I'm a Triangle--and Trust this is NOT a math lesson

My friend, who lives overseas, posted an article today that got me thinking.  Basically the article describes what it is like to live in two different countries/cultures. The author describes it using shapes.  Briefly, you are from "circle" country, so you are a circle.  The circle moves to a new place, "square" country and participates in the new customs of square country, but is not square because they are a circle.  What this causes is essentially a "mutation" where the original circle becomes a triangle...part circle and part square.  The article goes on to discuss the trials that can come from being a triangle that is trying to re-enter the circle culture. 

The reason I share this is because I find it very interesting.  I guess a part of it hit very close to home for me.  I have not had the good fortune of living in another country, although I would very much consider myself a triangle.  When Jon and I were first married, we worked with international students, predominantly Japanese.  While I cannot speak specifically for Jon, I am sure he would agree with me to some level.  I have been deeply impacted by the Japanese culture and feel that my relationships with students and friends changed me into a triangle that is often misunderstood.
While working with these students, our goal was to show them how much we valued their culture, in effort to expose them to various parts of our culture.  As students, new to a country (and becoming triangles themselves), it can be incredibly difficult to learn the language if you only speak to others in your native tongue.  These kids had to learn English at astonishingly fast rates and at deep levels.  They were, after all, attempting to take college level classes in English.  I cannot comprehend college level classes in another language!  Anyway, we were there to help ease students through that transition and to develop relationships.

As it so often turns out if you let it, it was not simply the students that were deeply impacted through these relationships.  We were too.  I often wonder the impact on me was greater than it ever was on them.  I fell in love with the people of Japan, and I learned to value their culture.  We celebrated with them, learned to cook with them, and spoke with them.  When I look back on this time, my heart was full. 

When we moved to Wyoming, I thought that somehow that chapter in our lives would close, but surprisingly it did not.  We met other international students that we quickly fell in love with.  Some were Japanese, while there were also Sri Lankans, Koreans, and Saudis.  We continued the same approach and found room in our hearts for these cultures as well.  When we talk about our friends, I don't think people realize what we mean or how deeply these relationships have impacted us.  I don't think people understand what I mean when we say that we love Japan.  I don't think that anyone would suspect the longing that comes when I eat or make tonkatsu.  It's a recipe that my best Japanese friend taught me in Oklahoma.  In Wyoming, I made it for our friends Kyong (from Korea) and Emi (from Japan).  Emi was delighted when she ate it because it was just like her mom's.  From then on she joked that I was a better Japanese cook than she was (which, by the way, was completely untrue!).  Shopping at the Asian market always gets me too!  We cooked together, learned from each other, and lived life together.

Oddly enough, it's like Jon and I are in this little "club" that consists of our experiences.  He and I are the only ones that really get it because we are "triangles" of similar influence.  Living here, we have experienced a bit of loss because we do not have any of these international friends that have shaped us so deeply.  While we are still in contact with many of our old friends, it's the daily interactions that I long for and miss. 

As I write, it almost feels like nostalgia, but it is difficult to explain how it is not.  We had a baby shower at Jon's work a few weeks ago and they asked about how we decided on the name.  I cannot explain how we came up with our second daughter's name without first explaining Hannah's name.  It can probably be done, I am just far too long winded for that, while I also find the little details important.  We chose the name for our firstborn child because of the Japanese meaning.  Hannah originally means "grace" I think, but that is not why we chose it.  We chose it because of the Japanese meaning which hopefully honors our "triangle-ness."  I hope that she can understand for herself the joy that sharing your heart with diverse people can bring.  Our lives will never be the same as a result of these experiences.  While it has been over seven years since our time in Oklahoma, I still find that my heart is catapulted across the world when I smell certain things, when I hear certain types of music, or  when we get a phone call from old friends.  These are experiences that have changed me on a deep level, and even though it was a long time ago, I will forever being a triangle.  I think that is a pretty fabulous shape to be and am grateful for who I am as a result of these experiences.

Hannah's Big Brother & Big Sister

Jon started working at Compassion International last February.  Compassion is a child sponsorship organization that supports children in poverty.  For years, Jon and I have wanted to support a child through Compassion.  Our church is a huge supporter of Compassion, and the CEO often speaks in our services about missions.  So we have learned about the company through that and are proud that Jon gets to be apart of the work they are doing there. 

