Christmas Time!

We've had a little time now to let our Christmas travels settle in and marinade while getting over jet lag and trying to catch up with the pace of life once again. Finally we have a little time to update our blog chronicling our latest greatest adventure. 

It's fitting, I suppose, to begin with this photo since this was the first Christmas that Maya showed any sort of recognition about Santa. Here, as anyone who knows Maya will understand, Maya is quite leary while her sister was all for sitting with Santa.

In the airports she was much more agreeable to the idea of looking for Santa in our explorations and even started looking forward to his visit by the time Christmas Eve arrived.

 To the right we have the best of a series of photos of the two girls posing during Mike and Emily's engagement party at Aunt Barbara's house. What can I say--Maya hates sitting for a picture. We had a great time seeing some fam after such a long trip.

Maya and Naila had a great time with their Grandmas. Nini (Nancy) and Maya spent a whole lot of time together. Here they are putting up some Christmas window decorations.

This was Maya's morning ritual. She loved sitting at the bar and waiting with Rosie as Nini prepared her favorite of the day: Pancakes, oatmeal, juice, cereal etc.

Here are Maya and Nini at dinner--they look like twins don't they?

We had a surprise visit from Burke, Tiff, and Sully, and another one from Joe, Kristen, Tess, and Elsa. We were so happy to see everyone. Maya fell right back into it with both Tess and Sully.

Here is Ranger with his girls. On a couple of nights he was the only one who could calm miss Naila. The became good buddies on this trip.

My new favorite picture of Maya. Her long blonde hair juxtaposes nicely with the bindi to show her worldliness which is then tempered by the superman 's' which I'm sure she intended to demonstrate her selflessness in the pursuit of a better world for humankind.

Once again with Sully in Vancouver (thanks Tio and Tia!). We had such a wonderful ski vacation and the kids had a great time hanging out again.

Sully and Maya loved the cabinet of the TV stand, but we're pretty sure it was Naila who introduced them to it.

Upon discovery, she spent the majority of the rest of the trip hiding from us in there. Every once in a while she invited her sister and Sully in.

Booyah! We had a great day on the slopes topped off by a great time at Merlin's--and some fine Canadian brews too!

Another picture of these two having fun in the water.

When it finally started snowing we were having an adventure walking about Blackcomb Village and decided to make our own little Frosty. What a fun night.

Back in Delhi after a wonderful, inspiring and excting trip. Momma and babe too tired to go to bed.  Enough said.

The end of a wonderful summer

Danger practicing his tactic of divide and conquer.

 This is one of my favorite memories of St. Louis. I loved David's patience as Maya made him her own. Maya at first called him something close to "Ranger", then she liked "Dabit" a little better. Finally she settled on "Danger" which Laura and I agreed was the perfect name for this grandparent.

 One of Maya's favorite past times and one of the first times that she has demonstrated creative/imagined play. It was tirelessly fun sharing in her tea parties. Nini was the inspiration and constant playmate for our little Maya in St. Louis and back in Michigan.

Another great moment with David.

 It is always so crushing to say goodbye to loved ones but we were able to enjoy a wonderful afternoon and evening with Grammy, Nini and David just before we left. It was exceptionally calming and loving on the eve of our departure to India.

Here is an example of one of my favorite things about Charlevoix--the hustle and bustle of everyone trying to accomplish the task at hand.

Two of my three.

What a perfect campsite just outside of G-ma's house. 

 This was the capstone of a wonderful day at the beach. We went to dinner and while we were waiting (for quite some time I might add) G-ma took the kids on some adventures.

 Nini is showing Maya how it's done. Or maybe it's the other way around, I can't remember.

 Summertime fun with the cousins on Grandpa's new grill during happy hour at Danger's cabin.

Maya had such a wonderful time with her Manker cousins. Finally accepting that Annie was back in Arizona she, Owen and Isaac became fast friends.

Crazy weather and a hectic spring.

This is Laura on a recent blizzard day at Breckenridge.  This is the run that she destroyed her knee on.  What a day for snowboarding though!
The next day we planted our starter plants and garden!  We used some of our compost and soil from years past.  We're excited for the chance to finally put these babies in a real garden.
Three kids and counting!  We "broke" three ribbons and still have plenty of chances to get some more kids.  Who came up with that craziness anyway?  Thanks to all who joined us for a wonderful time in St. Louis, especially Parker and Steve (the next Carlos Santana?) and Lynn and Bruce, and of course David and Nancy.  Three cheers for all of you.

Our tour of these United States!

