In the States

We had a great time in the States last month! Luke stayed for nearly 3 (thesis-free!) weeks and the kids and I stayed a full month. We really enjoyed our time in the Springs, Tucson, and Littleton. Here are a "few" pics from our time there. They aren't in very good order, but there are captions -

Leaving the island for the first time in 6 months -
Burning off steam during our 5 hour layover in Miami. This was my favorite part of the day - An airport nap for Noelle and Mommy - "Baby" and "Doggie" don't typically get to leave the house, so it was very special to Noelle to be able to hang on to them through a long day of traveling -
Isaiah's a really good traveler and pretty good helper en route. He's covered a lot of miles in his 4 years -
Mimi and Isaiah on the carousel at the Denver zoo -
The morning routine at Mimi and Pa's house -
The kids loved this splash fountain at Palmer Park in the Springs -
Noelle and Mimi -
Isaiah turned 4!! We had a Toy Story party. It was great to have all of the grandparents plus Shannon and David to celebrate. We had a contest to see who could best draw the Woody character from the movie, played charades, threw water balloons, ate Pa's awesome bbq ribs, and opened gifts. I think the top gifts this year were a real transforming transformer, a little Leap Frog laptop, and his own little dvd player for traveling. We were so happy to celebrate our little guy's 4th birthday! We're incredibly thankful for this precious kid and we're so proud of who he is at 4 -



Mimi & Pa took us out to "crab night" at the country club where both of their girls had their wedding receptions to celebrate Luke's thesis submission. Fun night and delicious food -
We spent a weekend in Tucson to be with the great-grandparents, Nanna and Poppa. Isaiah taught them how to play his new favorite game, Uno Moo -
We were glad to be with Aunt Truda, too! We spent a lot of time watching the kids play in a blow-up pool and snuggling with their little wet selves when they took breaks -


We enjoyed the desert museum in Tucson with Nanna and Poppa -

Here are the kids "riding" the javolina statues at the entrance to the museum-
The kids enjoyed the "antique" toys at Nanna and Poppa's -
A congratulatory ice cream cake for Luke's thesis submission -
We were so happy to spend an evening with our dear friends, Cliff & Tali, and their precious kiddos -
Grandma and Noelle -
Granddad and Noelle -
Makin' s'mores -
Noelle's first hot dog, just before her first s'more -
At the petting zoo at the county fair. Noelle was thrilled to have some caged-in animals to chase and pat -
The Tallon men at the County Fair -
The Airplane Restaurant is on our must-do list in Colorado Springs -
I loved being in cool-ish weather in Colorado. I relished the chance to put my kids in hooded sweatshirts. Noelle loved it and wanted to wear the hood up most of the time. She's say "cozy! cozy!" -
Mimi made tiny donuts for her tiny grandkids -
Aunt Shannon and Mommy painted Noelle's cute little piggies for the first time. So fun -

New sunglasses for both of us. Thank you, Target. I really miss you when we're away -
Putt putt! It was Noelle's first time, and she took very good care of her club and ball. She also helpfully retreived everyone else's ball and returned it to it's owner or put it in the hole -
The kids loved playing with Aunt Shannon and Uncle David -
Isaiah was most looking foward to seeing the penquins at the zoo -

At White Fence Farm for a late birthday celebration for Pa -
Cute kiddos swinging -
Whew! That was just a few of the pics we took. It was a fabulous trip - very refreshing, relaxing, and rejuvinating. We're already looking foward to our next visit :)