Winter Swimming

We finally got to go swimming in an indoor pool!! My family stayed at a resort in the NC mountains near Asheville and they had a pool...with water in it!! (Katelin did not get her hopes up until we actually saw water in the pool.) The kids had a great time with Grandad. It's kind of crazy to swim while looking at the snow on the ground outside!!

NC Snow!!

Durham had a snow storm on our last day of work before vacation. My parents barely made it in town before these huge snowball flakes started falling. Katelin and Tye had a great time tromping around in it. Tye kept wondering what was crunching under his feet and loved scooping it up. Made for decent NC skiing...

Card Story

Ever been frustrated in getting the perfect picture for your Christmas card? I got the kids dressed three separate times to get their pics made...and still couldn't get them to cooperate for a pic together. I guess they wanted a picture all by themselves.

34

Dec 2 I turned 34!! Sounds old to me.

Thanksgiving DC Vacation

After Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, we packed up the mini-Van and headed to DC for the long weekend. It was cold and windy, but a great getaway with the fam.

National Zoo

"Stand over there Katelin"

"A little closer"

"This close??"

"Is this close enough??"

Natural History Museum:

Katelin wanted a picture next to this cute bunny. After visiting the zoo the day before, she kept wondering when we were going to see the animals that move.

Smithsonian Castle

US Capitol

...yes, it was cold.

The Smithsonian Carousel

The US Botanic Gardens was having a holiday train exhibit, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to take a Christmas picture of the kids for our Christmas card....uh, right...try making a boy look at the camera when there are all of these cool trains riding around!!

Ice Cream at a Famous DC eatery...McD's!

The Washington Monument is THIS TALL!!

WWII Memorial fountains...yes, cold.

The reflecting pool was drained empty.

Kind of like the "heated indoor pool" that I researched so long and hard to find in a DC Hotel so Katelin could swim. We got all dressed up that evening...Katelin was sooo excited to get to swim. We had been telling K all week about the exciting things we were going to do and all she was excited about was swimming. So we get to the pool and it is empty with the lights pulled out. The manager of the hotel did not even know the pool was closed... was I frustrated?...oh yes. Katelin was so cute. We told her we were so sorry. She said "I'm sad, but it's OK." Kids can be so forgiving.

After all of the sites we saw and things we did, Katelin's favorite thing about the vacation was the huge escalator and the "train ride" (DC Metro). We could have bought a day pass and entertained the kids all day on the "train."

Here's to many more family vacations.

T-day

The host of our small group here in Durham, The Meece family, opened up their restaurant Thanksgiving day to some of us that did not have family in town. We had a great time eating great food and playing Nertz!!! We were so happy to hear that Nertz is being played all over the country...even in NC. (I thought it was just a made up game we used to play with our singles group in Galveston!)

Here is the Taylor family who joined the Meece small group the same time we did. We have enjoyed getting to know their sweet family. Their kids have adopted Katelin and Tye.
Meg, Katelin, Tye and I (and one of the campus pastors behind the bar!!)

V-day

We celebrated Veteran's Day on November 12th in our house because Meghan is actually a Veteran!! She served in Afghanistan in "Operation Enduring Freedom" in 2005. The kids drew her pictures and she got beautiful flowers from her wonderful husband :)

Thank you to all of the veteran's out there who have made sacrifices to secure our freedom!!

Free candy!!

This year we went to our small group's house and neighborhood to trick-or-treat. This was the kids' first experience. Katelin dresses up as a princess all the time, but this was special for her because she got to wear makeup and all you have to do is ask for candy and they actually give it to you!!

Fall Fun