With that said, Jon joked that he was the one Compassion employee that did NOT sponsor a child.  It's not that we didn't have plans to, we just really wanted Hannah to be a part of it with us.  Finally, an opportunity presented itself, so we went to a thing (I don't really know what to call it, so thing is as vague as I can think of) with the intent of letting Hannah "pick" our soon-to-be sponsored child.  The reason was two fold.  One, we believe in supporting missions and felt that it was time for Hannah to get to see our heart in this.  The second reason is a little more complex.

See, Hannah has quite the imagination...and that is probably an understatement.  Hannah is constantly pretending, dressing up, or dreaming up ideas for things.  I personally love this about her.  I feel that it is my creativity in her.  Some of the things she does last for a few hours or sometimes a few days.  One that is currently standing the test of time is the idea that she has a big brother and big sister that live in the mountains.  She points to Pikes Peak.  Yes, that's where they live.  She tells people this all the time, and since the family unit in America often includes step siblings, people think nothing of it.  They simply assume that she really does have a big brother and big sister that live in the mountains.  This, however is not the case.  Neither Jon, nor I have other children.  She is it!  Despite our efforts to gently tell her that she in fact does not have a big brother and big sister in the mountains, we gave up quickly because it was very upsetting to her, and we figured there was no harm in it.

As it turns out, her big brother and big sister are both girls, live in the mountains which she swears is specific enough for us to find their home, and do not like for people to just drop by.  We drive through the mountains often and did so last winter to go skiing.  At 5:30ish in the morning, we were somewhere around Woodland Park, and she started yelling at us.  You can imagine how endearing that was, right?  She apparently needed to make it clear that we could not visit her big brother and big sister because they would be mad at her.  They would be mad because she didn't tell them we were coming and it was too early to call them.  We assured her that we were simply driving through the mountains to get to the ski resort, and she eventually calmed down.  We are not talking just a little pretending, we are talking perhaps of imaginary friends in the mountains.

Again, I find it cute, although I think Jon finds it incredibly irritating.  Now, the "big-brother-and-big-sister-that-live-in-the-mountains," said all in one breath, have become the ones to blame if she does something she knows is naughty.  They also take her to places that she's never been.  In fact, she has rarely been to a new place.  Jon and I want to try out a new restaurant and it's, "Oh, I've been here with my big brother and big sister..."  The same goes for departments stores, cities, pet stores, etc.  Oh, they also have a cat because THEY are not allergic like Daddy.

So Jon had the idea to get her a "real" big brother or big sister.  He thought we could sponsor a child which would eventually lead her to forgetting about the others.  Remember, the big brother and big sister that live in the mountains can be very irritating to both of us at times!  So, I thought it was worth a shot.  She picked Rashini, a girl a couple of years older than her from India.  She picked her because she had on a pretty dress and had a nice (or kind to Hannah) face.  We have enjoyed watching our little girl "read" the booklet that came about Rashini, pray sweet bedtime prayers for her, ask about where she lives, and share with others about her "other big sister."  Yes, she now has her sister Rashini and a big brother and big sister that live in the mountains.  So while our plan to replace the imaginary siblings failed, the whole thing has certainly enriched our lives and the life of our daughter.  For that we are grateful.

Hadleigh Michelle

We are expecting the newest member of our family in the next two weeks.  We, and by we I mostly me I, are waiting anxiously for her impending arrival.  In light of the twenty five hours of labor with Hannah, I am sort of ready to just get it over with.  Of course, I am ready to meet her, have her as an official part of our family, etc, but mostly I am ready to get it over with.  I suspect that labor will be better this time around, but I tend to prepare myself for the worst.  Then, if it is better, then that's a pleasant surprise.  While I am not here to hash out all of the details of my first labor and delivery, I am interested in sharing a story so it is important to know that we have someone coming!

When I got pregnant the first time, I was really disappointed when I found out we were having a girl.  As it turns out, God must know what He's doing because Hannah has been a perfect fit in our family.  She's not your typical girl, in that she exhibits some of the behaviors that I hear people attribute to boys.  She climbs on everything!  It is not uncommon to walk into the room to find Hannah helping herself to some food on the top shelf of the cabinet.  She just pulls out her ladder, climbs in the counter, and helps herself (we do not condone this behavior though).  I once found her at the top of our "ladder" bookshelf, and she was upset with me that I made her get down.  When she called for me to come outside, I was stunned to see the pride on her face that came from successfully climbing on top of the car.  She then reiterated, in detail, how she was able to get to the top.  She's already broken her arm, dislocated her elbow which required surgery, and had stitches in her head.  She's four and a half.  I often wonder if I could "handle" a boy that is "supposedly" rougher than a girl.

