We just took a trip to Toronto on Oct 10th, with 3 other couples and it was a great time. Cortnie took some really nice pictures, so here they are. Toronto was a cool city, I am thankful for this opportunity to live in central New York where we can travel to some really cool cities. Next will be Montreal!

Fun this summer in Wyoming!

Missoni and I spent 3 weeks this summer playing with grandma and grandpa Larry and Judy out in Wyoming. We also had the wonderful pleasure of seeing all of our extended cousins and Missoni got to play with her first cousins too. We had a lot of fun. We went to the mountains, went to a rodeo, got to play with our cousin Maddy who we had so much fun with and of course Londyn and Jordon. We also had a large family reunion where most of the Allen side cousins came. It was a real treat for us all to get together.

"NO, OUT, NO"

So Missoni is doing quite a bit of talking now, and not all of the the words I am very fond of. She has really mastered "no" even though I have to say, I don't know where she picked it up, because I never tell her "no". Yesterday at the YMCA, she was playing in this little house that has a door, one of the other kids was trying to get in and she was saying with a serous look on her face, "Out, no, out". I had to tell her that we share and not to be a bully. She is really enjoying the interaction at the Y, but she is also learning some bad habits there and at nursery. This past week she has learned how to push. I think it is because she has been the youngest one there and at nursery so she has had to learn to stick up for herself. Over all Missoni has a very sweet and kind disposition, and she usually spends most of her time saying "shoe, mommy, and tatay". I am not worried about it, I know she is just a normal 20 month old and she will learn how to share.

Missoni being silly around the house!

Missoni loves to get into things that she is not supposed to, like this tape here. She thinks she is so cute! And I have to say, I agree!

This is the perfect example of Missoni while hanging around the house. She has her baby stroller with my flip flops on. She thinks she is just like her mamma!

What a Romantic Hubby!

Chris had an internship this summer in D.C. , so in between Florida and Wyoming we stopped in D.C. to visit him for a few days. What a wonderful time he did show us. He had us take the metro down to meet him after work. We did so very willingly , as we were very excited. Upon meeting him downtown he took us to this beautiful sculpture garden where there was a live Jazz band playing. As if this weren't enough, he then disappeared for a while and returned with this delicious cheese and bread basket. What a treat! How how I love my hubby!

Autumnal Considerations

The leaves are changing, the sun is retreating, and the air is cooling. Yes, the annual climatic sea change in Syracuse is once again upon us, and the warm weather of the past few months is faintly but a memory. The school year is in full swing, and Chris has another packed semester to keep him busy. Despite shouldering MicroEconomics, Statistics, and Comparative Foreign Policy for his Master's, Constitutional Law and Legal Ethics for his JD, and Intermediate German on the side, he is finding the real challenges not between the hardbound covers of McGraw-Hill and WestLaw, but in juggling family responsibilities, academics, and ecclesiastical duties. He sees the goodness, innocence, and celestial radiance in his daughter, and, knowing that she is worthy of so much more than he gives to her, is conflicted in the tradeoff of whether to shower her with the immediate satisfaction of fatherly affection or to work toward her long-term interests through spending more time studying, preparing himself to be able to offer her a brighter future. The choice is further complicated by Missoni's heart-melting smile when he draws near, and her heart-wrenching frown when he tries to slip away. Indeed, the bulk of Chris' Graduate education is in subjects for which one can neither graduate nor be considered a master.

In addition to the humdrum of classes, Chris has applied to two extracurricular activities that will run throughout the year. First, he will be involved in pro bono work helping low-income individuals through bankruptcy proceedings. Second, he has been accepted to compete for his school in the Vis International Commercial Arbitration Team, an international moot arbitration team that will go to Vienna (not Vienna, Georgia!) for a week in the Spring to compete against hundreds of law schools from all over the world. The Syracuse team did exceptionally well last year, and he hopes to exceed that record this Spring.

With a receding economy on the horizon, and, even worse, a Democrat in the White House a major possibility, Chris is hedging his future and taking advantage of his recently acquired German citizenship in a number of ways. He plans to complete his coming summer internship in Germany, possibly with the German government, and stay there for the following fall semester by enrolling as a visiting student through American University's law school in a German study abroad program in Hamburg. This would allow Chris to find, during that fall, possible work for the following summer (at which time he will have graduated from his programs), and also look for job prospects in the U.S. when he returns in the Spring for his final semester.

With this confluence of career paths and pressing obligations, Chris would hardly be able to bear the strain on his own. Indeed, if the past is a good predictor of future outcome, than Chris' solo days would never have seen the light of days such as this. No, Chris' currently unfolding future is attributable foremost, to a prepetually benevolent and forgiving God, and second, to his supportive, caring, beautiful, humble, encouraging, hard-working, nurturing, inspiring wife, Angie. I am who I am because of her, and without her I am not. Here is to you, My Love.

Missoni has a true love for shoes!

Missoni loves shoes more than anything on the planet. She is obsessed. It is so cute, except I can't keep my closet organized. She constantly goes into our closets and comes out with a different pair of shoes on each time. It is so funny!