Baby Gallory

Our summer vacation to Ft. Walton Beach Florida. We found a small, nice place right on the beach called Beach Bum's Paradise. Cute place, nice folks, beautiful beach, but it wasn't Glenn Arbor. We had a great time, but need to find something more our speed without the crowds and condos everywhere. Someone's happy... A whole family of beach bums... Pizza. The best vacation food. going... going... gone...

We participated in the Cresecent City Claasic 10k race again this year. Dad ran (then came back to cross the finish line with us), and Mom and Jules walked with Amanda, a dear friend from Michigan. The weather was ok, Mom was grateful for running in shorts and a sports top instead of repeating the mistake from last year and wearing long pants and long sleeve shirt. Dad beat his last year's time, Julian didn't die of boredom, and Mom wishes the race was a marathon instead - it was such a pleasure to gab with her old pal!

We got the coolest Valentine gift this year - a visit from Mom's LA family. Ciocia Klepa and puppy dog Kaci stayed with us while Baba Hania and Dziadek Andrzej stayed in a hotel downtown. We had a wonderful time!

We discovered our first favorite spot nearby - a wildlife refuge. We can't wait to explore all the trails. On our first visit we walked through the burned prairie. It looked rather surreal, all gray and charred. I am looking forward to seeing it again in spring and summer.

The past few weeks have been so trying, we crashed on New Year's Eve. Julian went to bed at 8:00 pm, and Mom, Dad, and Dave lasted till 10:00 before collapsing. Dad and Dave made a surprise for Julian - an amazing train track built from all of the old and new wooden pieces he now has. He saw it on Jan 1 in the morning, and his his jaw dropped from sheer joy.

We drove up to Louisiana as soon as we got our new driver's licenses in Mississippi - just in time for Christmas. We spent the first part of our visit in Mandeville with Nona, Paw Paw, and the rest of Dad's family, and later drove to Baton Rouge to say "hi" to Mom's folks. There were moments of sadness, as this was the first Christmas without either one of Dad's grandmas. There were also moments of great happiness - we kept remembering that though some of our favorite people had left us already, there are so many others to love and enjoy! Gotta keep my helmet on - I hear this Santa guy drops through the chimney... Opening gifts is a very hard work. Julian's favorite family member on Mom's side. Connect the dots was all the rage this Christmas. Visiting the Audubon Zoo with Dave, his niece Penelope, and her parents.

We were blessed with an extraordinary amount of help with unpacking. Mom's parents, Dad's mom, sister, brother and Dave and his dog Stella all drove up to help us. With so many people, it took us but two days to be all unpacked and ready to go. Julian's room - note the prominent location of Thomas The Tank Engine costume, which we brought with us from Michigan