When we went to our ultra-sound, Hannah was insistent that we were having a girl.  Jon really wanted a boy, and a part of me did too.  I joked in the preceding week that someone in the ultra-sound room was going to be very disappointed, but it would not be me.  Turns out, Hannah was right.  We are having a baby girl, and while Jon was disappointed for about a day he got over it.  I think he's mostly afraid of having two girls to defend from high school boys like he was.  I said that God knew which person would get over it faster.  I don't know that Hannah would be over it yet if the baby wasn't a girl.

With the gender discovery, came the sudden need to pick names.  We had a boy and girl name picked out shortly after we were married.  Since we have already used the girl name and the boy name obviously won't work this time around, we had to come up with a new name.  Oh the stress!  Names are important!  Hannah means beautiful flower in Japanese and first in Korean.  The Japanese made a huge impact on mine and Jon's hearts, so we always said that we want our kid to stick to her Japanese roots.  We also thought it was appropriate that it means first in Korean since she is the first kid, grandkid, etc.  Marie is Hannah's middle name.  It is my middle name, which is a family name, and it is also Jon's mom's middle name, and her mom's middle name.  So for us, Hannah Marie has a lot of meaning.  I didn't want to just give our second kid a name out of a baby book.  I wanted it to mean something because Hannah's name means so much. 

So we began our search.  Hannah was anxious to give her input as well.  She chose Cinderella Star, but we had to veto based on the meaning stuff describe above.  We had it narrowed down to three or four names, but couldn't decide.  Jon, who I'm pretty sure was tired of talking about it every five minutes, began investigating the names we had chosen. He looked at various spellings, meanings, etc.  We settled on Michelle as a middle name because it incorporates both sides of our family.  Then we decided that if they would have two of the three same initials, we should look for an "H" name so they could share initials. 

That's where we found Hadleigh.  Hadleigh, spelled this way is British.  That is already a win because Jon and I pretty much love all things Brit.  Jon found that Hadleigh is actually a town in England.  You may not know this, but Haddenham is also a town in England.  There's actually two towns by that name!  So in his research, he found that Hadleigh is just about forty miles from the town of Haddenham.  We thought that was super cool, so one point went to Hadleigh.  I could finally stop avoiding the research because it was no longer overwhelming.  Hadleigh means, "field of heather."  I started looking at picture of heather and found that it is a beautiful little flower.  Hannah means beautiful flower and Hadleigh is a field of beautiful flowers!  Score two for Hadleigh.

Finally, I found a fable about heather.  This really probably sealed the deal for me.  To paraphrase the story I found on electricscotland.com:

When God made the world He saw these rolling, rocky hills (think UK land) and decided that he wanted something to fill the space and make it look nicer.  He went to the oak tree, but the oak tree said he couldn't imagine growing his roots in that rocky soil.  Then he went to the honeysuckle, but the honeysuckle needed a wall or something sturdy to grow against.  Then he went to the rose, but the rose refused because the wind and rain that it would be exposed to might ruin it's flowers.  Finally, he approached the heather.  The heather, while uncertain about whether or not it could do the job correctly, agreed.  With that, God gave the heather the strength of an oak.  Heather has the strongest bark of any shrub or tree, the fragrance of the honeysuckle, and the sweetness of the rose (it is the favorite flower of bees for it's sweetness). 

After reading this little fable, I was sold.  I don't know if it is a real fable or not, but I like the story.  It is the one we will tell our daughter when we tell her about her name.  Please greet us soon Haleigh Michelle.  There are many, many people that are anxious to meet you!

I Miss Writing



I miss writing. Being a first year teacher last year, I did not have much free time to do things that I enjoy.  Between learning to balance work and home, I think Jon and I did a fantastic job of staying present and enjoying life.  We were tired though, so any leftover energy was spent with our family.  Hence, the lack of a blog post in over a year.  One thing I, surprisingly, had time for though was writing.  A couple of my classes were called Writing Lab, so in effort to model good writing, I wrote with my students every day.  Sometimes I wrote about nothing, sometimes I wrote stories, and sometimes I wrote about my current frustrations or stresses.  Nonetheless, I wrote. 

 

Over the course of several months, Jon and I made some difficult decisions for our family.  The predominant difficulty might have been on my end because it had to do with MY job status.  Jon got a new job in February, we found out I was pregnant, and I decided that I was not a good fit at my school.  As a result of all of the change, we ultimately decided, after three or four months of discussion, that I would stay home this year.  It was an incredibly difficult decision for me for multiple reasons, but I am certain that it was the best decision for myself and my family.  In August, all of my friends were going "back to school," and I found myself relieved to be exempt from that additional stress. 

