October 2003

Posted on October 31, 2003 by Jason

For October we had lots of activity. Emily has started to walk as her primary mode of transportation. She is much more interactive and greets me at the top of the stairs when I come home from work every day.

On October 9th, Jennifer and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. We got a baby sitter and went out to eat at the Melting Pot restaurant.

On October 11th, Jennifer and I pretended we were not married to see if it would help the Texas Longhorns beat the University of Oklahoma. The Longhorns haven’t beat OU since we were married in 1999. It didn’t work. Texas lost 65-13.

On October 14th, we all went to Disney World’s Not So Scary Halloween. This is where they open up the part in the evening and all the kids get to wear the costumes and get candy. Both Abby and Emily had lots of fun riding the Dumbo and Tea Cup ride. According to Abby, she was dressed as “a princess” and Emily went as “a fairy”.

On October 18th, we went to the Electronic Arts-Tiburon Fall Festival. There was a hamburger cookout and there was games and rides for the kids. Abby had fun on the giant inflated slide and the merry-go-round. She also showed off her monkey bar skills on the playground.

October 25th, was the Winter Park First United Methodist School Fall Festival. This was a fund raiser for Abby’s school. There was clowns, pony rides, games, and other activities. Abby had lots of fun.

October 26th, George & Heather flew down in order for us to go to the Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers football game. The game wasn’t that exciting as the Cowboys were easily defeated by the Bucs 16-0.

For Halloween Abby had a Halloweek party at her school along with a costume parade. Later the girls came up to where I work and we did our trick-or-treating at Electronic Arts-Tiburon. The “princess” and “fairy” collected way too much candy wandering from cubicle to cubicle.

August 2003

Posted on August 31, 2003 by Jason

August was full of activity since I had extra time off from work since Madden shipped last month. Emily has started to stand up when holding on to something. She tries to walk, but usually stumbles. Abby and Emily have started playing together, but Abby usually plays too rough.

On August 2nd we joined the Central Florida YMCA in Winter Park in an attempt to get into shape and so Abby could take swim lessons. She loves going to the pool and we thought it would be a good idea to teach her to swim.

On August 8th George & Heather Galindo came to visit and we all went to Miami to see the Miami Dolphins vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers pre-season football game. Jennifer’s mother flew over to stay with Abby and Emily over night. The following Monday, George, Heather, and I went down to Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex to watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during their training camp.

On August 12th, Madden 2004 was released. So far sales have been doing good. I’ve heard that sales are up from last year.

On August 15th, I won tickets from work to go see the Miami Dolphins vs. Jacksonville Jaguares. Becuase we couldn’t fine anyone on such short notice, I went to the game myself.

August 19th was Abby’s first day of pre-school. She was very happy to go and has enjoyed going. She is going to pre-school at our church, First United Methodist of Winter Park. She goes two days a week for 3 hours. She really enjoys it and can’t wait to go again.

On August 25th Jennifer, Abby, and I went to Blizzard Beach, a water park at Disney. We floated down a river in a innertube, went down water slides. Abby loved every minute of it. She keeps asking to go back to “Mickey’s Water”.

Easter 2003

Posted on April 20, 2003 by Jason

This year’s Easter was very eventful for the French family. Here is some pictures from Easter weekend 2003.

The weekend started very early Saturday morning when Abby woke me up at 6:00 with a, “Come on, Dad.” She was greeted with a whole spread of gifts from the Easter Bunny. She was also surprised when she found out that the Easter Bunny had also hidden eggs around the townhouse, filled with M&M’s.

Later that morning, we went to an Easter Egg hunt sponsored by our church, First United Methodist of Winter Park. We had a picnic lunch and there was a big Easter Egg hunt with about 100 other kids. Abby collected a basket full of eggs filled with candy. Later she jumped in a Bounce House and got to ride a pony. She loved riding the pony and was smiling the whole time.

The next morning we went to church and when we got back we took some pictures outside the townhouse’s club house. The matching Easter outfits were supplied by Abby and Emily’s Nana and Poppy.

Townhouse

Posted on March 1, 2003 by Jason

By popular demand, here is some pictures of our townhouse in Orlando. All of our furniture from our house in Austin fit in the 3 bedroom – 2 1/2 bath townhouse quite easily.

Here’s also some pictures of Emily, nearly 2 months old now, on the couch and her swing.

Musselman Family Visit

Posted on February 1, 2003 by Jason

During the big move, while we were staying at Jennifer’s sister’s house, Jennifer’s parents, grand parents, and brother came over to visit with us. We had dinner and took pictures of the entire family.

The Big Move

Posted on January 30, 2003 by Jason

On January 30th we closed on the sale of our house in Austin, Texas and started the big Trek to Orlando, Florida. We started by going to Jennifer’s sister’s house in Houston. There we were visited by more of Jennifer’s family.

We stayed there until February 3rd and then started on the road to Florida. We stopped in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Tallahassee, Florida. During the trip, we stopped at several rest stops and we got pictures of Abby entering Mississippi and Florida. On February 1st, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas. The rest stop in Mississippi had a make-shift memorial outside and I took a picture of Abby standing in front of it.

We survived the trip, but Abby was pretty grouchy the entire trip. She didn’t like being awaken in the middle of the night by Emily crying. She learned first hand what her parents had been going though each night for the past month since Emily was born. She was not happy.

When we got to Florida, we stayed in a hotel near Disney World until our stuff was to arrive on February 8th. We played some putt-putt and ate at Margaritaville at Universal Studios.

French Family Visit

Posted on January 24, 2003 by Jason

On the weekend before we were to leave for Orlando, almost the entire side of the French family came to visit us: Nanna, Poppy, MaMaw, PaPaw, Marci, Chuck, Kevin, and Kristi. Everyone had a great time seeing Emily for the first time and playing with Abby. It was great to see everyone before we headed to Florida.

Christmas 2002

Posted on December 25, 2002 by Jason

Abby opened many gifts for her first real Christmas. Here’s a few pictures from Christmas. She got into her presents early and opened one of the DVD’s that her Great Aunt Marci bought her. She was very excited about every gift she got. We had a big Christmas with everyone coming to us. We didn’t want to travel this year since the new baby was coming any day now. We had Jennifer’s parents and grand parents visit on Christmas Day and my parent visit on the weekend after Christmas. I received a digital camera as a present from Jennifer, which means that pictures will be put on the web site in a more timely manner. Thank you to everyone who sent gifts. Hope you had a merry Christmas.

Breakfast with Santa

Posted on December 15, 2002 by Jason

On December 15th, 2002, we went to our church, Round Rock First United Methodist, to have breakfast with Santa. There, Abby met Santa and ate pancakes with her parents. She wasn’t too happy to see him, much less sit in his lap. After he gave her a candy cane, she was much more up to the task of sitting in his lap for pictures. Afterward, Abby bid on some stuff in the silent auction for her new baby sister.

Abby’s 2nd Birthday Party

Posted on November 30, 2002 by Jason

On November 30th, 2002, 11 days after her actual birthday, we celebrated Abby’s birthday with a party at her Aunt Christina and Uncle Mike’s new house. She got scared when everyone started singing “Happy Birthday” because all of a sudden she realized she was the center of attention. She had a fun time opening presents and she blew out her own candle on the Blue’s Clues cake that her mom baked for her.