The Lady's a Chef

Here's Z making her favorite treat!

Cooking from deadbrave on Vimeo.

February Doldrum

February, while the shortest month, has been long. The weather has done all kinds of crazy things from being frigid with snow to absolutely balmy and pleasant. It's also been a month of hard work for mom and dad as school and work have beaten us up respectively. But more than anything else, this has been a month that has challenged us as a family. It's been a minor challenge. Shannon and I have managed to survive as a couple and do some things to make our marriage strong. We've been hanging out more as a couple which is always a good thing. We've also watched as our toddler has slowly become a little girl.

Z has been growing so rapidly in the word department. She uses big sentences to describe her feelings and wants. She has also become quite the dancer as you've seen on previous videos. She also loves her singing. Even her play has become more complex. She enjoys creating these fun little scenarios using her toys and imagination. It's been great watching her grow like this. The best thing in the world for a parent is to have a healthy happy child and we are fortunate to have one of those.

So as we near the final week of February, we are thankful to have one another. We can't wait for the spring to officially get here, but in the meantime, we'll snuggle up for a few more weeks together as only the Seijezzalis can!

Home video!

Wilderness in the Smokies from deadbrave on Vimeo.

Wilderness in the Smokies

We just got back from a great family vacation up in Seiverville, TN. We went to Wilderness in the Smokies with our friends Marvin, Susan and Braden. While it was only for about 26 hours or so, this was a trip to remember.

Wilderness in the Smokies is a huge family facility that houses an enormous indoor and outdoor water park. It also has tons of other amenities and is located in the tourist armpit that is Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Surrounded by majestic mountains and lots of fast food restaurants, this family retreat is both spectacular and not wild at all. We went for the waterpark action and we were not let down.

Braden and Z were in kiddie heaven inside that water park. Daddy was also in heaven as I got to ride some sick water slides, including one that had a straight 25-30 ft drop that had me screaming. We all had a great time eating, swimming and chilling. For those of you with kids, this place was awesome. But in the end, it was all about the kids and they had a great time. Seeing Zahra's face covered with sheer excitement in the wave pool and on the slides was well worth it. Of course so was the all you could eat ribs buffet at Buddy's that put me in a food coma. And it was nice to take a trip with another family. The kids were able to hang out and the adults were able to have adult time (albeit very shortly) which made the trip that much more fun.