Dylan At 9 Months…

OMG! How could you not love a smile like that… what a cutie!!!

For all you Dylan fans… Just thought I’d share some new photos I recently took during one of his more playful evenings at home. He’s about 9 months in these photos and he is really starting to look more and more like me every day… at least I think so!! :-) I’ll try to upload some of his latest video’s to my site soon, but for now I hope you enjoy the photos…
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Dylan’s First Month…!

I’ve had a lot of people calling and emailing, asking when they might get a chance to meet the newest member of our family. First off I want to thank everyone for all the warm wishes that have been circulating on Facebook and through our email in-boxes… believe me, it is not unnoticed!! Julie and I are trying to keep up with all the email, but with the new addition we don’t seem to have as much free time as before… “gee, ya think!”

As for Dylan, well he is doing just fine and we are very happy to finally have him home from the NICU! Unfortunately though, the fact remains… he is still a premature baby and due to his size and age, he is much more susceptible to health issues than most. For this reason, Julie and I are going to try and hold off having visitors, at least until he reaches several months of age. Please be patient… it’s going to take a while for us to adjust to our new lifestyle of parenthood! For now, here are some photos of Dylan during his first month on the planet… Enjoy!!
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Julie’s Baby Shower…!

First off, Julie wanted me to thank everyone for attending her baby shower last weekend and for all the lovely gifts… she is truly blessed to have so many great friends! We also wanted to thank Julie’s sister Susan for making the trip down from Canada and organizing the entire event… it was truly a special day! We know that there were some of you who couldn’t make it to the shower and we do understand and hope that all is well. For those of you who were fortunate enough to make it and those of you who were unable to attend, here are some photos I took during the festivities. We hope you enjoyed yourselves and look forward to seeing everyone again very soon…!!
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The 2009 Boating Season…

I’ve taken the time to put together a small collection of photos that Julie and I took during this past summer. Most of these photos never made the normal journal posts because they were on our small camera (the one Julie uses) which doesn’t get downloaded very often. After cleaning out our little camera for the up coming holidays, I realized that I really hadn’t posted a whole lot of photos from the boating season. I normally try to post at least two boating photo stories a month during the summer, but this past summer was so busy I just didn’t have the time. So, as a tribute to this past summer, and the fun and sun that it gave us, here are some pictures to keep us warm over the winter…. Enjoy!!
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Home For The Holidays…

This year we decided to host the Christmas festivities at our house instead of traveling out to my Parents place. It would be the first year for us putting up a tree in our new home and so we thought it would be nice to host the Family Christmas dinner as well. I think my mother was the most excited about it, for this would be the first year in a very long time that she wouldn’t have to cook or clean up afterwords. We also thought it would be fitting to share this wonderful time of the year with our family and friends, so I’ve added some photos from Christams day. We’d like to thank everyone for all the wonderful Christmas cards we have received and wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Townhouse For Rent!

Well its taken a while, but Julie has finally finished fixing up her old townhouse and making it rent ready. It was mostly just cosmetics that needed to be done with a couple of small repairs like new faucets in the master bathroom. But now that the place is completely emptied out with fresh paint and clean carpets, we’re ready to put it on the market… for rent.

I’m not going to go into details about location or price… lets just say it’s in Arlington and very close to the Key Bridge. Our Realtor has taken on the job of finding a qualified tenant and then managing the property for us after that.

This is really helpful because it will free up our weekends once again. It seems like every weekend for the past several months has been spent working on the townhouse. Now finally, we can relax a bit and do something else with our spare time!

I’ve also added some photos of the inside that I took this past weekend while finishing things up….

UPDATE: Here’s the new online listing.
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Our Toronto Trip…

Julie and I wanted to thank her sister Susan and her husband Jason for allowing us to stay with them while in Toronto for the ‘family retreat’ last month. We had such a great time and it’s always nice to hear that everyone is doing so well. We also really enjoyed being able to spend so much quality time with the kids. Because of the distance, Julie and I don’t normally get the see them very often and that makes trips like this one very special!

I’ve been asked to keep most of the pictures private since there almost all photos of the kids, but here are a few shots from our outing to an apple picking orchard.
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Congratulations Christina & Colin..!!

Christina & Colin exchanging wedding vows on the beach!

Julie and I just wanted to congratulate our good friends Christina and Colin on their wedding last month. It was a small family only wedding, so I don’t have any photos to share, but Christina did email us one photo that she said I could use for this post. We hope that you have long and healthy lives together and wish you both all the happiness in the world!!

Congratulations to you both and have a great honeymoon!!

~Doug & Julie

Christmas Day!

This year Julie and I spent Christmas day at my parents place along with my brother, his girlfriend and of course his two dogs.  Chrismas day is always a nice gathering for our family and this year was no different! The best part for me is going home to Mom’s cooking!! I’m sure everyone would agree… you just can’t top a home cooked meal from Mom!!

Julie and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for making this a great Christmas and a very happy and productive year! Follow this link for a few more pictures…
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Dusty Lee Has Past Away – Springfield, VA

My Very Best Friend, Dusty Lee – We’ll Miss You Greatly!!!

Dusty Lee has been more than just my dog for the past twelve and a half years, he has been my best friend, loyal companion & one of the smartest and kindest pets I have ever owned! He past away at home of natural causes in the middle of the night. As some of you know, I lost my other dog Casey earlier this year to cancer. Casey and Dusty were like brother & sister to one another; Truly two peas in a pod! I think Dusty took it pretty hard when we lost Casey but he seemed to snap back quite well after several weeks.

It’s hard writing this, even now, almost two weeks after Dusty’s passing. Going home to a empty house after becoming a custom to being greeted every night with the unconditional love of your pet & best friend is very hard. I think of him all the time and will miss him for a very long time to come! I have posted this along with a photo slideshow as a tribute to my dog and very best friend – Dusty Lee!!

Dusty Lee’s Photo Slideshow»