Christmas at last! Days of swimming, playing games on Grampa Ray’s laptop, playing games on Uncle D’s iPhone, running around the house while being timed and taking “short cuts” through The Villages have culminated in a spectacular morning of joy!
Here Ian glares at the camera, wondering if this photoshoot is in any way delaying the opening of the gifts. See this image larger.
Ian gets a nice book, and the call of the “blankie” is almost too strong… “Don’t fall asleep! GAKEUP! Must… open… presents…” See this image larger.
Here Ian shows off his practiced unwrapping technique. He just needs you to start a corner and he’ll take care of the rest! See this image larger.
Kids say a lot of things when they receive the present of their deepest desires, but “I was good enough!!!” has got to be the clincher for best line ever! Congrats Connor on receiving a Wii! See this image larger.
Ian swipes one of Connor’s presents and wears it as a hat. Can’t help it when he sees a circle! See this image larger.
Connor be sure and tell your parents that it was Uncle D who told you how to do the Heisman pose. I’m only a part-time nerd. 😉 See this image larger.
This crazy fold-out city had a lot of fun interactive activities on it, and Ian was mesmerized for quite a while. See this image larger.
Trying to carry four cars at once ain’t easy, but he pulled it off with a little help loading up. See this image larger.
If it looks at all like somebody told these two they’ve got to ship all this stuff home shortly in boxes, that wouldn’t be much of a stretch, lol 😉 See this image larger.
Just a few pics in Part IV, I want to make sure I don’t overload anybody’s computer with too many pics! O_o;;
https://outoftheirminds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ootmd-logo-dark-wings-3Asset-15.svg00vrbfwhttps://outoftheirminds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ootmd-logo-dark-wings-3Asset-15.svgvrbfw2009-01-11 00:24:502009-01-11 00:24:50And so this is Christmas ’08, Part III
Continuing the story, this we start in the evening hours of the 21st…
I know it looks like Ian is leading Kaylee to the liquor cabinet here, but I think he just remembered where all the toys were. See this image larger.
About 24 hours later, on the 22nd, aboard the S.S. Rubbermaid, rumbles of mutiny amongst her crew. See this image larger.
The next day was the 23rd, and it was time to break out and have some fun. “Why’s that camera stuck to your head again, Da?” See this image larger.
Ma and Ian pause for a brief break and shoe adjustment on the Bocce court. Love those smiles! This one is well worth the wait of viewing larger… click there -> See this image larger.
This picture is a great representation of Ian at his best these days. He’s a proud, happy, almost unstoppable little toddler on his way to boyhood. See this image larger.
Check with Mommy about that “unstoppable” part, this is her fourth time around the Bocce shed. See this image larger.
No idea how or why people get lost in The Villages… say what was that street Grandma Barb and Grampa Ray live on again? See this image larger.
Now it is Christmas Eve, and everybody’s out enjoying the bright Florida sun! Right guys? Guys? See this image larger.
What’s this? A secret stash of golfballs Grampa Ray keeps in the trunk of his golfcart? He doesn’t need these, does he? See this image larger.
Doggie kisses for all! Not sure why you kids always end up getting each other’s colds during these trips. See this image larger.
Next update? Johnson/Kunze-side Christmas morning!
https://outoftheirminds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ootmd-logo-dark-wings-3Asset-15.svg00vrbfwhttps://outoftheirminds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ootmd-logo-dark-wings-3Asset-15.svgvrbfw2009-01-09 16:37:272009-01-09 16:37:27And so this is Christmas ’08, Part II
I had my web host move the blog so that we didn’t run into so much downtime… sadly this messed up permissions and I’ve been unable to edit the blog. That’s not why, tho. I’ve basically been on fire since I got back from Florida with work and whatever else. But now we’re back in business apparently, so let’s get bloggin’.
First we start at home:
This is a picture from Christmas at home, which took place on the 20th of December. Ian received a guitar as one of his presents, and it is pretty fantastic as far as kid’s toys go, I must say. I on the other hand, am sporting a very mature (cough) um… controller for a uh… video game where you pretend to be able to play guitar. See this image larger.
Believe it or not, the night of the 20th, we headed for Lansing, to stay at a hotel, as mentioned in entries below. Ian slept between us in bed when we got there, and he was a real trooper. There were some intense moments of driving through the blizzard, and to see him cuddle up on his “blankie” out of exhaustion was heartening to say the least.
