Banjo

Jason's been taking banjo lessons for over a year now. On our anniversary, he got a chance to play with our very talented friend Matt, at a going away party for our good friends Ryan and Anna. (We miss them!)

You can check it out here: http://chezhalverson.blogspot.com/2010/02/drivin-and-cryin.html

Florida Take Two

Jason escaped to Andros Island in the Bahamas for a few days of bonefishing and scuba diving. He had a great time. Here's a moray eel he spotted.

These lionfish have become a huge problem in the Bahamas. They're native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew smashed a tank at an oceanfront aquarium outside Miami and 6 lionfish were washed into the ocean. They showed up in the Bahamas in 2005, had a huge population explosion in 2007, and have now taken over the bahamas and are wreaking havoc on the native fish populations.

He had a great day fishing. We love this picture because the bonefish looks so surprised.

I left the kids with my parents and met up with him outside Miami. We had a great long weekend of relaxation, gorgeous weather, and great food. We found a small Argentinian cafe that we ate at several times. Jason was able to find food that he hadn't eaten since his mission days. We rented bikes at a nearby state park and biked around, then climbed a lighthouse. It was fun to have a few days of alone time.

February brought us our second snow storm of the year. Just enough wet snow to make happy boys and a somewhat pathetic snowman.

Also pathetic is our complete lack of snow gear. Ethan is wearing rain boots and I think Jason has tied garbage bags around his shoes.

First snowfall of 2010

Always a hit with the boys. And gone the next day, which is fine with me!

SIX

happy

sweet

busy

MONTHS

Little Crawler

Maddie's not even 6 months old yet and she already gets around better than our boys did at 9 months. I've seen lots of baby techniques...the inch worm, the sniper crawl, etc...but I've never seen a baby get around quite like she does. We're impressed.

Proof that we recovered

The rest of January was much more uneventful than the beginning.

The boys love driving around the yard in the car Santa brought Colin.

Maddie loves being cute. I love how helpful Ethan is.