The Swampy O'Neals: 2009

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Off to the Wild Blue Yonder

So, we had a wonderful trip to San Antonio for my brothers BMT (Basic Military Training) Graduation. Justin and I rode with my parents. The trip turned out to be a quick drive cause there were 3 of us driving. My sister flew in, as did Wesleys wife and step-daughter. I missed Donny. I won't be taking any more vacations without him. If we can't all go, then none of us will go! It's just not the same without him. Here are some pictures from our trip!

Waiting for Wesley to run by

Talking to a military guy

The Odoms

Wesley and Julia

Wesley and Sara

Wesley and Reyna

Knitting Lessons

Proud Family Members!

Military Family!

A Happy Day

Justin and Julia

The Alamo

At the Alamo

Cool tree with cool Hotel (the Emily Morgan!) behind it

I wish I were Big

Trying to touch the Dolphins

My Dad, Justin, and a dolphin

Watching the dolphins

Watching the "Waterfalls"

Watching the Sea Lions

Katrina, the Gator

Justin and Nannie

Reyna and Shamu

Reyna and Allison

Justin and Nannie

Getting ready to leave :(

Bye, Uncle Wesley! We are very proud of you!

Monday, November 2, 2009

In the Land of Race Car Ya-Yas

Well, we had such a fun Halloween weekend! Justin's birthday is the 28th, so it was just one big party from Wednesday on. Of course, he was terrible at the store on the day of his birthday. I told him when we got home I was going to throw his birthday in the trash (that's what we have been doing to get him to pick up his toys, threaten to throw them away. It usually works, unless he just really does not care). I got him his cupcakes anyway, which only came in packs of 12. We still have 5 left, 5 days later and thats after I gave 4 to the neighbors. I don't really eat sweets and apparently neither does Justin 'cause he does not seem interested in them. He liked the frosted cookies, but I think the cupcakes are too much for him. They really load the frosting on these days. He liked the candles though and had fun (not) blowing the candles out. At that point he realized what "Birthday" meant; he had seen it on TV but all day did not really grasp what "Happy Birthday Justin" really meant. He even sang along when Donny and I were singing to him. Thursday night we carved our pumpkin. We have to wait until just before Halloween around here because it is so humid, the pumpkins will mold if you carve them too early. It took Donny and I a couple Halloweens to figure that out. Friday night we took Justin shopping for his presents. He is still young enough to take with us, because by the time we put the toys in the car, he had forgotten we had purchased them. We got him some movies, race cars, a dinosaur and this noisy, annoying trainset (thanks, Donny). The dinosaur is that little thing that killed Dennis Nedry in "Jurassic Park". It snaps at you and flapps it's little fins out and spits real water at you to blind you before he goes in for the kill. It's excellent. Saturday was Justins birthday party. It was basically family, with present and cake and ice cream. It was a nice party. I wish my folks could have made it, but my mom was recovering from swine flu. That night was Halloween and we were excited about taking Justin out. Actually, I was excited about passing out candy. I've never done it before. Donny took Justin off down the street just as it started to get dark. Five minutes later they were back. Justin did not want to Trick-or-Treat. Donny said he took him to one house, the lady gave him two Paydays and commented on his hair. He said "Thank You", turned, and handed his pumpkin to Donny. "Here!" He then ran down the sidewalk back toward the house. He had just gotten all those new toys 2 hours before and all he wanted to do was play with them. I was kinda bummed he didn't want to go, but we ended up having a lot of fun passing out candy as a family. It was so cute seeing all the kids in their costumes. We will just have to remember to have the birthday party on a different day!

Library Picture