A Very Rurka Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a big event on my side of the family (Debra).  It usually falls around the time of my grandma's birthday so my entire Korean side of the family will come together and give thanks.  Since we live on the eastcoast and have two kids, it is getting more and more difficult to travel so we packed up and headed down to Gram's house in Savannah. 

I've been telling everyone how fancy our dinner was. We had stuffed turkey breast and oyster stuffing (YUM) in addition to many, many other delicious food. Crispy green bean casserole anyone ;)?  Gram even broke out the fine silverware and Gavin ate dinner with his great-great grandmother's silver fork and Gram's silver spoon! 

Gram, Gramps, and Brett cooking up a feast in the kitchen

Okay, so this was the day after Thanksgiving but you see what too much turkey does to mother and nursing child.

We wanted to avoid Black Friday at all costs so we decided to go to the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum.  We were surprised to see that they had a display for the 20th Fighter Group!

The Gambler patch (our squadron) has remained the same but you can see the changes made to the 55th and 79th.

Brett and the 77th (Gambler) display

The 55th then ....

The 55th now ...

The 79th then ...

The 79th now ...

The 55th retains some similarity, they are the Shooters; however, how the 79th went from a hypodermic needle to the Tigers, we'll never know. 

On our way home, we decided to stop by the Santee Outlets.  As you can see from the following pictures, it's a popular place on the Saturday afternoon after Black Friday. 

What a ghost town!

There were literally seven stores in the entire mall.  Luckily, it provided for a great place for Gavin to stretch out his restless legs.

We did walk away with some cheap socks so it wasn't a total waste of our time and now we know that we will never be returning to Santee Outlet Mall again!

My friend recently sent a few 'animal' hats from Korea.  Gavin took one look at the tiger hat and wouldn't take it off.  Even when it came time for bed. 

As many of you know, our next door neighbors and best friends recently PCS'd to Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Nevada.  So sad. I'll miss Ryan coming over and ringing our doorbell, having plantsitters whenever we go out of town, the extra goodies Dana would bring over when she made dessert for her office, yelling, "Gavin, share with Ryan.  You're BFF's!", etc, etc, etc.  I could go on and on but most of all I'll miss the constant companionship of another F-16 wife that I got along so well with.  Dana and I weren't good friends because we were neighbors or shared similar lives, we were great friends because, take away everything else, we would have been friends had we randomly met outside of this little Air Force bubble that we live in.  I'll miss you guys and can't wait to see you in Vegas!!! 

Steve's fini-flight.  Can you believe this is the only picture we have together???!!!

The boys last morning together

Ryan was hiding under the covers in this last picture so I made a close-up of Gavin and Andrew. I think they are starting to look more alike, no?

Smile!

I think it's impossible to look at this picture and not smile.

We've had houseguests the past week.  Our good friends and neighbors, the Atkinsons, will be PCS'ing (moving for non-military people) to Nellis AFB next week.  They were able to find great renters but had to move out of their home so what better idea is it than to move into your next door neighbors' house?  The boys are having a blast and I love having the company around while Brett is TDY (traveling for work for non-military people).  Here are a few pictures of the boys from the past week.

This was the easiest 'babysitting' ever.  We threw the boys in the tub, closed the shower curtain, and let them run amuck while we sat in the bathroom and chatted.

Here Gavin and Ryan are playing on the stairs, something I don't necessarily condone but cute, nonetheless (that looks weird, but I looked it up and it's one word).  These photos are of me telling the boys to pretend to go "night night".  Of course Gavin had to throw his thumb in his mouth.  ARGH!

The boys love playing on the slide in Gavin's room.  They find all kinds of different ways to slide down. 

Gavin and Andrew often fall asleep on the way home from Trinity's PMO program.  Yes, Gavin has price tags on the inside bill of his hat.  I had just purchased it and he loves hats and had to wear it when he saw it. 

I love this picture of Gavin.  He looks like a little boy!  Gavin had just thrown a ball milliseconds before this picture had been taken.  I'll have to get video of him throwing a ball because he winds up like a major league baseball pitcher and the ball goes straight.  It's crazy.  Maybe we have a future baseball player on our hands...

Here is a picture I took of Andrew:

And Gavin took this one:

I like Gavin's better!

Okay, so here it is.  Video of Andrew walking.  It's been 14 days since he took his first step and he now walks more than he crawls!

Videos - Finally!

At the Roundhouse Train Museum in Savannah. Gavin loves trains!


At the playground.


Gavin and Andrew dancing to Brett's techno.

Dancing machine!

Their personalities are fairly apparent in this video : Andrew being wild and Gavin reading a book.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Look who's walking!!! (and more!)

On November 5th Andrew took his first steps 9 days after turning 9 months old! The following photographs aren't pictures of his first steps but were taken on the day of this major milestone.

Andrew continues to be a happy, happy baby. Some of the things he is doing now:

Eats table foods (LOVES table foods)

Repeats sounds

Follows Gavin around the house

Entertains himself easily

Goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up anywhere from 6:30am - 7:30am

Drinks from a sippy cup

Waves

Shakes hands

Loves to bury his face into stuffed animals

&

LOVES to dance!!!

A few pictures of the boys outside. Gavin loves to push Andrew in his stroller!

The boys eating breakfast (Gavin eating Andrew's breakfast!) before church in their Sunday best.

The boys sitting by the fireplace before bed.

Since Brett is TDY to Nellis AFB, we packed up and headed down to Gram and Gramp's house in Savannah. The following pictures are from the past few days spent with them!

Gavin, Gram, and Gramps went to the Savannah Veteran's Day parade and upon returning home, we found Gavin asleep in Gram's chair!

Andrew makes the funniest faces when he is eating and wants more food. I call it the 'duck' face ...

Gram bought Gavin his own Diego potty seat but he decided to wear it as a hat instead. Don't worry, it was unused when we took this picture. He has since taken a #2 using the seat and will no longer be allowed to walk around the house wearing it as a hat!

These are just a couple pictures of Andrew...

Gavin is such an organized little boy. Here he is 'playing' with his cars by lining them up on the rug.

Andrew sprouted his first tooth on October 16th and it's finally visible enough to take a picture of it!

Gavin loves to be wrapped in a towel after taking a shower. He also loves to pose for photographs.

Outside the Tybee Island Marina Center

Gram and Gavin playing at the Roadhouse Train Museum

The latest photographs taken by our budding photographer, Gavin:

Andrew's 9 month check-up:

Weight: 19lbs 12oz 10%
Length: 29 1/4" 75%
Head: 17 1/2" 10%