Nana visits and we hit the Houston Rodeo!

What a great surprise to have Nana visit us in Houston this past March. Let's not waste any time... we're off to the Rodeo!












The Rodeo had tons of animals of every variety. Cara loved the pony rides the most. Here is a picture of her on "Dr.Pepper". Check out the photo of the prize Longhorn... he is a big one.


















One of the outdoor events is to watch Mutton Bustin'. For those new to the rodeo experience that is when kids (8-9 year olds?) ride sheep instead of men riding bulls. It didn't stop there... we watched some pig racing too. Oh yes we did everything short of buying cowboy hats and spurs. At the Houston Rodeo you can also ride the carnival rides and eat just about anything fried (Snickers bars for example). Needless to say the BBQ wasn't half bad.













Next was a stop over at NASA. Notice how large the rocket is that Nana and Passa is standing next to... zooming out in the photos that follow.

























Happy Birthday Nana/Mom (close enough)... have some cake!










And we finished off with a trip to the Kemah Aquarium... great meal there too.

Christmas 2009

Here are a few pictures from Christmas...

This is where the bond with Santa Mii (Santa Bear) all started. They are still buddies now that it is summer.












Time to wrap Christmas presents... thanks Cara.










We have arrived in Stow, Ohio... there's snow!










On the "eve" of Christmas Eve we drove down to Aunt Diane's house for a visit in Steubenville, Ohio to see the Festival of Lights... quite a display there.









Of course we have lots of fun Christmas Eve at Uncle Jerry and Aunt Pam's house... here is a snapshot of Wii Bowling. I don't remember who won but we had a great time playing a laughing at the characters Uncle Jerry created of all of us.













Cara very carefully opens her gifts on Christmas Eve. Cara is about 1 1/2 years old in these pictures. After this visit to Ohio her training (opening presents) is now complete.










Cara bonded with all the family.












Cara helps hand out gifts on Christmas morning.












Here Cara and Aunt Sue share a moment on Christmas Day.









We even saw our friends the Zuppos on our visit... here is John and Allie.










Here is a great picture of cousin Avery and Cara at the church.









And a couple more pictures worth a thousand words...

Some Thanksgiving Photos

Cara always has LOTS of fun with the Malloy kids. Here are some photos from Thanksgiving. You can see that Cara preferred pasta this year over turkey.

Up in Heaven

We will always have you in our hearts.

Our daughter "Peanut"
November 5th, 2009

Here are some pages Cara made for her with the words "Peanut" and "Love Cara".

Halloween: Cara's first trick or treating

Last year Cara was a dressed as a pumpkin. This year she went as an angel.











But first... we started with a daytime party at daycare.












There were many activites planned including face painting. ... after we were unsuccessful there we elected for the temporary butterfly tattoo.

Here is Cara attempting a bean bag "toss".

She seemed to like the stickers and had fun with Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.

And here are some pictures of the trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.

Trip to Austin

We finally got out of Houston and took a trip to Austin, TX last October.

Here is a picture of us at the summit, Mount Bonnell.

We visited the capitol building (raining that day) while we drove around downtown area and UT campus.

One of our evenings we drove out to Lake Travis and had some decent food (with a view).

On the drive back we visited the Blue Bell ice cream factory (it has got to be one of the best ice cream in the country). Free samples!

Visit from Nana and Papa

We had a surprise visit just after Labor Day when Papa Piland had a business trip scheduled just south of Texas.

We had some good Texas BBQ in Kemah.

...visited the beach at Galveston

... and spent some quality time as a family.