So we got a new car! It was kind of a spontaneous purchase, although we have been looking at cars off and on for a while now. We wanted to get a 7-seater AWD vehicle so that we could accommodate our new baby and Ethan along with a couple of other people (like my parents) if we wanted to go on a trip together or just get around without having to take two vehicles. So yesterday we bought a used 2004 Volvo XC90 T6 AWD. We found a relatively good deal and thought that we should take advantage while we had the opportunity. We don’t need it just yet, but we will soon, so it’s kind of nice to have it in preparation for our new little one. The Infiniti is becoming a bit cramped to say the least. I have to say though that it’s a bit of a shock driving the new Volvo in comparison to the Infiniti! I end up driving about 25 mph everywhere because it’s so big and the pick-up is so much more sluggish! But I guess ultimately that’s a good thing since I’m carrying precious cargo! I tend to be a bit of a speed demon in the Infiniti! But here are a few pics…

It's white, not our number one color choice, but it'll do...at least it doesn't show dirt!!

Rear view...it has a towing package (not that we have anything to tow!!

It has a Nav system as well as an iPod system that plays your iPod music over the stereo! It's a bit old school for today's technology, but we were super excited! It's pretty "advanced" for us!

So for those of you who aren’t yet aware, Laura and I are due to have another son in January!  Laura’s dad arranged an ultrasound for us at his work on August 21, and the images we saw were incredible.  Visually experiencing the development of my son inside the womb was one of the great experiences of my life, and hearing his little heart beat at 144 beats per minute took my breath away.  At just over 19 weeks gestation he had already developed into a fine young Wilkinson!  He is already making the Haynes-Wilkinson clan proud.

His 19 week side profile

His spine

His right arm

His hand

His left foot

His right foot

And finally, for those wondering what the proof looks like …

He's a boy!

Recently we went down to San Diego to celebrate father’s day and had a lovely time with the grandparents and great-grandparents! Ethan got to go to the beach and loved it!! We could barely keep him from diving into the water!! He also loved climbing all over the giant rocks lining the beach! Here are a few pics of Ethan from our time down there…

Ethan sitting in his Grandma's baby chair from long, long ago...

Ethan concentrating as he makes his way down the stairs...

Ethan eating his favorite food, strawberries!!

Ethan walking in the water with Daddy's help...

Assessing the rocks for a good climbing route...

Climbing...his favorite activity!!

So we just got back last week from a little less than three week trip to Europe with my parents! We had a blast! We started out with a Mediterranean cruise leaving from Rome and going to Croatia, Corfu, Olympia, Santorini, and Athens, Greece, as well as Ephesus in Turkey and Sicily on the way back to Rome. We then traveled into the Tuscan countryside to hang out in Tuscany for a couple of days where we bathed in natural Roman bath hot springs, saw Siena and Florence and otherwise just relaxed. We then drove to Rome and spent a few days there exploring all that amazing city has to offer. We pretty much saw and did SOOO much I can’t even begin to tell you except that it was amazing. It was a bit of a challenge traveling with Ethan, but he did really well and charmed the pants off all the little old ladies on the cruise as well as all the little old Italian ladies in Italy! So he was our ticket to getting good treatment wherever we went!! So actually, maybe he made travel a little easier for us!! : ) And of course we had lots of help from the grandparents, so between the four of us, it was generally a breeze ( I say ‘generally’ after some time and distance from the 15 hr flight over and back…) But overall, we had a really great time and it is an experience we won’t ever forget! And now we can show Ethan pictures when he gets older and say “See, here you are at the Acropolis!” while he rolls his eyes at us!! But oh so fun…

Our little family on board the cruise ship

Our fam in the hall outside our deluxe suite that we got upgraded to

Ethan at the ruins of Ephesus in Turkey...the most amazing, well-preserved, ancient ruins I have ever seen. Absolutely incredible...

Ethan testing out the Turkish carpets for us…unfortunately, somehow we were convinced to purchase some of these beautiful carpets…I guess we all had “Sucker” written on our foreheads, and some people’s yearly salary later, the Haynes and Wilkinson families were the proud owners of seven, yes SEVEN, Turkish carpets!! (We only got two, I guess my dad had the bigger ‘sucker’ plastered on his forehead…that and the bigger salary!!) But they were beautiful carpets and someday will be great family heirlooms (or at least that’s what Ephram told us!!)

Dale and I get dolled up for the Captain's dinner. It was kind of fun to get dressed up a little and have a "night out", even though it was just a short walk down the hall!

Ethan enjoying the cruise food!

Ethan "dancing" on the rooftop of our restaurant in Santorini.

Our family in Tuscany...beautiful views in the background.

