Daddy's home!!!

People welcoming them home.
Very nice!

The plane that brought them back.

Iceland

The boys watching TV with daddy.

Finn-Finn giving Daddy a kiss.

A hand-carved mask made from ebony wood.

Gifts for the boys- a tiger, turtle,
and elephant carved from ebony wood.

Little hear no, see no, speak no evil monkeys.

A larger version.

African jumpwings
The foreign jumpwings Sean earned.

Yay! We are so glad daddy is home!! It's been a long month...

more Africa pics

Not sure what they are doing here, but Sean is in the last three pictures. (He's on the left in all of them.)

Africa jump

I believe one of these guys is the president of Mali.

Landing in a nice lava rock field.
Optimal jump zone, no doubt...

General Haas, the Special Operations Commander
in charge of Africa.

African Soldiers

I'll do my best describing these pictures, I'll know more when Sean gets home...

Here are some pictures of the closing jump ceremony in Africa. Sean was in charge of putting this on. Sean was a jumpmaster for the ceremony and spotted a mistake BG Haas made while hooking in his static line before his jump. Sean said the BG had a great time and gave him a coin, he also told Sean that it was one of the most professionally run jumps he had been on. Luckily no one got hurt on the jump, Sean was worried about this jump because they were jumping into either an iron ore or lava rock jump zone. Sean did bump his head pretty hard, they were concerned about a mild concussion, and got a bad bruise on his hip from the jump.

Overall, it sounds like he rocked it!

red rock canyon

At the start of our hike.
Same background as our Christmas card this year.

Throwing rocks in the water.
Something I remember doing with my own grandpa.

We had a little mud incident...

Brothers exploring the great wide open.

What good is a little boy without mud and sticks??

Love the views!

This rock was mined in the late 1800's. They
used the stone for construction in COS and Denver.

hiking

Taking a break by a little cave.

Grandma and Cullen checking out the soot from an old fire in the cave.

Another great view from the hike.

Hiking wears you out!

After 2 hours of hiking, the boys were worn out!

Nice view of Pikes Peak. The Manitou Incline is the line
on the right side of the picture. (Can just see the end of the incline.)

We took a nice hike at Red Rock Canyon, when my parents were in town. I love where we live, we love going on hikes... the scenery is amazing. We picked a perfect day for it too, a cool breeze and not a cloud in the sky.

preschool graduation

Getting ready to go to the graduation.

With my boys.

What a big guy.

Singing I'm a Little Tea Pot

Cullen's class 2009-2010

Mrs. Titus giving Cullen his diploma.

One more year of preschool to go...

Cullen "graduated" from preschool Wednesday. He did a good job singing all his songs; and for all the programs, etc, Cullen is always in the front row. :) I know that's a good sign and I'll take what I can get with that one! After graduation we let him pick out a place to eat lunch, so we had McDonalds... is there any place else?? :) Grandma and Grandpa were in town and let him pick out some t-ball cleats and a t-ball bat for his graduation present. :) (He had is first t-ball practice Tuesday.) He was in heaven!

planting

Dad digging a hole for the Linden Tree.

The lilac bush

The Linden tree is set.

Our little cherry tree.
Hopefully we'll have some cherries for
homemade cherry pies in 3 years!!

Blowing bubbles with grandma.

Cullen's sunflowers he planted at school are doing well.
I can finally see some oregano, but no parsley or basil...
not sure they are going to make it!

My poor dad, everytime he visits I have him do some kind of project (constructing and hanging my kitchen window cornice board, hanging cabinets in the garage, and now digging holes and planting trees). He even taught me how to prune the trees. This visit was no different... But our backyard finally looks like a backyard now! We still have work to do, but the trees are an awesome addition. Thank you Dad!! :)