Byrd/Johnson Family: February 2009

Reid and Ben skiing

It was finally "warm" enough for us to bring the camera out on the slopes last weekend. Reid and Ben are in line to do the Lollipop Race in the first picture.

Here is Reid going around the 2nd or 3rd gate. I didn't get a picture of Ben with the gates because I pushed the power button instead of the picture button, nice huh?

So I took a picture of Ben skiing down to the quad after the Lollipop Race, Matt is first in the red jacket and white goggles, then Ben in red and Reid in purple and then my dad.

Garage

Finally our garage is being built! The first picture below is from our driveway. The blue tarps on the bottom are covering the garage doors, 2 of them. The blue tarp above the deck will be a slider. The propane tanks will be removed, they were for keeping the garage warm when the cement was put down. And there will be a window on the bottom floor on this side too.

This picture is taken from our house garage door, closest to the back yard. We have 3 windows on the dormer and there will be 2 windows on the bottom floor as well.

These stairs are on the door side.

And this is one corner of the upstairs.

And here is the corner where Matt's desk will be.

Daddy Daughter Dance 2009

Reid, Matt and Grandpa Byrd went to Reid's first Daddy Daughter dance the night we got back from our cruise. Here is Reid in her fancy outfit she got from Grammy at Christmas.

And here is Matt and Reid.

Reid and Grandpa Byrd.

Reid dancing and you should also notice she isn't wearing her turtleneck anymore as she was hot. She also took off her tights. She takes after her dad, she's almost never cold. She is dancing in the picture below and she is having a great time!

Our Cruise

Matt and I went on our first cruise together the first of February. I had been on a couple of cruises in college but this was Matt's first. We had a fantastic time and look forward to going again sometime in the future. The first picture below is the first day as we are leaving Port Everglades in Florida.

I'm watching us leave and enjoying the sun and warmth.

One of our famous self portraits.

The first day was a day at sea. I woke up quite early because I fell asleep early. I convinced Matt to get up and go for a run as the sun was rising. Then we went to shoot some hoops, you can see the court behind me in the picture below. And finally to the rock climbing wall. In the picture below I am asking the guy where the easiest route was and he is NOT being helpful!

I did pretty good climbing the wall and it was fun. I only made it halfway up the wall as I got nervous with how high I was.

Later in the day we went to the flowrider to try boogie boarding. We had watched a bunch of people boogie boarding the day before but didn't try it. Matt and I were surprised at how easy we found it to be. In the picture below I taking my first run.

And here is my first wipe out....can you see me????

And here's Matty up on his knees. He did really well too.

Matt tried the rock climbing wall a few days later into the trip. Both Matt and I had tried stand up surfing which I will say was very difficult. I fell pretty hard on my head and hurt my neck which kept me from doing some things for a few days.

Matt made it all the way to the top his first try on the rock climbing wall, good job Matt! In the picture below he is ringing the bell.

Here we are on the first formal night, I think it was the 2nd day on the boat. This picture was taken by the photographers on the boat and I scanned it in.

We are at the front of the boat for this picture, like in Titanic. It's a bit windy but it's so nice to be at the front. The helicopter pad is right there too.

And another self portrait.

Here's the sippy dippy guy. He did a little dance for me with the bottle of rum on his head. He also balanced drinks on his head.

The picture below is of the boat we took for our snorkeling trip. It is called the Reef Rocket. We are in Belize for this excursion. We took this boat out to a very small Island for snorkeling. The boat trip was about 30 mins. The ride out was pretty tame but the ride back was extremely windy and bumpy.

And here is the Island we went to, it's not very big as you can see.

Our second stop was in Costa Maya, Mexico. We went on a biking and kayaking excursion. You can see the bikes in the background of the picture below. I am talking with our kayaking guide Reggie in the picture below. Costa Maya was ruined by a hurricane about 2 years ago.

I'm a happy girl drinking my run drink in a Margaritaville in Cozumel, Mexico! We didn't do an excursion on this stop and just walked around and stopped at a couple of bars for drinks and food. This was probably my favorite day, it was very relaxing and fun.