Holidays - Oklahoma

More cousins!

Happy Anniversary!

The whole family went out to celebrate our anniversary this year! While in Tulsa just the two of us celebrated with a nice meal and a trip to the ballet. My sister, Tara, did join us but wasn't in the photo :-(

A visit to Baker's Creek...

Such a cool place! The boys watched live music, blacksmithing, spinning, and many other interesting things. We samples goat's milk ice cream and many healthy organic treats. Check it out and stop by if you ever have the chance: www.rareseeds.com

Holidays - Missouri

Bennett's one Christmas request was to see an eagle (his favorite animal). Would you believe within the hour we asked my dad where we might spot one, Mike happened upon this guy on his drive to town! We went back to see him a couple of more times. What a nice surprise! Of course time with cousins and uncles ranked up there too!

Our flight to 2011

We're back from our whirlwind family Christmas in the US. It was great to be with family for the holidays. I'll get pics up when I figure it out on my new computer :-) Here is a brief account of our journey home.

We had an adventure getting here! Travel was uneventful until our last stop in the US. Upon arrival in the airport we were starving. I

looked in my wallet to get the 20's that Aunt Norina had passed to the

boys. Mike paid for their Leapster games on our card so I could use the cash for my flight. The money was gone. Bennett admitted he took the money out of my purse because he didn't want anyone to spend it. He hid it in my checked baggage! My card didn't work. No money = no food. The kids weren't happy, but I was coping since I knew it was a short layover until our flight to Tokyo and I had packed granola bars to hold them over. Then we sat on the tarmac for 2-3 hours while a mechanical issue was being

resolved. No food or beverages were served! At that point we knew we'd miss our connecting flight to Singapore. The whole time on the plane Ridge was crying...I mean really crying because he lost his new Leapster game that he JUST bought. I looked everywhere - it's gone. He was broken hearted. I was compassionate at first, but it got old after about half an hour. That boy MOURNED the loss of his game. Terrible. The flight to Tokyo wasn't great, but not terrible either. The boys didn't sleep the whole flight, they spilled things, peed often, and kept 'accidentally' calling the attendant. When we landed in Japan, there was an agent there to help us immediately. We got a hotel room and meal vouchers at no cost for the delay. The problem was that my kids were exhausted and not dressed to be out in cold weather. We had to wait outside for a bus for half an hour in the bitter cold. At that point we were all crying. We got to the hotel took hot baths to warm-up and fell asleep without our dinner. The rest of the journey was uneventful. Our friend couldn't pick us up so I paid for two cabs home. I got home and it's been crazy ever since. Szemi is depressed because Mike isn't here and she's not with the guards (she

because quite attached to them). Mold grew on everything while we were

away. The house stunk to high heaven. The grass and weeds are knee to

hip high. Oops forgot to mention, Ridge started throwing up as soon as we

landed. We went to have our traditional breakfast at the stall and he

vomited all over the table. We packed our food and took it home - put

Ridge in bed. As our neighborhood goes, the bell started ringing

immediately. All the kids missed our boys and wanted to play. We have

the best neighbors! This morning I took the kids to school semi-rested

and ready to go. This is the first chance I've had to sit down and fill

you in. I assumed since you didn't hear about me on the news, you knew I

got here safely :-) Mike and Tanner arrive on the 13th. I head to Yemen for work on the 14th-ish. I'm still waiting to see about my visa. I'll keep you updated