Merry Christmas!

It feels like we need to take a break from blogging about our trip to New England to wish you all a very Merry CHRISTmas 2022! We prepared Christmas cards with pictures and a letter, so we wanted to include parts of that on our blog. We are honored that you continue to follow our travels, so pretend you just opened an envelope from a friend.

We have decided that it is impossible to get 4-year-old Carter and 2-year-old Eli to look at the camera and smile at the same time. So this year we have opted for the “snap shots that we took at random times” approach to our Christmas card pictures. Eli is happiest when he is with Grand-dude, and they both looked especially handsome on Halloween when Eli was dressed as “The Beast.” 

Carter loves baking with Gram, and her picture was taken when we had just put the finishing touches on our green eyeball cookies for Halloween. It was also nice that we both happened to be dressed in navy-with-white-polka-dots that day. 

The next part of the Christmas letter included a quick summary of our travel year. If you have been reading the blog, we won't bore you with that part of the letter. 

Our card also included a picture of our adult kids, who smile and look good all the time! Our youngest son, Blake, flew up to spend time with us in Maine. He took us on the most challenging hike of the summer at Baxter State Park. We almost died going up the slippery steep side of Mount Coe, so we’re not sure we’ll ever let him pick the hike again. We enjoy his visits, and we were glad to get to show him the mountains, as well as the coast, on his first visit to Maine. He challenged us with a rigorous day of hiking because he is in great shape. He ran his second half-marathon in April, with his personal best time of 1:34. For those not familiar with long-distance running, that means he ran 13.1 miles in one HOUR and 34 minutes. Denisa’s pretty sure it would take her one DAY and 34 minutes to go that distance.

Luke and Jordan still live near Kansas City, and we love to visit them and our two adorable grandchildren. They are hikers as well, and a 2022 highlight for them was hiking to Machu Picchu in Peru. It was a 46-mile hike spread over 5 days, with camping and meals and a guide provided. It was an awesome adventure, and now that’s on our bucket list too. Carter turned four this spring, and Denisa suggested that a good birthday present would be a baby doll with clothes we could change. Carter thought a moment, and then decided she would rather have a black horse with clothes we could change. So we bought horses, and Denisa sewed a wardrobe of horse clothes. Let’s just say that you’re not going to find any patterns for horse clothes. Eli turned two this fall, and he was climbing stairs and riding a bike way before his time. He wants Grand-dude to do everything with him—sit by him, read him books, swing him, hand him his milk cup. . . He will complain if anyone else tries to do those things when Mark is around. The rest of us don’t mind, because he also prefers that Grand-dude does his diaper changes. 

While we enjoy traveling, we cherish the time we get to spend with our family. We have been hanging out in Oklahoma and Kansas for the last couple months, enjoying holidays and time with loved ones. We wish you the Merriest CHRISTmas and a very Happy New Year!