The next morning, we made it to the airport via shuttle, and the runways did not look very clear… there was also a crazy wind rustling up walls of zero-visibility for the pilots to contend with. They moved our gate twice…
The flight to Florida was arduous — Ian did his best not to cry, although the flight aggravated his ears which were still hurting from his cold a handful of days earlier. We tried his pacifier, but it didn’t seem to make him feel much better, and he was not a happy camper by the time the plane was beginning its final descent. Girl that sat in front of Ian… wherever you are… I apologize to you again for the number of times your seat got kicked and the tray behind you was moved into the up/down position. Mostly people told us that he had behaved himself nicely, apparently in contrast to some other kid they were thinking of. One thing that came back to haunt us was a game that we played back at home. Melissa or I would pretend we were asleep and snore loudly, Ian would scream “GAAKUP!” meaning, of course “WAKE UP!” Well, you can imagine what he thought when he looked around and saw mostly a plane-ful of sleepers that needed some waking. (It didn’t turn out as bad as I made it sound, but some hasty explanation was in order.)
Anyway so the plane landed, Grandma Sue was waiting with excited hugs, and Melissa began figuring out the car seat. We had a brief hilarious moment in the airport parking lot in the meanwhile… a car full of people was waiting in line behind us as we packed up the car, and they were looking at Ian with a sort of anticipation, constantly glancing behind them and then over at the boy in my arms. I swiveled Ian a bit so that both of us could see what was behind them, and lo’ there was Santa driving a mini-van, complete with cap and a dead-ringer for Mrs. Claus. I pointed and Ian lit up like a Christmas Tree “SANTA!” The entire car erupted with happy laughter and applause and Santa kindly waved back.
Grandma Sue drove us straight to Grandma Barb and Grampa Ray’s where fun and mayhem awaited us… More about our time there next entry!
https://outoftheirminds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ootmd-logo-dark-wings-3Asset-15.svg00vrbfwhttps://outoftheirminds.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ootmd-logo-dark-wings-3Asset-15.svgvrbfw2008-12-31 23:25:002008-12-31 23:25:00And so this is Christmas ’08, Part I
And so this is Christmas ’08, Part III
Christmas at last! Days of swimming, playing games on Grampa Ray’s laptop, playing games on Uncle D’s iPhone, running around the house while being timed and taking “short cuts” through The Villages have culminated in a spectacular morning of joy!
Just a few pics in Part IV, I want to make sure I don’t overload anybody’s computer with too many pics! O_o;;
And so this is Christmas ’08, Part II
Continuing the story, this we start in the evening hours of the 21st…
Next update? Johnson/Kunze-side Christmas morning!
And so this is Christmas ’08, Part I
I had my web host move the blog so that we didn’t run into so much downtime… sadly this messed up permissions and I’ve been unable to edit the blog. That’s not why, tho. I’ve basically been on fire since I got back from Florida with work and whatever else. But now we’re back in business apparently, so let’s get bloggin’.
First we start at home:
Believe it or not, the night of the 20th, we headed for Lansing, to stay at a hotel, as mentioned in entries below. Ian slept between us in bed when we got there, and he was a real trooper. There were some intense moments of driving through the blizzard, and to see him cuddle up on his “blankie” out of exhaustion was heartening to say the least.
The next morning, we made it to the airport via shuttle, and the runways did not look very clear… there was also a crazy wind rustling up walls of zero-visibility for the pilots to contend with. They moved our gate twice…
The flight to Florida was arduous — Ian did his best not to cry, although the flight aggravated his ears which were still hurting from his cold a handful of days earlier. We tried his pacifier, but it didn’t seem to make him feel much better, and he was not a happy camper by the time the plane was beginning its final descent. Girl that sat in front of Ian… wherever you are… I apologize to you again for the number of times your seat got kicked and the tray behind you was moved into the up/down position. Mostly people told us that he had behaved himself nicely, apparently in contrast to some other kid they were thinking of. One thing that came back to haunt us was a game that we played back at home. Melissa or I would pretend we were asleep and snore loudly, Ian would scream “GAAKUP!” meaning, of course “WAKE UP!” Well, you can imagine what he thought when he looked around and saw mostly a plane-ful of sleepers that needed some waking. (It didn’t turn out as bad as I made it sound, but some hasty explanation was in order.)
Anyway so the plane landed, Grandma Sue was waiting with excited hugs, and Melissa began figuring out the car seat. We had a brief hilarious moment in the airport parking lot in the meanwhile… a car full of people was waiting in line behind us as we packed up the car, and they were looking at Ian with a sort of anticipation, constantly glancing behind them and then over at the boy in my arms. I swiveled Ian a bit so that both of us could see what was behind them, and lo’ there was Santa driving a mini-van, complete with cap and a dead-ringer for Mrs. Claus. I pointed and Ian lit up like a Christmas Tree “SANTA!” The entire car erupted with happy laughter and applause and Santa kindly waved back.
Grandma Sue drove us straight to Grandma Barb and Grampa Ray’s where fun and mayhem awaited us… More about our time there next entry!