A Most Wonderful Break

Because I got insulted for not including more Rock pictures, here they are.  It certainly wasn't that I didn't have them I just figured everyone saw the same on Aaron's.

The sink holds such a fascination for him.  We had to stop the play time when he developed a fever.

Rock's Santa impression, complete with the "Ho, ho, ho".

Rock found a huge "mirror" that caught his attention.  He loved watching himself in the window as he played football with his dad.

Connecting silicone gloves.

Now on to the Florida excursion.

Dale walking Downtown Disney with me.  We enjoyed lunch at Wolfgang Puck's - the quick side.

We spent the second day at NASA.    Cute couple!

It was a great day.  Tiring and cool, but fun.

The last day was spent at Epcot.  I was hoping for lots of food from many countries.  The problem comes in getting full on the first two and not being able to try the others.

France.  Cheese and French bread.  Dale grabbed a crepe later on that was pretty good.

Have to take a picture at the Kodak picture spot.  Lindsea and Travis were patient with me, no other subjects.

Lindsea would push back for every picture I took of her and Travis she had to take one of Dale and me.

Dale's midlife crisis rental car.  The trip to NASA and back showed how good a sport Travis is.  He was quite smashed in that small back seat.

Our last day was spent shopping.  Dale was very patient as I enjoyed a very cute quilt store and JoAnn's Fabric.  Our flight home was wonderful until east coast time infringed on west coast time.  At midnight it was really 3am and we were still flying.  Dale decided we didn't need to stop so he drove home from Spokane and we arrived at 5 am. I tried going back to sleep but we caught the end of the New Year's Eve party at our house hosted by our kids.  When we dragged in at 5am they were still rocking to some game with guitars and drums and singing.  I went straight to bed listening to Marissa's laughing, which the volume increased the more she talked and laughed.  She was so sleep deprived.  It was a quiet day of sleeping and football.  Hope your break was as great as ours.

A Fun and Exciting Week

The break started with a visit from one of my favorite guys with his wonderful parents. We were all together except Lindsea, who was definitely missed.

Rock was very loving and very entertaining. It was nice having a little one again at Christmas and watch his excitement.

We did celebrate with Nick. It's fun to be able to celebrate his birthday with family every year. It seems the other birthdays come during the school year so I don't get to participate much

We took Rock and his family to Spokane where we all enjoyed the wedding reception for Steve and Kristi Kay. An added bonus was seeing the other newlyweds Rob and Cami.

Dale and I flew to Florida to visit with Lindsea and for me to meet Travis.  We stayed with their Disney connections at Animal Kingdom Lodge.  Great atmosphere.


These pictures were taken from a balcony at the lodge.  There were also ostriches, anikole cattle and some fancy bird.  It was fun to look out the windows while getting on the elevator to see what animals were out and about.

It was great to meet Travis.  He makes my daughter smile and smile.  They were fun to watch

It is good to see someone take such good care of your children when you can't be there for them.  Lindsea has taken a big risk in moving so far away.  I'm happy all is working for her.  Travis is good for her and they do seem happy together.
I will add more of our trip when I can get the pictures to move.  I have lost 7 pictures already.   Thanks Lindsea and Travis for a great trip!

Nicholas Christen England

Twenty-four years ago Dale raced me to the hospital in the snow after hitting a deer with his cop car. On Christmas Day Nicholas was born. He was the best gift I've ever received on Christmas. Angelic, isn't he?

Daddy's boy all the way.

Every Halloween he knew exactly who he wanted to be. I couldn't find the Elvis years.

Great fashion sense.

His cousin, Matt, became sort of a hero for him. During this time he changed his name to Matt and made us all call him that.

Nick loved to suck his two middle fingers with some sort of silk. To avoid the embarrassing underwear incidents we bought him a silky Puffalump, who was named Nonee. He did not use the silk of the stuffed bird, but the little tag that was attached.

Playful.

He loves all his pets, and there were many.

He didn't pick out all his Halloween costumes. As you can see this one wasn't a favorite.

Nick also likes to take pictures of himself. Janet started refusing to develop rolls that were entirely of himself.

Baseball has always and still is a love of Nick's. We enjoyed watching him play many games in many places. He played for Manson, Chelan, Cashmere league and in Wenatchee at the All Star game.

We also enjoyed watching him play football.

Nick served a mission in "Nic"aragua. We found this funny because anything Nick created had his name in it somewhere.

Nick is a loving son. He will come up and give me a big hug. What a great kid to have on such a fun holiday! Love you Nick!!

Thanksgiving, 2009, Utah

Dale and I realized that Thanksgiving would be very quiet at home. We decided to go where the most kids were so we flew to Utah to have Thanksgiving with KC, Nick, Marissa, Whitni and most of my family.

The morning of the big meal found us busily helping Sherry get the tables beautiful, far more different than the paper plates that are our usual method.

Dale was put in charge of the mashed potatoes, mainly based on his claim to be able to bake them whole and have the skins magically fall off. According to something he saw on TV boiling them whole, then placing them in a bath of ice water, the skins should easily slide off.

It didn't quite work, but the potatoes got done. They got mashed. They got seasoned with all sorts of yummy stuff, and when that wasn't quite right Nick seasoned them again. Larry and Dale were put on turkey duty.

One happy turkey carcass.

A bunch of wonderful people ready to enjoy a delicious dinner.

Just so you know, Dad, Larry and Steve, I didn't take this picture. I wish I had, but all the credit goes to Rob.
Don't they just say it all. Thanksgiving is for food, fun, family, football and falling asleep.