Merry Sickmas

This year we had a very memorable Christmas. It started with Grant throwing up Christmas Eve morning and worked it's way to John and I being violently ill Christmas Eve and all Christmas Day. John and I didn't even get around to opening gifts until Christmas night and I took the fewest pictures in my holiday history. With the help of a friend, Santa was still able to deliver Grant's new John Deere ride-on Gator. Grant found it on his own at 4:30 in the morning and was quite excited.

Grant and Santa at SMILE party

Grant had fun at his SMILE Christmas party. He was so glad to see Santa. He gave him a long list of all the things he wanted with a race car being top priority and a new potty next. Grant with many of his SMILE friends visit Santa
Maeleigh Geijsel watches in excitement as Grant opens a gift from her.

Big Texas Toy Run

John, his brother Chris, and friend Daren, all particpated in the the 21st Big Texas Toy Run. It was the biggest crowd ever. Between 65,000 and 70,000 motorcyclists participated in parades from Fort Worth, Grapevine and Dallas to the Arlington Convention Center, creating large streams of motorcycles on North Texas highways. More than $1 million worth of toys and $100,000 in cash donations were collected for the toy drive benefiting underprivileged children through Mental Health Mental Retardation of Tarrant County and other charities. The weather was perfect and the guys had a great time. Grant wasn't happy that his Dad was taking his Winnie the Pooh. Out of the thousands of motorcycles John made it on the 10 news riding with Winnie the Pooh on the back of his bike.

San Antonio with Laurel and Mark

My sister, Laurel, and brother-in-law, Mark, came to visit us for Thankgiving. We went to San Antonio for a couple days before Thanksgiving. It was their first trip to The Alamo and Riverwalk. We had a fun time.

Laurel and me on the riverwalk
Dinner at the Rainforest Cafe on the Riverwalk

Grant's first accident

With all the excitement of Aunt Laurel and Uncle Mark's visit to Texas, Grant got a little wound up and became careless (as most 3 year olds do). As he was pretending to be a horsey he bit down on the Granite counter tops in our kitchen breaking his front teeth. After a quick trip to a specialist in Ft. Worth his teeth look like new. It's amazing what they can do now. I will definitely recommend them again. http://www.fwpediatricdentistry.com/index.htm

We've been spending a lot of time at Baxter Chemical with the new addition of Baxter's Pack & Ship. Grant has had fun riding his tricycle in the warehouse.

All Grown Up!

Grant has watched his Dad shave in the shower and now has the art down with his pretend razor.

All Aboard!!

We rode the Second Annual Doodle Bug Train Ride today. The M-12 motor cars that replaced the steam engines running along the Texas Central Rail Way Lines in the late 1930s were quickly dubbed Doodle Bugs by their passengers because of the way they "doodled" slowly along local branch lines. The Doodle Bug remained in operation until June 3, 1950. The train excursion today began in Dublin and traveled to DeLeon for a lunch stop. We then traveled to Gorman where there was a downpour. The train took a poll with its passengers and decided not to depart in Gorman due to the rain and instead return to Dublin. We still had a great time and I won a door prize on the ride home. Enjoying the ride in an open car

All Aboard!!

Off the train in DeLeon

Grant taking a snooze on the way to Gorman

Friend, Caden Green, and Grant having fun after naps

A morning out on the boat

John and I took Grant out in the boat Sunday morning. Grant's been asking to go so we finally got the boat out and went to Lake Granbury. We all had fun.
Still sleepy

Driving the boatNow I'm awakeDucks eating bread out of John and Grant's hands

Chris and Debbie Baxter visit

John's Brother, Chris and his wife, Debbie came to visit for the weekend. John and Chris went for a ride on the Harley and we ended the weekend with a shrimp boil.

Our Alligator Experience in South Padre

While we were walking on the nature trail and sunset we got to watch a native alligator eat a turtle and then get angry at us when we scared away another turtle heading its way. We were only a matter of feet away but safe on the board walk above.

Crunching down on a turtle. We could hear the shell cracking.

Alligator sneaking up on another turtleAfter swallowing one turtle, the alligator was mad at us for scaring away his next turtle.

South Padre Island

We took a long weekend and drove to South Padre Island for a trip to the beach. This was our first time to South Padre and only Grant's second time to a beach. The 9 hours drive was worth the trip. Grant had such a great time. He loves the water and so this was a perfect trip for him.

Grant couldn't wait to put his swim trunks on

We had fun building Sand Castles on the beach.

Grant feeds a sea turtle lettuce at the Sea Turtle rescue center.

John took a guided bay fishing trip and had a lot of fun.

John and Grant at Sunset on the nature trail

Fireman for a day

Grant stayed with his "B" and "Nana" (Blaine and Mistie) overnight at Blaine's new place in Temple. Emily's husband is a Firemand there and so Grant got to play fireman for a day. He got dressed up in the full gear, honked the horn on the firetruck, helped turn on the water, rode and drove the truck!

Our own birthday celebration

We celebrated my birthday today in our own Baxter fashion. Here's a self timer picture of the three of us. Grant was so excited, he insisted on a birthday party and helped blow out the candles.