Lots of Thankfulness

This year we have much to be thankful for.

 

For starters, we got to spend this holiday with these girls, whom we had not seen in 16 months.

 

 

 

One of the monkeys walked up and smacked at him through the glass.  It was the highlight of the day.



 

They haven't changed much.  I even heard an argument yesterday over who cleaned up Brendan's choo choo the most.  The answer is it's a tie - between me and Tom.

 

We tried to balance our time with fun outings and quiet (sort of) days at home.

 

We spent one of our first evenings at the Amazing Pizza Machine, which is basically a more modern Chuck E. Cheese.

This is about the point where I overtook him.

 

We were ruthless.  The sad part is that another family with their young children were out there with us.  They didn't stand a chance.

 

 

 

I had to work several of the days they were here, but I think they got along just fine without me.

 

 

 

 

 

We celebrated Makayla's 10th (!!) birthday while they were here.  For her birthday dinner she chose the China Buffet, a decision none of us were pleased with until we got there.  She hit a home run with that one.

 

 

 Still loving being the center of attention...nothing's changed there.

See that glass bottle?  We saw these written up in Okinawa Living magazine while we were there.  It's Ramune soda.  We looked for them EVERYWHERE.  Where did we find them?  The Bellevue, NE China Buffet.  Who would have thought?  Unfortunately, they only had "normal" flavors like melon and strawberry...they must have been all out of the octopus flavor.

 

Makayla helped me decorate our Christmas tree while Brendan was napping.  He was pretty surprised when he came down the stairs afterwards.

 

 

With the exception of one or two days, the weather was pretty mild so they got to spend plenty of time outside.

 

 In fact, the girls ditched us the last few days to play with the neighborhood friends they made.

 

She told me to get an action shot of her jumping out of the swing.  I think I got it.

 

The dancer of the family was not quite as graceful.

And this one says his back still hurts.

 

 At some point practicing her moves, Kirsten split her pants.  It was the highlight of my day.

He had to show off his tumbling moves, too...which basically consisted of running and flopping around on the ground.

 

He's yelling at her to turn around.

 

 

 

We went to the zoo twice, and they went once while I was at work and Brendan was at school.  I think they got their fill of it.

Sometimes I wish there was nobody else around so that they would stop getting in my shots.

 

 Why the funny face?  Because she noticed the lion was "anatomically correct."

 

 

 

 

Although the choo choo is finished for the season, he still managed to find it.  The fact that it's stationary doesn't bother him one bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have a lot to be thankful for this season.  Most of all, I'm thankful we were able to get our precious boy back home to see a doctor who knows what he's doing.  Although definitely not the assignment we were hoping to get, we're grateful that we were sent to this place.