I know I'm behind....

But, Celena's blog is quite up to date: http://celenadavis.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving!

Like the sands of Tatooine through the hourglass, so are the days of the Holiday season! I know, Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, but my family can't wait for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. The problem is that they come and go so quickly, story of my life since having children. So, Seth wants everything he sees for Christmas (go figure) and Luke is just excited at all the lights which is really cute. I didn't realize how educational Christmas lights could be; however, Luke is learning his colors that way. :) It's funny how your kids really make the season feel so special!

We have several family traditions that we look forward to every year, we have our family over for a big Thanksgiving dinner, followed by a lazy afternoon of naps, video games, and going through the sales paper. We go shopping on Friday and put up our Christmas tree that weekend while finalizing other decorations (again with the Christmas Lights!). On Christmas Day Celena is the first one up and ready to go downstairs. We open presents and have Pancakes and sausage balls (tradition from my family - Mom always made sausage balls for us - yum!). We go to my brother's house on Christmas Day for Lunch and open presents there. We also travel to my parents house either the weekend before or after Christmas with Chris and Michelle which is really fun.

Anyway, just wanted to record some of the Christmas excitement this year, can't wait till next week!

Disney: Day 2

It's 5:30AM, and I'm walking around the Carribean Beach resort. Why, you ask? I have a very grumpy 2 year old that can't sleep and was keeping all 4 of us awake. Being the father, I load up Luke in the stroller and set out for a 2 hour stroll. We covered the entire resort and met everyone who was cleaning the pools, making breakfast, getting the boating area ready, a squirrel and a rabbit, and some ducks. Kinda lonely this early but Luke and I make the most of it. We head back to the room around 7:15 to get Celena and Seth up - early day today! :)

Wow, today is really humid at the park! The plants get misted every morning so they're healthy, but it doesn't work well with the heat. Anyway, we arrived at the Animal kingdom a little past 8am this morning and set right to work. First up was a fast pass to the Kilimanjaro Safari and off to Everest! "Child Swap" is a great idea. This is where one parent gets to go on a ride and leave a ticket with the other parent with the kids. Then, when the first parent is off, the other parent gets right to the front of the line (with up to 3 other passengers). So, you're able to preview a ride and go on your favorie rides and your spouse does too!

Everest was amazing! Forward, backward, in the dark, in the light - it was really a great coaster. After I went on it Celena took a turn. Seth wanted to go but also didn't because of the screaming he heard. He was a little worried while Celena was on the ride and was ready to call Buzz Lightyear to go save her if anything went wrong. :) After we finished Everest we took a ride on Dinosaur - Seth went with me and really liked it even though his eyes were closed most of the time.

We were ready to take a ride on the safari when Luke wanted us to stop so he could watch some street performaers - they were pretty neat to watch. They were a painting team and did some pretty amazing feats - balancing, juggling, tumbling, etc... Luke just loved it.

We all went on Kilimanjaro Safaris next. What a ride! we saw elephants, gazelles, giraffes (the baby giraffe was neat), rhinos, ostriches, even lions! Both Seth and Luke were excited to see all the animals. Luke's favorite were the alligators, at which point he started singing his alligator song (I'ts my alligator, teach him some manners, can you teach my alligator manners?). We got a good laugh out of that!

After the safari we had lunch and then we caught the "Festival of the Lion King" show. Boy was that something! Both Seth and Luke got a kick out of that one. The tumbling monkeys were quite impressive and their gymnastics were really good. Everyone was enjoying the park and after the show we were tired. We went back to the room to hang out and a storm hit. We took the opportunity to go to wal-mart to get more milk and some souvenir shirts and stuff (it's much cheaper at wal-mart near disney!). After wal-mart it was still raining to we decided not to head back to the magic kingdom and instead go to the pool at our resort. Now we're back, fed, and watching some really old disney cartoons before bed. Off I go - I'm beat!

NapTime!

Last night was horrible! I went to bed around 10pm as usual, but lo and behold my stomach was hurting. So, I got out of bed to get some tums and a little bubbly (sprite) and sit in the recliner to catch up on the latest episode of Sanctuary. However, Luke hasn't been feeling well and woke up coughing and was quite upset. Celena was out like a log and so I went up to rock him to sleep. While asleep I had a dream that my wedding ring was coming off my finger to awake and find it missing.....and it is now 1:30am. I slog back to bed and crash until around 7am - to go back to Luke's room as he is now awake for the day.

This afternoon he went down for a nap but had some trouble with his congestion while he was down so I went in to rock him to sleep.....and fell asleep myself. I woke up 45 minutes later a new man! wOOt!

And the morale of this story is.....enjoy it while it lasts. I know, sounds odd to those of you without kids but I didn't even lose a nights' worth of sleep but was able to hold, snuggle, and comfort Luke for several hours that I wouldn't have otherwise had and I'm thankful for it. I'm really going to miss it when he's older. Bummer.

