And Christmas in Maryland

With Mom and Dad in Ukraine that means my poor brothers and sisters and their families get stuck with me invading their holidays!  This year for Christmas I went to Maryland - I haven't celebrated Christmas with these guys since before they moved out there!  I had a great time time - we decorated sugar cookies and gingerbread houses, went duckpin bowling, made lots of goodies (and ate lots of goodies too!) acted out the nativity and played lots and lots of games - an ideal Christmas!!

 I'll admit I felt bad for the poor kitties - maybe too much love??

 The nativity star:

 And Mary with baby Jesus:

 One of the shepherds

 And a wise "man"

 Joseph and Mary (how sweet is this??)

 Treats left for Santa (love the note - it reads:  "FOR SANTA" and then in the bottom right hand corners it says "no one else Dad"... hmmmmm....)

 Showing off some of her Christmas finery

 Look at these beautiful girls!!

 And this handsome guy!

 Just one of the many games that were played

And the girls modelling their new fleece scarves (thanks for the good idea Bonnie and Anna!!)

 And on the way home I got stuck over night in Denver.  The good news is that Brother B and his family live not too far away and they were kind enough to come pick me up and let me spend the night with them (and believe me having experienced a weekend in an airport before, I was truly grateful!!).  The girls Christmas presents from the aunts arrived a little late, so I even got to watch them open them!!  A was kind enough to model her new clothes for me!!

So in a couple of days I got to see 9 of my nieces and nephews!  That was great.  Thanks to the Maryland crew for including me in their festivities and the Colorado crew for rescuing me!!

The hard part... getting back to "real" life tomorrow... not fun...

Thanksgiving at Disneyland!

I'm running more than a little behind these days... I got to spend Thanksgiving with K&L and family and our destination was Disneyland!!  We first drove to Las Vegas and made a quick side trip to Hoover Dam:

 I have to admit I had some movie flashbacks - from the new bridge I was wondering if Megatron from "Transformers" really was hidden behind the massive wall of concrete, from on top of the dam itself I was having a "Fools Rush In" moment...  Anyways, the new bridge is pretty spectacular and the old bridge on the dam itself is pretty impressive!!

 The next morning before heading on to California, we made a quick trip down the strip...

 I don't ever remember being on the strip in Vegas... I was amazed - what an interesting place, but I'm pretty good with that short trip!

The next morning found us at Disneyland!!  It was all decked out for Christmas and was really amazing...

 Of course we eventually got off Main Street and made it on some rides...

 Poor little C didn't get to do much except sleep and ride in the stroller!!

 All the kids got to pose with Mickey

 Honestly, I think I have a picture of this kid doing this same thing, in different cars of course, on just about every trip we've been on!!

 It's a Small World seemed even brighter than I remember!!

 Look at that smiley, cute boy!!

 Hmmm.... who is the older brother and who is the younger brother??

 We spent a second day in California Adventures, my first time there.  Cars Land was awesome - just like the movie, and also totally decked out for Christmas - I loved how the decorations here were all car themed - tires, orange cones, oil cans, air filters, etc - it was really cute!

 We went to a 3-D movie in A Bug's Life land...

 And of course had to buy some mouse ears for everyone!

 The next day we made a quick trip to San Diego to go to Sea World - I still love watching those orcas perform - amazing!!

 The aquariums were great...

 A polar bear

 and a beluga whale

 And we had to stop at the beach before we headed back!!

What a great Thanksgiving - thanks for letting me crash the party guys!!  :)

OOPS!!  And a few more pictures salvaged from my phone... 
 Now what good auntie would let this one slip by...honestly he slept like that for miles and miles and miles!!

 Showing off hats and cars at the burger joint in Las Vegas

 And the family that chicken fights together, stays together!!

Africa Baby!!!

Oh yeah - that's right... I am back home from an absolutely amazing trip to Tanzania!!  And you'd think after spending 40 plus hours in airports and on planes (including an unexpected trip to Twin Falls, Idaho) and taking a lovely hot shower and having a nice soft bed with clean sheets waiting for me that I could sleep.  But alas, a week of convincing my body that 1 am in Salt Lake is 10 am in Tanzania seems to have taken a stronger hold than I expected!  So a couple of the over 700 pictures I've taken during the last 10 or so days!

More to come!!!  But I now feel the urge to go curl up under the covers...

Coincidence or not??

A few years ago I got to go to Peru with these lovely ladies - it was one of my favorite trips.  I know B from work and got to meet her sister C and cousins L and L on this trip and I just had so much fun with them (swedish fish anyone? cards? how many flights can get cancelled during a single trip??!).  I was talking to B today at work and a few things started to fall into place.  If I remember right, we were all single on this trip with few prospects...  at one of the cathedrals in Cusco, a resourceful guide took us to an alcove and introduced us to a patron saint for single women.  I forget who it was and a google search comes up with St. Agatha and St. Catherine and St. Andrew and St. Anne and St. Emily and... and... and... so maybe she was telling us the truth, maybe not.  Anyways, if memory serves, B and L and L all jokingly stepped up to this saint's statue or made remarks about leaving the saint an offering and C and I kind of stepped back.  One of the L's got married not so long after that and B got married a few months ago and just told me today that the other L is engaged and getting married in a few months... and C and I are... not.  

Hmmm.... coincidence or not??

A few more Bogota pics

A few more pictures from Bogotá - I can't help it... they make me smile!!