Alabama and Dallas

On Christmas morning, we headed over to the Kirkhams' to open some present before we all drove to the farm in Alabama.  The boys were pretty thrilled to get new cameras!

Ben rode the 9 hours in the car with Grandma and Grandpa and I'm pretty sure I know what he talked about for most of those hours.

Around dinnertime, we found ourselves at the truck stop in Meridian, Mississippi.  Quite an interesting Christmas dinner crowd but delicious burgers!

The next morning, the real fun began.  Ben didn't waste a minute before getting behind the wheel of his beloved blue truck.

Driving 4-wheelers took a close second.

We enjoyed a sunset from the front porch on our land.  No house...just a porch...

Had to enjoy some real cooking at Front Street Diner.

We found a few cute deer in the deer stand!

There was actually a lot of shooting from the deer blind, but all the photographic kind.  Lots of fun with the new cameras.

From Alabama, we parted ways with Matt, who was headed to do some real hunting.  The boys and I went to visit the cousins in Dallas, who were impressed with our custom wrapping paper.

There were lots of trips to Chick-fila in Texas.  I think Alex managed to eat of 55 chicken minis in 3 weeks.

Their neighborhood had a really clever countdown to NOON years eve! Perfect for families.

There was some climbing in the trees there.

Who cares that it's winter? Carter needed a snow cone!

Poor Ben was running fever most of the time and missed out on a lot of the fun.  We had to quarantine him to the theater room, even though he tested negative for flu and strep. I knew he felt bad when he didn't finish his bacon.

We were getting excited about New Years Eve! This little guy stayed up the entire evening!

Happy New Year!  Looking forward to a terrific 2020!

Pre-Christmas Fun

 My first task was to sort through the small mountain of deliveries and make sure we had all our Christmas shopping finished.

Next stop was Target for a few necessities and some wrapping paper.

But the best wrapping paper had already been delivered!  The boys loved it.

We spent our first several days with Grammy and Grumpy enjoying all the wonderful food that Texas offers and laughing over games. Our jet lag wasn't too bad but we all still had our moments...

We discovered Telestrations and had so many laughs, like this hammerhead shark!

We caught up with old friends, who were moving back to Texas!

We enjoyed some amazing winter sunsets...

And we opened some Christmas gifts a little early so we could all enjoy them together.

Legos never get old!

We made an all-important stop at Waffle House for a big breakfast, although only one waffle was actually ordered.

I had a wonderful time at the grocery store shopping for dry goods to bring back!

On Christmas Eve, we loved going to our church in Houston to enjoy the traditional candlelight service.

In the midst of our busy trip, it was wonderful to have some peaceful time and really soak in the real reason for Christmas. Singing Silent Night by candlelight makes my entire Christmas.

Jakarta - Beijing - Houston

We were so happy to get on the plane to make the long journey back to Houston.  Poor Alex missed the last 8 days of school with a virus that went into walking pneumonia, so he had been sick on the couch for days.  Thankfully the antibiotics had kicked in and he woke up feeling better on travel day!  And bonus was that Christmas ticket prices were through the roof but somehow Air China business class tickets were not!  So happy for sick boy to have a bed to sleep in transit.

Our flight departed at 11pm and we were all smiles to start the long journey! My bum foot was pretty happy to have a business class seat, too.

The sleep was amazing on this trip!

The weather in Beijing was definitely shocking.  We had packed warm clothes but we still weren't prepared for this kind of cold!

All the gates were full when we arrived so we had to take a bus to the terminal.  We threw on as much warm stuff as we could but the cold took our breath away!

Alex was thrilled to see some snow on the ground around the airport.  He's been wanting to see real snow for years.

Our layover was scheduled for 8 hours, which is just long enough to get a temporary visa and leave the airport.  It took about an hour to get through immigration, then we bundled up, met our tour guide Shane, and drove about 90 minutes to Huanghuacheng where we found more snow than we could have hoped!   

All smiles despite the freeze because there were several inches of snow still on the ground from a storm a few days earlier.  We were lucky because apparently December can be early to see snow and it was a heavy snowfall.

