Thanksgiving

So I guess the way this blog works now is that I wait until a major holiday to show off pictures from the previous month's holiday. That's the routine. So here, in time for the Winter Solstice, are our Thanksgiving pictures.

This isn't actually a Thanksgiving shot. It's a few weeks earlier at the Dragon Park while the leaves were still changing and it was still warm enough for short sleeve shirts. But we had just purchased the jacket Ira's wearing so he didn't care how warm it was. My head is hiding the awesome fire truck but be aware that it's there. (We got the jacket for $8 cuz we're bargain hunters)

Here Ira's climbing the dragon at the Dragon Park. Check out the super cool Dalmatian shirt. You'll see it again soon because Ira wore it all day Thanksgiving, too.

See, I told you. Here's Ira and his cousins Serenity, Cheyenne, and Josh at Aunt Madene's in Chipley, FL, where all 700 members of the Holley family gather every Thanksgiving.

Daddy and Ira eatin' some Mac 'n Cheese and fried corn bread.

A highlight of the trips to Chipley are the golf cart rides around the lake. Kirsten stuffed as many kids as possible on to this thing.

Ira really loved spending time with all of his cousins.

People always say that Ira looks like me, but you can really see the Holley family resemblance with Ira and Jacob.

Jacob took this family photo for us by the lake.

The Holley family. There's a lot of us.

The Holley family reduced to its essential elements.

Ira got a chance to recharge on the road back to Pensacola. We put some Erik Satie on the iPod, and Ira said, "No I don't like sleepytime music," and then passed out before we made it to the highway.

Thanksgiving number two. It's just not Thanksgiving until somebody breaks out the bongos.

This had to be Ira's fourth piece of cake that day. This one had strawberries on it, though, so it's healthy, right?

Kirsten taught Ira to go through the doggy door. He then did it for about 45 minutes.

No, Ira, that's not a doggy door.

Ira fell in love with the trombone.

Ira took a bath at Nana's house and got to play with shaving cream. As you might have guessed, there isn't a lot of that to be found at our house. You know, because Ira's daddy is a big, unshaven hippy.

Ira had a sleepover at Poppy and Nonny's house, and they ran around pants-less and built a fort. I'd share more pictures, but nobody gave me any (cough cough, hey, Poppy, cough cough).

Ira is very lucky to have two uncles who are fire fighters. This might have been the highlight of his life thus far.

I don't think this hose was hooked up to any water, but I'm glad we didn't have to find out.

Ira and grandparents and a giant cock made out of Christmas lights at the Pensacola Beach boardwalk.

Ira and Nonny. I have no idea where these beads came from.

Ira and Daddy pretending to eat the gingerbread man.

Ira and Mommy on the pier. You can kind of see the awesome fire truck on Ira's jacket ($8).

Halloween

After a trip to the pumpkin patch, it's time to carve up some pumpkins.


Before we started carving, we went for a walk/motorcycle ride, and once Ira had his helmet on, it was hard to get off. So he was extra safe while we carved the pumpkin.


Kirsten cleaned out the pumpkin, which is the closest a couple of vegetarians ever get to gutting something.


Here we are with the finished product. Ira is still in his helmet.


Ira was a caveman for Halloween. Here he is on the playground at school.


At the school Halloween party.


We went to the zoo for Zoo Ghouls, and it rained a little. Ira's cute caveman costume was covered by a poncho. He looked a bit banana-esque.


We're just pretending to be miserable. We actually had a lot of fun, but we couldn't take a lot of pictures in the rain.


It was nice and dry at the zoo's Mad Science show so we hung out there for awhile. Ira got really excited about participating in the show. Here the scientist shows Ira some crazy smoke stuff.


The most adorable neanderthal ever.


Here's our caveman with the lady who sewed it all together.


Ira didn't quite understand Trick-or-Treating at first. It took a minute to coax him up the first walk way.


Once we made it to the door and our friend Lindsay handed him some candy, Ira became a big fan of Halloween.


As we walked back home Ira kept saying, "One more house. One more house." We eventually dragged him and all his loot into our house.

Final Birthday Celebrations and Welcoming Autumn

After the big birthday party with all of the extended family, we celebrated Ira's actual birthday with a quiet, little trip to the mall. And then, a week later, Poppy, Nonny, and GG came to town for a little more birthday partying and a stroll through the pumpkin patch.


The Bass Pro Shop isn't normally our first stop at the mall, but they have a big fish tank and other cool stuff like camping gear. Here's Ira in a little, Ira-sized chair.


The big draw of the mall is the train that runs from the Dairy Queen to the Gymboree store.


Look! We've got our tickets!


All aboard!


Whoo! Feel the wind in your hair!


We had a fancy birthday dinner at Chili's.


I don't know what silly name Chili's has for their silly chocolate dessert thing, but Ira didn't care what they called it. He didn't wait to find out before he dove in head first.


A week after Ira's birthday GG, Poppy, and Nonny showed up bearing gifts.



After the presents, we took off for the pumpkin patch. We're really starting to repeat ourselves a lot, now that we've been blogging for almost two years. But its cool. We like doing stuff more than once, and I'm sure you like looking pictures of us doing that stuff. Right? And besides, for Ira its like we're doing it for the first time.



For the sake of comparison: here's Ira at Gentry's Farm last year. Holy crap! Look how tiny he is!


Just so you know, Ira isn't wearing the exact same outfit as last year. I think corduroy overalls are just the standard pumpkin patch outfit.


Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins!


One thing that's changed from last year's trip is we didn't have to go by ourselves. We got to bring some family along. Here's GG and Nonny with Ira on the hayless hay ride.


Poppy and Ira.


There were all sorts of animals at the farm like these homing pigeons.


Chillin'


Ira went through this tunnel about a hundred times. He was very sad when we made him stop.


Ira and Mommy on a bridge staring at a creek.


Nonny, Ira, and Poppy.


Playing in some wheat.


Pumpkin patch! Ira spent a long time searching for the perfect pumpkin.


And we found a few.


Ira loaded the pumpkins into our car for us.


And here we are at Centennial Park later that night. All in all we had a great time with family. Now that its been a few weeks, Ira is about done singing "Happy Birthday" to himself and has stopped asking for cake for dinner every night.