Patrick's 36th Birthday

Another birthday! Yikes, starting to feel old on this one for sure.

We got together with a bunch of friends and some family that were in town to have dinner and cake at Everybody's Pizza at Emory, pretty close to the house. We really enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up with some folks that we hadn't seen in a little while.

At the front of this picture is the very red-headed Ethan, followed by him Mom, Dawn, along with Rob, Mandy, Paige, Matt (blue shirt in the back), then Dad, Hugh and Amanda chatting together. Nate's round head and little left paw are at the bottom right. :-D

Look at these two guys . . . are they not just the coolest? Nate, try to open your eyes just a little more, okay?

More folks: Jim (blue striped shirt), Keith Haas, me, Sarah, Gabe, Jon Haas (Keith's son in green striped shirt), Jackson Haas (blue striped shirt) and Teri, holding Chas. Thanks to everyone for coming.

Blowing out the candles on an awesome cake made by Shannon!

Chocolate cake requests were coming fast and furious (including from Nate in the background, who was hoovering cake like it was, well, cake)!

One more picture . . . Teri, Chas and a few others stopped by the house afterwards for a few minutes. Chas found Frost to be an interesting companion.

So Long Gabby

Well, it's time to say goodbye to an old friend.

We have sold Shannon's Cabrio and it is a sad day around the house. Gabby The Cabby served Shannon well since she got it in 2001, and it was always a good time to ride around town with the top down on a nice spring or fall day here in Atlanta.

But, it isn't a kid-friendly car, so we needed to make a change to something more usable, and with four doors!

Shannon and Frannie's Cancun Vacation

Rare musings from Shannon....

Mom and I had a great vacation together in Mexico. We've had many great mother/daughter vacations over the years and this was a great opportunity to spend some time before the baby comes. Aunt Marjie was supposed to come, but sadly had a friend who passed away that week. We look forward to planning another special girls' trip in the future.

This is Mom near poolside at our hotel, the Casa Magna Marriott in Cancun. It was very nice and Cancun was not at all the spring break central that I had heard about.

Beach front at the hotel. It was very hot, so we spent most of our time by the pool!

The Mommie-to-be enjoying the shade by the pool. And I thought I was big then!!!

Lorenzillo's is an upscale seafood restaurant highly recommended in the guidebooks and online that did not disappoint! Large tanks of lobsters and a table by the water provided great views.

Fran & Shannon in front of the main pyramid at Chichen Itza -- recently voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the World (www.new7wonders.com).

Another shot of the main pyramid/temple in black-and-white.

Also at Chichen Itza, these are small statues of heads -- possibly symbols of various conquests.

More details from the Chichen Itza ruins.

Ruins of a smaller pyramid/temple at Chichen Itza.

Chichen Itza was one of the largest Mayan cities and is one of the most visited sites in Mexico today.

Across the Yucatan peninsula, there are many sink holes from the vast underground river system. This one is within the Chichen Itza site.

After leaving Chichen Itza, the tour bus stopped in a TINY town at this restaurant that seemed to be designed entirely for the hoards of visitors on buses! The food was so-so, but the dancing did entertain us.

In addition to sink holes, there are many caves in the Yucatan also due to the underground river system. The other tourists were very protective of the pregnant lady going down all the stairs!

Stalactites (or stalagmites? I always get those confused!) from the ceiling of the cave. The strange lighting made the photo appear green, but it didn't really look that way live.

Looking down on Mom who was a bit faster than me for obvious reasons! The intertubes behind her were for those wanting to take a dip. Neither of us ventured to do that.