Christmas Cameras

Here's a peek at life from our oldest's Christmas camera from Maga . . .

(Thought Maga would appreciate the one above . . . digital imaging is much cheaper than developing an entire roll of print film and discovering your kids have taken two dozen pics of their stuffed animals and Barbies--actually this one is courtesy of Gabs using the wrong camera on accident :)

And some from the perspective of Miss Gabs . . .

I guess she handed the camera off for this one on our Information Vacation (see post below :)

One tooth down, a bunch to go!

Unbelievable that my "baby" is losing his baby teeth! He's so funny though; he put his tooth in a box and left it outside of his door ... he didn't want any Tooth Fairies flying around his room while he was sleeping.

"Mom, just stick whatever it is under my door, okay?" What a nut! :)

Information Vacation

It's been a few weeks back now, but what a few weeks it has been! We were in a period of waiting, then decided to move on and not look back, and then back called and offered a promotion! But while in the midst of "waiting" we decided to do some pro-active looking. In retrospect, it was a very good thing to do. We came to the conclusion that there was no small town we wanted to call home (because none compare to our current wonderful little town) for an extended length of time . . . instead, if we can't have roots, then we want an adventure! I suppose this "information vacation" as B called it (funny kid) turned out to be phase 1 of the adventure . . . we toured civic centers, libraries, stopped in grocery stores, talked to people at city halls, grabbed local newspapers, not a thrill for the kids, but like I said, it helped us make some good long-term decisions about our short-term plans :)

And of course, we did mix in a "little" fun . . . first a visit to see Great Grandma and our supervising teacher. We are so spoiled with yumminess and conversation while we are there!

Then we headed to a hotel (with a pool!) and right away the kids spotted a pretty little owl perched on the hotel ledge. It was beautiful! They had fun trying to spot it from our third story window.

We also enjoyed a chilly, but crowd-free day at the zoo. With so many indoor exhibits, there are lots of chances to warm up . . . and the animals were active, not lazing about as they do in the hot summer months.

It think this totally counts as a school field trip! We saw cave paintings and fossils, both things the girls are studying in school anyway :)

Finally, we opted to beat the snow home instead of going to the Children's Museum (which I've heard is a good one, so we'll have to catch that on the next trip :) and instead found a Dave & Busters--a.k.a. Grown Up Chuck E. Cheese :) It brought back memories from our beachfront days and the hours we whittled away with friends, food, and fun. Good days! The kids were just happy they got tickets to buy prizes (the decision process of course was lengthy and the snow piling up, but we finally helped them split their haul evenly and were on our way).

Though it wasn't a wonderfully memorable family vacation, it paved the way for (what we hope are) good decisions for the years to come . . . it's all in God's hands anyway :)