Lunch

These pictures were taken on Sunday after Thanksgiving but have all the people in them that were at Thanksgiving dinner.  This is Sunday dinner at my sister Greta’s house after baby Sammy’s Dedication!

The boys in the kitchen drinking sugary soda.  Thanks Uncle Marc for all the sugar!!!

Steve all by himself in the family room catching up on some football.  After three years of not watching it and the mission house TV didn’t get reception, so he was making up for it when we were in PA.

On this table was an apple cake that Marc’s mom made.  It was sooo good and tasted just like the apple cake my mom use to make.  I think Dad and I enjoyed two pieces of it.

The rest of us at the Dinning room.  Grandma Washington is holding baby Sammy in this picture.

 

Snow

Our children were praying they would see snow while we were in the US.  They got their prayers answered.

This is the van that my Daddy bought for us to drive while we were in the states.  Thanks Dad!

This is a different snow than the above two pictures.  Heather’s shoes where soaked.  We were at a friends house.  They let us borrow hat, mittens, and snow pants.  Then we used the dryer to dry their clothes. 

There is a little hill in their front yard that they went sledding down.

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Thanks so some friends of ours we got to enjoy their timeshare in Gatlinburg.  We just spent the time relaxing and enjoying the pool.  We did drive the craft loop and buy a few things.  They came for the weekend.  We hiked, played games, and just had fun catching up with each other.

A family picture in the woods.  Thanks Tonia!

Instantly friends.  All our kids bonded instantly.  By the end of the first night they were asking for sleepovers. 

 

A Night View!

This is a view we have at night from the side porch of our church’s mission house in Moore, South Carolina!  There is a cemetery between the church and the house.  This picture doesn’t do it justice.

Charleston, South Carolina

Steve signed up to run a marathon on Kiawah Island which is about 20 minutes south of Charleston.  We had the wonderful pleasure of staying in my sister’s father-in-law’s house where he grew up right in Charleston.

We spent Friday at Patriot Point.  The kids loved it.

On the web site I knew there were 6 different tours on the USS Yorktown.  There is another ship and a submarine to see also, but it didn’t say anything about touring them.  So it was very exciting to go down into a submarine.  I don’t think I will be joining the navy to work on a sub! 

This is a live Oak called the “Angel Tree.” 

Here is Steve in front of the map of the race.  It is a small island and so in many places you come to the end of the road and turn around and run back.  He did finish the race in under 4 hours which was his goal.

Heather’s Birthday

Heather has been planning what she wanted to do for her birthday for months!  She wanted steak at a restaurant and a store bought cake with that butter icing.  She did decide that Daddy make steak the best!

She wanted orange flowers with yellow middles and pink icing.  I didn’t get it alright.  I remembered the pink, with orange and yellow flowers.  In the end I thought this sunflower would work wonderfully!

Cousin Time

After the Thanksgiving dinner, Greta’s two oldest, Isaiah and Lena, stayed with us at Grandpa’s house for some cousin time.  They stayed until Sunday.

It turned out to be a very cold and windy weekend.  We did go to Lapp’s farm.  There we got to pet the calves, dogs, and cats.  Then we washed our hands and bought milk and homemade ice cream to take home with us.  I thought it would be a little more enjoyable to eat the ice cream in a warm house.

We also went to the Imurgut Pretzels Factory in town.  I might be spelling that wrong.  It is PA Dutch I think.  Anyways, it means “them are good.” 

In the back you they show you how them make the pretzels and let you try to make one.

Not everyone was too impressed, but it was interesting.

  Then it was off to the playground.  I sat in the car.  After 10 minutes I decided it was too cold for this.  If you look closely, Tobias has a face mask on.

This is a true bed hog or a major snuggle bunny! Heather is about to fall off of the bed!  After seeing this I decided I need to quit fussing at my husband for hogging the bed.