Our first trip to the mountains

Daddy with his little Eskimo

Our Crossover's inaugural trip up the hill

Dennis and I realized that our first trip to the McClure cabin (my parents built it when I was 5 years old, so I have lots of memories there) was also our first trip as a new family! We've been together with other family on all our other jaunts, so it was fun to have our first outing. Dennis, Ethan, Rocky, and I packed our new car full of stuff for a quick weekend trip. Thankfully the weather was great and we took several hikes. Ethan is getting to be pretty heavy, though! Rocky absolutely loves being able to run without a leash, and is a great scout dog for us as we hike. It was so restful to be away from cell phones, D's blackberry, internet, and television...Dennis and I enjoyed a fire and a game of Scrabble! We even got to see Ethan's great-grandparents, so it was a fabulous weekend.

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

money...what the heck is it?

more money!

Tessa and Uncle Dennis

The Cousins

Ethan had all kinds of fun on his first Chinese New Year. Dennis and I gave him red envelopes when he woke up--little does he know that Mommy pocketed the money. :) He loved it, though. When Nai Nai and Ye Ye arrived, he had even more red envelopes and a lot of new decorations and goodies. We had several very yummy meals, including one with Aunt Catie, Uncle Kenneth, and all the cousins. Tessa even let Dennis hold her without getting upset! (for some reason, she was wary of Chinese men at first but now lets Dennis play with her) Everyone had a great time--it was quite a treat to have all these celebrations in one weekend!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We had several opportunities to celebrate Dennis' birthday as a family. Dennis and I had a great dinner out at Del Frisco's (which, after a trip to the ER and days of sickness later, was determined to be the cause of a gallbladder attack for me! I have to have my gallbladder removed next month.) on his actual birthday. Dennis' parents came the following weekend, and we celebrated Chinese New Year and his birthday again. Lots of steak and cake for Dennis this year. :)