Post-Christmas Happiness

We had a simple, charming Christmas here in East Africa. The Russell family, Tait, her friend Adam and my parents (of course) were here with the 6 of us for Christmas dinner. It was the normal fare: plump chickens standing in for turkey, dressing (with chunks of mango inside), mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, corn casserole, one GIANT fresh fruit salad, banana cake and pumpkin pies with whipped cream. We scored on having the Grandma here to make the pies :-)

I took a nap in the early afternoon on the 26th and slept a deep, drugged kind of sleep. Honestly, I slept like only a mom who has just pulled off a Christmas can sleep :-) But I can't let it go unnoticed that Byron did the lion's share of the cooking. What a guy. He's better at ordering the kids around than I am and they made that mound of potatoes that needed peeling into pretty quick work. After my Boxing Day nap, I got up and made birthday cake because the 26th is Colin's birthday!

Well, I will post another little photo journal some time in the days ahead. For now, here are the babies all together.

Family Time

I'm writing from Watamu, a tropical setting on the Indian Ocean where our family is soaking in some alone time before Jesse and Trevor fly to California on the 16th. We have six nights here to celebrate our 25th anniversary and to send the boys off tanked up on time together. We could go on line at reception and collect mail but we likely won't.

Picture the six of us with sunburnt faces and big smiles. The air and water are both warm. The sound of the rain in the night is wonderful to sleep to.

These are precious days :-)