Daron's Travels

I am going to be working in France for three weeks in January. I'm unsure about the remainder of the winter. It's going to be tough on me to be gone so long. But, it's likely to be harder for Brandi and Sky. So, everyone, please keep them in mind and be here for them while I am gone. Thank you.

Truck Bed

For Skylar's room, Brandi had in visioned a bed that looks like an old pickup truck. My father, Sky's grandpa took it upon himself to build one for us. I think he did a great job. We'll post another picture when it is in his room.

Kentucky Horse Park

Last week, we took Sky to the Kentucky Horse Park. Skylar loves horses but seemed a little intimidated by their size. Below are pictures of Sky at the park.

For additional pictures, click here.

Evans Apple Orchard

Sunday, we went to Evan's Apple Orchard...

Playground in the mall...

Red Mile Race Track

If you're going to live in the Bluegrass, you need to learn about horse races. For more on the Red Mile, click here.

Feeding Girraffes

Giraffes are Skylar's favorite animals. And, he was tickled to death that he was able to feed one at the Sedgewick County zoo in Wichita, Kansas.

Skylar Tries to Say "Happy Birthday"

Skylar tried his best to say "Happy Birthday" to me... And, my saying low carb cake was not a joke. Brandi made it for me and it has only 7 net carbs per piece.

The Gene Machine

On December 14, 2005 Brandi and I went into a photo booth at a Ripply's Believe it or not museum. This wasn't your typical photo booth. This one was supposed to predict you what your children are going to look like. The picture on the left is how Sky was supposed to look. The one on the right is a current real-life picture of him. What do you think? Does Sky look at all like the Gene Machine prediction?

The Potty Chair

Wednesday night, Brandi called me up and said, "You'll never believe what Skylar just did." This statement brough pictures running through my head about all of the horrible ways he might have destroyed something important in the house. But instead, Brandi was talking about something positive.

We had bought a potty chair for Sky a few months ago. We've not really done much of anything to teach him about it. Just set it in the bathroom. Well, apparently Sky had pointed at the chair, saying "this, this..." and tugged at his diaper. So BJ stripped him down and set him on the potty. AND, HE PEED IN IT! WoooWho! We're one step closer to no more diapers.

Skylar Loves Our Garden Tomatoes

Vacations...

We had a last minute change of destinations. Instead of Virginia Beach, we went to Kansas. You can't get much farther from the beach than this (both geographically and metaphorically speaking). We'll hit the beach next week. Why the last minute change of plans? Well, Sky's 97 year old great grandmother broke her pelvis. So, we went to check up on her. She seemed very happy to see Skylar.

Summer time fun

How lucky is Skylar that he gets TWO beach vacations this year. I thought that I would post a few pictures from Holden Beach NC before we leave for Virginia Beach. Hope you enjoy them, we had a lot of fun! More pictures and updates to come soon... we promise!

"Gee mom the wind is a little rough"

Skylar playing in the grass. He thought this stuff was great fun.

Skylar and his A.A. on the last day.

Father's Day Pictures

Sky's Great Grandfather

Sky's great-grandfather, Oliver Whiteside was recently on Wichita's KWCH TV Eye Witness News.

January 25, 2008: Link to TV station was dead so I uploaded the video.

Drive In Movies

Friday, we went to the drive-in theater to see a double feature of Pirates of the Caribbean III and Wild Hogs. The drive-in is great as it's the only place we can all go to see a movie without distracting other viewers.




We usually get there about an hour before the movie starts. We like to get front row seats so that we can sit in our lawn chairs and open our car doors so that we can hear the sound.








Sky enjoyed playing with a small beach ball while we waited for nightfall to come.











Hey, it's not what you think. We're not letting Skylar drink Pepsi. This is diet Pepsi. But luckily, Skylar hasn't learned to open the cans...










Finally, the movie is about to start....

Going Downtown

Saturday, we took the family downtown. First stop was the Hutchinson drug store to sip an old fashioned milk shake....


Next, we went to triangle park... Sky wasn't quite sure what to make of the fountains.

We Won the Photo Contest

We won the the fuelmyblog.com photo contest themed "A view from my window". The original judging resulted in a six way tie that was resolved by user votes. More details on the contest can be read on fuelmyblog's blog. A big thanks goes out to each of you who voted for Skylar's picture.

Lexington Legends Baseball

Last Saturday, we went to a Lexington Legends game. I tried to explain baseball to Skylar, but I don't think he quite saw the point. He was much more interested in the people watching than in the game itself.

The Big News!

Sorry to take so long after Daron made the comment that I had a big announcement for everyone. Skylar is sick today so Mommy gets a sick day as well. I put him down for his afternoon nap and thought this would be a good time to do this, since it is the first chance I have had in a while. The news isn't really that major except maybe to us. The big news.... are you ready for it?!?!?! On Skylar's birthday, we were playing with him on the floor and he took his first unassisted steps. He walked from the chair to Daddy who was waiting maybe a foot away. He took 3 steps by himself before collapsing onto the floor in giggles. He thinks walking is a very hilarious thing! He has since walked unassisted a couple of times, each time taking on a few steps before being grabbed by one of us or falling to the floor in laughter. It is a slow process but he is doing really well. He can take as long as he wants.... he gets into enough trouble without walking. I hear him waking up from his nap so I guess I should do the Mommy thing and go and check on him!

Skylar Turns 1 Year Old!

Exactly one year ago, Skylar was born. It's so hard to believe that it has been a year already. We had a small celebration at home. We let Skylar dig into his own cake. Afterwards, we had a scare as it didn't seem that the blue frosting was washing off. I thought he was going to have a blue face and blue hands at the party tomorrow. It'd have been a good laugh but kind of sad at the same time. After some intensive scrubbing, Skylar finally came clean. Tomorrow will be the big birthday party.

By the way, we have something to tell you. But, I'm going to let Brandi share it. No, she's not pregnant.

1st Easter

Another Skylar Rainer?

I had thought that Skylar was a fairly original name and had never dreamt that there was another "Skylar Rainer" out there! But look what I found on a WarnerBrother's discussion forum:

Full Name- Skylar Taini Rainer
Nicknames & explanations- Sky its short for Skylar, Rain it’s the beginning of my last name but most people call me Rain Drop. Taini means new moon( in native American) because I was born on the new moon.
What would you like to be called? Skylar, Sky, Taini
Birthday- September 18
Nationality (are you American, but live in England? Are you Irish, Italian?)- I’m half Irish half Native American. I live in North Carolina

I sent this other Sky a message and am hoping to learn more....

Brandi just called me. I told her about this Skylar Rainer and she told me that there was another on MySpace. So, off I went to MySpace.com... well, the one on MySpace is a Pomeranian dog. Somebody with the last name of Rainer thought it would be funny to give their dog named "Skylar" his own MySpace account... haha.

Sky's First Blog Entry

Now that I am almost one year old, I think I should start using the computer! Daddy helped me sign up for my own blogger account and now I can start writing my own blog entries. I even have my own blogger profile page.

Sky's First Haircut

We decided that it was time for Skylar's first haircut. Brandi said that she was okay with me cutting it. She held the video camera as I, Daddy, took the clippers to Sky's hair. About half way through, Brandi began crying. It's a bit shorter than I had intended. But, I don't think that I did a bad job. Judge for yourself. Doesn't it make him look much older?

Louisville Zoo

For more pictures of the Louisville Zoo, click here.