 

One of the main reasons that I chose to stay home is the cost of daycare.  It is REALLY expensive!  Hannah will be going to kindergarten next year, so the expense will not be as bad.  The other, more significant reason for staying home, was Hannah.  She's been "the only" for a very long time.  She's four and a half (today actually-happy half birthday Nan!), and has been the only child, grandkid, and niece for this entire time.  While she is completely ecstatic about being a big sister, we are not naïve to the fact that she will probably go through a major adjustment period in all of this.  It will be difficult for her to share the spotlight with a new baby.  We are preparing for this now and hope that it is worse in our heads than it will actually be.  However, attempting to deal with this while Jon and I are both working, and dealing with the demands of a new baby, seemed like a bit too much to handle.  So I chose to stay home.  It has been fabulous for our family and I hope that it continues to be that way.

 

With all of the above said, the one thing that I miss terribly about working is my time to write.  I am an English teacher, and I am supposed to love literature, although it is not my passion.  Don't get me wrong, I love books and have developed a love for complex works over the last ten years, but writing is my passion.  I love teaching writing, and I love to write.  I think writing is incredibly important for kids and it seems to be a skill that so many of them lack when going into college or the workplace.  I believe that anyone can have a novel ideal, but if they cannot express that idea, it is nothing more than a simple thought.  I have lots of thoughts, and I find that there are few outlets for me to express those thoughts right now. 

 

One of my favorite expressions comes in the form of stories.  If you have read my blog before, this may not come as a surprise to you.  I love to tell stories.  Historically, this blog has been filled with stories about Hannah and often celebrates her in our lives.  That will not go away, but I found myself locked into that and unable to write freely.  I want to tell people's stories.  Someday, I hope to write a book of stories about people that relate somehow.  Specific right?  Nonetheless, I have felt an intense desire to write stories.  Not only do I want to write the good ones about how wonderful my little girl (soon to be girls) is, but I also want to write some of the bad things, stories that have been in my head for years, and certainly other stories that come in the future. 

 

Writing helps me stay connected to my profession.  It helps me be creative.  It helps me sort through things going on in my brain.  Writing is often therapeutic.  So I am going to write.  While this blog may take on a slightly different form, I am here writing for me this time.  I am writing to have a memory of my children's lives.  I am writing to be intellectually stimulated, and I am writing because when I do a piece of my heart feels full. 

 

While I will be writing more and posting less pictures, I couldn't, in good conscience, write my first post in over a year and not post a picture or two.  These are from our recent trips to a couple of pumpkin patches in the area.  Happy Fall!

 

Riding and Fishing and Hiking? Oh Yes!

It has been a busy couple of weeks for our family.  For me, the summer is officially over since I started back to school last week.  My first official day is next Tuesday, but I wanted to take a few weeks to get some lesson plans done before the school year gets started.  It is also good for us to get into a little bit of a routine since we haven't been in one all summer.  Hannah and I have been staying up later and sleeping in, so it takes a little while to get re-adjusted to our school year schedule.  So Hannah's been going to school and so have I.  She loves going to school to "see her friends" so the transition has been pretty smooth.  The only problem is getting used to waking up early.  This two weeks is nice though because we don't have to get up as early as we will once the semester begins so it is helping us transition.  It's also been nice because Hannah likes to come snuggle in the mornings and asks for "five more minutes."  I know that soon we won't be able to take "five more minutes," so I am enjoying it while it lasts.  Also, next week Hannah will begin her transition to pre-school.  She has no idea that it's coming, but her school does a really nice job of helping the kids move up to the next class.  

My dad came to visit over the weekend, so that was a nice little break from our "pre school routine."  We had a great time with him and got to do some cool stuff.  I was supposed to go to work on Friday because I wanted to get a little more stuff done, but then I changed my mind.  I slept in and decided to go to breakfast with Dad and Hannah instead!  I figured I may as well do it while I can because that won't always be an option once school starts. 

We went to a great little breakfast place called The Omlete Parlor, a local restaurant that's been around forever.  The food is great, the portions are big, and the prices are reasonable.  See the example above.  That's Hannah's "kid pancake" for $3.  Are you kidding me??  She barely ate a quarter of it, but at $3, who's really complaining?!  She was pretty jazzed up about it because it took up the whole plate.  Before long, she's going to be requesting "giant pancakes" from her Daddy!

