A Belated Thanksgiving Post

Thanksgiving I decided to take the kids to Wisconsin to see their Mutti and Aunt Ig. It was my first plane ride taking to the two kids without Ed. I had plenty of ammunition for the flight -- snacks, movies, and plenty of toys. The kids handled the trip pretty well even though both kids had a few, but short lived freak outs. After our two hour plane ride to Wisconsin, we arrived in one piece to find Mutti and Aunt Ig waiting for us.

Tate is helping me push the stroller through the airport. By encouraging Tate to help me push the stroller was the only way that I could get him to stay with me and be happy at the same time.




We spent our first night at Aunt Ig's house. The boys loved spending time with Mutti and Ig.

During out first night at Aunt Ig's house, Colt crawled up his first flight to stairs. I was surprised to see that he was able to crawl up the stairs so soon.

Our second day in Wisconsin was filled with visiting the grandparents.

Our first stop was to see Memo.

Then we drove two hours to see Grandma Hanke.

We finally reached Mutti's house later in the day. Then we spent a couple of days hanging out at Mutti's house. Tate loved playing with all of the "new" toys (Ed's mom (ie Mutti) kept most of Ed's old toys and now has them ready for whenever Colt and Tate visit -- it's tons of fun for them. Oh, and some of the toys are so old that they were actually made in the USA -- Can you believe that?). The tractors were the new fascination for Tate. While we were in Wisconsin, Tate said his first lengthy sentence -- "I drive a tractor downstairs" -- So cute!

Not only does Tate love to play with tractors, he also loves to "clean" and play with the various vacuums. Here he is vacuuming Mutti's house.

Aunt Ig drove up from Kenosha for Thanksgiving. The boys had a blast playing with her! Here Tate is tackling Ig. So much fun!

Mutti also brought out the hats for the boys to play with.

I love this picture -- Ig is always great playing with the boys.

During our stay in Wisconsin, Tate helped Mutti and Ig make cookies to send to Ed in Afghanistan.

Tate loved to stir...

and licked the batter (of course)...

Then it was time to roll out the dough for the cookies.

Did Ig get tired??? So...Mutti had to step in (haha)...

Tate played with the roller while Ig cut out the cookies.

Then, it was time to watch them bake.

Then it was time to decorate the cookies. Tate loved pouring on the sugar....

He also loved licking the sugar (He licked the sugar so much that his fingers turned red from the sugar dye).

We also visited a farm during our stay. Tate loved looking at the animals.

Tate wanted to pull the trailer around the place.

Because we would not be at Mutti's house for Christmas, we decided to have Christmas a little early so that everyone could see the kids open their gifts.

Colt's new toy, which Tate has taken over (Tate likes to make everything his right now. Fortunately, Colt doesn't know the difference. One day I'll have to referee the situation).

Tate caught on early and understood where all of the toys were coming from.

The boys had a great time opening gifts

The new toy food was a huge hit. The boys loved to pretend eating the food.

Tate became a little greedy.

Everyone loved playing with Ig!

Here's a few miscellaneous pictures of the boys.

Colt loves to look outside.

We made it back to Virginia. Whew! The flight back was a little more challenging with the boys because they were so tired from the visit. I even told the guy next to me that he wouldn't insult me if he decided to move. Needless to say, he decided to stay seated next to us and braved the flight back to Virginia. Once we were back in Virginia, we recooperated at the house for a few days before we had to start preparing for the next holiday...Christmas....