Happy New Year

Today is our last day in Seattle as we head back to Chicago this afternoon and then on to Cayman tomorrow afternoon.  Yesterday, Scott and Arianna got a day together while I went shopping with Stephanie to celebrate finishing our sugar challenge (we didn't eat anything with sugar for 15 days).  The sun finally came out for the first time since we arrived in the Pacific Northwest and Arianna got to see her first snow, though it was in the distance on the snow covered Olympic Mountains.  Here she is at the Aronson's grand parents home which is right on the water in West Seattle with her "Aunt" Erika.  You can just see the mountains and while it is her first time seeing snow, we will have to wait for her first experience in it.

In the evening we went downtown to the Crab Pot Restaurant with all the family and had a huge seafood meal for our last dinner up here.  Arianna tried her first clams and loved the clam chowder.  After dinner Arianna got to ride on a huge carousel downstairs with her Aunt Stephanie and "Aunt" Andrea. 

We have had a great time in Seattle and want to especially thank Uncle Paul and Aunt Kris for letting us stay with them and the rest of our Seattle relatives for a wonderful week.

Whidby Island

Today we headed up to Whidby Island for a day with Grandma Cummings.  It was also to be the day that Arianna met her Uncle Alex but the U.S. Navy and emergency work interfered with the best laid plans.  There were some firsts though. Arianna got her first ride on a boat as we took the ferry from Mukilteo over to the southern end of Whidby Island early in the morning.  After breakfast and grandmas, we got to see her new thrift store and also went down to City Beach.  In the afternoon we went to Deception Pass and got to recreate my favorite photo of Katie and I with the bridge in the background.  I was paranoid about our little thrill seeker out on the bridge so we didn't do the walk across the pass.  After walking under the bridge in the Whidby side we had lunch at an all you can eat Chinese buffet.  Then we visited a farm and Arianna got to feed some animals and see a camel who loves to drink Pepsi's.

It was a great day and really good to see Grandma Cummings and spend some time on Whidby.  We headed home around five and got back to West Seattle in just two hours with Arianna sleeping the whole way after her exhausting day.

Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium

This morning we headed down to Tacoma and the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.  It was a rainy Northwest Pacific kind of day but we didn't let the rain stop us from seeing the whole park and aquarium.  Arianna spent most of the day trying to get her shoes and socks off in spite of the cold weather.  The view overlooking Puget Sound was incredible and the clouds were kind enough to lift for a little while so we could take it all in.

 

This evening Russ, Paul and I headed over to a West Seattle sports bar to watch the Horns beat Cal in the Holiday Bowl 21-10 while Katie stayed back for a girls night at the house with her Mom, Aunt Kris, Andrea, Steph and Erika.  Tomorrow we head up to Whidby Island while Grandpa Russ and Grandma Gail head home.

Seattle

We arrived in Seattle Sunday evening after a four and a half hour flight from Chicago that was surprisingly good as Arianna slept for a good three hours of it and was distracted by presents for most of the other hour or so.  Arianna had charmed the gate agent for Alaska Airlines who moved us to a row where no one else was sitting so Arianna would have her own seat.  After landing we headed right to the Aronson's and got to have dinner Christmas night with the Loski and Aronson clans.  We got to introduce Arianna to her great Grand Parents Jim and Charlotte Loski as well as her newest cousin Olivia who was just born 13 days ago.  Arianna got to meet Katie's Aunt Kris and Uncle Paul Aronson and their daughters Andrea and Erika with whom we are staying in West Seattle. She also got to meet her mommie's Uncle Don and Aunt Julie Loski.  Grandma Gail and Grandpa Russ along with Aunt Stephanie also flew up to Seattle from Texas for the big family reunion.

The entire extended Loski clan (now with Aronson's and Cummings')
 with Jim and Charlotte in the middle

We had a restful day yesterday and the big family dinner yesterday evening.  Today we headed into downtown Seattle and went to the Pikes Place Public Market.  We got Starbucks from the original Starbucks store and had clam chowder on the waterfront. 

After the Market and lunch at Steamers we headed to the Aquarium which is also right there on the waterfront.  Arianna enjoyed seeing her fishies at the aquarium but was most enthralled by the Sea Lion and Harbour Seal literally climbing onto the ledge to look down at them swimming around.  She called out to them and was in a much better mood after seeing them.  Tonight we have dinner at the Great Grandparents and tomorrow is the zoo!

