Christmas in Corpus Christi 2005 with Gail, Grandpa Billy, and Aunt Claire was lots of fun. We also had the four dogs Ginger and Holly and Gail and Grandpa Billy's two dogs Pico and Honey. Gail and Granpa Billy are getting ready to move into their new house in a few weeks, so we made a number of trips to check the progress on the renovations. The new house has a big playscape in the backyard
and some kids next door, so it should be lots of fun for Ethan. Even though we were not in Corpus on Christmas day, we planned our own Christmas morning celebration. This year Gail decorated the house with a great blinking snowman display. Ethan gots lots of neat toys for Christmas. One of the toys was a giant castle complete with horses, knights, a drawbridge, and a catapult. He also got a remote control Hummer and a hot wheel track from his great grandma and grandpa Baevich in San Antonio. Aunt Claire got Ethan a bug catching and collecting kit. We are looking forward to our next trip to Corpus to see the new house and to go to the beach of course!

Thanksgiving 2005 was a great one! We had the opportunity to spend an evening with my grandparents and Ethan's great grandparents in San Antonio. Ethan loved eating tangerines off grandma Baevich's tree and playing ball with them (that got a little messy). Ethan also got to visit with his Cousin Joseph while we were in San Antonio and that was a real treat. After our visit in San Antonio we headed for Phoenix for a Bond family reunion of sorts. It was really great. We definitely do not see the Bond family enough. Here is a picture of the group.
The real highlight of our trip to Phoenix was Ethan getting to meet and play with his cousin Torrey. We had lots of fun going on hikes on the "mountains" behind Grandpa Bond's house. The boys also had a great time at the Christmas festival where their favorite attraction was the super slide! Here are some pictures of Torrey and Ethan going down the Super Slide. The boys also enjoyed making crafts that Grandma Leanna provided for them. Ethan and Torrey decorated the bread basket with turkey feathers and later in the week Ethan, Mom, and Grandma Leanna made sock puppets and put on a production of the Tortise and the Hare during a car ride.
After Thanksgiving, we went to see the Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo. The whole zoo was lit up and it looked beautiful. We really had a great time going to Zoo Lights. One picture of the Zoo lights is below. We are definitely looking forward to our next visit!

Happy Halloween! I picked Ethan up from school early yesterday, so we would have time for dinner before heading out to trick-or-treat. Ethan was very excited about the evening! After dinner we went home and lit our jack-o-lanterns, plugged in our spider web lights, and put on costumes. Yes, costumes plural... This year William was Spider Man - he borrowed the costume from our neighbor and it fit perfectly. So SPD Police Power Ranger Ethan and Spider Man along with mom and aunt Claire set off for trick-or-treating. We had lots of fun - the weather was cool and perfect. Ethan was quite the character, as usual. He was complimenting the other kids on their costumes - "nice costume" he would say. He also was complimenting people on their pumpkin carving after getting his candy. In fact, at one house he ran up and said "this is a great idea for a pumpkin!" At another house he started a conversation with the lady handing out candy about her kids and how old they were.
By the end of the evening, Ethan's bucket was so full that he could barely carry it. After we were finished trick-or-treating, he ate a few pieces of candy, and we are saving the rest for him for dessert throughout the year.

Probably the funniest part of the evening was William. At first he was a little embarrased about the whole Spiderman costume, but all of the kids were yelling "hey Spiderman." Several young kids wanted to come up and meet him. He was even offered candy at several of the houses. I was joking that he was stealing the spotlight from Ethan - Ethan would say "he's not the real Spiderman - he's just my dad." We all had lots of fun. I am also including a few pictures from our pumpkin carving here as well.

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend. We usually drive about 45 minutes out to Marble Falls, Texas and go to a real pumpkin farm. They have a hay maze and hay rides - a small petting zoo and plenty of pumpkins. They also have games for the kids and homemade ice cream (well it is, Texas and it is stil hot in October). In fact - even though it is cooler outside, it felt pretty hot out at the pumpkin patch. It was about 86 degrees with no wind and very little shade. We started this tradition of going to a real pumpkin farm when we lived in Maryland and Ethan was 1; we have done this every year sense. However....we have finally realized that Texas is not Maryland with the fall leaves and cool weather and that the pumpkin farm experience is just not quite the same out in the hot sun with a 45min. car ride to add to the whole thing. So... all that being said - next year we shall have our annual trip to the pumpkin patch at our local gardening center instead of in Marble Falls. In fact, they have a really nice gardening store around the corner from our house. They hold an annual fall pumpkin festival for kids, so next year we will try that - a little closer to home and more shade.
We still had a fun time - despite the weather and lack of shade. I know that Ethan enjoyed playing the games and the hay ride. Here are some pictures of William and Ethan playing one of the games and going on the hay ride.
Before I close, I wanted to mention that last weekend Ethan ran with his dad in the 2005 Pervasive Power Charge 1 mile fun run (while mom did the ten miler). Anyhow, ETHAN GOT SECOND PLACE IN HIS AGE CATEGORY FOR THE ONE MILE RUN!!! Way to go ETHAN!!!! Apparently, the first place winner was being pushed in a jogging stroller. The awards committee was a little disorganized and that probably should not have happened. We are very proud of our budding athlete. He got a medal and a patch for winning. Next year he will run the 10 miler with mom (just kidding!).

