Daddy & Christian's Adventure

In September, Larry flew to Pennsylvania to attend his grandfather's funeral. He decided at the last moment to bring along Christian (despite Krista's extreme concern that Larry would never be able to handle him on his own). It did turn out to be quite the undertaking as Larry had to single-handedly wrangle Christian through airport security and keep him entertained for six hours of flight time, two takeoffs, two landings, a layover, and two hours of driving; only to have to turn around two days later and do the whole trip again in reverse. As if that were not enough, they missed their return flight after being stuck in traffic for three hours and had to travel back to Larry's parents' house until they could catch a later flight (adding another five hours of driving to an already long trip). By the time they finally boarded their flight home, Christian had already spent more than eight hours in a car and it was fast approaching his bedtime. All things considered, Christian really hung in there and proved to be a pretty happy and resilient little guy. Here's a quick slide show of their adventure (omitted are all the pictures of Christian crying and frantically trying to escape from his father's grasp to roam the airplane aisle).

Despite the long hours of traveling, Christian was in great spirits and was happy to see his Grandma and Grandpa Furr.

Here is Larry's father with his siblings Teri, Randy, and Cheri, immediately following the funeral.

Later that day the family got together to visit. Christian had a lot of fun playing with his cousin Abby and Larry's cousin Annie.

Back at Grandma and Grandpa Furr's house, Christian and Abby got in some quality time together.

They especially enjoyed playing on the piano together.

Here are the cousins playing a duet.

Although it was a strenuous trip, Larry and Christian are very happy that they made the trip to Pennsylvania to visit with family and honor the memory of Great Grandpa Furr.

#1 Grandson

Grandpa Furr was excited to meet his first grandson for the first time over the Christmas holiday.

These pictures were taken at the airport. As you can see, Christian and Grandpa Furr hit it right off.

Throughout the rest of our stay in PA, Christian got to spend a lot of time with Grandpa Furr.

Christian liked all the silly faces that Grandpa Furr made.

And he even made a few silly faces of his own.

Chocolate Makes Children Smile

While we were in Pennsylvania, we made the obligatory trip to Hershey's Chocolate World. Ava was excited to be there, but not excited to have her picture taken with so many other fun things going on around her.

Our friends Brooke and Christina joined us for the fun, along with their adorable little girl Isobel.

Once again, Ava donned her paper hat and became a Hershey's Factory Worker. This time, however, she was actually old enough to push the green button and watch her candy dish fill with Hershey's Kisses.

After the girls finished laboring in the factory, we all headed over to the Chocolate World ride.

This was Christian's first trip to Chocolate World, and he was astounded by what he saw.

After eating her free chocolate sample, Ava was much more amenable toward getting her picture taken.

Apparently chocolate really does make children smile.

Christian's Baby Blessing

Christian was blessed during our 9 a.m. church service the day after Danny & Patricia's wedding.

We were all still pretty tired from the reception the night before (plus Christian was up until four in the morning). He nonetheless seemed to sense it was a special day, as he was full of smiles.

Ava was very excited for Christian's big day and wanted to get her picture taken with him...

...Christian, however, was ready to head out.

Krista decided to give Christian a faux-hawk, which he thought made him look tough.

He's a total chick magnet.

Here's his blessing outfit complete with the hat (Christian kept kicking the little knit booties off of his feet).

Thanks to Granny O for buying Christian such a lovely outfit to be blessed in.

Christmas 2009

This past Christmas we flew back to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with Larry's family and to attend the wedding of his younger brother Danny. This was the first Christmas in which all of the Furrs were together at once since 2004. Pictured below are all of the Furrs on Christmas morning except for Abby and Christian (who were sleeping) and Larry (who was taking the picture).

Ava was quick to scope out the presents under the tree.

She started by opening her stocking, which included this Little Mermaid necklace.

