Grandpa's birthday hike

We celebrated Grandpa's birthday by going for a hike up Kennesaw "mountain". Scott makes fun of the classification compared to the Olympics or Cascades, but Grandpa just reminded us that the Eastern mountains still have the big mountain spirit in them; they are just much, much older than those young western mountains and are getting worn down now. Anyway, we had a great time with G and G and Robert's family. We made it all the way up and down without the shuttle bus with all the little kids. We had a family picnic afterwards - outside! in December! with just sweatshirts on. We enjoyed a family dinner with Briant's family, too, that evening at Mil and Fil's. Fun day!

Woo-hoo! 9 states in 8 days!

Whew! We made it! It took us 8 full days, but we're here in Georgia! Sorry the above pictures are really out of order. We'll let you figure out what's what, but we went to Portland to pick up Beth and Jill who so graciously came out to caravan with us. We drove through the mountain passes between Oregon and California and continued south to warm weather! We saw beautiful mountains and stopped at Joshua Tree Natl Park after 3 nights in CA. We thought we'd never get out of that state. We spent the night with Guy and Karen and then the next day with Scott's other aunts and uncles in Phoenix, Joe and Mary and Brent and Marion. We got to visit with cousins one night which was so fun for Jack and Katya. We also played at the park with Louisa and Spencer and family which thrilled Katya and the dogs, too. We went up to see the painted desert and the petrified forest, but they were closed! Merry Christmas! There were hardly any places open for food or gas and NM is not very well populated on I-40, so we had to make a pit stop for Katya and Scott. We made it all the way to Wichita Falls the next night and then on to Robbie and Gene's in Clinton, MS the next night. It was so nice to have the respites of family homes to stay in. We visited with cousins that nice and the next morning. We were able to see Elisa's new home in Jackson which is beautiful. We drove all the way back to GA that night, and I told the kids we wouldn't go anywhere the next day at all. However, we compromised for gelatto for Grandpa's birthday. I didn't hear any complaints. We are so grateful for our safe travel and loving family. The kids and dogs (and adults) did extremely well for such a long trip.

Saying Goodbye

Katya had the greatest preschool in Washington. We will miss it so much. These are pictures from her last day with her teacher and some of her best friends.
Katya and Mrs. Logan share one more hug.

Last pics from Washington

These are some great pictures of the kids taken just before we left our home in Washington.
Jack and his "Buddy".
Crazy Kikko...always the performer.
A couple of artists.
All smiles.