Future Aggie?

The shirt Owen is wearing is Jared's from when he was Owen's age. Doesn't he look cute?


Jared was the class of 2001. We did the math and think Owen will be the Class of 2029, that seems ages away!


Owen getting ready for football season - Gig em' Aggies.


(There will of course be no pressure when the time comes and Owen will have a choice where he wants to go to school...He could be a Trinity Tigers like his mom.)

Beach trip to Porto Martins

This past weekend we took Owen to the beach in a small town named Porto Martins that is about 10 minutes from the house. It is on the ocean but they have built concrete walls to create a swimming and man-made beach area right off of the ocean.


This town is also known as "mini-America" because so many Americans from the base choose to live here. We certainly understand the appeal! It has a great little Italian restaurant right on the beach named Buzios. We'll take you there when you come to visit.


Owen has been to the beach before but this was the first time to play and he LOVED it! He was in typical boy fashion - trying to get as dirty as possible while playing in the sand...


...why not eat a little sand while we're at it? Yummy.


We took him into the water and he couldn't get enough of it. We played for almost an hour and even though he was shivering from being cold, he still wanted to play.


We'll certainly go again!

Owen at the Park

One of the great things about base housing is that there are playgrounds all over which Owen loves, especially the slide. Here are a few shots of Owen at the park last week.


Here I go mom!


Why not go head first.


Whee!


Again mom!

Our new home

We looked at houses off base but decided in the end to live in base housing. We are outside the gates of the base but it is only a 3 minute drive (Jared walks to work and it only takes 7-8 minutes).



The homes are like townhouses, two or four homes in a row. We have 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. All the floors are tile and they provide you with two rugs. We brought our couch, chair and mattresses but most of the rest of the furniture is government provided. Downstairs is the living, dining, kitchen, half bath, laundry room and 1 car garage. Upstairs (which Owen really enjoys climbing) we have three bedrooms, two full baths and a small room for an office.


The backyard isn't much but is better than nothing. Sadie gets territorial when other kids and dogs are outside. She thinks it is all her yard! We pay a local Azorian 15 euros a month to take care of the yard for us. He mows, weed-eats, and cleans ups the flower beds once a week. Seems like a good deal to me!





Maybe after a few years (we have 3 year orders), we'll move off base but it is working out great for us right now.

Scenic shots of the Azores

Well, we made the big move to the Azores and it's due time to show you all some pictures of it.



The island is around 12 x 18 miles. We drove around the island a few weeks ago and it took about 2.5 hours. Dairy is a big industry here so there are lots of pastures with cows, corn, horses, etc. Often when you're driving in town, you have to wait on a herd of cattle to move through the street. Or you can be aggresive and honk your way through them.



We read in a travel guide that the Azores is "the Swiss Alps and Hawaii have a baby..." there are lots of hills, rolling streets, beautiful water, high cliffs.

If you are wanting to go to the beach on vacation, this really isn't the place for you. There are two or three small beaches here but they certainly aren't the main attraction.



The weather since we've been here has been great. It ranges from high 70's to low-mid 80's. You can't beat that in July or August! At night it is in the mid-60's. We thought there would be a bigger drop at night. We have heat/a-c in our house though it is really rare if you were to live out in town.




It really is gorgeous - don't you want to come visit? We have an extra room.

Owen's Birthday Cupcake

We had Owen's birthday party a few days before the real date but decided to celebrate again on July 3rd with a birthday cupcake. No surprise here...he loved it!

Yummy!!!

Owen's First Birthday Party

Our little boy is not so little anymore! We had a great 1st birthday party with family and friends at Pop's house.

Here are a few pictures of Owen opening his gifts. He is enjoying his new puzzles, books, Baby Tad, Elmo phone, Giggle ball and lots of other great stuff too!






My dad laughing because he bought Owen lots of noisy toys, including a xylephone, and is happy the toys will be in our house, not his.





You can't have a birthday without cake! Granly made Owen's first birthday cake - a chocolate shortcake with strawberrys, yummy! Owen thoroughly enjoyed the cake and ice cream even though he got a brainfreeze from too much cold ice cream.

Such a little boy

Owen (at almost 9 months) is looking more and more like a little boy and less like my little baby! Here are some cute pictures of Owen in his new pjs. Also, notice how well he is standing on his own...he is going to be trouble for us real soon!







Well, I wrote too soon. The innocent sleeping baby above figured out today how to pull himself up to stand in his crib. We already lowered the crib mattress but I think it needs to go lower!

Impromptu Photo Shoot

While in Florida, Robin and I took Owen to the Lookout Post on the marsh for a few pictures before we headed back to MS. Thanks for the great pictures Robin!

Don't I look like my Daddy!

Just a few pics of Owen in his highchair. In these pictures Owen looks just like Jared at that age, enjoy!

First time at the beach

Owen and I took a short vacation back to Ferndandina Beach to visit friends. Robin, Leslie and I took Owen to the beach though he wasn't in a very good mood so didn't seem to enjoy himself too much. However, he was looking fabulous in his swim trunks (too big), onsie and sun hat.