mark and his aunt Marie

family

ummm...in no way a reflection of them.

two lovely ladies

death, count captain thorman, two lovely witches getting ready to trick-or-treat.

ahh, this is where the girls get it.

trick-or-treat

time for candy trading.

Had a great day on Sunday. went to marks aunts house. this was the first time seeing each other and she had her two daughters there also.they made lunch for us. oh my was it good food. homemade mac and cheese was a favorite of all ours. mark had many BBQ ribs. Asher loved the circle chicken(ham). there were many trips for seconds and even thirds. finally left and made our way to our great friend Teresa and her family. we haven't seen them for several years and it was great to catch up and see the kids reconnect. staying the next couple of nights.

happy Halloween. woke up and had pumpkin pancakes and sausage. yummy. started our day by taking a small trip to point lookout. a nice beach and lighthouse. played and collected rocks for a bit and hunger had us leaving for food. ate at a great place and got home to get ready for trick or treating. Asher was very excited. many hours and tired adults later, we returned to trade candy(or sneak)and get some pizza. the ids are finishing the day playing and hanging out. they are all sad to be leaving tomorrow. WE are ALL sad.

snow in Oct.

intense game of 59 seconds

showing our cool moves.

damn, i look good in my new hat.

had a nice and peaceful day. although the weather was freaky!!! woke to rain that quickly turned to sleet than snow.drove around looking for an Amish hat for Elijah. been a long time since i drove east coast winter weather. found an Amish hat, but Elijah decided on a cowboy hat instead. i think it was a wise choice. came back and enjoyed  fantastic indoor picnic food. snowed all day long. not much stuck, but now its getting colder. the crack in my windshield is huge. getting bigger everyday. we leave tomorrow to visit more old friends. i hope the Allen's are ready for us.

johnson twins

chopstick lessons

who the hell took my food?

Asher picking a gift for our new friends.

got to sleep in. our poor achy and tired feet were happy. relaxed at camp short till time to go see an old friend of marks. they grew up together in Texas. met craig and his wife Jojo, and went to an authentic Chinese restaurant. was surprised how much Noah enjoyed the food. Anthony was able to use the chopsticks by the end of the meal. decided to go back to the house to hang out a bit more. as we are following them back to their house(I'm driving), we seemed to be going in a bit of roundabout way. hoping death is not near, we finally followed them into a church. a bit confused why we were in a church parking lot, i rolled down my window and pulled up next to them to talk.....only then realizing i had been following the wrong car. after I'm sure scaring the poor driver, we left the church parking lot and mark called his friend. we were about ten minutes the wrong directions. finally found the correct house, and enjoyed a few more hours of great conversation with great people.

the bed lincoln died in.

WHAT IN THE WORLD!!!!

disregarding the do not touch signs.

noah looks so happy:(

a horrible carriage accident

meeting new friends.

mark completly unaware their is a gun pointing at his head.

subway back to catch the train. will we make it?.........no.

eating dinner crossing eyes.

looking good noah.

what in the world? mark can't cross his eyes.

asher got the piret one eyed crossing.

good try jae.

elijah can do it.

crazy eyes mommy

i think my mom is drunk.

sad mark, just sad....

finally on the train ride home. very tired.

what another great day. wet, but great. woke up early(well early for us). had to catch the 8:10 train to Washington D.C.. by the time mark parks and sprints to the station, the train was pulling away. after they saw anthony standing there looking sad, they stopped and let us on. asher was very excited to ride his first train ride. got to union station and got a sorta schedule put together. worked out the subway pretty well(thanks to the $5bum who we all thought was going to steal marks credit card) and made our first stop at the ford theatre. they were closed for a matenee(not matenance mark). went across the street to see the house and bed where lincoln had died. walked around the city(in the rain). went to the national museum of natural history, national museum of american history, sculpture gardens, many many statues. white house(secret service police yelled at one of my children....i'll let you figure out which one), washington monument(closed due to damage from the earthquake), and finally the lincoln memorial.(so many steps).
as soon as we were done at the lincoln memorial, decided that it was time to head back home. looking for the metro(subway), it starts to downpour. find the nearest metro is six blocks. we are confident in our good luck and are sure we will catch the 6:20 train. pushing our already tired feet in the rain was brutal but we made it. taking the subway to pen station, mark goes ahead a bit to get tickets, and finds out we are 7 minutes too late. oh well, next train in 3 hours at 9:00. so we sit to eat and spend an hour or more making faces and laughing too loudly. probably the best part of the day. this family is far from perfect, but there is great joy here. the train home was filled with stinky foot rubs(thank you daddy), and talkative strangers. it was late when we got home. straight to bed for the kids. now me.

love this picture. tom looks like a farmer.

Anthony looking for the ticks he was sure were gonna get him.

i shot 7 times and hit.......nothing

hey! get off my land!!!!

had a nice quiet day. got to sleep in and took care of laundry and shopping. mark got an oil change and some other errands. helped with some yard work and enjoyed doing nothing. mark,  Lil Brian, the kids and i got some shooting in and we had pizza and games for dinner. Dottie made mark a pumpkin pie...sigh....i told her not to spoil him. sat around telling jokes till time for bed. early to bed to catch an early train into D.C. tomorrow. we will truly miss all these great people when it is time to go home.