Mr. Saturday Night

Well I'm all dressed up with no place to go. For some reason none of the restaurants will let me in since I am under 18 months old (or is that 18 years old?) and I got my suit on and everything.

Today mom, Heather, and Marit, left me with dad all by myself to go sightseeing for the day. Its the first time I have taken care of dad all by myself. So far things have gone pretty good. We'll see how he does at supper time.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Thanks For Dressing Up

Here is a picture with me and all my aunts and uncle on my mom's side. This was just before I left so I was pretty sad cause I was leaving. All I can say is thanks for dressing up twins (mom and Heather) and thanks for dressing me up too!

Christmas Presents

Here is a picture of me, dad, and uncle Paul playing with one of his Christmas presents. I got him an old Atari system that plays a bunch of old school video games. Dad and Paul are currently playing Combat apparently one of the all time great games for Atari. Too bad my dad was just born when Atari came out so I have no idea how to play these games. However, if we were playing 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' I would probably dominate.

Jet Lag Baby!

I am so tired I can barely stay awake long enough to post this. I am having a little troubles sleeping at night too. This whole being a world traveler thing is hard for a little baby.

The trip was soooo long I was totally sick of being stuck on a plane and in my car seat. I just wanted to run around, but wasn't allowed to because there was always a lady pushing a drink cart down the aisle!

My aunt Heather and Marit come tomorrow and I want to be all rested and ready to play. So I'll sign off for now & try and catch some z's.

Risky Business

I work hard for my money! So hard for my money.



This is me doing my Tom Cruise impersonation from the movie Risky Business. Actually I've never seen the movie but I've heard its pretty good. Too bad Cruise has gone a little bit insane with all the 'Church' of Scientology stuff.



The only movie I know is Curious Babies and Baby Einsteins.



Here's me at the local water cooler. Actually, it's my grandma's and grandpa's water cooler. And, the fact that I can't talk didn't allow for any conversations around the water cooler but I figured out how to release the water by the end of the holiday so I'll be able to have good water cooler conversations when I finally get a job 10+ years down the road.

Like Father Like Son

Here's me pretending to be dad just laying around. Dad seems to be doing a lot of this over the holidays and I seem to have noticed that his belly is getting larger. I lay around a lot too but I operate at 100 miles per hour all day all the time. Just ask my parents.

Black and Whites

I finally got the black and white pictures developed from our trip to Gloucester Cathedral (where Harry Potter I and II were filmed in part). The pictures were taken with my mom's non digital camera so they were scanned. Not sure of the quality but they are pretty neat.



Most of these pictures are from the courtyard in the center of the cathedral grounds. As you can see the fog is very thick making seeing the top of the cathedral tower difficult if not impossible.



Here's an extreme close up of me smirking.



Gloucester cathedral was one of our favorite trips so far. Maybe we'll go back when people come to visit in the New Year!

Allie's Shadow

When she goes to sleep I am there. When she begs for food I am there. When she wakes up in the morning I am there. There is no escaping the man, the myth, the legend. I am Allie's shadow, the Allie stalker.

Mom! Stop It.

See what I have to put up with! Right before the picture is taken my mom stuck a bow on my head. Not funny. I immediately had to remove it because I am way more mature than that.





I cannot believe I was born into this family.

Nana and Papa

Nana and Papa left yesterday. I woke up from my nap and they were gone. It was really sad and I cried and was cranky the rest of the day because I couldn't find them.



Papa bounced me a lot on his knee and took about as many photos of me as my mom except that Papa's camera is a lot bigger than any cameras I have ever seen!



Nana spoiled me with a lot of presents. She followed me around to make sure I didn't jump down the stairs or damage any of the Christmas decorations around the house.



I can't wait until the come to visit me in Wales since I am learning that whenever people come to visit me I get to open a lot of presents!

Old Toys

I love this toy horse that my grandparent's have. Its really fun to ride. The rumor is this horse is also at my Nana's and Papa's in Winnipeg. I can't wait to ride that one and compare!



There are a lot of toys here from the 70's and 80's. I am a little suspect of the safety regulations of some of these toys made prior to the Reagan administration. I think I am going to request a recall search be performed on all these toys just to be safe. I am a little suspect of some of these simple toys that have more moving parts than a locomotive.

