Trains and Santa

Sunday, we took the kids to Northpark Mall to see the Trains exhibit and Santa. We went last year (2008) with Natalie and I was pregnant with Ryan at the time. Gosh, this year has flown by too fast! Natalie is now 2 years old and Ryan is 7 months old. The kids had a great time and enjoyed looking at all the trains go by. Who knows, we may make this our holiday family tradition to take the kids every year ;-)

NYC: Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge

Washington DC / The Capitol and The White House

Downtown Dallas

Natalie and Ryan wanted to touch everything

After the train exhibit, we went to see Santa. Our number was ways away, but the nice ticket man put us through the line ;-) When it was our turn, Daddy put Natalie and Ryan on Santa's lap. Our kiddos did not even freak out or cry - YAY! Ryan, on the other hand, pulled on Santa's beard. You can see him tugging on his beard in the photo below. Ha!

Thank goodness, Santa was a good sport. Alain later noticed there were a few beard hairs between Ryan's fingers. They told us we could keep it as a souvenir. I don't think so ;-)

We, including the photographer guy could not get Natalie to crack a full smile, but Ryan did great. Afterwards, Santa asked Natalie what she wanted for Christmas. She told him, "I want a shopping cart, and dolls, and trains, and a bicycle." Too cute!

Japanese Botanical Gardens

We finally have a nice fall weather (for Texas, that is). On Saturday, we headed out to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. The place is surrounded by large trees, flowers, and various themed gardens. It was a great time to go see all the fall foliage and colors. Here are a some pictures of our day at the Japanese Gardens.

There were lots of koi fish in the ponds where you can purchase food pellets and feed them. Well...knowing that fish love bread too; we snuck in some bread. (Alain's idea, of course.) Natalie really enjoyed feeding the fish!

Our little girl is fearless. Here, daddy shows Natalie how to hand feed some fish.

Natalie (2 years old) and our little princess!

Ryan (6 months old) and mama's boy ;-)

Halloween Night

This Halloween was Natalie's first time to 'trick or treat' around the neighborhood and it was Ryan's first Halloween, too! Natalie was dressed as a 'lady bug' this year and Ryan wore a cute 'skeleton' onesie. Natalie could not wait to go outside and collect candy in her pumpkin bucket! The weather was absolutely perfect. Daddy took Natalie door to door while I pushed Ryan in his stroller. We later met a couple of Natalie's little friends in the neighborhood. She had a good time and got lots of candy. Of course, Mommy and Daddy took most of it out and let her "play" with the others. However, she did have a lollipop as a treat ;-)

My favorite pics! It shows how much they adore each other.