Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving started as it should, with a Turkey Bowl!  This is the view from the warm car, it was about 40' outside, and with the windchill, way too cold for the kiddos to play, even bundled up.  The kids were OK cheering dad on from the car.

That evening we had Thanksgiving dinner with Joe's aunt and uncle.  The table was so festive! Everyone had place settings with waffle cone cornucopia, and Hershey kiss acorns!  How fun!  Rocky pretty much ate chocolate acorns for dinner.  Everything was delicious, exactly how a Thanksgiving feast should be!  The company wasn't so bad either :)

The next day we drove out to Driftwood State Park on the coast.  It was an AWESOME day at the beach.    It was the first time I felt actual sunshine on my face in 6 days (welcome to the Northwest I guess, it can rain here).   

 

Look how much foam these waves churned up!

This enormous piece of driftwood had such beautiful grains in it.  Light green and full of swirls.  I wish I had a forklift to lift it off the beach and bring it home with me...

Rocky found an abandoned fort!

Rock and I stalking our prey.

Fall Times are Good Times

 I honestly think you can never have enough pictures of your kids playing in fall leaves.

We were home from the cruise 2 days when we got in the car and drove to Joe's parent's house to pick up our dog, and watch college football :) It's time for Boise State to invest in a new Kicker.

Rocky was a HUGE fan of leaves.  In fact, he was really upset with Grandpa, Mom, and Dad for raking up all the leaves and putting them in trash bags when we cleaned up the yard.  The day after we cleaned up he went outside looking for the leaves to play in... he said he "missed his leaves SOO BAAD"

His face is pure bliss!

She is one of my favorite things.

One of her favorite things is sitting inside boxes.  She really looks for little spots to fit her bottom in, and then plays in it forever.  We helped Warren and Margaret move some furniture down to their storage and she thought she was a big help.  She made quick work of whatever was left in the drawers. 

Since I was posting about fall I wanted to add these pictures I took of the kids at my favorite park here in Albany.  It was one of the first brisk mornings we had.

I love this picture.  It's like she knows she's bugging him, and loving it!

Big brother watch out, she's developing a very strong personality and she's not going to be so easy to push around...

Not sure what the draw to these goggles are but both kids love playing with them.  Rocky says he uses them to see in the dark, so the routine is put them on, and then go play in the dark closet.  

Rosy has to have a turn too, of course.

The Cruise

Joe and I just went on the trip of a lifetime!  Before "the boys" graduated Pharmacy school we all dreamily thought it would be fun to all go on a celebratory cruise together.  This was one of those times when a good idea like that worked out.  I've decided that we can't call it the graduation celebratory cruise since we were missing 2 very important players (Jon and Andy Nuckles...not to point you out or anything...)  Since we have our kiddos we flew to NC first so Joe's sister could watch them.  Cheers to Leah for taking care of that very important detail.

Rosy's cousin buddy Brooklyn is a cutie and only 2 months younger than her.  It would have been a vacation  all on it's own just to hang out with our NC family.

Rocky and Gavin have a love/hate relationship.  This is one of those love times.  Apparently towards the end of the week there were less of these.

We were a little sad we weren't going to be celebrating Halloween with our kids but we had the chance to do some pre-Halloween trunk or treating at the church the night before we left.  From left to right: Rachael, Baby Bumblebee Brooklyn, Little Ladybug Rosy, and me.

 Rocky was "Supa man."

Joe and I took a serious challenge to get ready for this cruise.  We did a lot of sweets depriving and took many trips to the gym.  This dining table saw many and overstuffed bellies :)

 Kade and Kaylee invited their dear friends from back home, Megan and Jake to go on the cruise. Although they are not members of the Pharmacy guild... they made every experience that much more fun.  And now they are our dear friends too!  I am indebted to them for bringing their expensive camera on almost every outing.  I can imagine how inconvenient bringing one of those around can be, but your pictures are beautiful!  Thanks for doing all the work so I can reap the benefits...

This was a 5lb mango. delicious.

Joe and I are in the rainforest in Puerto Rico.

We caught an Amazon woman on camera! 

I think it's cause my dad is a plant guy, but I always have to take pictures of unique and amazing plants.  Check out the roots on this tree.

I love this picture of us all under the waterfall.

Joe and I went under this waterfall, it was a little colder than you would expect for a tropical rainforest, but definitely a highlight for the whole trip for me.  Joe's checking to see if his contacts are still in.  For anyone who hasn't put their head under a waterfall, it's like having your head inside a thunder cloud.  Total Chaos. Pure joy! 

Also in Puerto Rico we were able to visit the ruins of a fortress called, Castillo San Felipe del Morro.  I could have spent allllllll day there.  Megan and I were the first ones in so we could use the lady's room.  Here were are standing in a window a hundred feet high.  I don't know why but I think I had an indestructible feeling in San Juan and figured the workers inside wouldn't care that I was posing for a picture on a precarious ledge.  FYI they are not afraid of censoring tourists for doing silly things like this.  I love how  nervous Megan's hand is in this picture.  She knew what was coming...

Why is the focal point of the picture this lovely green stair post?

Awesome.

Grand Turk

I had been looking forward to Grand Turk since we decided to go on this cruise!  I'm soaking in my moment.  Pictures can't do the colors of that water justice. 

We rented a van to explore the 7X4 mile island.  It took a while since the speed limit on the island is only 20mph.  Donkeys literally were at every turn on this island. 

Look at the size of this man's hands! Joe caught a little crab. 

This is what it is all about.

Kade makes it a point to show off his legs every Halloween.  He never disappoints.  Halloween on a cruise ship was a first for all of us.  Joe was a mad scientist with lots of crazy scars and a lab coat over board shorts.   I was his creepy creation, a scary looking doll.  Funny thing was Joe had a scar tattoo that went the length of his neck.  He scrubbed and scrubbed but couldn't get that thing off.  The next day on St Thomas we had a kayaking adventure (no pictures since we didn't want to get the camera wet.  bummer.) but at the end of the adventure in the taxi on the way back a woman got the courage up to ask him what had happened to his neck.  She was a nurse and had been curious all day.  His tattoos were so realistic it fooled a nurse!

 Last night of the cruise.  Goodbye friends. Goodbye delicious, ridiculous amount of food.  Goodbye karaoke.  Goodbye dancing and late nights.  Goodbye limbo.  Goodbye sun and warmth.  Goodbye room.  Goodbye moon.  Goodbye cow jumping over the moon. Goodbye light and the red balloon.  Goodbye bears.  Goodbye chairs.  Goodbye kittens.  And hello mittens.  Hello clocks and hello socks.  Hello little house.  And hello mouse.  Hello comb and hello brush.  Hello nobody.  Hello mush.  Hello to the old ladies not whispering hush (at the pharmacy).  Goodbye stars and open air.  Hello noises everywhere.