Merry Christmas

We have started our day here in Naperville, Illinois sharing Christmas morning with the Bernard family and with Grandma Cummings. Even though last year was Arianna's first Christmas, this year is really the first time she is experiencing it.  Arianna loves opening presents though it seems the presents themselves are far less important than the experience of opening them.  Yesterday, Aunt Johanna hosted a Christmas Eve brunch that went from 9 in the morning until about 1 in the afternoon, and many of our Koclanes relatives and family friends made it over.  Later, we went to Christmas Eve Mass at St. Margaret Mary Church and then had Chinese food for dinner before turning in and convincing the kids that Santa was on his way and we had to sleep so he could come.

Here are some shots from the Brunch.

And from this morning:

Later this afternoon we board our flight for Seattle and Christmas evening with the Loski's.

Chicago and Seattle for the Holidays

This year we are spending the Christmas holidays with family in both Chicago and Seattle.  We flew up to Chicago on Wednesday taking advantage of the seasonal nonstop flight from Cayman on Cayman Airways.  The flight was only about half full so Arianna got her own seat and she did well for a four hour flight only getting restless as we got near the end of the long flight.  We have been enjoying the first part of our trip in Naperville with my sister Johanna, her husband Brent, and sons Nick and Zach.  Grandma Cummings also flew in from Washington for the holiday.  Arianna has been adjusting to the cold but really doesn't like wearing multiple layers of clothing and walks around like a mummy slowly maneuvering in the heavy garments.  She has been happily playing with her cousins though she and Zach are definitely getting into territorial disputes over who's mama and dada are whose.

Last night we left her with Grandma and her cousins while Katie and I went downtown and saw the Joffrey Ballet do the Nutcracker.  Our cousins Chuck and Twila treated us to dinner at a downtown restaurant and we got to walk around inside the loop for an hour or so seeing the lights and other Christmas attractions.  Then it was over to the Auditorium Theatre for the show.  It was six years ago now that I asked Katie to marry me at the Nutcracker in Fort Worth so this was a restart of an important Christmas tradition in our family.  Watching the families at the ballet both of us were thinking of when we would be able to come back with our daughter to enjoy the wonderful show.

This morning Johanna had an appointment so we bundled up the boys and took everyone else out for pancakes at the restaurant that the Bernard family goes to every Friday.

Then this afternoon we drove over to Lyons and visited with our Spetter cousins and got to see Uncle Hank and Aunt Mary as well as many of the Wolfe, Kaminsky and Spetter cousins.

We are here for two more days then on Christmas spend the morning in Naperville, fly out in the afternoon and the evening with the Loski family in Seattle.  Arianna will get to meet her great grand parents on the Loski side as well as a ton of cousins etc.  She will also get to meet her Uncle Alex as late next week we head up to Whidby for a day to see him and Grandma Cummings who gets a double dose of Arianna her for Christmas and then late next week for her visit.

Aunt Melanie and the ICCI Toy drive with Santa and Rudolph

Katie's sister Melanie arrived on island last night for her month long stay.  To get the visit started off right we headed up to Rum Point this morning for a first dip in the Caribbean.  Melanie will be here by herself for ten days so she is learning to drive on the left and to practice she was our driver up to the north side.  Before going to Rum Point we headed into Cayman Kai and down to starfish beach.  This time we were lucky and saw a couple of starfish.  Then, it was over to Rum Point and a couple of hours of beach and sun.

This afternoon and early evening was the ICCI toy drive with Santa and Rudolph in attendance.  Arianna was fascinated by Rudolph and followed him around pulling his tail and generally trying to hug him as much as possible.

Santa on the other hand didn't merit much interest when he came out and merited some tearful scared looks when it was time for pictures with him.

It was a fun evening though and we got a lot of toys donated for needy kids in the Bodden Town area.

We have two days with Mel before we head north for our Christmas vacation and with any luck introduce Arianna to snow.