Well, school is back on. We reluctantly returned yesterday to school and found that it is not so bad. We realized that we were incredibly fortunate to have had a brilliant Christmas break and that we can deal with a return to our normal lives. Here is a quick recap:

Laura, Guapa, and I drove to St. Louis the day that school let out and arrived around 1:00A.M. We had a wonderful day with the Hinksons and celebrated a slightly early Christmas chatting exchanging some presents, and playing backgammon. We had a delicious dinner prepared by Nancy. The next afternoon it was off to Tampa Bay to begin the cruise. Of course there was bad weather and both of our flights (yes, two different routes for us) were delayed. I was originally supposed to arrive at around 9:30 and ended up getting in at more like 12:30 in the A.M. Laura had beaten me by about an hour. We went to the hotel and slept.

The next day we greeted the Manker Clan and then jumped on the Grandeaur of the Seas! To sum up the cruise ship I'll use 3 words: Food, Family, Fun. It was great to see everyone. My favorite part was snorkeling in Cozumel. Laura taught me how to clear my ears and go deep so we eventually were able to dive 40 feet down and check out the coral reef! It was spectacular even if we saw a venomous sea snake and yucky eels!

After the cruise we returned to St. Louis for a brief visit again before heading to see Archie and the gang in Michigan. At the old homestead we had another brief but fun visit, and I guess it was inevitable, but Archie grew--a lot since I last saw him! He is much more interesting and alert than I remember.

Leaving Michigan was tough as always but this time we had the added bonus of taking Nick with us. Ol' MJ decided to come for New Year's and a visit in Colorado. We blasted through the whole day and on through the night and completed our journey after 18 hours and 1200 miles. We slept for the evening and then drove to the mountains for some skiing and New Year's festivities. Jess was wonderful in putting us up not only for the night, but about 3 days as we skiied and enjoyed ourselves. We went to Breckenridge and Vail.

Finally on the last day of our winter break we went snowshoeing (kind of) in the mountains near Idaho Springs. It was a lot of fun and I think Guapa loved being outside in her mountains again.

Well, I'll have to add all the pictures that we want to accompany this post later.

Back in the LEW!(?)

Laura and I left school on Tuesday and drove straight on through to St. Louis.  We arrived no worse for wear at about 5:30 local time (in the A.M.).  On our journey we saw the beautiful starry night and listened to a book on CD (Ken Follett's sequel--something about time not ending was the title).

We now get to begin learning and sharing family traditions as our parents get to meet and we all enjoy Thanksgiving together.  So far this morning we ran in the Turkey Trot of Kirkwood--Laura won the race, I was 49th in my division (it is the toughest division after all).  I guess Laura has set a tough precedent for herself if she's looking to uphold the tradition.  Now we are making preparations as people begin to arrive.  We made some pies last night, the turkey is getting ready, the kitchen is immaculate, and a cornicopia of food is on the counter.  

In our Annual game of Pre-Turkey Backgammon, I am a little nervous (in a warm up game I was BAckgammoned last night), but I'm sure I can keep it close.

In other traditions and news, Guapa has vanquished all of the squirrels and bunnies from the yard and has also defeated the new and improved (taller) fences!  She chased one squirrel right out of the yard into a neighboring yard jumping through, and later over the new gate--damn!  

I guess I'll sign off with a HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON!

Guapa's got UPS!

Watch in amazement!  This is what Guapa learned to do in St. Louis.  Thanks Nancy and David for teaching her such cool skillz.

Lewis and Clark

We arrived back in St. Louis and Laura took me to a few of the essential stops--we took a tour of the OTHER Brewery (don't worry I'll still tap the Rockies every time!), we looked around Sulard, and saw the first courthouse where Dred Scott began his lawsuit.  Finally we went to the spectacular ARCH.  I didn't realize that there was a whole museum underneath the thing!  With this realization Laura and I also realized that we were out of time in St. Louis--but wait--what did we need to so urgently get home for?  NOTHING!  We stayed an extra day and played at the museums in STL.  Check out our PICS.

Booyah.

Ozarks

Laura and I have now experienced the hills of Missouri and the Ozarks and got to see everything except for our very own inbred dueling banjo show.  It was a wonderful trip even if I felt like we were about to be shot through the back with an arrow.  The floats were wonderful and camping was fun.  Guapa seemed to enjoy it until about 5:00 a.m. when she decided she'd had enough and tore through (literally) our tent in hot pursuit of a squirrel.

  

  

  

Back in Saint LOUIE

Laura and I are re-visiting the Hinkson household after a fun time visiting Grandma and Grandpa Manker in C-ville and enjoyed our visit with Willie Bobo and Jen.  We did it right in Northwest Indiana going out in Bobo's boat and swimming with Guapa in the warmth of the steel plant hotness.

Arriving in Crawfordsville late, we toured Wabash and then crashed for the night.  We woke up in the morning and perfected our golf swings watching Grandpa's home videos from the 40's and 50's.  We ate lunch at Rancho Bravo (thanks G&G!) and then did some lawn work and left for Saint Louie.