Farewell tour/trip

The first stop on what we dubbed as our "Farewell tour" was Missouri.  We visited with grandmas and some extended family in Lebanon, Missouri.  After about a week we left and spent the night in Kansas City, Missouri with some good friends that Joshua knew really well growing up.  The next morning we traveled to north Minnesota.  We stopped in Iowa at John Wayne's birthplace museum and that was really cool!  The pictures below are of our visit with our previous teammates and their kids.  We really miss them right now.  We basically lived together our first year in Mongolia.  They were our teammates for 3 years in UB.  It was a great time to just spend together on the farm. 

Of course Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Joshua had to bring gifts for the kids!  Matt and Jess received some gifts too.  We just didn't take their pictures.

Claira had a fun time with her tissue paper!

Claira's new book was a hit!

Super cute in her new outfit!

We went to a parade with Matt, Jess, the kids and one of Jess' aunts and uncles.

This was Claira's first parade!

Shortly after the start of the parade it started raining!  It didn't get rained out though.  There were a lot of marching bands, so they took cover until most of the rain had stopped to protect their instruments.

Ezra's blue candy tongue.  He's so cute!

After Sunday fellowship we decided to have a picnic by the lake for dinner!  There was a playground there that Jess and I enjoyed with the kids!

Claira is there you just can't see her face.  

Such a cute little girl and so flexible!

The guys had a day to themselves at the wooden castle park while us girls went thrift store shopping for the day!

Uncle Josh basking in the joy of Claira warming up to him!

Hot afternoon in the pool!

Matt and Jess surprised us with a birthday celebration for Joshua since we were leaving the next morning on his birthday to travel to Wisconsin before on to Wheaton.  

That is whipped cream on Joshua's face put on there by a waitress from behind!

Always a fun time with our really good friends!!

Ezra's new swing set on the farm.  I think daddy is enjoying it too!

Farewell photos with our friends that we consider as part of our family.  Sad saying bye.  But at least we have skype!!

The next post will continue our trip with our travels to Wisconsin on Joshua's birthday.  We stopped at some fun places on our way!  Stay tuned!

Hot Air Balloon Festival in Decatur, Alabama

This was a first time experience for Jennifer.  We got up  early and went to the hot air balloon festival with Joshua's parents in early June.  The Pepsi balloon was the first one to take off (the launch starter).  It was exciting to see the balloons being unloaded and aired up for launch.  Below are some of the fun pictures we were able to take.  Words cannot describe the awesomeness of seeing this for the first time!!  The only thing cooler would've been a ride in one!

People were allowed to walk amongst the balloons and their teams getting them ready to launch and see up close through the whole process. 

Using a gas powered fan to fill the balloon with air to get it to sit up with the basket on the ground.

Houston we have lift off!

Really excited to share this experience together!

 

 Here are just a  few cool views of the different stages of unloading, filling with air, and then launching.

 The sun finally came up and warmed things up for us!

This was Jennifer's favorite balloon!

A unique view that Joshua was able to capture!

6th Anniversary surprise trip

In May Joshua and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary.  This was a surprise destination trip for Jennifer.  Joshua planned the whole weekend and told me what types of clothing I needed to pack.  I knew that we weren't going too far from Huntsville.  I had no idea that we were going to go to Montgomery, Alabama for the weekend.  We stayed at Red Bluff Bed and Breakfast.  The people were so nice and we had really great food.  While we were there 2 other couples newly married that arrived.  While in Montgomery Joshua had some things planned for us to do.

 First stop...the zoo for a picnic lunch!

Little duckies were everywhere!  This monkey got a
little surprise!

 These ducks were in every exhibit and walked where they pleased.

These otter are so cute!

Play time!!!!! 

These tigers were so much fun to watch!  Ducklings kept swimming under the fence and then back to the other side just tease them.

The aviary was really neat!

Then we went to the B&B to check in.  Joshua had a special surprise of roses waiting in our room for me!

This was on the porch.  We were sitting on the swing.

The next day we went into town and ate lunch at Chris'.  This is the famous place that Hank Williams Jr. really like to eat at!  We tried the chili dogs.  They were really yummy!

This is a fountain in the middle of a roundabout near the capitol building.

  

We had some fun at the fine arts museum!

That night we ate at an Italian restaurant.  The food was super yummy!  Our waiter and one of the guys that worked in the kitchen gave us a desert plate for free for our anniversary!  They were super nice guys and it was yummy!

After our very filling Italian dinner we walked over to the river front.  We took a horse and buggy ride around city center, then walked along the river front.  There were a lot of people around.  We were told that there were several proms that weekend.

This mosaic was made out of tiles.  So cool up close!

We are still two kids in love.  Enjoying life together and looking forward to many years more!

We would highly recommend going to Montgomery as a nice place to get away for the weekend.  There are so many more things that we would have loved to do.  It is a very historical place.  If you like history then this would definitely be a great place for you to go! 

Jennifer's 28th Birthday trip!

This post has been long in coming as is the rest that follow in the coming weeks!  Thought that ya'll might like to see what Jennifer decided to do back in April for her birthday.  We opened presents on her birthday after she got home from work and then we went to our fellowship and she worked with the kids, who sang Happy Birthday to her.  On the weekend we went up to Nashville with Russ and Phyllis and went to Jennifer's favorite zoo!  After our afternoon at the zoo we went to Red Lobster for her birthday dinner!  It was scrumptious!!!  :)

Below are some pictures of our favorite exhibits!  Jennifer's favorite is the Meerkats, you can tell by all of the pictures! ;)

Gotta love 'em elephants!

Hey!  Whatya lookin' at?

You may take my picture.

Is that supper I smell?

What is that?

Great times!