We also got to do some horse back riding at the Air Force Academy, so that was super fun for Hannah.  While we were there we toured the campus, watched airplanes, saw the chapel, and looked in on my classroom.  Dad and I had a good time, but I don't think it even compared to Hannah.  She LOVES horses...and her one hour ride was just not long enough!

I got to lead Hannah's horse around, which was perfect because I am not a huge fan of horseback riding and I wanted the exercise.  She road for an hour and I walked for an hour.  It was great!

Our other big "event" for the weekend was a fishing trip.  Dad originally planned to visit during the weekend that the fire broke out here in the Springs.  I called him and said that it wasn't a good idea to come because you just could not walk outdoors, let alone go hiking, fishing, etc.  We ended up leaving because I have terrible allergies and the smoke was almost unbearable at times.  As we were headed out of town, I saw something that I will never forget.  I saw our city in flames.  It ended up working out nicely because we got to go to Wyoming to spend some time with Jon's grandparents.  His mom was also there because she was going to a cousin's wedding, so we tagged along for that too.  It is always great to see family and friends...we love weddings!

Anyway, we were supposed to go fly fishing that weekend with my Dad, but obviously that got cancelled since our town was in a state of crisis.  I was extremely dissappointed because I know how much my dad wants to try fly fishing.  We looked into a guided tour, but decided against it since Hannah wouldn't be able to come.  We will try that in a few years or when Dad is here for a longer period of time.  So instead we went to a lake in the Pike's Peak area to fish.  It was a beautiful location!  

We brought our boat, but ended up not getting to use it because we didn't have enough life jackets.  So we huge out by the water and fished while Hannah played.  It was a great day for us all!

Hannah helped Jon reel in his fish.  It was the first of the day and it only took something like four hours!  Hannah LOVED the fish!  She wanted to play with them and look at them.  We were planning to just catch and release because we didn't want to bother with cleaning them and frying them.  Hannah caused us to have different plans.  She wanted to keep them and really didn't care if they were in a bag in the cooler...she just enjoyed checking on them periodically!

My first fish!  I would like to point out the fishing pole at the bottom of the picture.  That would be Hannah's pink, Barbie fishing rod.  That's what I used to catch this guy with!

Of course, when there's a fish around you have to pet it too, right?  Doesn't everyone? ;)

Dad finally caught one too.  The fishing wasn't great because we got there during the worst fishing time, so we were pretty lucky to catch the fish that we did catch.  Also, I cannot leave without saying that I totally caught two fish, which made me the winner for the day.  Fishing is ALWAYS a competition and I was the clear winner!  There are not too many things that I can beat Jon in.  He's very competitive and pretty much good at whatever he tries...but there's one thing that can give him a run for his money....and that's fishing!

I am so glad that Dad got to visit...we had a great time and some much needed R&R before the start of the school year.  It is going to be an exciting time for our family and I look forward to the opportunities that arise in the next few months!

Disney World Vacation

Jon's parents took our family to Disney World in Florida and it was a super fun treat!  The pictures certainly the tell the story in this post, so I will get to that.  I would like to say though that we had an absolute blast and that it is definitely a trip that Jon and I will never forget.  Thanks so much Mike and Cindy!

The first evening there, we decided to try to get a little time in at one of the parks, so we went straight to the Magic Kingdom, where all of the "magic" begins!

The whole group, minus Jon in front of the castle!  We didn't spend a ton of time together because the boys a older than Hannah and wanted to do some other things in the parks.  We often ate meals together and swam at the end of the day!

Since we were there, we of course had to watch the fireworks.  Hannah was absolutely mesmorized!

 After two days, I had zero proof that I was even on this vacation, so Jon snapped a picture of me while we were getting lunch ready!  I was there!

 It took Hannah a while to really understand what was going on, but once she did she was all aboard the Disney train and ran around like any good, Disney-lovin, three year old girl should! 

 Hannah was also a big fan of the shuttle buses that brought us back and forth between the parks and the hotel...mostly, I think, because she didn't have to ride in a carseat!  Being silly with Daddy and Grandpa.

 Nan got to meet her favorite Disney peeps of all time...Buzz and Woody.  They were the first characters that she had met, so she was a litttle timid, but then again stranger-danger is usually a good thing.

 Cooling off in the water play area.  We could have stayed there all day!

 We went to a different park to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride.  One our way out of the ride, Hannah suddenly took off running and screaming.  We ran after her to see what the heck was going on and when we caught up to her we saw what all of the commotion was all about.  She saw Buzz walking around the park.  She was SOOO  happy to see him that she could barely contain herself.  So we wait in the line to see him again and this time she was not afraid one bit.  In fact, she really didn't want to leave whatsoever!

