Plano Balloon Festival

The annual Plano balloon festival was held last weekend. Normally, the wind conditions lend themselves to blowing the balloons north right over our neighborhood. We can step outside and see a balloon about 100 to 200 feet overhead.

This year, we had a cold front coming in from the north, so we had a lot of wind (not good for taking off) and it was blowing the balloons south. We went to the south side of the neighborhood to get pictures. The first day, I took shots in the neighborhood, so you'll see power lines in the pictures.


Shot from the first day. The balloons name is "Bullseye".




Skydivers were part of the launch festivities.


Plane the skydivers jumped out of.


We went south of the neighborhood on the 2nd day to get these shots. Only two balloons were able to launch due to wind conditions and they were very late setting off.




The temperature was in the 70's because of the cold front. Sam napped through the whole event.


Picture of Emily in the setting sun. As you can see, we weren't the only one's who thought this would be a good observation point.


Later that evening Emily and I spotted this lizard on our back door. I didn't want to use flash or bother with a tripod so I did my best to handhold the camera. It's still a little fuzzy, but you get the idea.

-- Chris

First Road Trip

I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures from our road trip to Indianola for Sam's baptism on Labor Day weekend. It was Sam's first road trip and he did pretty well. He didn't want to eat when we stopped to feed him; he wanted to play because he'd been stuck in his car seat. Of course he slept most of the time, but we also brought some toys for him to play with. Roya was great with Sam and kept him very entertained. Ian made faces and noises which Sam loved too. Ian and I took turns sitting in the back seat. It was actually during the road trip that Sam started holding on to toys and putting them in his mouth.


He even had a special little outfit that he got as a gift that said "Road Trip" on the shirt and "Are we there yet?" on the onsie.


Grandma Lulu ... babies smell so good


Practicing standing with Grandpa


Everyone outta the way ... Aunt Melly is here to see her baby!

Sam met lots of relatives for the first time. Sheila and Landry came all the way from Meridian, and Joel, Stephanie, Ethan, Alex, and Maddie came all the way from Memphis. We loved seeing everyone. It makes us wish we were closer to home. We can't wait for the holidays when we'll get to visit longer. Sam also met Bill and Suzanne (my dad's first cousins) and their kids and grandkids. They have 5 grandkids age 17 months to 5 years old with the 6th due soon. I grew up across the street from them, so it was like my second home. We didn't get any pictures with them though.



Sam, Nanner


Little Stella


Sheila, Landry, Stella, Sam, Nanner


Alex, Tom, Landry, Emily, Sam


Maddie, Landry, Sam, Stephanie


Sheila, Sam, Nanner, Landry
Landry is brushing up on his big brother skills ... his little brother is due in October!


Dorsey, Emily, Sam, Nanner





Pictures with Sam, Mom, Aunt Andrea, and Aunt Melanie after the baptism


-- Emily

Birthdays and babies

September 12th was my birthday, so we decided to celebrate by going to Texas de Brazil, churrascaria. Emily gave me a 50mm f 1.8 aperature lens for the camera. I've been wanting one of these for a while. The large aperature lets you take pictures with much lower light. Since she made me drag the camera with us, I mounted the new lens up and had the waiter take a shot of us all.




Roya. This shot is a litle soft, but notice there's no flash.

Emily has been after me to post as she's been doing all of the posting lately. Sam just made it through his first week of day care and is doing very well. We can new developments every day. The changes are small but they add up over the course of weeks. Sam's turning his head quickly to track things. He's started to laugh more frequently and is testing his vocal chords more now.

Below are shots from a typical evening for us.





This one was taken on the 12th. Again, no flash in a dark room.


-- Chris

First Day at Day Care

Yesterday was Sam's first day at day care. We got together all of his supplies (changes of clothes, bibs, bottles, etc.), and we both took him for his first day. I warned the teachers that he'd been taking his naps in our arms or in the swing, but rarely ever in his crib. We called to check on him at lunch and they said he was doing fine ... but, what else would they say really. When I picked him up, the teachers said that he had a great day. He played on the mat for a while and looked around at all the other babies. They said that he really smiled at them a lot which is great since he's not familiar with them. They said he was a good baby and a happy baby. He even took one of his naps in the crib. I had brought a blanket for him because he always plays with his burp cloths and our shirts. They said that they gave him his blanket and his pacifier and he went to sleep in his crib! I even tried that trick later in the evening and he took a 45 minute nap in his crib at home.


I took this picture right before we left for day care. It was a last minute thing, so he looks a little startled.

I spent the day straightening the house and doing laundry. I got about halfway done. I go back to work next week, so I'm trying to get everything in order this week.

These are some pictures of Sam playing on Sunday. He saw the Dickey's cup and decided that he wanted it in his mouth. He's starting to do that more now, but he hasn't really mastered holding things yet, so he usually gets frustrated. His favorite thing is the cable remote. When he catches site of it, he wants it. We try to hide it, but he knows it's there.





Here are some pictures from Friday night where I was trying to keep his mind off of the remote by playing with his keys.





-- Emily

Baptism

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted. We went to Indianola last weekend for Sam's baptism. Then Sam and I both got a cold when we got back to Texas.

Sam was great during mass. He went right to sleep and didn't make a peep. Then after church everyone wanted to say hello and see him, so we didn't get a chance to feed him before the baptism service. Needless to say, he protested so we fed him during the service. He cried when he didn't have his bottle in his mouth and kept crying after the service, so we didn't get very many pictures with family afterward. The service was nice though. We asked our friends Ian and Roya to be his godparents. We are very happy that they said yes and made the trip to Indianola with us. My mom and dad and both sisters were at the baptism, along with my grandmother, grandfather, great uncle Tom, great aunt Stella, and cousins Sheila, Landry, and Alex.

I'll post more pictures from our trip next week.

-- Emily


Fr. Sean, Roya, Emily, Chris, Sam, Ian


Grandpa


Cousin Landry


Great Grandma (Nanner)


Great Grandpa (Dorsey)


Holy Water


Baptism Candle


Emily, Chris, Sam, Fr. Sean, Roya, Ian


Grandma Lulu, Aunt Melly, Emily, Sam, Chris