Visit with the Hicks

We had a grand time with the Hicks last week during the Thanksgiving vacation. The kids all had a really fun time playing together. In fact, now that they've left, Zachary has taken to asking for "Erick, Kayley, Leah, Sophia and Lucas!" and telling Amy that she needs to call their moms to come back. Sophia and Lucas were here in September. It's a good thing that we don't have any more visitors with kids his age coming for a while otherwise the list of people that Amy needs to call to come back would be quite long! :)

Thursday was as you'd expect - full of just catching up and eating yummy Thanksgiving food! On Friday, we headed over to Busch Gardens. It was the first time that we'd been there in probably 5 years, so it was fun to see what changes had been made. There are quite a lot of kids rides - much more than we were expecting, so the kids REALLY had a good time. We left Kaleb home with Grandma so that he'd be able to get his naps in without being drug around in a stroller all day watching the others have all the fun.

Leah & Zachary in the bounce area - they had SO MUCH fun!

Leah & Zachary on the glider ride

On Sabbath, we headed over to the beach to join the Deiningers with their holiday visitors to enjoy the sand. We flew kites, buried kids in sand mounds, swam in their heated pool, and generally had a fabulous time. Grandpa Deininger was a terrific "monster" for Luke, Leah and Zachary - who had a ball hiding in the closet every time that he'd growl at them and then immediately coming out to find the monster again! :)

Leah & Luke - the "alligator" sand mounds!

Kaleb enjoying the sand and breeze

Sunday we headed back to the Petting Zoo - that place is just cool for kids - if it was any closer we'd be there a LOT. We saw even more animals than the first time that we went. The chicks were a repeat hit.

All 5 kids - Kaleb, Kayley, Erick, Leah & Zachary

Monday was a quieter day with a trip to Monkey Joe's and then putting up our Christmas tree. The boys love the Christmas tree - very fascinated with the lights . Zachary has taken to laying underneath it and trying to walk behind it (it is up against the window) so of course Kaleb follows him.

We're sad that the Hicks have left us - it was so wonderful to catch up with them, playing games and playing with the kids! We're already looking forward to the next time that we'll see them!

It is hard to believe that we leave for Canada in three weeks! We have so much left to do between now and then - we haven't bought any presents nor have we done the Christmas letter! The pressure is on!! December is always crazy in our home - not sure about everyone else's holiday season but how can so much be crammed into one month?!

Phrase of the week: Daddy freaked me out this morning! Kaleb's new word this week is "Up" - his favorite word because he ALWAYS wants to be carried around. He's quite picky about his position when being carried as well - if you pick him up and have him stomach to stomach with you - he'll push with his hands against you until he maneuvers himself onto your hip! :)

Kayley enjoying the slide at the park

Erick riding the tractor like a bull-rider!