Cute Picture of Santa

He looks so cute and innocent....what you don't know is that this is his hiding place when he's been naughty (i.e. eating trash, run around with shoes in his mouth, chewing pens...or rolaids)

Winter in Ann Arbor

This is what winter in Ann Arbor looks like.  It seemed like we saw this for 6 months, but it was really only 4 months....which is still a bit too much.  The first picture is looking at our apartment building.   

The second picture is on the street behind us where we like to walk the dog. 

 Fortunately, it hasn't looked like this for a month.  However, we are getting snow as I write.

New Interior Design

With Christie's knack for interior design, we repainted our wall and moved the furniture around. It is now much brighter and feels more open. Here is the new look:







The old paint was a deep red that looked great, but felt darker.

More Pictures of Santa

Santa can be very ornery and fussy, but there are times when he's very cute. This picture of him poking his head our from under the bed is a prime example...



...or take a look at him sleeping next to Christie.


We also got him a rope that he figured out how to put around his head. He soon took if off and eventually chewed it to shreds.

The Phoenix Zoo

While on Christmas break in Arizona, we took a trip to the Phoenix Zoo, which happens to be a great place for animals from Africa! Here we are with giraffes and water buffalo-like animals.









Bruce grew up 5 miles from the LA zoo and his dad used to take the kids to the zoo every year. The highlight of every trip was when animals would relieve themselves. Fortunately, this trip was no disappointment and we saw the tiger below relieve herself.






We got to walk into a monkey area and watch them run around. We were within a foot of a monkey several times as they climbed trees, jumped across ropes, and ran across benches. The monkeys weigh only 1.5 lbs and one of them is over Christie's shoulder.

..and just for good measure, here's a picture of giraffes.

Santa's Little Helper....aka...BAD SANTA!!! BAD DOG!!!

That's right, we've added a 7 month old puppy to our little family. He is 1/2 miniature pinscher, 1/2 beagle and we adopted him from our local humane society. The first week or two we had him he didn't bark, chew, or jump on things!! Too bad that all changed once he got settled in. Now he chews everything in sight (especially shoes!) and he barks to try and make us play with him. His redeeming qualities seem to be that he is already potty trained and he likes to take naps on his mama's lap :) And mom has to admit that she likes having company during the day when she is otherwise home alone.

Our Trip to the Toledo Zoo

We took a trip in November to the Toledo Zoo with the Ross (Michigan) MBA Kids Club. The zoo is about an hour away and we figured it would be fun to see some animals. As it turned out, we actually went for the first night of Zoo Lights- the Christmas lights had just been put up all around the zoo. We posed for a picture in front of some lights, as did our friends Tyler, Andrea, and Hayden Hooper.

It was below 20 degrees that night and most of the animals decided it was too cold. Even the polar bear wouldn't come outside! The snakes were about the only animals we were able to see.