A Few Favorites

Taking a three-week vacation means LOTS of pictures and LOTS of good times.

One of my all-time favorite events of our trip was eating Burger King food at my grandmother's nursing home.  We visit her often when in Bemidji, but it's always in the dining room with lots of other residents.  One day my parents got lunch from BK and we ate together in the conference room.  I don't know how to describe it but that it just felt RIGHT.  There we were, all family, eating lunch together just like we have done many times before.  (I wish you hadn't had to work Rob!)

 

Helena likes dogs, but when the cat came out at Grandma's, she started making her excited grunting noise and chasing after him.  Bubba was great, in that every morning he'd walk by her numerous times, brushing his entire body up against hers. This picture isn't the greatest, but cousin Dillon brought his cats over, and Helena basically crawled up in his lap while trying to hug the kitty!

It was looking like it wasn't going to happen, but the annual sibling sledding adventure was finally made possible by four inches of snow!  Like usual, there were many races and a sled was broken.  But this time, we had a fifth participant, Chris - my sister's fiance! 

On January 1, 2012, we dedicated Helena in the same church with the same officiant as our wedding!  During the dedication, I got choked up as I was suddenly back at our wedding saying our vows.  Afterwards my dad said he also got choked up because he was remembering dedicating me. 

We have always missed the family birthday gatherings on John's side, but this time we didn't!  It was January birthdays this time, meaning Helena got her first taste of Uncle Ethan's favorite Twinkie Cake. She seemed to like it okay :)

During the celebration, the two oldest cousins asked if they could babysit for Helena.  I went downstairs to check on them 10 minutes later and the above pictures shows what I found. Sophia was reading a story to all the cousins, while Helena kept busy playing with the kitchen.  My heart practically burst with happiness when I saw all the cousins quietly and happily being together.  I hope there are many many more times like that.

Aren't they great?

  To no one's surprise, Helena was definitely the centre of attention all trip long!

Fun was had with each family member and with the friends that we saw.  While it's hard to be far away, in many ways it makes the time together sweeter.