Goodbye Blog!

Well, we only have one more night here in the beach house. I think we'll miss it here, but we are excited about all of the new things that are coming. Unfortunately high speed internet is not an option in the Haute. At least not at either of the parental units! So, as I'm sure you all know, blogging and dial up do not mix. So until I find another way, this will be the last post until we get back to Jacksonville. I'm trying to convince Joe to do one while he's gone, but since it has nothing to do with facebook, I don't think he will. See you soon family!

Merry Christmas!

This year we thought we were finally going to get a Christmas card out. Well, as it happened, we have been WAY too busy to get one done. So this is the next best thing!
Merry Christmas everyone. We can't wait to come home! To our friends who are far away- we hope you have a great Christmas and we are looking forward to seeing you this new year!

Lots

Adam and Ethan-
Here are a couple pictures of the lots. There aren't any houses yet, but you can get an idea of what the area is like.

House Hunting

For months now we have been searching all over the city of Jacksonville to find a house. And finally, I think we have found the one. This model is called the Jefferson. It's 2300 sq ft with 3 bedrooms and a bonus room. This particular house is outside of town, but we liked it so much we told the builder to build the same one in the new development. So after all the details are worked out we are hoping to close in mid July.

Santa!

Saturday we went to the Squadron Christmas Breakfast. Mike had a lot of fun. There were lots of other kids running all over the place and he was dead set on trying to keep up with them. Santa was there as well. As you can see, that was his least favorite part of the morning. He was very scared of Santa, but I'm sure he'll warm up to him by next year!

Happy Birthday Mike!!!

Yay! It's Mike first birthday! Thank you to everyone for all of the calls, cards and gifts! Since we're not at home, it really means a lot! So we still had some cupcakes and opened gifts. Mike was not at all interested in the cupcakes. You'll notice in almost every picture he is clinging to the phone he got. He wouldn't put it down and he even went to bed with it!

Charlotte

A few weeks ago we got to babysit for our friends Stacey and Tom! They had their Marine Corps Ball in Atlantic Beach so we went and picked little Charlotte up! She is so cute! It was fun to be watching a little baby! She's only 10 weeks.

When mom's away the boys will play!

After my surgery, I was out of commission for a little while. Joe and Mike took care of me and the house work. Plus they did a little goofing around while I was asleep. Joe thought it was hysterical that Mike put my underwear on his head.

Haley Family Fun in VA

Joe and Abbie with the kids all bundled up and ready to go!

Over the holiday we went up to Matt and Taryn's. We met the rest of the fam up there to meet Gabe and for an early Thanksgiving. We had such a great time with everyone. We went to visit a great winery. Joe and I had never been before, and this was a great one to visit. The restored mansion was beautiful and it was very kid friendly. Mike and Lily played while the rest of us tasted!

Climbing Cont.

Mike being ever so helpful in the dishwasher!

Marine Corps Ball

Joe with the ugliest center piece ever


Joe practicing for the ceremony

The Marine Corps Ball was fun this year. It was at the Hilton in Wilmington. I got to meet a lot of new people in Joe's squadron. Joe was in the ceremony, but unfortunately our table was in the very back, so I didn't get any good pictures.

We have a climber on our hands!

So I've been slacking a little on the blog. We've done a couple fun things, but I haven't gotten around to downloading the pictures yet, but I will do that soon. Anyway, I did want to tell you all a little story about our friend Mike. He's been doing a lot of new things lately, but none of them comes close to this. I heard him getting up from his nap the other day so I went in to get him. I walked in to find him standing on top of his changing table! For those of you who haven't seen his room, the changing table is up against the end of his crib. The crazy kid climbed from the crib to the top of the changing table and was standing there straight up just looking to the ground. Luckily, I got there before he decided to try to get down. So needless to say, I had to move some furniture around to keep this from happening again. Ever since he did that, he's been climbing onto and into everything! He can climb up on the couch, into dishwasher, into his little closet, just everywhere!

Happy Halloween!

Today we celebrated Halloween during the day because Joe has duty tonight! Really, we just dressed Mike up in his costume and took pictures. But, the great thing about having one so young is that he doesn't know the difference yet!

