Knitting Again

I hadn't picked up my knitting needles since shortly before Samantha was born. I saw some cute wine bottles on a Christmas cooking show, so I decided that our bar needed some accessorizing. I'll probably make a couple more. They're fun because I can get one finished during one of Sammy's naps.

Christmas in Jamaica

First of all, Happy Holidays to all of our friends and family! We were fortunate enough to be able to spend Christmas in Jamaica this year with my parents and brother, Richard. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and it was so nice to spend a few days enjoying the sunshine.

I wasn't sure how Samantha would handle the trip, but she was a champ. She did really well on all the flights and was a little charmer once we got to the resort. We took Sammy to the beach our first day there, and she loved it so much that she cried when we had to leave to get cleaned up for dinner. She was completely fearless, and would have run out into the ocean if we would have let her.

She also really enjoyed all of the yummy drinks. Here she is sharing Grandpa's virgin Pina Colada. I think they were her favorite, followed closely by these delicious fruit shakes that all the bars made.

On Christmas Day, Santa arrived by boat. He was ready for a vacation after a long night of delivering presents.

Sammy missed his arrival because she was racked out on a lounge chair on the beach. All of that playing is hard work!

Grossly Overdue

I am grossly overdue for posting to the blog...my appologies! Things have been a little crazy around here trying to get ahead of everything before our upcoming trip to Jamaica. This post will mostly be pictures that we've taken over the last few weeks.

First is Samantha modeling her adorable new rain boots. She has a little trouble walking on the carpet in them, but she's willing to suffer for fashion.


And here's Samantha showing some unit pride in her Daddy's 18th Engineer Co t-shirt. Pat took command of the 18th last week.


A couple days before Pat took command, we attended the 18th's Christmas party. Sammy was not particularily thrilled about seeing Santa. On the upside, I guess I should be relieved that she's not willing to sit on some strange man's lap.

The Christmas party was at the skating rink on post, and Sammy absolutely loved when Pat would take her for a couple of laps around the skating rink. I managed to snap this picture as they went flying by.

And finally, here's a picture of Sammy's favorite new game...piling toys on whoever is sitting on the couch. Your role in the game is to sit still and not move any of the toys. The game is over either when she takes all the toys off of you and piles them on the floor or when she gets distracted by something shiny and doesn't notice you getting up.