Christmas on the brain

All this week Katie has been furiously getting our house ready for Christmas.  One of the real benefits is that she is making cookies almost non-stop leaving the house smelling wonderful all the time.  The stockings are hung on the stairwell and lights are on the window and of course the Christmas tree above the television set.  With no classes going on our schedules are a little more normal so we are actually getting evenings during the week together.  We have also started to finish some of the smaller tasks we have been putting off all fall.  We finally got around to putting up the rest of the fishy photos on Arianna's nursery wall.

The Christmas winds have started down here and for almost a week we were able to go without A/C and just the windows open.  Unfortunately that has slowed and so it was back onto the A/C late last week.  Katie's sister Melanie is coming down next weekend and will be here for a month to house sit while we head north to Chicago and Seattle.  She and Gypsy wont have to worry about being lonely though as several of Melanie's friends are also coming so the house will be full the whole time.  We get the benefit of house sitters (and some babysitting) while they get the free room for their Caribbean vacation.  Next weekend is the big ICCI Christmas party with Santa coming so we are looking forward to some cute shots of Arianna.

Olympic Beach Volleyball on Seven Mile

This weekend Cayman is hosting the NORCECA Olympic Qualifier for beach volleyball at Seven Mile Public Beach up in West Bay.  Saturday morning Arianna and I drove up there to catch a little of the action.  They had three different volleyball courts set up and we managed to catch a little action at all three.

We got to see the men's teams from Cayman and Barbados play a match that went three sets with Cayman pulling out the win 18-16 in the third set.  The top five men's and women's teams in this tournament advance to another tournament where there will be five more teams and the winner there gets an Olympic invite.  It is a way to guarantee that a Caribbean team makes it to the 2012 London Olympics.

Arianna was clapping with the crowd after every point and was genuinely fascinated by the action for much longer than I expected.

Christmas Decorating

If she had her way Katie would start decorating for Christmas in late September.  To avoid overload we have a family rule that we wait until after Thanksgiving.  This year we had a third helper as we set up the decorations and tree.

Arianna loved seeing her penguin from last year and danced with it to music but really liked her new Rudolph.

Goodbye Hurricane Season

Today marks the end of hurricane season 2011.  For the third year in a row we have not had to put up our shutters and with Arianna going through her first full season this year that was a definite blessing.  Six months of not having to daily check the NHC site are now ahead of us and with the weather turning markedly colder yesterday we actually turned off the A/C this morning and opened all the windows.  In a few weeks Katie's sister Mel arrives for her month long stay (with lots of babysitting in return for a free room) so we are already counting the days to the next house guest. 

Hughes Family heads home

Chuck and family head home today after a fun week in the Cayman Islands. Sunday saw them heading up to Rum Point and touring East End to see the "Caribbean" part of the island. Yesterday they went for a snorkel at Eden Rock (where the above shot was taken) and then did some shopping in George Town.  Cory and Christie are now unofficially Arianna's older sisters and we have already asked Chuck and Twila if one of them could stay but unfortunately were turned down. They fly out this afternoon back to colder climes.  Meanwhile Arianna continues to be under the weather and we are watching her closely for bronchitis as she has a very chesty cough.  This is the last week of the fall term so we are in very busy mode for work to finish out 2011.  It is hard to believe that Christmas is just a few weeks away!

More Touristy things with the Hughes

Cori, Christie and Arianna with
Poof the Magic Dragon at Camana

Arianna has been under the weather since Thanksgiving evening so for the most part the last two days have seen us give the Hughes directions to things while we stayed with her.  Chuck and family have done the iconic Cayman trip, the visit to the stingrays:

Christie was a little freaked out!

They have also been to Pedro Castle, the Botanics and Arianna was better enough last night to go with to Camana to play in the fountains again and have a sushi dinner at Yoshi's.

It has been a great visit and with two full days still to go promises more fun to come.

Happy Thanksgiving

The second full day of our visit from the Hughes family began with a visit to Governor's Beach on Seven Mile for some sun and snorkeling.  There were four huge cruise ships in and they provided the scenic backdrop to a gorgeous Caribbean day.  We spent a couple of hours on the beach then made a quick trip to the college to show them ICCI.  After a lunch of sandwiches and patties we went back to Smith's Cove for some more swimming.  Around 2:30 we made a run over to Chicken-Chicken to pick up a full Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans and of course pumpkin pie. The meal was great and having family to share it with made it truly a thankful time. 

Some shots from the morning: