Fun with Brenda

We had a great time with our longtime friend Brenda Hardy coming to visit us. We played games, talked and explored the area. Before she left today, we went to Youngs Dairy and Yellow Springs...

Youngs Dairy....Yumm Ice Cream

Sunday Best!

Day with the Wright Brothers!

We spent the day exploring the history of aviation that started right here in Dayton with the Wright Brothers. We took Brenda around to some of the local sites. It was a lot of fun.

We went to the Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center first which exhibits the Wright's activities as they tested aircraft and the role of Wright Patterson AFB in aeronautical research.

Wright Memorial, erected in 1940 at the Huffman Prairie Flying Field.

After that we went to the Air Force Museum...that can be an all day activity if you want. But we only lasted about 2 hours.


The museum has these strollers you can use for free since the museum is so big. Due to the fact that we had whining immediately once we walked in the door....we took a few for the little people. They thought they were their own personal wheel chairs. They wheeled themselves all over the place, but we had to watch that they didn't hit anyone with the handles.

Exploring the Early Years of Aviation History section of the museum..


As you can see the kids are not to happy about being in the museum or when we control their strollers. They were ready to go home after 30 min.


The final picture before leaving the museum....they were so happy! Note Dillan's "I'm so bored" look and Mikayla's why are we still here look!

Cold War Section of the museum...aircraft I actually recognized!

Tristan sitting in a F 16 simulator. The only thing he thought was fun besides the stroller!Mikayla in the F16 simulator!Quilt of all the AF Bases around the world....had to post it for my Mom.

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas with Pat via skype. We had our traditional Christmas Eve program with Pat...we read Luke 2 together and opened one gift. Tristan was so excited he just wanted to keep opening all the gifts. On Christmas morning he didn't want to stop to look at his toys, he just wanted to keep opening gifts. Waiting his turn to open a gift one at a time was difficult. Once all the excitement was over, he couldn't wait to play with everything. It was a wonderful day of family time and fun. On Christmas night we had dinner with the Noel family, our good friends.

Even the kitty joined in the fun. She was mostly interested bunching up the Christmas tree skirt into a bed.

Mikayla and Tristan opening gifts and talking with Pat via skype...

Tristan opening his Christmas Eve present. He was so excited to finally get to open a present.

Mikayla opening gifts

Dillan opening gifts and showing Dad what it is.

Mariah talking with Pat on Christmas Eve...

Christmas Day Dinner with the Noel family. As you can see it was quite a feast.

Rachael and Tristan - Best Buds!

Sadie and Mikayla playing...

Mariah and Dillan's favorite gift a new Wii game!

Happy Birthday Mariah!

Happy 14th Birthday! Wow where did the time go. She is so grown up now and has the teenager attitude to go with it.

We had a family party with pizza and a ice cream cake that was melted since the garage fridge doesn't function well in the cold weather...it is more like a ice box. It doesn't turn on very often since the thermostat on it never gets above freezing the last few weeks. But the cake still tasted great.
Then for Mariah's Birthday we went to the Nutcracker at the Schuster Center in downtown Dayton...it was very well done and I liked how they involved lots of the local ballet studios to be in it.

Visit with Santa!`

We had the whole Christmas experience today of going to the crowded mall to see Santa, even waited in line....then we waited in line to ride the Christmas train around the mall and then ate at the food court which had lines too. IT was almost as bad as a amusement park...I know remember why I go shopping early. But all in all it was fun, minus the whining which was present while waiting in line.

Snow Day No 2

The kids had so much fun waking up late and finding that they didn't have to go to school plus all the new snow to play in. They waited till it stopped snowing and then played all afternoon into the evening outside. As you can see the neighbors have a great little hill they had a great time sledding on together. They even built a ramp to catch air....


Dillan using the snow ball maker...I think your hands are faster but they love it.

Piano Recitals

The kids each participated in a Piano Christmas recital...we had two since the kids have two different teachers. Mariah played Silent Night and the theme from Jurassic Park. She loves that her teacher finds her music that interests her.

Dillan played Fur Elise and now is trying to conquer the Carol of the Bells. He must like it he plays it for 30 min without arguing everyday to try and get it perfect. Mikayla just loves piano and plays everyday without being asked. She played Jingle Bells and Christmas March at her recital....I can't figure out how to load any video so you will have to come to my house to get a live performance or on skype if you really want one!

Decorating the Tree!

We finally did it, decorated our tree...we have been slowly decorating over the last week and finished up with the tree. We were extra thrifty this year and split the cost of a live tree with our neighbors. You are probably wondering how that works...well they used it over Thanksgiving and the first week of December since they had Christmas early this year. Their Dad was getting deployed to Iraq and ours is coming home soon after New Years. So we thought it would be great to just share....



Mikayla loves to look at each ornament and play with them too. Some are just so fun.

Mariah was the designated decorated of the top of the tree.

Tristan fascinated with just digging through and finding the "cool" ornaments that he liked like Star Wars or trains.
The finished product, minus the angel...I had to dig and think really hard as to where I had stored it from last year. But after several closets and boxes I found it...