In a little town called Casa di Pari...the cutest, most deserted little Italian village in the hills of Tuscany. This is right down the street from our 'Tuscan villa' we stayed in that we LOVED. We were wishing we could stay there another week!

The natural hot springs and Roman baths we hung out in! Smelled like rotten eggs!!

Eating lunch at the Piazza in Siena.

At the fountains in the piazza in Siena.

In Florence, in front of the Ponte Vecchia.

Ethan playing at the Coloseum in Rome.

So we went to Las Vegas last weekend with my parents! We had a fun time, a little bit of time out on the town and a lot of time just relaxing and hanging out with Ethan and the grandparents!! So here are a few pics…our camera memory cards are full, so we had to rely on pics from the grandparents…which turned out really well most of them! So here are a couple to peruse…

Lounging on the pool lounger...a true baby model!!

At M&M world!!

Ethan chillin in his turtle at the fake sand beach!

Having fun with Grandpa!

Sunscreen smeared all over his face, but still cute!!

Here are some pics of Ethan that we never got around to posting that we thought were cute…to make amends for not posting enough!!

Naked baby

So I know it’s been a really long time!! I’m not that good about keeping on it for sure! The hardest part for us is actually going through and downloading the multitude of pictures that we always have! If it weren’t for that tedious task, this site would be updated much more frequently!! In any case, here are some pics we think are cute of Ethan and some pics of Ethan and Noah opening presents at Christmas at the Sanders home!

Ethan trying to help Noah open his Christmas present

Ethan loved his present...and especially the paper!!

Ethan's first taste of snow! After our little snow day adventure...

So today it snowed in socal! yay! It was especially exciting because Dale got the day off of work because the entire freeway was shut down and at a dead stand still from the snow in the pass he was supposed to commute through. So we had a snow day! We took Ethan up to Forest Falls to see his first snow! Of course we ended up hitting a few bumps in the road (almost literally). We ran into the chains checkpoint and of course didn’t have any chains, so we asked the caltrans guy if we could go just two miles further to Forest Falls to show our son some snow. It looked clear and there wasn’t that much snow right there, so we thought we were good. The caltrans guy was like “well I’m not an enforcer, I’m not gonna give you a ticket, but I wouldn’t if I were you”. Dale and I took that as a ‘yes’. We got almost all the way there and we were crossing a bridge when all of a sudden we hit some slushy ice and started sliding. We slid almost all of the way across the bridge while Dale got the car under control. On the other side we had started going up a hill and it just wasn’t happening. Our tires started spinning and there was nowhere for us to go because there was snow on both sides of us. So we had to hit the brakes and Dale jumped out while I drove and Dale tried to push so we could turn around and get the heck out of there. Well, that wasn’t working either. We were sliding around everywhere and not in the direction we were hoping for. I was soooo scared. I started getting tears in my eyes, I thought we were done for. But Dale got back in the drivers seat and managed to back up and turn around somehow. I was trying to take Ethan out of the car because I was sure we were going to crash! But Dale was calm and collected and assured me that he could get us out of the mess we were in. And he was right! Somehow we got turned around and managed to start going back down the hill. Everything seemed ok (except my heart was beating a hundred miles an hour) until we got going a little ways down the hill and came to the stop sign intersection. Dale tried to stop and he couldn’t. We started sliding everywhere again and we literally slid all the way through the intersection, blazing by one of the caltrans workers. We were sooo lucky we did not crash. And how foolish of us to disregard the recommendation of the caltrans people. Especially with our little baby in the car! Luckily for all of us, Dale is a really good driver or we could have had a different outcome. I was praying the whole way and God was definitely watching out for us. Little Ethan didn’t know a thing that was happening thank goodness, and we were able to stop just a bit ahead and take him out to see the snow. It wasn’t as deep and magnificent at the spot we stopped at as it had been further up, but at least it was safe! So we took a few pics, Ethan held snow in his fingers for a moment, and then we hopped back in the car and headed back down the mountain. It was definitely a snow day adventure!

Happy to be safely out of the car!

For those of you inquiring, I still do not have a computer. Again I am borrowing Dale’s. My computer seems to be completely dead and beyond resurrection. Several people have looked at it to no avail. Now I am simply hoping that they can get the information off of it as it has all of Ethan’s baby pictures on there! If I lost those it would be completely devastating! So, now I am starting to look to see if I can get a new computer. It’s so hard though to choose, especially when it’s Christmas time and all of our money is going to presents and such…it’s so tempting to get the cheapest one I can find. But I have to remind myself that this is for long-term so I have to think about functionality, practicality and the like…etc, etc. So anyways, long story is that it may be a while before I get a new computer and have full access to post more pics and stuff. I’m sorry everyone! And I’m sorry I rambled on too! I’ll try to be more succinct in coming posts!

Merry Christmas everyone!