Visitors from the not as far east

Way back in January of 2010 I posted about a visit from our friends Trevor and Dee. At the time they lived in China and were in the states visiting us for a few days. Here it is almost 2 years later and we got another visit. This time from not so far away. Earlier this year they moved to a more geographically friendly location for visits and now live in Missouri. It's still a bit of a trip for them but it's not a 14 hour flight. Which is a very good thing because, they also had a new addition to their family. They had a little girl named Nyx back in April.

Dee, Trevor, and Nyx (Who does not appreciate them playing with her hat)

They were just in town for two days on their way to Montana for Thanksgiving. We spent the weekend mostly at our home relaxing and catching up. We also went to Liberty park with the kids. Aven loves the swings. It was a bit cold out but it was fun. 

Aven eventually got past being shy with Nyx and gave her a little hug for the camera.

Thanks for visiting Trevor, Dee and Nyx hopefully we'll see you again soon (hopefully sooner than two years from now).

The Warrior

Grace and the squirrel who lives in our neighbor's walnut tree have been at war since we moved in. Grace patrols the backyard and the squirrel jumps from tree to tree and occasionally stops to chirp loudly at the big, lumbering, interloper that is now occupying HIS territory. So, while painting with Aven this morning I decided to give Grace some war paint to make her feel more powerful in her war with the creature who refuses to be caught. I thought she looked tough. When we went to my mom's for dinner, my mom ran from the room yelling "Grace! Grace! . . . Cara, get in here! . . . oh my god!" thinking that Grace had blood smeared all over her face. The paint didn't intimidate the squirrel, but at least it worked on someone.