Disney: Day 1

We arrived at DisneyWorld yesterday afternoon and checked into the hotel. Everything went great, and we unpacked and were able to get to our dinner reservations at the Boma restaurant at the Animal Kingdom. That was loads of fun! The food was intersting (Bobotie was quite good - it tasted like eggs, sausage, and pancakes with syrup but with a different consistency) and the boys even tried a few new things that they really liked (mostly new desserts! All in all it was a good way to arrive.

Today we went to the Magic Kingdom and Seth and Luke could not have been more excited! Luke really liked the "Taple" (a.k.a - castle). Seth went on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with me and had a blast! It was his very first roller coaster and while he was a little scared I think a better description was "Thrilled" - scared and excited all at once. Immediately after the ride he said that he never wanted to go on a roller coaster again. However, later in the day he wanted to go back. Perhaps later in the week he'll get a chance to go back with Mommy.

Seth's favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Boy was he really excited about that one. We went on it twice and he still wanted to go back. We were interrupted by the real appearance of Buzz, which was no doubt one of the highlights of the trip. Seth had his Buzz shirt on and went to meet him. Can you even remember what it's like to have a childhood hero, let alone meet him in person?!? Seth was so excited that he wanted to be a real space ranger. Lucky for him that he told Buzz what a good job he did and Buzz sent a space pistol to our room so that Seth could fight the Evil Emperor Zurg all the time! (Yes, he slept with it).

Luke and Seth both really liked "It's a Small World", "Peter Pan's Flight", and "Winnie the Pooh". We will likely find ourselves back on those before the week is out. Seth would also like to go back and hit "Splash Mountain". It was pretty hot and humid (94% humidity is horrendous) but we made it alright. The rides are air-conditioned and there are misters in many places so it was mostly bearable. We took a break after eating lunch and went back to our room to go swimming and rest.

We went back this evening for the fireworks - they were spectacular! We sat around the corner from the Ice Cream Parlor with our ice cream and had a really fun time watching the Wishes show. Luke kept yelling, "Boom!" when there was a really loud explosion and Seth was making sure that I taped it all. After it was over Seth and Luke both clapped and screamed Horray! - it was really fun to watch them have such a good time!

Ok, off to bed now and to the Animal Kingdom tomorrow!

Luke's 2nd Birthday

Today is Luke's second birthday!! We hope to have Chris and Michelle over for dinner, and tomorrow we're off to DisneyWorld!! Luke is so excited. He keeps saying, "Mickey Mouse" and dancing around. For his birthday, we gave him some Lincoln Logs and a bubble Lawn Mower. He and Seth had a great time playing with those this morning. Well, I'm off to finish packing and then off to vacation!!

-Jesse

While you were out.....

Ok, I just got back from another business trip to Europe, and when I returned I found that Celena had been sick. So sick in fact, that she called her mom to come and stay to help her get around to some doctor's appointments while I was away. The day after I returned, we had to take her to the emergency room due to dizziness and tingling in her arms. After a CAT scan came back clear, the bloodwork showed low levels of potassium in her blood. Seems like that can do odd things to you. Bottom line: tell me next time how bad it is and I'll come home. Some things are more important than work.....

In Paris - Again

Ok, it's really cool the first time, kinda neat the second time, but this time it felt more like a business trip. The wonder of Paris has worn off for me. It's still a beautiful city (as you can see by the pictures), but when you go there and work from 7am until 11pm it's just more work in a better looking place. The good news is that I'm beginning to get really good at taking the underground (Metro) and even booked some places for dinner this time.

It was the anniversary of the Grand Arch in La Defense (50th?) and there were fireworks that evening. It was really nice as the fireworks were during dinner! From the photos you can see that there was quite a view!

Here's to you Paris! I'll be seeing you again one day!I've put some pictures below, you can see more here.

View of the Grand Arch from my Hotel Window.View of the Eiffel Tower at Dinner.

Swimming in the Rain

Seth and I went swimming in the recent rain we've been having (no, there was no lightning!). I got home from work and Seth really wanted to play but it was raining outside. We had the bright idea of going swimming (Celena and Luke would have none of it). So, we got ready and headed out. I put Seth in the water and he said it was really cold but didn't want to get out. I thought he was just being too sensitive, but then I jumped in and he was right, it was really cold!! We played underwater with our snorkels and masks, and then we got out and back in again (the water feels much warmer when you do that). We stayed out there playing for about half an hour or so and came in to warm up. Had a snack and watched the Olympic Swimming in the water cube (Phelps got his 6th gold medal in Beijing!). Good times.

Busy Busy Week

Worked sucked this week. I've spent too much time at work and not enough time with my family. However, the business review is over, the release should be done next week, and I'll be in Disney World in 42 days 5 hours! wOOt!! I'm so ready for some Disney time I can hardly stand it.