Today was Ethan's first kids run of the 2005-2006 Fall running season. This morning he ran the IBM Uptown Classic; he enjoyed the race so much that he ran an extra "victory lap" around the race course. After the race, Ethan got a snake painted on his arm and had some post race pizza. We headed home after the race to get ready for a class mate's birthday party.

Later in the afternoon at the birthday party, Ethan got an awesome balloon. The balloon clown made some sort of balloon launcher that Ethan can actually wear - it is pretty cool! I am attaching a picture. The day ended with soccer practice - we had a pretty busy weekend, but a fun one.

Ethan had his first soccer practice on Sunday afternoon. This year he is playing on a team with his best friend Henry. His team is called Cheetahs. The coach this year is excellent. He did a really good job of bonding with the kids - a good strategy to get them to pay attention. He also had a lot of fun games for the kids to play to learn the different soccer skills. Here is a picture of the team doing some warm up drills. It was a really hot day almost 100 degrees and pretty humid. The kids were good sports to stay out there for an hour long practice.
The picture on the top left is of Ethan and Henry listening to the coach as he explains the next game they are going to play. You can tell the kids are listening intently.

After soccer practice, we headed over to Henry's house for pizza and birthday cake for Henry's dad Tony. Before we went home, all of the kids took baths and got into their PJs. Here is a picture of the boys, and Henry's sister, Ella.

Last night Friday, September 10, 2005, Ethan rode his bike without training wheels for the first time! Santa brought Ethan a bike last Christmas. Ethan is really fast and good at riding the bike with training wheels. Last night he asked to try it without. He did great. He was really good at keeping his balance. We are now working on stopping and starting. He has learned how to reverse the pedals to put on the brakes and is getting better at getting off the bike without falling. This morning we went out for another ride. This time we practiced turning corners and getting on the bike. Before long he will be zooming all around the neighborhood on his bike without training wheels!

We went to Corpus Christi for Labor Day weekend to visit Gail and Grandpa Billy and see their new house. When we arrived at the new house, there was a big surprise for Ethan in the backyard - a big wooden playscape complete with swings and a slide. There are also kids next door his age, so now he will have playmates when we go to Corpus.

A big highlight of our visit was our daily morning trips to the beach. Ethan loves to "surf" on his boogie board. He is getting so good that he can catch waves on his own. He is becoming quiet the surfer.


We also had the opportunity to explore the local wildlife at the beach and discovered a new little animal. After much debate about whether the animal was a chipmunk or a prairie dog. I decided to ask a park ranger. It turns out we were all wrong and the animal is a spotted ground squirrel. They live in little burrows in the sand dunes, and according to the park rangers, "like to eat dead dragon flies off the grills of cars." They also hibernate in the winter. Here is a picture of one of the little guys.

This is my first posting on this site. I am hoping to keep it up to date. Kaira gave me the idea to do this, and it is a good one. I am posting so my family and friends can keep up with Ethan. I am starting with our trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bond in Phoenix, Arizona last June. We spent a week in Arizona, and took a fun trip to the Grand Canyon. We camped for four nights at Lake Kaibab near Flagstaff, Arizona.

This was Ethan's first real camping experience and he loved every minute of it. We camped near lake Kaibab and went fishing for Trout. Ethan did not catch any fish, but he helped mom, dad, and grandpa reel some in. I think his favorite parts of camping were finding sticks to throw in the camp fire and building his own log teepee. Even though it was june, the weather was just beautiful. It was cool in the mornings and evenings and not too hot during the day - thanks to the surprise rain showers and hail storm. Ethan is still talking about how we got caught in a rain storm at one of the shuttle bus stops and had to take cover under the trees.

We took an old fashioned steam train from a town near where we were camping (Williams, Arizona) to the Grand Canyon National Park. It was about a two hour ride with entertainment from cowboy singers along the way. They even staged a surprise train robbery with horses and all. This was Ethan's first encounter with cowboys, and he was a little scared at first. In the end though, he got used to the idea and even agreed to pose for a picture with one. We also went to Slide Rock State Park near Sedona, Arizona. Slide Rock is a natural water attraction where you can slide down slippery rock rapids and natural slides. It is very beautiful there - the rocks are deep red. We all took turns going down the different rock slides - even Grandma Bond! Grandpa Bond was our official photographer and got some great action shots. Here is a photo of Ethan riding down a slide with dad. We all had a nice time and the evening ended with a nice meal of Mexican food on the patio of a restaurant in the town of Sedona.
The Grand Canyon itself was just amazing. It is impossible to catch all that beauty in photograph. I think we all would like to go back again for more adventures.