The Clark Blog

Since our last post back in Oct 2010, all kinds of great things have been going on here in the world of Clark. Baby Addison was born Feb 2011, and brought a tremendous amount of new love and energy to the house. Avery has been an excellent big sister and loooves taking care of Addison… albeit sometimes too much.

Shelley and I decided to take a break from the work routine and took both the girls to Galveston. This was our first “official” family vacation since Avery was born, so we were long over due. We rented a house on the beach waaay down on the west end, and even invited the grandparents and my brother’s family to come down for a day. Everyone had a great time and we will definitely be going back asap!

Addison had fun soaking up the rays…

and so did Cousin Aiden!

Addison put her feet in the ocean for the first time…

Nana and Papap were happy to get the grand kids warmed up for the “big” family pic.
From left to right – Aiden, Avery and Addison

And here’s the “big” family pic… No really, that’s just about all of us!

In all my years of going to Galveston, I’ve never seen the sea weed this bad. It was literally 2 feet deep on the beach. Every day I’d plow a path to the ocean… and every night it would get plugged back up! That’s the house and our camp on the dunes.

At base camp, daddy teaches Avery the art of building sand castles!

Here’s Cousin Aiden, chillin in the rocker…

Shelley chillin with Cousin Aiden…

Uncle Dave chillin with Addison…

Addison chillin with her serious side…

…as well as her Hollywood drama!

And to finish the post, here’s Avery’s last trip to the dunes before heading home!

Much thanks to the home owners for their EXCELLENT accomodations! You guys were super nice and we will be back for sure!!!

Addison, Avery, Family, Shelley, Steven, Vacation

This year we celebrated Avery’s 2nd official Halloween with friends and family. A group of us met after dusk and we walked both sides of the street with our little gremlins. Avery wasn’t exactly sure how to say trick or treat, but she was an expert at pulling candy from the dish!

Daddy got to pick the theme this year and of course it had to be something SUPER!

All the evil villains in the world better WATCH OUT!

Before the trick-r-treaters came looking for candy, Avery sat with Mamaw on the front porch. Super Girl dediced to show off her special powers and put her hand in to the (fake) fire. No children or Mamaws were harmed in the making of this photo.

Super Momma showed off HER special powers and teleported herself in to Mamaw’s spot. Super Girl was stunned with amazement!

After the crew made it down to our house, the moms and daughters posed for a quick one before we hit the street…

And so did the dads…

Enough with the posed pics… Let’s get some candy!

I love this one…

Like takin’ candy from a baby…

After a successful night of trick-r-treating, Super Girl had a SUPER sugar high!

Shelley and I had a great time catching up with the Bazins and Sicinskis. It was fun watching the little ones do their thing!

Ealier this Halloween weekend, Shelley and I took Avery to Rees Potts’ 4th birthday/costume party. We had fun with Mark and Amy… and of course Avery LOVED the bounce house.

She also liked Rees’ scarecrow!

After the b-day party, we went for Avery’s second haircut. It’s tough to find a pair of scissors strong enough to cut hair of steel!

And earlier in the week, Avery’s grandpa was in town on business. We snapped a quick one of him and Super Girl.

That’s it for this Halloween! Hope everyone had a safe and spooky holiday!

Avery, Family, Friends, Holidays

We wanted to make good use of the backyard, so we brought home a swing set for Avery’s first birthday. In total, this ended up being a 4 beer job – which was about 2 beers over budget. The instructions were less than clear, but in the end there were no parts left on the table!

When the guys brought the box out of Toys R Us, all we could do was laugh. Fortunately, we didn’t need to bring the box home with us!

I was able to put about 90% of the swing set together by myself, but as the sun started to get low on the horizon, the cavalry arrived…

Mommy helped for a bit…

Then Mamaw and Chloe helped for a bit…

 And Avery helped by testing out her slide. She reeeeealy liked it!

Here’s the final product… and a family pic!

Avery, Family

Avery’s friend Christopher had his first birthday party at the Houston Zoo. This was Avery’s first trip to see all the animals, and it for sure won’t be our last. Avery had so much fun at the petting zoo, we almost had to take a goat home with us.

Avery and Christopher pose for a party pic!

The cake and cupcakes looked like little zoo critters. Very nicely done!

Of course, the cupcakes didn’t stand a chance with Aves around…

After the party we had full access to the zoo. Our first stop was the animal carousel and Avery had some concerns…

But it only took a few rounds before we made friends with Mr Cheetah!

Afterwards, Aves got serious and asked if the stroller was really necessary…

But it’s hard for Aves to keep a straight face!

Later we went to the petting zoo. I’m not sure if the cage was meant to keep the animals in or the people out.

Here’s the goat we almost took home…

And here’s the pig we almost took home…

And here’s the BIG kitty cat we almost took home…

We never got lost thanks to my onboard GPS…

Avery really likes maps…

I believe this was a type of antelope. You can see by the size of Avery’s finger, it’s a very tiny animal!

Aves makes her monkey face at the giraffe exhibit… funny girl.

And one last stop at the gift shop before leaving the zoo!

We all had a great time and can’t wait to go back!

Avery, Family, Friends

Avery’s Great Grandmother (and Shelley’s Grandmother), Dororthy Jean Anderson passed away peacefully on Feb. 27, 2010 in Duncanville, Texas at the age of 86. Great Mamaw was truly a great woman and she will be missed dearly. We traveled to Duncanville to be with the rest of our family, and wanted to post a few pics to celebrate Great Mamaw’s life. I was fortunate enough to know Mamaw for the last 15 years, and loved her like one of my own grandmothers.

This was a sweet pic with Avery’s Great Grandfather Del. It had been a very long and emotional long day, but Aves was a trooper and didn’t get cranky until late in the evening. Here’s one of her better moments…

Great Mamaw’s sister Kay was not able to travel to Duncanville, so the Anderson Family posed with Avery and sat around a beautiful boquet of flowers Kay sent for the occasion. No one realized it at the time, but Avery was quietly eating the boquet.

Before we left for Houston, Uncle Doug showed Avery all the places Mamaw and Bebop traveled as well as their collection of US Presidents. Avery loves her Uncle Doug!

We will all miss you dearly Mamaw. May you rest in eternal loving peace.

Click HERE for Mamaw’s official obituary.

Avery, Family