September, Ike, etc...

September was an interesting month, to say the least! We had Maddie's 1 year birthday party, which had a great turnout even though we were threatened by hurricane Gustav. A few family members had to cancel their travel, but that was about the only impact. I'm going to try to do a separate post with some birthday stuff in it.

Here is the track of where Ike was headed when we left town. There is generally a large margin of error this far out, but it was projected to make landfall just to the Southeast of us. Not a good prospect.

This is where Ike actually made landfall. As you can see by the wind field, it was quite a large hurricane! The center of the eye passed just to the East of our house. I believe it was about 10 miles away, which put our place well within the eye itself. Luckily we were on the left side of the eye, which is generally a better place to be than on the right.

Here are a couple pictures from the hotel in San Antonio. Gotta love that La Quinta allows dogs, but it got pretty comfy with two large dogs and a baby! It wasn't a very fun trip, to say the least. The second day we got there, Maddie turned up a double ear infection. After we got that treated, things started improving quite a bit... well, other than the category 2/3 hurricane (Ike) that was bearing down on our house!

Here is Maddie in the tub. The tub was really grimy, so we purchased this blow up tub duck, and I have to say, it worked out really well!

Here is Maddie in her portable crib provided by the hotel. She did OK in it, but not great. It kinda had a musty odor to it anyway, so she ended up in bed with us a lot.

After four nights in the hotel, we drove to Katy, TX, which is just East of Houston, and stayed with Cindy and Dan. They had power and were kind enough to take in a bunch of us refugees from Ike! We had a good time there! Here is Maddie and Mike at the Kings.

Here is Molly, Maddie, and Dan having a grand old time.

Maddie out playing with her Mickey Mouse walker.

We spent one night at Chris and Alene's house in League City since they had power and it was close to home. We got power on Wednesday and were back in our house that night. Here is Maddie having fun at their house.

Back home again! Maddie looks happy, what do you think?

Happy Birthday Maddie!

Today is Maddie's 1 year birthday! Happy Birthday! I'm planning on posting an update for the last month or so...

July Video Update

Not much to report really. It's been a long month of July for various reasons. We're looking forward to a fresh start with August... even thought that's kind of the peak of hurricane season on the Gulf Coast.

Here's a video of Maddie and Molly yucking it up over who should be wearing the bib.



Here's a video of Maddie crawling all over Ginger and chatting her up the entire time!

Maddie Practicing Walking

Video of Maddie practicing to walk using the walker that Aunt Julie bought for her.  Thanks, Julie!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou51__QSPVU

Maddie visits Mission Control Houston

While Molly was getting her hair cut today, Maddie and I swung by the
International Space Station Mission Control Center to kill some time.
I took a couple pictures of her at my console and in the center of the
room. She seemed to enjoy the experience. It was actually her second
trip there, but we didn't have a camera on the first visit. I look
forward to the day when she can look at these pictures and say,
"that's back when only astronauts could go into space!" You'll see
Maddie in front of the Expedition 17 plaque as well. We got to see
the American on this expedition launch on the space shuttle back in
May. So, it's almost like closing the loop for Maddie!

June comes to a close

Here are some pictures to close out June, 2008...

Maddie doing her Stevie Wonder impersonation.

Maddie still loves giving Ginger attention. Thank goodness Ginger still likes all the attention she's getting!

Tupperwear is still the coolest toy that Maddie has.

Nice portrait of Molly and Maddie.

Maddie tries out a new outfit.

We purchased a kiddie pool to battle the Houston Heat. The whole family enjoys it. Here are a couple pictures of it, including one of Maddie catching some air!

June Update

We started out the end of May and early June with a trip up to Indiana to visit family. Here is Maddie and Grammy.

Here Maddie enjoys some of the super-cool toys that Grammy has acquired...

As you can see, in Indiana you can lounge around in the grass without having to worry about fire ants devouring you in 10 seconds!

My brother Matt with their 7 week old baby girl, Olivia, and Maddie and Mike strike a pose.

Maddie and Granddad Allyn visit.

Maddie and Grandpa Meyer visit.

Maddie and Nana Meyer visit. Maddie's entranced by the lighted fan... it broke... and I haven't been able to find another one since!

These three pictures were taken in Florida on our bus ride out to the Causeway on site at Kennedy Space Center. We were there to view the launch of STS-124.

Counting down to the launch. Maddie doesn't know what's coming, but you can tell she's excited. Waaaay off in the distance, you can see the launch pad.

Maddie catches a quick nap before the launch...

Molly and Maddie strike a quick pose during the launch of STS-124. There's nothing like a space shuttle launch. It's too bad there are only a few launches left... ever.

Another shot of the launch.

Maddie now prefers standing. He's becomming quite good at it too. There are occasional spills and falls, but she's getting the hang of it!

Here is Molly reading one of Maddie's new books to her. Maddie really enjoys a good book... she primarily enjoys chewing on, or destroying them, but once in a while, reading them is a pleasure as well.

Here is Maddie in... well... yeah, her sailer suit.

Maddie and Molly playing with some bubbles... doesn't really need more explanation than that!

Maddie sure has taken a liking to Ginger and Vaska. As you can see, Vaska is no where to be found in these pictures. At six years old, he's just a little to "over-the-hill" to be getting his hair pulled out by a 9 month old baby. Ginger on the other hand, loves it!

Some more pictures of Maddie

Just another picture update. One would wonder what else is going
on... Here you'll find a unique perspective on Maddie as seen in the
reflection of our aquarium. The lighting was just right. Otherwise
of note is that Maddie gives kisses now! You'll see Molly receiving
one of said sloppy kisses...