New Year Resolutions

My New Year's resolution is I WILL BLOG MORE FREQUENTLY! Didn't see that one coming did you? I think I've lost most of my subscribers with this last holiday hiatus. C'mon, a little leeway ok? It is the busiest time of year and the past month has been quite a whirlwind. I'll try to catch up a little with the pics that I have downloaded but the bulk of which are on my new gadget, the Nikon D90, are...well STILL IN THE D90!
It's been a month since I last blogged although momma Jax and Ryder were able to put up Ryder's first photo escapades in the last post. Let's see, where shall I begin? December started with quite a bang because Jax's parents and my dad and Sophie decided to all visit at the same time. Jax's parents were originally scheduled to come a little earlier and my dad and Sophie were suppose to come during Xmas, but with a change in schedules, everyone showed up on the same day. Our house was quite festive with 8 people, a fantastic way to start off the Xmas season. How did we fit you ask? Well, Jax's parents in our room, my parents in the guest room, Jax, Ryder, and I in the lil' smurfs room, and the maid in the den! Anyway, it all worked out great and to completely fill out the house, we got a real genuine Oregon Xmas tree! Here's one of my new favorite pics of Ryder. He's sportin' his old man's vest, standing in front of our "NOBLE FIR", next to the inflatable Frosty I picked up for $12, and "SUPERBREADMAN" in the red.(that's what they call him in Chinese!)My first real tree after 35 years of plastic ones. Jax is quite the Xmas Nazi and she said that as soon as we buy our first house we were getting a real tree, like she always had growing up. No big deal right? Boy was I wrong, the real tree is soo cool cuz it smells great every morning when I came downstairs. That's what I love about my Xmas Nazi wife, she pretty much shoves Xmas spirit down your throat until you actually start to enjoy it and I secretly thank her. Jax makes it impossible not to feel JOLLY at our house during the holiday season which is truly great. I have a funny feeling Ryder loved this Xmas so much that he will grow up to be quite the Xmas Nazi himself. Aren't the PJ's and the reindeer ears perfect? And you thought there was no Xmas spirit in Taiwan!!! Here's one with Ryder and grandma and grandpa and the first gifts that go under the tree. He's also wearing his new CHEESE!!!! for the camera smile with the squinty eyes. The holiday season began with a Thanksgiving feast and it never stopped. I worked so hard to lose 10 pounds last year and I think I gained it all back in the last 5 weeks of 2008. Whoops, I just remembered that I didn't even write a Thanksgiving blog!! My to-do list gets longer and longer. Back to the food. Jax's mom and dad just love to eat the "good stuff" when they come to Taipei and there's so much to try. Her mom's favorite is always Japanese food so we went out to this place called Mitsui that has the tastiest shabu shabu. The soup and rare beef are to die for...oh yeah, we also ordered a TINY Hokkaido king crab on the side:) And it was alive!!!!!To top everything off, the weather was fantastic. November and December are the nicest months of the year here. It's dry and cool and there's not much rain. We even took a little trip out to the beach where we rode a 4-man cycle. The four of us pedaled for like 4 miles and we were all sore the next day but Ryder had a great time. He seems to always have a great time doesn't he?
Ok, gonna go get my new camera and start adhering to my new resolutions for 2009. Blog! Blog! Blog!