November in Review

November was packed with non-stop visitors and I loved every moment! My parents arrived at my house on October 31st, just 4 days after Billy had to return to Ft. McCoy for training. Because Alexa had the following Monday and Tuesday off of school, we headed down to Cincinnati and explored a few parks and visited the Creation Museum in Kentucky. In addition to the actual exhibits, the Creation Museum was located on beautiful grounds and had a petting zoo. Just outside the petting zoo was a statue of a giraffe, which Brody loved!

The grounds

They even had a suspension bridge, which the kids loved - I think they made me walk over this thing with them 5 or 6 times!

Alexa getting a children's book signed by the author

Brody decided to take a break while walking through the museum!

Brody in the Garden of Eden room!

I think, as is typical with grandparent visits, the kids spent lots of time playing, as the photos indicate!

" I DID IT!"

Brody put Pawpaw in Jail at one of the play areas

Pawpaw began playing in the leaves with Alexa, and soon he literally had kids pulling him in all directions! A playing pawpaw is apparently a kid magnet!

Brody loves the train at the zoo, so we took my parents on a ride. Unfortunately, we turned the first bend and the train broke! We had to walk down the tracks for the rest of the tour!

After an adventure filled visit, my parents headed back to Texas on Wednesday the 10th, the same day the kids and I boarded a plane to Wisconsin to spend a few more days with Billy before he headed overseas. We flew into Milwaukee and were able to find a park on the banks of Lake Michigan. The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed our first visit to one of the great lakes!

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the hill this picnic table is sitting upon is extremely sloped! Billy is literally holding our kids up so they don't all fall backward! (thus the reason Brody is gripping the table)

We stayed in Wisconsin Dells and enjoyed spending time as a family. Billy's mom was also able to come to Wisconsin - she flew in to Madison, the state capital, so while there we also visited Wisconsin's gorgeous capitol building!






Our kiddos love Build a Bear Workshop. In addition to the sounds that you can buy to put inside an animal, Build a Bear also offers chips that allow you to record a message. We made Alexa a bear with a message from Billy when he deployed in 2004 and decided to do the same thing for both the kids with this deployment, so we visited Build a Bear while in Wisconsin.

We also took the kids to an indoor amusement center in Wisconsin.






Dropping Billy off at Ft. McCoy on the 14th, not knowing when we would see him again, was incredibly difficult. I was very grateful for my mother-in-law who flew back to Columbus with us on the 15th and stayed through the end of November, celebrating Thanksgiving with us. We enjoyed Korean cooking for Thanksgiving, and our friends from Iowa (who now live in Dayton) joined us for the holiday.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Billy's unit headed overseas. They arrived safely in Kuwait and the countdown began. It will be a long year, but I am grateful for the love and support that has already been expressed by so many family and friends.