Her favorite present was by far this Snow White dress, which Santa found online for just $4. Ava has worn it pretty much every day since—the best $4 ever spent. After putting on the dress, she will announce that "it's Snow White time" and then proceed to hand out roles. Larry and Christian are typically cast as dwarfs, while Krista gets to play "a bunny". Guess who is always Snow White. Ava will then run around the house flailing her arms in distress mimicking Snow White as she runs through the forest near the start of the film.

Christian (who was up Christmas Eve until four in the morning) slept blissfully through most of the festivities. Abby, however, was up and ready to open presents. Her shirt (which reads "What Santa doesn't bring me, Grandma will") was spot on, as both she and Ava made out like bandits.

Christian eventually decided to wake up and open his presents.

After opening the presents, Larry's family headed over to the church to set up for Danny and Patricia's reception the following day (pictures are forthcoming).

Back to Chocolate World

Once again my parents have allowed this blog to fall into neglect. So, I am here to resuscitate it. While we were vacationing in Pennsylvania, we went to visit Hershey's Chocolate World.

While there, I got to make some Hershey's Kisses. Here I am pushing the button to make some Kisses come out of the chute and into my bowl.

Next we all went on the Chocolate Tour to see how chocolate is made. I sat with Grandpa Furr while my parents snapped pictures (some things never change).

I was amazed by all the candy being whisked here and there throughout the factory.

Then I imagined what it would be like if I could live in my very own chocolate factory.

By the time the tour was over I was pretty tired and decided it was time for a nap.

I slept in the car on the way home from Hershey, after which we went to visit Great Grandpa Furr. He must like chocolate too because he had a whole bowl of chocolate and let me have one. Then mommy wanted to take some "four-generations" picture thing, but I was too busy looking at Great Grandpa Furr waiting for him to give me some more chocolate.

Once I realized that I wasn't getting any more chocolate, I was ready to go.

On the topic of Hershey's Kisses, we'll be posting a picture of either a blue or pink Hershey's Kiss here later this week to announce whether Jellybean is a boy or a girl. Please leave a comment with your guess.

A Lesson in Meteorology

After our trip to North Carolina last month, we drove up to Pennsylvania to visit with Larry's family. It turned out that our friends Brooke and Christina were also in town visiting family. So we got together and visited the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle.

Here's Larry and Brooke with daughters Ava and Isobel.

Ava wasn't as impressed by this war helicopter as we were. So we headed into the museum for warmth.

Having concluded our tour of the museum (which had tons of great WWII memorabilia), we drove to downtown Carlisle for some lunch. After lunch we stopped in front of the library to take some pictures of Ava and Isobel. Ava decided to forecast rain, while Isobel pondered the clouds.

Based on Ava's weather prognostication, Isobel decided to dress warmer, her eyes fixed on the sky waiting to see raindrops.

Alas, it did not rain and Isobel laughed at Ava's folly. All the while Ava sipped on her drink, cursing the rain gods for making her look like a fool.

Happy Birthday Larry!

While we were out in Pennsylvania, we were able to celebrate Larry's 30th birthday. It was the first time since Larry turned 18 that he was actually home with his family on his birthday. We first celebrated at Olive Garden (the night of the musical) with a very yummy chocolate cake. Ava was enthralled with the candles.

Then on his actual birthday, we had a very fun birthday bash at the Furr's home with fabulous decorations, our favorite stromboli, and a delicious ice cream cake. (Did we mention that Ava was sick with an ear infection for most of the trip?)

The cake was complete with 30 candles for our thirty-year-old!

Ava gave her dad a picture book about all of her favorite things to do with her daddy. Pictured is Larry's mom to the right and Patricia (Danny's girlfriend) to the left.

Larry also got everything you can possibly think to need for washing your car; including Ava's favorite—some very fun, big red buckets.

Ava thought it was so fun playing peek-a-boo in the buckets. (These were taken a few days later, after she was on antibiotics for the ear infection and feeling much better.)

Now we know what to get Ava for her birthday!

Happy (belated) Birthday Larry!