I landed in Denver, and right away, boarded a plane for Minnesota
(for Hannah's graduation) with K, B, & C!
C sat with me! (oh, and the SF came too)
C at Aunt Han's house... balloons!
Han's commencement ceremony.
We think that she was the ONLY redheaded graduate!
C slept right through the commencement service,
(even though the speaker, MN senator, Amy Klobuchar, was interesting)
She woke up just in time to enjoy climbing (and sitting) on the emptied bleachers!
the day after graduation, the "sisters" (K, B & H) wanted to go to the "mall of America" (H & M, anyone?) C and I went along, but we were NOT interested in shopping, instead, we rode the rides!
"grr".. C on the lion!
C discovered a whole NEW world!
I was struck by how safe she felt, exploring everything,
because she KNEW that I was right behind her...
kinda like my relationship with Jesus as I travel the world
building with legos... (she's BRILLIANT)
After Han's graduation, we packed up all her stuff and headed for beautiful Colorado!
When we arrived, the kids took me on a trip to the mountains for my birthday
and to celebrate Mother's Day for both Katrina and I.
and to celebrate Mother's Day for both Katrina and I.
Here's a pic of my eldest, beautiful, daughter.. with her little carbon copies...
my favorite 3 - (almost 4) - year old PERSON!
J, your Grandma loves you sooo ...
Here is Mick's (that would be Grandpa's) stream.. we sure missed him and Miguel!!
After the mountains, it was time to head to the Y campus and teach for a week.
I was so happy to teach the KIDS of the Crossroads students too!
Here I am leading an activity of team building in the Foundations School.
Team Building Activities with the CDTS students
After teaching, we all helped Bekah move to her new apartment (Well, Corban, David and Hannah moved things... Katrina & I opened boxes!)
The sistas!
Then!!! Han and I had the JOY of watching J & C for 5 days!!!!
Fun at the mall on a rainy day
C!
when the weather warmed up, we went to the ZOO!
(Colorado touts the highest altitude zoo in the WORLD!.. and one of the coolest)
C fearlessly feeds the giraffes...
J and I opted to pet the baby giraffe
I love this boy!
C and Han petting a baby wallabie!
a bird flew right to J's arm and ate from the seed stick he was holding!
the grizzly bears did tricks for us!
On other days...
Aunt Hannah played LOTS with J&C, while Grandma had meetings...
Making a card for mom and dad.. they were out of town
My kitchen helpers making hotcakes together...
Making freshly squeezed OJ!
We ended the week at Chuck E. Cheese.. C loved the horse!
J, (with a bit of help from Grandma, the amazing duck shooter, and ticket earner...),
won over 100 tickets and got a rocket launcher :-) The SF is gonna like that!
J & Han playing air hockey (he won, I think!)
It was sooo hard to say, 'goodbye' to the kids, but we did it...
(but, it was a little easier knowing they were going to Grammy & Poppa's & Aunty Em's)
then!...
Han and I left for NY. We sure missed Mick!
Here's the church he grew up in (and their very talented, children's choir!)
We went upstate to see Aunt Missy, Uncle Richie, Grandpa, and the cousins.. We decided to take the train into the city (to avoid NY driving with Aunt Missy!, and to celebrate Hannah's accomplishments - graduate cum laude, and Fulbright scholar!!!) - but we had to RUN to get there on time. Here we are huffing and puffing at the platform...
riding the train with Han...
We walked directly from Grand Central Station to Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art!
Rembrandt's painting of Aristotle almost communicating with a bust of Homer.. held my attention...
(I know, I'm in the way! sorry!)
Han in the Greek and Roman exhibit. We LOVED the Met!
(not enough time to see it all, but it was amazing)
We went on a free tour of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists..
and learned a lot! an early painting of Van Gogh's
Shoes...
After the Met, we walked for blocks with no luck of hailing a cab (it was 6 pm in NYC!)
so, a very kind, very CRAZY, middle eastern driver, picked us up in his Lincoln Town Car, drove through restricted bus lanes, almost mowed down 12 people,
was hilariously funny, and finally... got us safely to Times Square! (yes, ALL of us squeezed in - 5 in the back seat, with Doug in front (good thing too, cuz the rest of us missed seeing most of the near accidents! - remember, I live in Kathmandu! and this guy's driving was scary! but I like him! - Doug wants him to give him driving lessons. right.)
What a fun night with the fam... Thanx Alberts!
Congrats, Han & Doug!
.
Good bye, Times Square. Good bye, NY. Good bye, Colorado. Good bye USA.
Good bye, Doha airport (in 3 more hours) and soon...
"hello Kathmandu, my Miguel, my Mickey, and that puppy that we still haven't named!"
sigh...Happy... and Grateful... for 28 days.