November - Whoosh!

Two whirlwind months in a row -- Wow.  We were only home for 14 days and I headed out again.  I flew to South Dakota only to get in Jen's van within 2 hours and start on the road back to Texas for the Thanksgiving holiday.  A stop for a Tae Kwon Do tournament in Sioux Falls (fun day with medals all around) started out the trip and then the big drive commenced.  With Louis deployed, we were lucky to have Jen and the kids come and spend some time with us and we enjoyed each and every minute of it -- including the drives down and back.  We were able to play a little tourist as well as traditional family moments for the holiday.  We did the Acquarium trip and were able to spot monkeys that had escaped their cages frolicking above us.  Each person found things they loved and Mister was there when the manatees were fed and so got some great up close pics.

Four boys showing their construction skills and apparently all getting along --- what a moment.  The girls were gone for awhile and Mister and boys were left to their own entertainment.  A picnic was had on the back patio and everyone appeared happy still when we returned.  We also made a trip to White Rock Lake and took advantage of the beautiful weather by using the playground to its fullest.  Mister had his camera out and snapped some great shots of each one of the grands --- this series of Josh was just so precious.

A day to Fort Worth is always required so off we went to the Water Gardens and then to Cowtown.  The kids did the maze which was fun to watch and Jen surprised everyone by wanting a shot of her on a longhorn -- so of course that's exactly what she got.  Those horns have a 6 foot span -- amazing.

It was a great time together and included a trip down south to scope out where Jen was moving, taking in two movies (Twilight-New Moon at the Inland which Bekah described as "cool" and A Christmas Carol), a shopping trip to the mall for fleece jackets all arouond and  Thanksgiving dinner with Misters mom and all of us --- was a full house, but everything tasted so good and we were sure that Jon's skin was going to turn orange from the amount of sweet potatoes that he consumed.  We also found time for making Christmas cut-out cookies, of course, and treasured each moment of  it all.  Then we were off and back in the van for the trip back.  A great week.