Dylan’s First Birthday Party!!

Master Dylan, on his first birthday, having his cake and playing with it too…!

I’m finally getting up some photos from Dylan’s very first birthday party. I think it kind of turned out to be more of a party for the adults than for Dylan and the other kids that attended, but our sons first full year on the planet is an occasion worth going a little over board on! One personal note for future events…. no more blue cakes!!!
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The Patio Project…

The beginning stages of our new slate patio project – “Ha, what a mess!”

We decided to go ahead and start our patio project this past fall in hopes that it would be finished and ready for our T.G.I.S Party this coming spring. The landscaping company we’re using, Land Art Design, insured us that laying a patio and doing minor landscaping in the winter time is no problem and actually works out better as long as we don’t get any major snow storms. So after several weeks of designing, planning and kicking around numbers, Laura and her team showed up to break ground and start the first phase of the project project.

Now… almost two months into it, the project is really starting to come together and so far I must say we have been truly pleased! We just can’t say enough about the quality and workmanship shown by the people at Land Art Design and we’re really looking forward to using our new outdoor living space for many years to come! Thanks Laura…!!
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Happy New Year!!

Dylan’s first New Years Eve… Watching the ball drop on TV!

Happy New Year Everyone!! We took a year off from our normal evening out to stay in and celebrate the ball dropping with Dylan. Yeah, we could have gotten a babysitter and gone out on the town, but it was Dylan’s first New Years Eve, so we elected to spend it with the little guy! Julie got Dylan a festive balloon for the occasion and we gave him his first taste of champagne at the stroke of midnight…. unfortunately, the champagne Julie bought really wasn’t very good and Dylan didn’t care for the taste at all.

The next day, we all made the drive down to my parents place for our annual New Years family dinner. Mike and Julia were there for the occasion and Dylan got a chance to play with my brothers dog, Neema, while we waited for my mothers food to hit the table. It was a wonderful dinner and a great start to what we hope will be a fantastic New Year for all of us!
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Our Family Christmas

It was wonderful having the family over to our house for Dylan’s first Christmas. Even though he’s really too young to understand the reasoning behind the gathering, I’m sure by the expressions on his face that he likes the personal attention (and the gift’s) he has received on this day! Julie and I are also blessed to have such a beautiful son and family and friends that care so deeply for us and Dylan… thank you all and God bless!
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Thanksgiving In Captiva…

Dylan day-dreaming in his floaty at the pool – South Seas Island Resort, Captiva

Every other year we try to make the trip down to Captiva Florida to spend the Thanksgiving Holiday with Julie’s family and all of her Cousins, Nieces and Nephews. It’s always a nice time getting together with Julie’s immediate family, but being able to get the entire family together in one place like this every two years is truly special. What made this year even more special was that there would be a new member added to the family reunion… little Dylan! Not only would this be Dylan’s first trip to Florida, but more importantly it would be the first time that Dylan would get to meet Julie’s Cousins and their children.

Julie, Dylan and I wanted to say thank you to everyone for a wonderful week! We look forward to getting together with everyone again soon, but until then please keep in touch. I’ve added some photos from the weeks events to this post… and yes, I know that most of them are of Dylan, but honestly… what did you expect?!
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Autumn At The Marina…

An absolutely picture perfect day at Belmont Bay Marina – Nov. 14, 2010

Well it’s done… the boat is completely winterized and another awesome boating season unfortunately comes to a close. After finishing the work on the boat and installing the winter cockpit cover, I took a few moments to reflect on the past summer and then snapped off a few photos of the beautiful fall colors as I left the marina for the last time this year. It’s probably going to be another bad winter and I sure am going to miss her, but on a positive note… next season is only 4 or 5 months away!!
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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 Bermuda Trip!

When my wife and I first decided to try having children, we made a pat with one another, that we would do our best not to let parenthood infringe upon our need to travel and our passion for scuba diving. Well… I guess one out of two isn’t bad! At first, I think I was most worried about just trying to travel with a small child. You hear horror stories all the time about a small child screaming the entire flight and pissing off the other passengers or how you have to pack three times as much stuff when you travel with children… you know… just in case?!

Dylan’s first day at the beach… ever! – Tucker’s Point Beach Club, Bermuda

There’s no wonder that a lot of families just don’t bother to travel anymore after having kids… No doubt, it’s a lot of work, but I really didn’t want us to fall into that category no matter what! So, not to long after Dylan was born, Julie and decided to make plans for a experimental trip to one of our favorite getaway spots… the island of Bermuda. Julie and I visit the island quite often, so not only do we know our way around, but we also know what to expect once we get there. And to top that off, it’s only a two plus hour flight from DC… so even if we found it overwhelming trying to manage a child on the plane at least it wouldn’t be long before we were back on solid ground.

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Labor Day Weekend…

The view off the stern of ‘Our Pleasure’ while on our way back during sunset!

I know this post is a little late, but I’m just getting back to editing all the photos from this past summers boating season. Here’s a handful of pictures from our Labor Day weekend boating trip down river to Gilligan’s Pier in Popes Creek, Maryland… Enjoy!!
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Thunderstorm At Belmont Bay…

I’m trying too get the cockpit cover on the boat before the sky starts to fall…

It’s not that uncommon to have a thunderstorm pop-up when out boating on the river, especially during the latter half of the summer when temperatures are in the 90’s. So before heading out on the boat, I hit up the local radar and marine forecast to try and determine what the afternoon will bring in the way of weather and plan my boating day accordingly.

This past Sunday would be one of those day when we had to head back in early… and believe me, it was a good call to cut and run when we did. Some of the wind gusts in the marina were as high as 60 mph and even though we didn’t have much trouble getting back into our slip, some of our dock mates were not quite as fortunate. I’ve added some photos of the festivities for your viewing pleasure… enjoy!!
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