Haden can spend hours cooking up dinner for Mom and Dad in his little kitchen.

Over Christmas vacation, when Brenda, Max, Bill, Nathan and Joel were here, Haden got to visit the site where all the space shuttles take off. We’ve been meaning to post a few pictures from the adventure, and are finally getting around to it.

Here’s the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB ), the 4th largest building in the world by volume. This is where the shuttle is mated to the solid rocket booster and external fuel tanks.

Mom and Haden felt a little small standing under the base of a Saturn V rocket.

Who is that masked man?

(Answer: Buzz Aldrin, Jr - or rather, his space suit from the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.)

Today, Haden took us to the Gasparilla Childrens’ Parade in Tampa. Every year about this time, a band of swarmy pirates invades Tampa Bay and takes over the city. Here’s a shot of the Jose Gaspar as it moves into downtown, firing it’s cannons as it comes.

Haden worked hard for all of his beads!

Haden received a tambourine for Christmas, and just loves to demonstrate his rythmic skills.

Sometimes Haden does things that just make us keel over with laughter. Tonight, he demanded that we all put our beverages on our heads. Turns out he didn’t have a full plan, though, because once we were all in position he asked us, “Now what?”

…First time we’ve ever heard him put those two words together.

Haden discovered a new way to design his Mr. Potato Head today…

Haden’s mom and dad recently went to see the movie Avatar in 3D, and Haden got to keep the glasses.

Today was a very big day for little Haden - his second birthday!! Grandpa Bud and Kaye Kaye came down for the special occasion, and Haden’s friend Leilani and her family came over for the evening. Here’s a description of Haden’s fun day:

The first thing Haden wanted to do on his birthday was have Grandpa read to him.

Here’s the dinosaur birthday cake!

Opening his first gift.

Boy this cake tastes so great when you’re two!

Open wide!

And the Birthday song!

Haden has had this dimple since the day he was born - 729 days ago!

This is the last picture taken of Haden while he’s still 1.

We know, we know - we shouldn’t complain. But it’s been darn right COLD in Tampa all this year! Every single morning we’ve had heavy frost covering everything. We’ve even had to scrape the car windows (do you know how difficult it is to find a scraper in this state?).

Here’s a picture of our backyard. Who said winters weren’t white in Florida?