Floored

Our latest home improvement project: hardwood floors! We had this done two weeks ago and we absolutely love our new floor. With a dog and a baby, the carpet wasn't staying very clean. We thought the hardwood would add a nice touch to the living room and dining room area. We are very happy with the results.

enter

Before:

Dining Room

Entry

Living Room

After:

Dining Room

(We still need an area rug for under the table. And eventually we will get a new table and chairs that match the room better.)

Entry

Here you can see more detail of what the wood looks like.

And you can see Cracker lounging in the sun.

Greetings from South Beach

I am in Miami this weekend for the South Beach Food & Wine Festival for work. (My company is a sponsor of the event.) It's been a fun weekend. The weather is warm, the beach is beautiful and there's been plenty of great food and lots of celebrities. All the stars of the Food Network are here. I've seen most of them. Here's a pic with myself, my co-worker Naddia, Giada, and Giada's husband.

Giada was very nice. I met her twice- once on the plane and once at the hotel.

FHE with Mitt

This morning we found out that Mitt Romney would be making a last minute stop here in California tonight. We were excited to go see him! We invited a few friends to join us and we headed up to the Sky Harbor at the Long Beach airport.

This was my first political rally and it was fun to be there with all of the other Mitt Romney fans. Isaac had a great time too. He is always so happy when there is lots of noise and commotion.

Everyone remember to go vote tomorrow!

5 Months Old

Here is Isaac at 5 Months....for more pictures- see his blog

Goodbye Saturn...

Way back in February of 2006 we bought a new car. Charlie commutes an hour each way to work and it was time for an upgrade in transportation. He got an Acura TSX complete with leather seats, navigation, etc. It is a great car and has actually now become my car (or the family car). I was driving a 2-door Honda Accord which wasn't very practical for loading a car seat in and out. So now Charlie drives the Honda and I have the Acura.

The Saturn

We had planned to trade in Charlie's old car, but as it turns out, the Acura folks weren't too crazy about our Saturn and gave us a ridiculously low trade in offer. We decided to hang onto the car and sell it ourselves. Easier said then done. The Saturn was a nice car. It was a 2002 and fully upgraded. It was clean, ran well, and looked nice. But no one in Orange County wanted a used Saturn. It was listed on Auto Trader for over a year and we never received a single phone call. Same story with Craigslist. CarMax gave us the same low offer that the Acura dealership had made. Finally we took it to the Irvine Car Fair, and after about three months and a few price reductions... the Saturn is sold!!! So 22 months later, we sold the car for about half of it's Blue Book value. And we were both a little sad to see it go.

Hello...

Now what to do with that extra cash? We had been making plans for months of what we would buy when the Saturn finally sold. First on my list was the bed frame that goes with our bedroom furniture set . It just happened to be on sale last week, and now it just happens to be sitting in our bedroom!


Charlie had been wanting a new refridgerator. Our kitchen has new stainless steel appliances, except for the fridge. We have an old beige monster that the previous owner left for us. But not for long, because our new fridge will be delivered at the end of this month!

Cayucos

We had a nice relaxing trip to the Central Coast for New Years. We left on Saturday morning and stopped along the way in Solvang, which is a cute little Dutch town. It is full of shops and bakeries and tourists! We were surpised at how crowded it was. Cracker was the hit of the town. We must have heard at least 30 comments about our cute "weiner dog" as we were walking around town. We bought some pastries, fudge, and fresh pretzels with cheese. Yum!

Charlie & Cracker in Solvang

Isaac in Solvang

Cayucos is a small beach town about 5 miles north of Morro Bay. We chose it because of their dog friendly hotels. We've taken him with us to hotels before (Shhh! Don't tell anyone!), but we always had to sneak him in a bag and we could never leave and go to dinner or anything because someone might discover him while we were out. Anyway, this place was full of dog lovers (even crazier than we are) and they welcomed Cracker with open arms. When we checked in they gave him a nice cozy blanket and a treat. The room was even equipped with a doggie peep hole. I felt a little slighted that there was no special welcome treat for the rest of us.

Cracker's previous hotel experiences

Cracker at the dog hotel in Cayucos

It was a pretty low key trip. One day we drove further up north and saw the elephant seals. These things were enormous! They can weigh up to two tons. At first we didn't realize how many there were and just thought there was a lot of big rocks out on the beach. But the beach was covered with huge lazy seals. We only saw one or two of them actually move the whole time we were there. I think they have a hard time getting around because they are just so big.

Charlie, Isaac & the Elephant Seals

Carrie, Cracker, Isaac & the Elephant Seals

We walked around town and got ice cream one afternoon. We also walked down to the beach a few times and let Cracker run around in the sand. It was very windy though and Isaac didn't like that too much.

Charlie & Cracker on the beach

On New Years Eve we went down to the beach and watched the sun set. We had planned on going to a little diner in town for dinner, but it was closed so we ended up driving through Taco Bell instead. Cracker was out by 8:00, Isaac finally went to sleep around 10:00, and Charlie & I lasted till about 11:30. Close enough, right?

Carrie & Isaac on the beach

Sunset on New Years Eve

Happy New Year!

New Years

It has become our tradition to go somewhere for New Years.

For New Years 2006, we went to San Francisco.

For New Years 2007, we went to New York City and spent the night in Times Square (not recommended)

For New Years 2008, we are packing up the car, and taking Isaac and Cracker to Cayucos- a small beach town on the Central Coast of California.

Happy New Year!

A Merry Christmas

Our little family had a very nice Christmas this year. We enjoyed celebrating the holiday season all month long. The first of December we brought out the decorations and got our Christmas tree. We had our third annual Wood Family Christmas party, and as part of that tradition we adopted a family and collected gifts for them. We spent another night baking treats and the next night delivering them to our friends and neighbors.

