Christmas 2003

Mom, Dave, Nanny, Aaron and Sera all came to Texas to spend Christmas with us in 2003. Jacob was so excited to give his gifts to everyone. His school had a little 'store' where he purchased gifts for all of his loved ones. He couldn't wait until it was time to give them away.

Abbi ended up very sick the week of Christmas...stuffy, coughing, fever, you name it. She was miserable. I love the above picture. Sera is obviously having victory against Simon while Abbi snuggles her new kangaroo puppet that Nanny gave her.

Above - puppet fight with Uncle Aaron

Below - Sera reads "No, Michael" to Caleb. We all eventually had this book memorized since we read it so much. I remember thinking it could've been a book about Abbi.

Someone gave Jacob this ridiculously hard puzzle. We all worked at it for several hours. I think it was Sera who eventually solved it...I promptly took a picture for future reference.

Caleb and his cool alligator puppet from Nanny

Candyland, anyone?

Abbi was on the mend by the time everyone went home.

But Aaron and Sera went home very sick.

The Great Northwest - Part 3

Finally! I'm just a tad behind in blogging, but before I do our Fall activities, I have to finish telling about our trip to the Northwest back in August. Our 3rd and final stop was to Mom & Dave's house on Whidbey Island. We took this funky little ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey.

We had a wonderfully relaxing time visiting with Mom & Dave.Quite a few rounds of crouquet were played...
And the kids LOVED playing and cuddling with Pennie.
Here's one of the gorgeous views Mom and Dave have from their home. You can see the outline of Mt. Rainier and if you look hard enough, you can barely see the skyscrapers of Seattle to the lower right of the mountain. Mt. Rainier is an awesome sight!
We spent one of our afternoons at Fort Casey. Above, the kids are standing by one of the 'disappearing guns.' They were pretty neat. Below, the boys in one of the 'lookout' towers. They weren't quite tall enough to be able to see out. Caleb is actually standing on a pole in there and Jacob is on his tippy-toes.
After touring the fort and a yummy picnic lunch, we headed down to the beach. The kids found several forts that someone had made out of driftwood. They were very cool!
And after spending time with Dad on his beach, Jon was on the hunt for heart-shaped rocks. Check out these beauties!

One of the main reasons we planned our trip when we did was so that we could attend the 90th birthday party of my grandma (Nanny.)
About 20 of her friends came to Whidbey Island to help her celebrate.
Above - 4 generations of women!
Me with my handsome husband!

On our last day and night, we helped take care of a dog for some friends of Mom & Dave. Maggie is the cutest Cocker Spaniel ever and the kids had alot of fun with her. Here she is sleeping amongst the kids' sleeping bags and blankets. She made herself right at home!

Thanks for a super vist! We love you!