Home For the Holidays...

We have the best family and extended family of any body I know!  Traveling at Thanksgiving is so hard, (unless you take a full week off) and it's especially hard with little ones.  But thanks to really generous Grandma's and Grandpa's we were able to make it happen this year! 

Lillian made her way right into the cockpit when no one was looking.  Last summer, the flight attendant invited her up, so this flight - she just assumed she was welcome! Lucky for all of us, this pilot was more than welcoming.  He even let her wear his hat.

 Grammy and Opa had a nice casual evening planned for us, and they "resurrected" ALL of our toys from when I was a kid.  I swear they moved the whole basement from Chapel Hill Road for their future grandkids to enjoy in Indianapolis!

Lillian didn't nap on the flight, or in the car from the airport or at Grammy & Opa's.  So after dinner, she began getting a case of the sleepy's.  I carried her to bed around 8:30 Indianapolis time and she fell asleep in my arms before I could even lay her down!

 Grandpa with all 7 grandkids

 Grandma with all 7 grandkids.

And some good snuggles from the Colorado Kerschen Kids:

 My Favorite Men.

 The traditional after dinner hike.

Two hitchhikers.

 Great Grandpa Cooper will be 100 in February.  He drove himself to Lansing for Thanksgiving dinner and took part in the after dinner hike on the golf course.  He makes life look easy even at 99 5/6th's!

 Grandma Kerschen gave each of the kids a new Christmas book.  All the adults had to take a turn reading the stories to Lillian and Jak.

Lillian blessed the crowd by singing "Let It Go".  She knows every line verse for verse and couldn't miss the opportunity to show it off!

A little pj time back at Grammy Kerschens - letting our turkey settle!

Next, we headed to the cabin and a little taste of winter!

 Lillian got to participate in the annual Cooper-Kerschen holiday craft project!

 The kids got to enjoy a little time playing in the snow...

And the men got to enjoy a little hunting...

We all got to escape the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, work and home life and just relax a little.

Then we headed back to Indiana to see Grammy and Opa again.

 We explored downtown Indianapolis a little.

And played with 35 year old toys again!

 We got to the airport in plenty of time for our flight.

And while we were walking on the tarmac to board the plane, the pilot walked by, squatted down next to Lillian and said, "Would you like to come up and see the cockpit?".  I kid you not, it's like she has a sign on her that says, "I'd like to fly this plane please".

 Then the pilot turns to me and says, "Get your camera out mom, you can take a picture.".  As if I don't have quite a few like this already!  But this was Jak's first opportunity.  God I hope he gets another chance in the future, cause they've come to expect this treatment every flight!

Great trip and great memories - we came home counting our blessings!

Frozen Comes to The Cherry Creek Mall

 The Cherry Creek Mall in Denver is known for having a real live snow globe every Christmas Season to attract visitors - this year the snow globe was themed after the movie "Frozen".  Casey and I figured we better beat the Holiday crowds and enjoy this attraction early in the season!

 I think we made one little girl extremely happy!

We were right, the Snow Globe Santa exhibit wasn't too crowded this time of year.  But the kids play area in the mall was an absolute zoo! The crowds didn't bother these three:

I told Casey after - "I'm so glad we took the kids to see that - But I'm so glad it's over!"  Mall shopping is not for me!

I'm going to be late boss....

 First snowfall of the season = playtime for the Kerschens before work & school.  Who cares that it's -6...the cold never bothered us anyway!

Zoo Trip and Football Viewing with the Bergners

 We met Mia, Zoe and Megi at the zoo today for the last nice fall day.  The weather is supposed to turn drastically tomorrow!

 Lillian loves her new sparkly boots from Aunt Candy! Jak loves the elephant!

 We took a snack break to look at the elephants and bumped into Kara "Hughes" and Vivian.  Kara said "Oh my god, Jak is a mini-Mike!"  And I hear Vivian looks like a mini-Kara.

 There is a big gecko thing sunbathing on the log above, but Lillian has everyone laying on the ground to see if there are any fish in the pond.  There aren't - but that didn't stop them from looking for a solid 5-10 minutes!

 We watched the Bronco game with the Bergners that afternoon.  They sure do have the best toys!

A Couple of Ninja's Tried to Get Us!

Oh wait...it's just Johnny & Layla with the best ninja costumes I've ever seen!  Lillian was so glad Johnny and Layla came to visit for Halloween to "show her the ropes", but ultimately it was Jak that didn't want to quit trick or treating.  His little pumpkin was packed to the brim but he wouldn't let me hold it (let alone touch it!) and he was really upset when we called it quits!

 October brought so many visitors to the Colorado Kerschen bed and breakfast!  Mike and I loved showing off our new house and neighborhood and hosting all of our guests.  We joked that our guest room sheets were going to be worn out by the end of the month.  My parents came out for a weekend, then traveled south to Durango and Ouray for a couple of days before heading back to Denver to overlap with Mary Kay, Cathy, Johnny and Layla. 

 We merged families and cousins and took a nice hike and picnic lunch through White Ranch Open Space Park.

Casey and Rob hosted the whole crew for brunch at her house one morning and we enjoyed exploring the parks of Stapleton.

 Thank God the weather was so nice while they were here. We really enjoyed the visit and can't wait to get the cousins together again in Michigan for Thanksgiving.

 Our outlaws...Cowboy Jak and Lily Get Your Gun...

They had a hard time saying goodbye...glad it's only 4 weeks til we meet again...