Books and Presents

Here's me and my Nana and Papa reading a book they got me. I was distracted from the photo taker at the last minute. Thirty takes and this was the best picture.



My Nana and Papa got me one of favorite things in the world, a suitcase! Sometimes the suitcase doesn't do exactly what I want it to do so I have a little temper tantrum. Mom says that attitude must come from my dad. All I can say is what's an 'attitude'?



It isn't even Christmas and I have already opened tons of presents! I wish Christmas went all year long!

Brrrr...It's Cold In Here!

There must be some Brenden's in the atmosphere.



Well I had my first sledding experience, and it started out with my grandmas wrestling me into my spandex snow suit. The snow was so white and pretty besides the brown & yellow mine fields Allie left for us.



The temperature wasn't that cold but I couldn't keep my gloves on. Plus, my snowsuit was a little tight and was sort of restrictive. My dad pulled me around in my Grandpa's handmade sleigh while my Papa took pictures.



The best part was when I got to slide down the hill and my dad almost lost control. Its a good thing there wasn't a roll over because I certainly could not have moved much in my snowsuit!

Stone Cold Stunner

Especially for my British followers, today the temperature this morning in Minot was a balmy -20.5 degrees Celsius (that's -5 degree Fahrenheit) and there is quite a bit of snow on the ground. This has sort of cut down on my outdoor activity but my Nana and Papa did buy me a snowsuit so I don't know what the big deal is.



Instead, I have been entertaining myself opening Christmas presents. I know its not Christmas yet but I like to take my time opening each present to make sure each piece of wrapping paper is torn into sections no larger than 1 inch by 1 inch. This makes the present opening (and the cleanup) last a lot longer. My dad says if we waited until Christmas morning to open my presents we'd miss our flight back to Wales so we started a little early.



Here's a picture of me sitting in a sleigh my grandpa built by hand many years ago. You can't buy products of this quality in stores. Plus if you need a sleigh that will survive Armegeddon this is it! I can't wait to try it out. Hopefully the temperature warms up a little bit. Otherwise I'll just have to whack people with my new hockey stick that Travis (the coach of the MSU-Bottineau Lumberjacks) gave me.

Damage Update: So far I have only broken one ornament of grandma's. Its was a angel decoration that got caught on the wrong side of one of my lunges. Sorry grandma.

Just Before We Left

At last I have access to DSL again! Makes picture uploading a lot easier!



Here's me and dad on the coast of Mumbles before I came back to America. We were having a contest to see who could look the most serious.

Even though it is December the temperature rarely goes below zero. So far the typical November-December temperature has been around 10 degrees Celsius (around 50 degree Fahrenheit). As you can see in the background the fog can hang around all day especially around the ocean. On some drives the fog is so thick you can hardly see 10 ft from your face. Its just like you see in movies where the fog can set in thick and heavy. I can see why highwaymen had such a prominent profession!



After walking along the coast we went to a play area along the beach across the street from Patrick's (a popular local restaurant). There were so many leaves in the park I just had to play with them!



I am pretty much walking all the time now. I only crawl unless I need to crawl under an object or if I am really cranky. Here's me and my mom walking home after a hard day of playing. Work hard play hard is what I always say. Since I don't really work yet I just play hard all the time.

Back In The U.S.A.

Well I made it back to the U.S.A. last Sunday. I bought a seat for the flight but for some reason KLM Airlines wouldn't let me use my carseat so my mom had to hold me in her arms for the whole transatlantic flight. I didn't mind too much since I love to be held anyway.

Dad got back on Friday despite having all three flights delayed during the trip to Minot, N.D. Dad now calls Northwest Airlines Nightmare Airlines after their recent performance.

Sorry for the lack of updates this week. My mom would not update my blog despite my pleading with her. I finally convinced dad to do it this morning but I had to wake him up a 5 AM to get him to do it!

Happy Un-Birthday

Since me and my mom are going to America on Sunday we are going to miss dad's birthday on Monday. So to make it up to him I decided to take him out for dinner after work on Friday.



