Christmas 2009

5 Christmas this year.
The first was Christmas Eve with
Uncle Jon and Aunt Judit.
Jon had to work Christmas Day
so we exchanged gifts the night before.

#2 was Christmas morning
at Mommom and Poppop's house
with the family.


Ashton...oops, I mean Batman
was a thrill to watch.

Uncle Josh's remote control helicopters
were a very big hit!
(...well, at least with the big kids)

#3 was Christmas night
in Baxley, Ga at
Stacy's father's house.

After all of the gift exchanges
Stacy pulled out her Wii game system
and we all took turns
boxing, bowling and golfing.

#4 was 2 days after Christmas
with Stacy's Father's family in Brunswick, GA.

We spent a lovely afternoon eating,
swapping presents, & playing outside.

And #5 was later that evening
with Stacy's Mother's family.

We met at a Spanky's restaurant for dinner,
and then carried the party over to
Stacy's Aunt & Uncle's house for dessert
and more gift exchanges.


For those of you who may not be familiar
with "Wii Boxing", please enjoy as Ashley & Mark
(Stacy's sister and brother-in-law)
provide this hilarious demonstration...

June 2008 - Beach, Pool and Stick your tongue out and bite it

Jekyll Island

First off...yes...I am sporting the Lex Luthor look in this pic.

From time to time...much to my poor girlfriend's chagrin...I like to suddenly shave...my face...my head...my...

Making an in-ground pool

Stacy getting some sun

Mr. Cool

Karen and Pete's Pool

A couple of friends of ours have very graciously invited us over several times during the summer to enjoy their hospitality and their pool.

It has given Ashton some wonderful deep-water exposure.




We're still a ways away from him swimming like a fish, but at least he's slowly getting over his fears and having a blast doing it!

Stick Your Tongue Out And Bite It

This is nothing more than a "night in the life" at our house.

The following video is VERY typical Ashton behavior.

He cracks me up! :)

May 2008 - A Day at the Beach

Tybee Island...
We made it to the beach a couple of times this summer, though truth be told, daddy more often than not pushes for the pool (not a big fan of cleaning sand out of 3 year old).

This, however, was a great day at the beach!
Ashton is becoming more and more comfortable with the ocean. He LOVES the waves and when daddy has to lift him over each new set.

We swam, collected shells, and made castles (pile of collapsing sand). Of course, no day at the beach is complete without Cheez-Its!

Tybee Island Lighthouse

This was the first time that Ashton and I explored the lighthouse together.

He did great!

It was SUCH a beautiful day on the island that when we finished playing in the surf we weren't quite ready to go home.

Ash wanted to see the lighthouse and I still had just enough energy to make a day of it.
There are 178 steps in the lighthouse, and since Ashton was aching to see it, I made sure he climbed (and descended) every last one of them! :)




The grounds of the lighthouse are beautiful and very well maintained.
The staff were wonderful, and they all seemed to go out of their way to interact with Ashton.
Of course, the best part of the visit was reaching the top.
WHAT A VIEW!
I've been to the lighthouse before but it's been many years.


Now all of the wind up there did make me a bit nervous...
but if Ashton could do it then so could I!

Date Night...Southern style...

Ashton spent most of a recent weekend with his Mommom and Poppop (oh thank god....OH thank god) :)

I missed him terribly (ok...that might be a wee exaggeration).

After making the transfer to his grandparents over breakfast at Denny's in Richmond Hill, I spent a few (peaceful) hours at home working on a furniture-refinishing project of mine.

Later, I cruised on out to Rincon to pick up Stacy and we headed to the Outlet Malls near Hilton Head for some shopping. It was a beautiful day and we had a blast.

As the sun started its descent, we make our way out to the Hwy 21 Drive In. This was my first Drive In experience and I loved it!


Despite a little rain moving us from the back of the truck into the cab, we thoroughly enjoyed our double-features.

Strawberry Festival!

The Ottowa Farms Strawberry Festival in Bloomingdale, GA


Strawberry Fields from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.

Strawberries!

What a beautiful day it was this past Saturday as Ashton and I headed out to Bloomingdale, GA, to meet up with some friends to enjoy the Strawberry Festival. On top of great weather we had inflatable slides and castles, pony rides, hay rides, homemade strawberry ice-cream, crafts, reenactments, and of course, all the strawberries we could pick!

Pony Ride from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.


"Blue Steel"
Of course I couldn't resist getting him a souvenir farm cap!

Ashton's 3rd Birthday!!!!!

Ashton's birthday this year was a 5-day celebration! After work on Friday (the 7th), we made the 4 hour drive to Atlanta and stayed at one of my company's Doubletree properties in Alpharetta (delightful room and hotel!) The next morning, we woke up early and headed out to the Georgia Aquarium. What a treat that was! It was our first time visiting there, and we had a great time. Ashton especially loved the sea lions...

Georgia Aquarium Sea Lions from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.


Georgia Aquarium 3 from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.

Georgia Aquarium 4 from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.

I've heard tales of how uncomfortably crowded the Aquarium can get, but I think we got there early enough to leisurely take it all in without feeling cramped or rushed.

After our visit with the fishies, we strolled across the street to Atlanta's Centennial Park and played on the playground, watched the ice-skaters and enjoyed the holiday decorations. Next was a little "daddy time", as we headed out to Atlanta's IKEA store for a bit of shopping. VERY COOL store!


That night we drove out to Lake Lanier Islands'...
...Magical Night of Lights


Magical Night of Lights from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.
I had obviously overbooked our Saturday, because by the time we got there, Ashton slept thru the hour and a half that it took to drive the entire light show. I did enjoy it myself though!


Now, if you're familiar with this blog, then you already know what a Doodlebops fan my son is. Sooo....for the main event on our weekend getaway, we wrapped up the trip by seeing his favorite "rock" band Live in Concert at the Philips Arena!! Holy cow! What an experience that was! Of course daddy had to blow a wad of cash before we even got to our seats...what with the new hair, photos, strobe-light flags, and other oh-so-necessary Doodlebop gear...


Doodlebops Concert 1 from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.

Doodlebops Concert 2 from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.

Suffice it to say, Ashton LOVED the show and LIVED in his Doodlebop halloween costume after we got back to Savannah!
After getting home Sunday night, I took Ashton in to daycare on Monday and spent the day in my pj's recovering from the weekend :)

Well Tuesday finally rolled around and the Birthday celebration was ON! I had decided to do the Atlanta trip instead of having a big birthday party, so the folks came over and we had an ice-cream birthday cake and presents...

Ashton's 3rd Birthday Cake from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.


Ashton's grandparents were quite proud of themselves when they brought over his thousand-piece present

Ashton's 3rd Birthday....Grandparents' revenge from Mike and Ash on Vimeo.


After the gifts were unwrapped and the dust finally settled, Ashton's favorite gift was the box-turned-fort that his new desk came in!
After all of that, I don't think I had ever been so happy to go back to work '-)