Thanksgiving!

Ah, Thanksgiving has arrived! Here are the kids decked out from their class parties. :-)

Little Indian Girl Vera Gail.

Cowboy Emmett stepping up to the bar for a shot of eggnog. ;-)

Wild Indian Gareth.

Pilgrim Vera Gail.

This year we drove out to Pennsylvania to be with Dave's family for Thanksgiving, and we had a great time! The kids all manage the drive much better now that they are older, and we made pretty good time.

The beautiful golden bird...

Grandpa cutting the turkey.

The kids with their cousin Devie.

Cousin Michaela squeezing in too (and Gareth incoming from above!) :-)

Peter's girlfriend Leigh giving Vera Gail tickles!

Grandma blowing bubbles on the porch after the feast.

Bubble fun!

Michaela having her turn blowing bubbles.

Mommy and Vera Gail

Gerd and Dave male-bonding. ;-)

Mom and Lindsay.

Peter and Dave setting up a game of Risk.

Michaela and Gareth playing card games.

Emmett ready to conquer the world. ;-)

Grandpa helping Vera Gail and Gareth play Uno Stacko.

Pondering the Uno Stacko tower...

Cozy hugs. :-)

Me and Dave (photo courtesy of Gareth). :-)

The man-zone: conquer-the-world-board-game, crunchy munchies, java and war movie, gggrrrrrr.

Uncle Peter and Vera Gail watching the talking kitty on Peter's phone.

Grandpa and Emmett playing a game.

Vera Gail and Gareth just loved that talking kitty... :-D

Dave carving turkey #2 for Friday night's Thanksgiving re-run.

Halloween

Oops, I was so pleased with myself for posting our Kentucky pictures with such alacrity that I sort of forgot the Halloween photos, heheh. Well, here they are! :-)

I won't admit that I took our 'pumpkin patch' pictures at Home Depot this year... ;-) (Well, all the ones I could find when I googled charged - like $5 or MORE per person! - to go out to the pumpkin patch, and the excess funds are lacking currently, sooo...Home Depot was free.)

It is truly an exercise in frustration to try to get a picture with all three children sitting nicely and smiling. So in between cajoling and fussing at them for half a dozen 'good' ones, I have them do goofy faces to encourage smiles and good times - it significantly increases the chances for a fairly decent 'smiling' picture. ;-) And then the silly photos are the ones that are more amusing in the end anyhow. :-D

(These are the "I promise this is the VERY LAST picture kids, just ONE more smile" grins.)

And finally, the costume pictures! All three children were knights, though Vera Gail called hers "my princess knight costume". They were really cute together! :-)

Red River Gorge, Kentucky

After three and half years in Ohio, we finally made it down to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky!! We took advantage of the boys having a four day weekend to go down from Thursday to Saturday to do some exploring and hiking. It was beautiful! :-)

Our rental cabin, aptly named "River's Roost", overlooked the river - this is the view from the deck.

Our nice Friday morning breakfast on the deck in the chill autumn air. (It was pretty cold out!)

It was a good morning for hot coffee!

Our first exploration of the day - a scenic overlook on the way to our trail of choice.

Our intrepid adventurers, raring to go!

Me and the kids (and Bunny too, but she is hiding with Vera Gail).

Ah, now there is Bunny, AND Vera Gail. ;-)

Heading down the trail to Sky Bridge!

Vera Gail having a blast hiking along.

One of many splendid views.

Trail mix time.

There were so many really cool rock cliffs!

Dave and the crew under Sky Bridge rock arch.

Sky Bridge.

The kids taking a little breather before heading back up to the top.

More sweet rock overhangs.

An old caboose converted into an mini-information center.

On our second hike we went to another rock bridge, this one actually with a stream flowing beneath it, which was nifty.

This is the only rock bridge that has water flowing beneath it. :-)

The kids playing by the river on Saturday morning.

The three goofballs with the cabin above them.

All of us on top of Natural Bridge in Natural Bridge State Park. We only had time for one big hike on Saturday before heading home, so we went to the huge rock arch, though there were loads of other neat things to see at the park and throughout the Red River Gorge. I guess we'll just have to go back sometime! :-)