We decided to stay in CA for Christmas this year and so we spent a lot of time with my family. We got together three nights in a row with different relatives. It was good to see everyone but got to be a little too much time driving and out late away from home (past Isaac's bed time). Next year we are looking forward to having a little more quiet time at home!

Christmas morning with Isaac was fun. He is too little to have any clue what is going on, but it was still fun to open presents with him. He was not in need of much, but did get a few books, clothes, and toys. His big gift was a play gym from Grandma & Grandpa.

And of course, Santa filled Cracker's stocking too.

It is always a little sad when Christmas is over. Tomorrow we are taking down the tree and the lights and all of the decorations. But we still have the New Year to look forward to. We have a little trip planned this weekend to the Central Coast. I am looking forward to a fun and relaxing weekend with my boys.

Thanksgiving 2007

For Thanksgiving, we went to Price, Utah and stayed with my brother Chris and his wife Carly, and their three kids.. My parents drove up from New Mexico and my brother and his girlfriend were there from Ogden and Provo.

Here is their home. It's a very cute house and we felt very welcome.

Here are some pics of the weekend:

Me and my Mom

My brother Kelly and his girlfriend, Cassie

My brother Chris and his wife, Carly.

Carrie, Isaac, and Cracker

Carly, and Ginny

Christmas Tree Lighting

Tonight we headed over to Fashion Island Mall in Newport Beach, CA for the lighting of the nation's tallest Christmas Tree.

You would think the nation's tallest Christmas tree would be in Washington DC or New York City......but it's in Orange County. The tree comes from Northern California.

Here we are at the lighting. (Isaac was not enjoying it very much....it was not one of his better nights)

Philadelphia

We just got home from a trip to Philadelphia. Charlie had to make a trip out there for work, but he also has a lot of family there so he decided to extend his trip a few days and take Isaac & I along too. We all had a great time!


Isaac was a very good traveler. Everyone used to tell us "Enjoy travelling now, because once the kids come along you won't be able to go anywhere!" Well bringing Isaac along does require a lot of extra stuff, but other than that, it really wasn't that tough. The only real challenge was the security line. Coats off, belts off, shoes off (Isaac just has socks that look like shoes so he was okay), carry-on bags layed on their side, lap top out of the bag, liquids in a Ziploc, baby bottles must be inspected, Isaac comes out of the stroller, stroller dis-assembled and loaded through the conveyor belt, present our boarding passes, and finally we were through. Whew! Then it was time to put it all back together again on the other side. And TSA doesn't want to help you at all. So thank goodness for Charlie because I have no idea how I would have done all that with just one free hand. Anyway, Isaac did great on the plane. He slept a lot, and was only fussy during the descent because his ears were hurting. Way to go Isaac!



We stayed the first few nights in a hotel so that Charlie could have internet access for work. Then we stayed the weekend with his Grandma in Paoli. Charlie also has a few aunts and uncles and cousins that live near by and his mother flew in so that she could enjoy some time with her new grandson. So even while Charlie was off to meetings, Isaac and I had plenty of company. All of the family LOVED Isaac. He got tons of attention and everyone wanted to hold him and play with him. He was the star of the show.



On one of Charlie's days off we drove out to Amish country. The drive was nice because we got to see all of the countryside with the beautiful fall leaves. We stopped on the way and had a homestyle lunch in a little town just outside of the Amish country. It was pretty cold, but we bundled Isaac up really good and took a buggy ride with an Amish tour guide and he showed us the farms and explained to us a little about how the people live. It was fun to see, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I expected these guys to be much more old fashioned. I thought that everything would be hand made and home made. Instead it seemed like they got to kind of pick and choose which modern conveniences they were going to take advantage of. It was a little odd. They would be wearing hand sewn clothing and a pair of Nikes. They use a clothes line instead of a dryer, but there were store bought towels on the line. They have a telephone, it is just outside the house instead of inside (what's the point of that?). I figure if we went a little farther out in the countryside where they are not giving tours, then maybe things would be a little more authentic. Anyway, it was still interesting and fun. The Amish pretzel we ate was the best I've ever had. And the jam was really yummy too. They had a tasting station with about 20 different kinds. It was tough to decide, but we picked a few winners to bring home with us. Yum!



Charlie and I had some alone time while Charlie's mom Janelle watched Isaac. On Friday night we went out for dessert at Friendly's and then walked around the mall for awhile. They really should have a Friendly's in CA. They have a whole menu full of ice cream options! Now that's my kind of place.


On Saturday night we went out to dinner with Charlie's cousin Eric & his girlfriend Lauren. We went to the General Warren Inn where Aunt Shoo was our waitress. It is a very nice restaurant and the food was delicious. Shoo brought us some Snapper soup made with turtles! They are brought in live every day from New Orleans. I can't believe I actually ate turtle.


One day we went to a little town called St. Peter's Village. We went to an old vintage arcade and played some pinball. We climbed down the rocks by the water and then went back and got warm with some hot chocolate and a brownie at the bakery.


Monday we went to Valley Forge. I love this place. When we were there last summer Charlie & I ran the 5-mile loop around the valley with Aunt Cathy. That was probably one of my favorite runs ever. It is just so beautiful and peaceful there and it is neat to see all of the history along the way. This time Charlie ran by himself and I went for a walk with Isaac in his stroller. It was also nice that we were there on Veteran's Day. We stopped by the visitor's center for awhile too.

It was such a fun trip and really nice to be able to spend so much time with family. We were glad that Great Virginia got to meet Isaac, and I was glad to get to know everyone much better. I really loved all of the trees turning fall colors and the cold weather. It is a beautiful part of the country. I think I might even want to live there someday!