Brailyn's Blog: January 2009

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Speak to us of Children

'Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and dauhters of Life's
longing for itself.
They come through you but not from
you,
And though they are with you yet they
belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not
your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not
their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of to-
morrow, which you cannot visit, not even
in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek
not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries
with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your chil-
dren as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path
of the infinite, and He bends you with His
might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand
be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.'

The Prophet- Kahlil Gibran

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Christmas 2008

As if we hadn't already had a great Christmas present from Grandma and Paca (the vacation), we still got some great stuff from Santa!

Santa brought a Curious George book, 2 big girl puzzles (which you've already mastered), some chocolate, a drum, 2 new Playmobile people, and some Brain Quest cards!

Having fun with the packing popcorn

Momma and Daddy got Brailyn a tea set (and yes, it's 'green'- no BPA)

Brailyn also got a new Chef set from Momma and Daddy

Momma opening a present from 1985. Grandpa Lindsay, Joe and Allyson came down for a visit and brought more gifts- books, puzzle, Dr. Barbie, Leggos, cute clothes...

Leggos from Allyson

Riding around with the Manning cousins at Family Christmas

The week after Christmas, we packed up and moved to our new house!

Disney Vacation Part Deux

As I said, we also did a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas. We wish we had more time! There was so much fun stuff to do on the boat, and the ports were cool too. We actually stayed on the boat most of the day in Nassau, and enjoyed the beach the 2nd day at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. We had great weather and Momma did NOT get sea sick! Wahoo! Daddy was actually the one who didn't do too well. A little dizzy and sleepy from the drugs! Brailyn had fun in the Oceaneer's club, swimming and just seeing the characters everyday, of course. The food was good and the shows were great. I'd recommend it to anyone!

This was just too funny

Ready to set sail!

Dancing at the Bon Voyage deck party

Daddy and Brailyn had so much fun they brought Clint up for YMCA

At the Nassau Port

Swimming in the Mickey Pool- is she cute or is it just me?

Yes, there are pictures of us too!

Momma and Daddy after our Sea Lion Encounter. It was better than we'd expected and got a big hug and kiss from the guy. Of course you couldn't take your own pictures:(

Doing the Limbo on Pirate Night (yes, I plan ahead)

Pirate Mickey- CHECK! We actually saw Mickey and Minnie everyday on the cruise. Plus Goofy, Pluto, Daisy, Chip and Dale...even Jack Sparrow!

Yes, that's the pirate ship from the movie!

Swimming with Lala. Daddy was fishing with Paca. Momma and Brailyn only made a 1/2 day at the beach. We REALLY needed a nap after so much fun all week.

Dance party with Pluto, Goofy and Daisy

She danced with Daisy the whole time!

One more photo op!

The last night was the formal night. I of course had to bring her Minnie Dress! Dinner was a fancy French restaurant and we had escargot!

We had some time to kill before the flight home, so we stopped by Kennedy Space Center (just the entrance) and went through the Astronaut Hall of Fame Museum

This WAS supposed to have the whole entrance to the museum, but that's what you get for having a stranger take the picture!

We got home about 7:30pm Christmas Eve, got the cookies that we made for Santa out of the freezer and went to bed. What a trip!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Christmas at the Magic Kingdom

So for our Price Family Vacation, we did a Disney crusie to the Bahama's with a few days at Disney World (first time for Brailyn). It was perfect for us. Brailyn LOVES Minnie and Pluto (who were her first 'LOVIES'), and now Goofy, so it was so much fun and joy to see her light up when she saw them (and she saw them a lot). Lots of pictures with them. We spent a week missing naps and staying up late, but she had so much fun on the rides and visiting Minnie and Mickey's houses. We also went to the Animal Kingdom, saw 3 parades, a great Christmas show (to which Brailyn was rockin' out and making everyone around her smile because it was just so darn cute) and ate lots of yummy treats. Here are some pics:

Day 1- arrive at Magic Kingdom at 6 pm for Mickey's Merry Christmas Party with Grandma, Momma, Daddy and Brailyn