Charleston, SC

Friday after Thanksgiving, Jack and I headed to Charleston, SC for a few days. His parents were still here from Thanksgiving so they stayed with Katelyn. I was very nervous to leave her because I didn't want the 2.5 days we were gone to be complete nightmare for John and Joann because Katelyn is so attached to me. Our plan of leaving before she got up in the morning worked out great. She was a doll for them!! What a relief and I was able to enjoy our time away more knowing that things back home were perfectly fine. When we got home on Sunday, she seemed kind of puzzled to see us. I was very excited to see her at the end of the trip, but Jack and I had a great, much needed time away!


At the SC Aquarium




USS Yorktown
It was decommissioned in 1975.


The spacious bathrooms!


Sleeping quarters


The carrier seemed like a maze...constantly going up and down these ladders.


CPT J in the briefing room.

The chairs actually looked pretty comfy!!

For all the dietitians out there - I thought you'd appreciate this!
It brought back some memories of Food Service Management class!

500 EGGS!!! That's a lot of cookies!


This is the big mixer used to make that batch of cookies.

Another Food Service Management class flashback!
Food cost per serving!!


On the deck




Fort Sumter
This is where the first shots of the Civil War took place.


The walls are 5 feet thick


This isn't the best picture but it's of dolphins.
We had to take a ferry ride to get to the fort and there were dolphins everywhere.
I was never quick enough to get them as they were jumping in the air but it was pretty cool!
The first time I'd seen dolphins out of captivity!


Flags at Ft. Sumter

USS Clamagore (Submarine)


This is the reason why Jack isn't in the Navy!
He had to duck his head the entire time we were in the carrier ship.


How would you like this to be your sleeping/living quarters for 6+ months?!?
Ohhh and you have to share that with another person!
No Thanks!


Ready for our nice dinner splurge!

It was wonderful to be able to spend some quality one on one time with each other but it was also nice to come back home to our beautiful baby girl!
I love my family so much and it feels so good to be together again!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was much different that any of the past years.....1. Jack was home this year so we were able to have dinner as a family!! 2. We didn't travel! 3. We made our 1st Thanksgiving dinner - turkey with all the fixings! We decided that we were going to stay put this year - traveling for both Thanksgiving and Christmas would just be too much since it's 22 hours to Wichita! Jack's parents made the trip from MO and spent Thanksgiving with us. It was nice to have a seasoned cook in the kitchen to help the rookie. I now feel like I can take on Thanksgiving solo next year. The part I was most worried/nervous about - the gravy! And it turned out perfect!!!


Jack had to find a project to do with his Dad while they were here.
What better thing to do than clean out and reorganize the garage!?!
Katelyn of course had to be out there and wanted to play bubbles.


Grammie and Pops brought one of her Christmas presents early - a picnic table!
She loves it! She sits on it all the time - eating her snack like a big girl or watching TV.


The picnic table can also be a fort!


Katelyn helping Grammie grind the pecans for pecan pie.


"Mom, I think the turkey's almost done!"


And finally it was time to eat!!


Amy and Emmalyn joined us for dinner.
The girls sitting on Pops' lap for a book.


Yes, you are seeing that right - she's in a tank top on Thanksgiving!
It was in the upper 70s, low 80 on turkey day!
Not my kind of Thanksgiving.
I definitely missed the cooler weather!


And finally - Katelyn's attitude picture!
She thinks it's pretty cool to cross her arms like this now!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
We had so much to be thankful for this year!

Lightweight

Katelyn had her 18 month appt yesterday. The doctor said that she looked great and that she was plugging right along! She was fine with the doctor but didn't care so much for the 5 shots she had to get. She made sure to let us know off and on during the ride home, but once we got home, she must have forgotten because she was her normal self the rest of the day.

She's following right on track to be a lightweight hah! No complaints from me though, but I was guessing she weighed more than she did.

Her stats:
21# 10 oz (~25th%)
31 inches (25th%)

Missouri

After we visited Great Smokey Mountains, we headed to MO to see some friends and family.


Katelyn and Reagan jumping in the bounce house


All 3 girls : Sadie, Reagan, and Katelyn


Play dough time!


Serenading everyone with beautiful music!


Katelyn and Reagan playing in the leaves behind Wibs




Princess Katelyn enjoying the slide her Daddy used to play on!


It was great getting to see everyone and watching the girls interact with each other.
Now if only we lived were closer!
We hope to see everyone again during the Holidays!

Great Smokey Mountains National Park

A week ago we went to the Great Smokey Mountains for a couple days. It is considered "Off Season" now, so we got a condo for a great price....2 bedroom, 2 bath, full kitchen, washer/dryer...you get the gist. It was wonderful and worked great - everyone got a full night sleep because we all weren't sharing a room!

We enjoyed the great views the park had to offer for a 2 days and could have spent many more there and still probably not seen it all. The trees were beautiful and the weather was perfect!


Katelyn enjoying the freedom of not being strapped into her car seat anymore!


This cross was right behind our condo.
There was no church anywhere near, just this lone cross up on the top of the hill.


Getting ready to hike up to Rainbow Falls.
We made it about 1.5 miles up before I was spent as well as Katelyn.
Next time we think we are going to hike 2.7 miles up a mountain,
I should do a little conditioning beforehand.
This lady is OUT OF SHAPE!


Picnic lunch in the bed of the truck.
It was a great way to keep Katelyn contained and
she loves running around the bed of Daddy's truck.






Isn't this beautiful?!?



And it had snowed earlier in the week!!
Katelyn enjoyed playing in the snow.
She was too little last winter to know or remember what snow was.
Hopefully we'll have some snow when we are back for Christmas!


Getting ready to walk up to Clingman's Dome


At the highest point in the park (6300 ft. +)


One of the beautiful sunsets


We hiked 1.3 miles up to Laurel Falls.
This was a much easier hike!!
Both Katelyn and I made it without trouble :)


Katelyn loved putting her hands in the FREEZING cold water.
I think she would have jumped right in if I'd of let her!


Cades Cove


An old Mill that the people of Cades Cove used

We had a great time, a great traveler and caught up on being a family again!