Happy Halloween (and whatever else came since the last post)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures from left to right, top to bottom:

1. Penny wearing a handmade dress and bonnet made originally for her namesake, Penny Diane.
2. The other handmade dress made by Penny's great-great-great grandma Nichols and preserved by her great grandma Flynn.
3. Enjoying meal-time, just like any kid should!
4. Wild fire in Colorado somewhere between Rocky Mt. Nat'l Park and Breckenridge.
5. Living the high life with a little swing time in Phoenix.
6. Kissin' cousins, Dylan and Penny, at the ZooBoo in their costumes (a tiger and a ballerina).
7. Taking the easy ZooBoo tour on daddy's shoulders.
8. Test driving Engine 52 one last time before daddy moved to a different station.
9. Emily posing on a big rock during a hike up in the Rockies.
10. Best buds!  Penny loves to "get" Rosco first thing in the morning when she wakes up, it always puts a smile on her face and produces giggles.
11. Emily and Penny enjoying a good visit with Stephanie.
12. Horseback riding out in Colorado during our childless vacation.  My horses' name was No Name.
13. I think Penny wanted us to pack her along to Colorado, but that would've defeated to purpose of our little getaway.
14. Our little tot already trying to walk in mommy's shoes.

Over the past coule months Penny's vocabulary has increased quite a bit.  Unfortunately, her favorite phrase currently seems to be, "TV on."  We're working on breaking her of that, but she doesn't get to watch that much TV anyways, we just don't want her to become a TV junkie.  Emily and I took a week and went out to Breckenridge, CO by ourselves to get away for a little while.  It was our first real vacation in over 2 years and it was very enjoyable and relaxing (even though we did a couple good hikes and got our butts kicked at Crossfit of Breckenridge).  The 3 of us also made a quick trip down to Clarksville, TN to visit a good friend of mine from my formative years, Isaac Shelby, and watch him coach a football game.  The trip was too short, but it was good just too be able to catch up and see an old friend.  Emily and Penny also made a trip out to Phoenix, AZ to visit with Emily's sister Stephanie.  From what I was told, Penny immediately reached out for Stephanie when seeing her at the airport.  For Halloween, Penny was a ballerina, and a darn cute one at that.  We went to the ZooBoo at he Indianapolis Zoo, but didn't do much Trick or Treating other than grandparents and our next door neighbor.  Also, during the past month, I have taken a position at a different firehouse, one much closer to home and much busier.  I hated to leave a very good crew on Engine 52, but I didn't want my skills to completely atrophy.  I am now on Engine 12 with a good crew that has quite a bit more experience than do I (approximately 120 years between 4 guys), which means they have tons of knowledge that I will try to glean.  I can't think of any other news from our house, we've stayed pretty busy chasing Penny around and keeping up with life in general.  I wouldn't expect any more posts from me until after the trilogy of holidays.  So until then, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Years'