I know it’s been a while.  But we finally went through the camcorder videos today.  I have to say, she’s been a very silly girl and we captured some of the best moments.

Enjoy,
-Craig

From today (May 29th, 2009), a Silly Girl in the bath.

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From yesterday (May 28th, 2009), just a Silly Girl.

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From April 13th, 2009, a very Silly Eater.

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Although spring is almost over, we did manage to capture some of it on film.  Check out our new album spring 2009 which includes pics of Easter, grandparents visits, trips to the botanical gardens and zoo, Craig in a tux (from Mark and Stephanie’s wedding), and several spaghetti-o’s incidents.  Amelia is on the move now, and it is getting more challenging to keep up with her.  Her favorite mode of transportation is to hold someone’s fingers while walking.  However, she did take a step all by herself last night.  I think she will be walking pretty darn soon.  We have been enjoying the nice weather here with walks to the park and playing in her kiddy pool.  I can’t believe that her birthday is coming up in about a month.  She is growing so fast!

Lots of love to family and fans out there!

Driving all the way downtown = $3.00  (gas)

Parking = $5.00

Picture of my daughter, less than a year old, under a Nobama sign, holding a flier in her hands = Priceless

Amelia and I, as well as more than 5000 others, went to the Fort Worth Tax Day Tea Party.  Govenor Rick Perry was one of the headlined speakers.  It was held at La Grave field, where Fort Worth’s minor league baseball team, the Ft. Worth Cats,  plays.  Unfortunately, I don’t think even the event coordinators thought the turnout would be so big.  The stage was set up just over Home plate, meaning those who were sitting way out past third base (such as myself) were looking more at the back of the stage than the front.  The sound also was unfortunately not setup to allow everyone a good listen.  I was able to hear some of what was said, but I missed most of what Governor Perry had to say.

Overall, it was a great experience to see this many people turn up to state loud and clear that we’re FED UP with excessive government spending that Amelia and her children will still be paying for.

Thanks to my good friend, David, for bringing his camera and providing the picture.

Amelia is starting to figure out that she has the power to move herself.  All we need to do is give her some incentive.  Just before we took this video, I had taken her plastic cups (one of her favorite toys) and stacked them a few feet from her.  Well she MUST knock them over.  She got so excited she forgot she didn’t know how to crawl yet, and started pushing her way over there.  Well this started a long session with Mom and Dad of putting something here, putting something there.  Amelia was having a blast scooting from side to side.  Wouldn’t you be excited to figure out you can move on your own?

-craig

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As promised, new pics of Amelia are in the Gallery.  Sorry it’s been so long.

She’s been teething lately.  Those pesky bottom two teeth have just finally popped through the gums over the last couple of days.  So, Amelia hasn’t been been her usual cute, playful self lately, but she seems to be feeling better today.

Also, here is a video of Amelia shortly after I got back from Turkey.  She’s started on solid food (mostly mush), but after she’s done with that, we sometimes give her other soft foods to play with.  Here she has some small cooked carrot pieces.  She was playing with them and occasionally one would end up in her mouth.  She’s still not sure what to do with a solid piece of food on her tongue.

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Don’t worry, we’ll get some new pictures of Amelia up soon.  In the mean time, here are some pictures of my trip to Turkey.

As many of you know, I was recently in Turkey for 3 weeks.  Yes, it was VERY hard to be away from my little girl that long.  Most of the time we stayed in Ankara, the Capital city of Turkey.  We did take some time to see some very interesting things there.  Including the Ankara Citadel: a castle that was open to the public.  We also went to the Museum of Anatolian Civilization.  Unfortunately we couldn’t use a flash in the Museum, so many of the pictures didn’t come out well.  We hired an English speaking guide who was great.  We actually joined one person that had just started the tour.  But it turned out well, he was a Canadian who was staying just around the corner from us at the Sheraton.  Pat (the Canadian), Mark and I spent much of the next three weeks being goofy idiots in a foreign country.  Especially at some of the local bars.  The Amarillo Grill became our Wednesday must do.  It’s a Texas themed steak house (with good Fajitas) that plays live music on Wednesdays.  Pictures in Ankara are in the Ankara Gallery.

While Ankara was interesting, Mark and I spent one weekend and hired a guide to take us to Cappadocia.  Cappadocia is an area of Turkey known for, well basically, its dirt.  The volcanic soil there has an unusual property in that it is very easy to dig through, but after being exposed to air, the surface hardens.  This makes it ideal for caves.  We actually stayed in a Cave Hotel.  Check out the pictures in the Cappadocia Gallery.

One of the first major highlight in Cappadocia we saw was the Göreme Open Air Museum.  The museum focused on the cave lifestyle.  Primarily several Christian cave churches they believe to be from the 8th - 12th century.  On the ceilings and walls of these churches are incredible paintings depicting Jesus’ life, and other biblical stories and people.  You will see a number of church names, like the “Apple Church” or “Snake Church”.  Obviously no one really knows what each was called, the names basically came from the paintings.  “Church with the Apple”, and “Church with the Snake”, translated to “Apple Church”, and “Snake Church.”  Here is the Göreme Gallery.

Another major highlight was the Derinkuyu Underground City.  To flee persecution, Christians went underground… Literally.  This Underground city went several stories beneath the surface.  Some areas were large and spacious, some were very tight.  Pictures really didn’t do this justice.  Most of the pictures just looked like another hole in the ground.  Here is the Underground City Gallery

While in Cappadocia, we also went to the Ihlara Valley.  As you can see in some of the pictures, this valley is quite deep.  We parked at the top, and went down a set of stairs that just kept going, winding along the cliff wall untill we finally reached the river.  There were hiking paths on both sides of the river and off shoots off of the path leading up to some more cave churches carved into the cliff walls.  Ihlara Valley Gallery.

Well, it’s good to be home.

Göreme Open Air Museum

Buckle Church

Today Amelia turned 6 months old.  She’s getting to be at that great age where she really begins to connect with us.  Talking is just a short time away now.

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