 The Animal Kingdom was pretty cool, although the lines were insanely long!  Hannah's the kind of person that is highly excitable...we can get her excited about nearly anything.  With that, crazy long lines aren't so great because the excitement wears off just as quickly as it comes.  This is in the first five minutes of our wait...the 80 minutes that followed were not so exciting!

 Chip and Dale

 Donald Duck...after Buzz, she insisted on hugging every character that she met.  It made for some really adorable pictures too, so I'm glad she did it!

 You've gotta love Goofy right?!?

 Finally!  The big man himself...the star of the show...the one that we waited four days to see...Mickey Mouse!

 We all had to get in on the Mickey action!

 This one's super cute with Pluto!

 She was so happy to see Minnie again...they chatted.

 Of course you have to get a beer in Germany!

 And Italian food in Italy with fantastic gelato to wash it all down!

Our favorite swimming spot at our resort...there were two pool, a lazy river, and a bar to order up pina coladas just steps away from the door of our building.

 The pirate ship pool at our resort.  I really wanted to check it out, but I knew better because Hannah is too little to do anything there.  It looked really cool though, so maybe next time!

Getting a little sun before leaving the resort!

Hannah played and played and played...she had a wonderful time.  We could have spent all four days at the resort just swimming and doing the activities!  This was such a wonderful vacation for all of us...it was relaxing, yet jam packed with cool things to do.  We truly made some great memories on this trip and I actually look forward to the possibility of going back some time!

Louisiana-Part 2

We also got to go see some alligators!  When Mom and CJ picked us up from the airport, they took us to eat some lunch at a place called Sparhs.  They swore that alligators were always there and that Hannah would get to see some.  I told them not to make a promise that they were not certain would happen, but they insisted because Hannah was so jazzed up about it.  As it turns out, no alligators.  So they had to deliver on their promise by taking Hannah to a swamp tour.  We didn't actually go on the boat, but went to the little zoo thing.  Hannah got to hold some alligators and was not afraid at all.  I was so proud of her because she really enjoyed playing with them.  On the way out she was almost crying...she whispered in my ear something to the effect of: "Mommy, I forgot!  I forgot!  I forgot to talk to the mommy and daddy alligator to ask if I could take the baby alligator home with me!  I forgot!"  Needless to say, the swamp tour was a hit!

In addition to alligators, they had turtles, goats, racoons, and a plethora of other animals for Hannah's viewing pleasure!

 Hannah also had her first encounter with crawfish!  She's a true cajun girl and I love it!

 Mimicing the crawfish on the ground.  He only had one arm, but he was a bully.  Hannah kept two crawfish out of the bag to play with and she kept telling the smaller of the two, "It's okay little guy, that's your daddy!  Don't be afraid, Daddy's don't hurt people!"  I am glad to hear that that is her perception!  It means she has a good daddy! :)

 Sis, Me, and Mom.

 Gearing up for Disney World!

 Hannah likes to get her way...and when I say "likes" I really mean that she insists on getting her way every time she does anything.  I guess it's the result of being the only kid and the only grandkid on both sides...while Jon and I try not to cater to her every whim, the grandparents usually do.  When Grandma would not get in the pool like she demanded, she brought the pool to Grandma (and Grandpa too)!  From the pure delight on her face, you can tell that she got away with it too!

 My sister and I picked Jon up from the airport late Friday evening.  Jon's never been to the French Quarter in all the 10-15 times he's been to Louisiana, so we all went after picking Jon up.  There's a place called Pat O'Brien's that is famous for their hurricanes.  Since a hurricane is one of my favorite mixed drinks, we decided to sqing by and get one.  They didn't have food because it was too late, but we were all starving.  So Jon graciously braved the French Quarter to get us some food!  It was delicious!  I am so glad we went...the three of us really had a wonderful time and Pat O'Brien's is a really cool place, just in case you are curious! ;)

 The last day that we were there, we had a family get together (as we always do when we visit).  I didn't know that my other family (Jon's side) would be attending the party!  They were on their way to Disney World.  Jon and my mom arranged for them to surprise me by stopping by.  My aunt Cynthia took a few pictures and I thought that this one turned out really good!

So did this one!  Hannah was in serious need of a nap, but she humored us and took one more picture!  The next day we were off to Disney World.  I will definitely post some pictures of that in the near future!