Christmas in Denton

For Christmas, we spent a week in Denton with Mom, Barry (a.k.a. G-Ma and Pa-Pa), Carrie and Amanda.  We could not have enjoyed ourselves more.  TJ had a blast with everyone, and we have a pile of pictures to show some highlights.  Yay for holiday family time!

TJ renames all of Barry's fish to match his obsession with Finding Nemo.

Raminta found this Strider bike through Craigslist Dallas, and G-Ma picked it up a month ago.  Although TJ hasn't yet taken to mastering it yet, he was at least successful in regaining control from Carrie.

Barry's small plastic motorized train set was a huge hit with TJ.

I can't count the hours TJ spent setting up, watching and crashing this little train set...

...but at least I have a dozen more pictures just as cute as these to remind us.

The non-traditional big event of the weekend was the Christmas Eve unwrapping the outfit that told us the gender of our second child (due in May)... it's a(nother) boy!  We couldn't be more excited!

Christmas morning had a strong start with a trio of bathtub boats.

TJ would have been content to play with the boats for a few hours, but there was more work to be done.

The drum from Grandma Vince was another highlight that stood out of the crowd.

With a pile of new sporty balls to play with (two footballs, a basketball and a French soccer ball), most of our afternoons were spent in the backyard performing a never-ending kick, pass and punt competition.

GOAL!

In the evenings, we took turns running around the yard with TJ...

...and recovered in front of the chiminea.

When the time is right, this kid knows how to relax.

TJ celebrates another Denver Bronco touchdown.

For our last day, we went to the Dallas World Aquarium, which housed an impressive variety of animals highlighted by sharks, a spotted jaguar, manatee and more birds and fish than we could hope to count.

TJ and Pa-Pa check out some seriously large fish.

TJ and G-Ma placed large wagers on a turtle race.

TJ's favorite exhibit was the flamingos, who seemed to get riled up every few minutes.  Every time we tried to leave, TJ demanded to return to the "noise" exhibit.

The large fish in front wasn't familiar, but Gil from Nemo can be seen in the lower portion of the tank.

We showed up at the aquarium in perfect time to watch these South American otters get fed.  These playful and fast-moving guys were really fun to watch.