We went to a place called Dylan Thomas. Dylan Thomas is a famous Welsh poet. You can hardly go down a street in downtown without seeing a library or other building dedicated to Dylan Thomas.

Anyway, dinner was good. I threw a lot of stuff on the floor because I knew mom and dad wouldn't have to clean it up. Good time was had by all.

Working On My Skills

I have been working on a number of skills lately, walking skills, nunchuck skills, and eating skills. Today I am working on 'taking apart dad's thermos' skills. Notice I am wearing my Concordia College t-shirt. Hopefully some of these skills will help me get into college someday. Dad says, "If I can get into Concordia any idiot can." he also says, "That school has gone off the liberal deep end." I think I'll just go to Yale and avoid the controversy.

Best Friends

This is one of my best friends, Emma. She lives in Mumbles where we got to visit frequently. Enna gave me lots of presents for Christmas and she teaches me Sunday school on Sundays. When we are out eating together I always demand a lot of her food. I am trying to teach her about sharing. Emma was the first person to ever give me chocolate and I'll be forever grateful.

Har-Ass-Ment

Dad showed me how to spank mom's butt. He did warn me that if I do this to people at work or in public I could be arrested for sexual harassment. I don't know what sexual or harassment means but I am going to find out!

Child Labor

Since we are living in the birthplace of child labor mom thinks she can get away with turning her house into a child sweatshop. Apparently mom has taken her love of Nike to a whole new level. Mom was cleaning the house and she made me mop the floor! She said something like, "You always throw your food on the floor.", but I don't know what she's talking about. I'm going to call the child labor police, if I knew how to use a phone that is...

Every Town Has A Castle

In case our travels haven't made it clear it should be pointed out just how many castles there are in Wales. Wales has more castles than any other country in the world, including England, Scotland, France, Germany, Romania, Denmark, etc.



A castle exists in near everytown. This photo is of me and dad outside the castle in Swansea. This castle is a good example of how many castles are in Wales. There are so many that no one cares about half of them. This Swansea castle is not used for anything (that I am aware of) except providing a great ambiance in downtown Swansea. Many of these unused castles sit in dis-repair. This is beautiful in its own way but sad as they continue to deteriorate into oblivion.

Off To The Races

Apologies for the late posts. Along with internet issues we needed to give up the computer one night. Annoying.

This Sunday my mom ran in the Reindeer Run in Port Talbot, Wales. For those of you that know him Anthony Hopkins is from Port Talbot but I've never heard of the guy.



The race day was beautiful, mostly sunny and about 10 degrees Celsius. The road was a little damp and leaf covered causing some people to take some serious spills on the very steep hill.



I cheered my mom on throughout the race. She got sixth among all the women and her time was about 44 minutes. She might have run the race if the start line didn't include a silly bottleneck plus inexperienced runners slamming on the breaks for every little puddle. By the end of the race everyone had mud all up their backside.



That's my mom at the bottom right. Way to go mom!

Life's A Beach

Me and my dad climbed down the wall to get to sea level. When the tide is in the water goes up the side of this wall (and when the winds blow it even crashes over!).



Here's me ripping around on the beach. I had never touched sand before. Mom was yelling at dad because he was letting me play in the sand and I my clothes sort of dirty. I even accidently put sand in my mouth. That stuff gets everywhere!



Here's me going for a stroll on the beach in Swansea. I'm holding my mom's hand. The tide was way out so there was nothing but open spaces for me to cruise around.



Here's mym mom snuggling me as we are getting ready to leave. One of my favorite things is to put gloves on and then rip them off. I took them off so many times that my hands got really cold. It was worth it though.



See you later!

New Shoes

Look what my mom bought me! I got my first pair of walking shoes today. They are Addidas too. I think my mom bought them at TK MAXX (apparently in America they are called TJ MAXX). I bought a pair of shoes the other night but when we got to cash register we found out they were twenty five pounds! That's almost fifty US dollars for a pair of childrens shoes. Needless to say dad nearly had a heart attack so mom and I took those shoes back and bought me two pairs of shoes for less than those shoes.



I have pretty much decided I won't do much more crawling. Pretty much only babies crawl and since I am a big boy I need to limit my crawling. Plus, the ladies like guys who have skills... like walking skills.