We hiked up a hill and then climbed a tiny, frozen ladder to stand on the Great Wall of China for the first time.

Amazing!!

The snow made the wall even more incredible.  This section was built between 1400-1600 AD.

The boys couldn't decide whether the snow or the Great Wall was more exciting!

Snow sledding on the Great Wall of China!

We only had a quick 90 minutes on the wall before Shane started guiding us back toward the car.  The walking was tough on my foot but since I had to wear my ugly boot, my foot was so cold I couldn't feel it for ages.  The snow definitely kept the swelling down!

We had to drive back to the airport and head through immigration and security again, then it was time for the 14-hour flight to Houston.  Even though we were all tired, no one lost their smile! And fun fact - we left Beijing at 3:00pm and arrived in Houston at 2:30pm on the same day.

Alex slept about 10 of the 14 hours and Ben wasn't too far behind him.  The flight was over quickly and we were thrilled to be back in Texas!

Is there any place happier than the arrival hall at an international airport?  We were so happy to see Grammy and Grumpy and they took the kids to Chick-fila while Matt and I got our rental car.

Then the next most important thing to do was fill up on Tex-Mex.  What a beautiful sight! And what a great way to end a successful trip across the world and kick off Christmas with our families.

Celebrating the Holidays

It's difficult to get into the holiday spirit living just 400 miles from the equator.  We don't have real seasons so we have to trust the calendar to tell us what to celebrate.  Good friends who will make the effort to keep the holidays alive are the best!  Troy and Andrea hosted Thanksgiving at their home and it was a really lovely day.  We celebrated on Saturday because naturally Thursday isn't a holiday here.

The kids table was really good and then they went upstairs and played Jackbox games for hours! 

We had a fried turkey, courtesy of Zach (whose wife Norma sadly couldn't attend) and a smoked turkey, ALL of the traditional sides and a few extras.  It was a fantastic meal and I was shocked when it was 10pm and I realized we'd been there all day.

A week later, several of the ladies met to start celebrating Christmas with a delicious cookie exchange.  Cookies for days!

And we had a very fun Christmas pokeeno with special rules, including a Jason Momoa prize.

A very fun night, but sadly our last at Andrea's because their family is moving over Christmas break.  Lots of happy memories in this house!

November Pictures

Each November, the Middle School celebrates United Nations day for these international kids to embrace their own heritage and enjoy what makes everyone unique.  It's a really heartwarming experience to see kids from all over the world represent their home country (or countries, in some cases) and learn more about one another.  Flags from each country are paraded on stage to represent all of the nations here at JIS.

Afterward, there is a massive picnic and party on the lawn with food from most of the countries or regions provided by the parents.  It was a good day at the U S of A table!

We had barbecue sliders, macaroni and cheese, and tons of cookies, so our table was pretty popular.

We stayed busy handing out food for the entire hour, then the moms visit one another's table to try the delicious home cooked food from around the world!

On the home front, we had lots of issues.  I was still hobbling around on my foot and not pleased at all with all the problems.  Alex's AC unit was leaking into the downstairs living area and since the workers couldn't fine the source of the leak, they just moved the entire unit.  Ugh.  Now it just leaks straight out of the front of the house.  Problem solved, apparently.

Downstairs, the problem was ignored long enough for the ceiling to collapse and need extensive repairs.  Ugh.

In the meantime, Ben's unit ALSO started leaking, and then the unit upstairs as well.  By the time we finally got workers here to do repairs, there were four rooms with major problems.  UGH!!  It was two full days of men all over the house making a huge mess but mostly fixing the issues.

The rainy season has finally arrived, although it's still spotty.  The clouds and cooler weather have been very welcomed.

Alex has been on a kick to learn how to bake.  He tried a Swedish dessert at UN day and I got the recipe from my friend.  It was a delicious traditional sticky chocolate cake...can't wait for him to make this again! 

Buddy the elf returned a little early and brought the kids a pretty fun treat - a pair of tiny parakeets to keep our cockatiels company.  The boys were thrilled!