'n all.

Christmas in Union Square (The West Coast One)

Wyatt and Mom in Union Square

Tree at Sunset

One evening we drove into what Northern Californian's call "The City". That would be San Francisco to the rest of us. We just mostly wandered around Union Square looking at the Christmas windows. We wandered into Barney's, See's Candies and Macy's and even thought about waiting in that super long line to get Wyatt's picture taken with Santa. But it was getting late, and even at an hour that sleep was not impending, it would have been risky. At 7:00 pm it was 100% no can do.

Tree Lighting In San Rafael

Who's Number One?

Wyatt and His Dad!

We went to a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in a town south of Novato called San Rafael. William's mom and Charlie used to live there before they sold their house. It has a cute downtown area and on this particular night, there was a Christmas parade that went through the town and tents selling little gift items and lots of people drinking hot chocolate and even a place where you cold hop on a sled and sled down a fake snow covered hill. The highlight was the lighting of a huge Christmas tree. Wyatt enjoyed riding backpack style in the Ergo and watching all the people.

Later that Day...

In an attempt to make Wyatt's birthday last as long as possible, (and I do believe that all birthdays should be maximized to the fullest extent), we had one last birthday cupcake, one last round of "Happy Birthday", another chance to wear the First Birthday hat, more balloons and more clapping. Wyatt also had a chance to open some birthday presents. Happy Birthday, Wyatt! Thanks to you, your Dad and I have had the best year of our lives.

Ridin' on the Choo Choo at Wyatt's Birthday Party

Comin' Round the Track

The Whole Gang on the Train

Tim, Maya and Otie 

Simone and Her Dad

Why is a ride on an old steam train so exciting and so much fun? Well, I'm about to tell you, so here goes: 

We all piled into the steam train and waited for the old thing to take off down the track. The whistle would blow and huge puffs of steam would fill the air, and then slowly....slowly, the train started creeping, going "chuga chuga chuga, choo choo!" And then it went a bit faster and then a little faster still and then suddenly, that little train was throttling down the track, literally going full steam ahead. Wyatt, River and the whole gang watched the scenery fly by as the train winded along the narrow railway and through the Berkeley Hills.

Wyatt's First Birthday Party

Wyatt 'n Dad

Saying "Hi!" to Carolina and River

Family Birthday Portrait 

River and Laurent

Happy Birthday to Wyatt!

Happy Birthday to You!

Wyatt and Otis Munchin' on Birthday Cupcakes...Mmmmm.

Nico, Sarah and Simone Join the Party

Otis and Wyatt Entertaining the Grown-Ups

Baby Cheerios Feeding Frenzy!

Bird's Eye Baby Blanket View

On November 22, 2008, Wyatt turned one! We were in Novato. Which is to say it was not the "home" that Wyatt and his parents were most used to at that time, which was on Orchard Street in Manhattan, and it wasn't our new "home-in-between-homes" in Arlington. But it was certainly a beautiful, fun place. Close to family and old and new friends, and a great place to turn one.

His birthday happened to be on a Saturday, so we called up everyone we knew in San Francisco (in other words, a couple of handfuls of people) and invited them to join us at Tilden Park near the historic carousel. Unfortunately, once we arrived, we found out that the carousel was closed for renovations and the beautiful, sunny, warm day was pretty darn chilly in the shade. Which of course, was where the only picnic table in the vicinity of the carousel, was located. But that didn't matter. Once Carolina, Laurent and River showed up, they got the party started, and soon after, our new friends, Maya, Tim and Otis arrived. Big shouts out to those three for coming, since we had only known them for a couple of weeks at that time. Later, the other ex-Brooklynites, Sarah, Nico and Simone, plus a friend, joined us in time for homemade cupcakes. 

Parents talked, babies played on blankets, and then someone had the bright idea to head to the famous steam train in Tilden Park for a ride in the choo choo. Tilden Park is BIG, so we all hopped in our cars, followed Tim and Maya, who actually knew how to get there, and ended up at the steam train for a really fun ride.