Ironhorse invades Salem, MA

Joe was in Maine for some training for a few weeks. On the way they had to make a stop at a very small airport in MA. The local paper did a story on their visit which was pretty funny! Joe is the last helicopter in the picture.


Squadron of Marines lands at Beverly Airport on way to Maine

Jonathan Phelps

BEVERLY | Six large, low-flying U.S. Marines helicopters made an unexpected stop at Beverly Airport yesterday afternoon, causing nearby houses to shake and fueling lots of theories about the reason behind their visit.

Some speculated Hillary Clinton was in town. Another guessed Vice President Dick Cheney. Others who rushed to the airport shortly before 4 p.m. were convinced the helicopters were here to perform a flyover at last night's Red Sox playoff game.

"I thought they were landing in my yard," said Richard Shea of Conant Street. "I saw the pilots, and I was waving to them. I thought we were having a little invasion."

In the end, there were no celebrity sightings. The squadron, flying U.S. Marines Sikorsky Super Stallion helicopters, had stopped in Beverly on route from South Carolina to Brunswick, Maine, said Paul Vitale, chairman of the Beverly Airport Commission. There is a U.S. Naval Air Station in Brunswick.

Vitale said they made a "pit stop" after hearing reports of inclement weather ahead. While on the ground, they also investigated refueling but determined they did not need any, he said. They left about two hours later.

Beverly police said they got dozens of calls from residents wondering why the six helicopters were in Beverly.

Bart Oliver, who lives on Dartmouth Street, is accustomed to aircraft noise. But he said he never heard anything as loud as yesterday.

"We thought they were going to land on our house," Oliver said. "It was so loud. The kids wanted to come out to see the helicopters for themselves."

Linda McGraw of Beverly, who saw the helicopters from Route 128 on her way home from work, called the sight "creepy."

Lori Cravatis, also of Beverly, came to the airport with her son Kyle.

"It was so weird. It was the strangest experience," she said. "I've never heard anything like this before. I thought we were going to war."

The three-engine aircraft is the most powerful helicopter in the U.S. military, according to the Sikorsky Web site. The heavy lifter has been used in evacuation missions around the world, including the evacuation of the Somalia embassy in 1990, and to haul heavy equipment in Operation Desert Storm. It can lift aircraft as heavy as itself.

Vitale said he got the chance the greet the squadron commander. He said the Marine told him they would be sent to Africa next.

For his part, Vitale said he could understand why such a large crowd came out to the airport on a rainy Friday afternoon.

"It's not every day you get see six Super Stallions fly by. They're big and they're loud. It's really exciting," Vitale said. "It was like an air show."

Staff writer Ethan Forman contributed to this report.

H-E-L-L-O Gabe!

Gabe is finally here! He came Oct. 23, at 6:58am. He weighed 8lbs. 10oz and was 22in
long. Rumor has it he has larger than normal calves and hands! We will see if there is any truth to these stories.

Happy B-day Lily!

For the second year in a row we got to go to Lily's birthday party! We had a lot of fun watching her open her gifts. Mike didn't care too much about the gifts, but he really liked her shoe boxes. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll be around for b-day party number three!

Mike and the Fam!

Being at home was so great. Allie and Maddie were THE BEST babysitters ever! They stayed with Mike and watched him every second, making sure he didn't hurt himself on the stairs(which, by the way, he has mastered). He crawls right up them and is not afraid to jump off!

Home Sweet Home!

Last week Joe went to Maine for some training. Since he was going to be gone, Mike and I went home to visit. While we were there we went to visit Natalie, Kate and both of their kids. Their still a little young to play together, but it was still fun to watch them!

The Park

Today we went to the park by our house. It was so nice outside Joe even agreed to take a break from Notre Dame football! (that might also be b/c they stink)Mike was loving the swings! He also thought the grass felt pretty neat too

Spider Man

Joe saw an ad on tv for the Tonka 3 in 1 truck and he just HAD to get it for Mike. I'm talking, he had only slept for 3 hours, went to a whole day at work and still wanted to go directly to Toys R Us when he got home! Sadly, they didn't have the 3 in 1, so the next best thing was the Spider Man truck! Mike's favorite part-the horn of course! I also added an action shot of Mike walking.