Mary turns 95!

Had a great time this weekend celebrating Mary's 95th birthday!

Cool Girls Wear Glasses

They finally arrived.  Their second pairs come in this week so we are good to go.  Katey is slowly getting used to having them on her face.  Laurel is enjoying seeing the fall colors much more clearly.  My Dad took these today:

Waiting for Glasses

Found out last week that K needs glasses, we suspected, doc confirmed.  Now really frustrated that they've been stuck in Memphis for two days.  Apparently the FDA feels the need to inspect her glasses since they were made in Canada by a company that makes contacts.  I know she has lived this way for 6 years, but now that I know she can't see I am going crazy waiting to get these for her.  Sad, but true.  Lets not talk about the guilt I have for waiting several months to get her in for a screening.  L also needs glasses (that one was a surprise) and hers arrived in Memphis ten minutes ago.  Dare I hope they will make it through without inspection??

The funny thing is that the one kid in the family who wanted glasses has the best vision.  Yeah, you all know who that was.

Just Call Me Amelia

Lately Katey has kept us laughing.  We've missed several $10,000 moments by not having a camera pointed on her.  Yesterday it was a visit to Goodwill.  We found a backpack that was in great shape but had the name "Amelia" embroidered on it.  It was a LL Bean bag and bigger than most packs we have so we showed it to Laurel anyway. She responded "I don't want a bag with some other name on it."  I agreed, but knowing Katey's fondness for bags and carrying around her toys Tim called her over.  We showed her the bag and she said "that's cute!"  We showed her that it had someone else's name on it and she looked up at us and said:  "I can have a new nickname.  When I am wearing this backpack, you can call me Amelia."  Too funny.  We are still laughing.

Update on life and some time away

Tim's Mom has had some health issues over the last couple of months that led us to decide that we could not travel far for vacation this year.  She has stabilized somewhat and Tim has hired some extra help so we decided that we could safely go to St Louis for a couple of days (its a 3.5 hour trip).  She did fine while we were away and we had a great time.  We all needed a little "fun" time.  We visited (in order of enjoyment) The City Museum, the Zoo, the Arch, and the Science Center.  We loved the zoo (and spent NO Money!), but it was really hot and that made the kids rank it lower.  Laurel said an 80 degree day would place it at the top of her list :).  The city museum was super cool.  Museum, hmm, not so much.  I'd call it a giant playplace for adults and school age kids (a parent's nightmare for toddlers).  Although it does show you truly can recycle anything so in that sense it was educational.  The science center was okay, (see it since its mostly free if you have time to kill) but our kids would not want to go back.  We've seen better.  Here are some pics from our getaway (lots of them):

Appropriate to study arches in St Louis (at the Science Center)

Petting the Stingray at the Zoo

Petting the Shark

Loving the Carousel - she rode 5 times while it was free in the first hour

Which one is a the Monkey?

Seeing the Elephants- Yes everyone was miserable and hot by this point!

His nickname is "Mr. Personality"- We agreed.

We decided the only way to make it through was to be wet!  Three of the four took us up on our suggestion.  Carter was first to get cool.

The arch

At the top

Completed the Junior Ranger activities and got badges.  Carter loved that!

Can you play "where's waldo" and find three kids?

Going up

They are all going to do it!

My baby, suspended six stories high

Preparing for a family slide- I missed the "action" shot

"I just slid down 10 stories!!!"

"I am going again!!"

Love it!!

Even the grown ups found this really fun

Figuring out laying sideways makes you go faster!

Exploring the caves area

She loved the oversized ball pit

Going up again before heading home!

A little prospective as to just how massive this is.  (Photo from google images)

The best St Louis activity we've found thus far!  

Home safe

Tim and Laurel made it home at 2:30 am on Tuesday morning.  They are trying to adjust to the time zone change and Laurel appears to be adjusting a little more smoothly than Tim :)!

We spent the day yesterday with Mary and took her to the hospital for IV fluids and some testing.  She is stronger today.  She sat up on her own and wanted to stay out in the living room instead of going to bed after lunch today.

On the last flight

They are currently flying the last leg of the trip from Chicago to Nashville.  They will then take a shuttle to Murray State and my Dad will pick them up and bring them to the house.  Papa and Nana didn't want the littlest one to have to get up early and not be able to get back to sleep.  From talking to them earlier in the day I know they are worn out.  I have PJs ready and expect them to fall into bed immediately upon arrival.

Tim's Mom ate less today than yesterday.  I am continuing to hold out hope for the medication.  Planning to try to connect with home health tomorrow.

Coming home

They are scheduled to leave at 3 am my time and arrive around midnight tomorrow night. They are tired and Laurel has been out of clean clothes for the last day or so. I think they are both dreading the flight but looking forward to being home. Kind of funny that it didn't dawn on me until today that somehow they have to get home from Murray State after they arrive by shuttle at around 3 am. I probably won't be able to sleep anyway. It will be interesting to see how happy the rest of the crew will be to venture out in the middle of the night. Pray for safe travel as well as for Tim's mom who has not been doing well for the last few days.

More pics from Korea

They are still having a great time as they wind up their trip.  They leave Daegu for Seoul tomorrow.  They will spend a few days there and then head home.  They've made masks, attended a festival, eaten some really good food, and more.  I will let them share lots of details when they get home.   Laurel is consuming all drinks, gum, and candy in mass quantities.  Frequent access to vending machines has caused her to go wild.  Tim is letting her break all the "rules" during the trip. 

Grilling Dinner

Laurel and Tim are continuing their adventure.  Laurel is struggling a little with allergies, but thankfully we packed medicine and she is doing fine with some antihistamines in her system.  They've gone to a spa (which helped Laurel's allergies), completed more classes on culture, visited a museum and some temples, and finished their mask making projects.  We skyped them into our small group meeting last night and let them say hello. Monday night they enjoyed some yummy pork.  Here is Tim cooking it up:

Pics from South Korea

Pics sent from South Korea to share!  Below you will see Laurel at the meeting with the University President, Laurel in their room, pics from their luncheon (including the dish Laurel liked), the tea ceremony, and finally a shot of a street in Daegu.  Things are still going well for them.  The other kids, dog, and I had a great time camping overnight at Hillman Ferry last night.  So everyone is enjoying our school break!