The Adventures of
David
Elizabeth
and Leif

So we’ve been incredibly lazy about blogging lately. Maybe it’s because of Leif (he’s walking), or RIBS (Elizabeth’s other baby!). A lot has happened in the 3 months since the last post. Instead of trying to catch up majorly all at once, I’m going to let Angie tell you about our awesome Christmas in Mexico. At least for now.

I’m going to tell you about a fun trip to visit Pop and Kevin in Townsend, TN in October. Yes, that’s a really long time ago, but it was a blogworthy trip, so here goes!

Pop and Kevin invited us to crash Kevin’s family reunion, so we hopped on a great, comfortable JetBlue flight from NYC to Nashville and drove about 4 hours to Townsend TN. Leif was fine for the flight, but didn’t really approve of the long car ride after that. We got in really late … the next morning, we woke to a beautiful scene …

and Pop and Kevin’s smiling faces!

After a brief period of adjustment to his new surroundings …

… Leif got a chance to warm up to Grandpop.

We spent a lot of time on the porch looking at Mount LaConte in the distance.

While there, Leif made a new friend — Dalton.

“What the heck? We’re surrounded by grownups! Do you have to go to these things all the time?”

“Hey, watch this. I just discovered the glass coffee table over there … ”

Now the grownups are looking!

What trip would be complete without a drive in Pop’s new high-tech car up to low-tech Cade’s Cove?

There was a dramatic sky up over the Smokeys.

Once back at the cabin, we discovered that Leif might be called to be a conductor:

I’ll leave you with a picture of Pop in one of his favorite pastimes — involving amazing displays of cunning and dexterity. And a few smeared flies.

Here are some fun photos of our visit to Atlanta in July 07.

Leif gets quality time with Scott and Dena…

Dena pushing two girls up the hill to the pool…

Can’t go in the pool.

So we play on the playground…

Tickling on the swings

Climbing the wall.

Back at the Friderich house … playing in the giant inflatable thing in the basement.

That was the weekend after the final Harry Potter came out. So the Friderichs, Kovariks and Dishmans had many long sessions of reading to each other. Between reading sessions, there was sleeping.

…and trying to get Tom to … have an “accident” … it didn’t work. (We woke him up trying to put his hand in the warm water)

Peter visited from Mexico.

And we had a great get-together with many old ATL friends.

Did I mention that we had lots of great meals?
.

Overall, a delightful trip!

I just added another day of Toulouse pictures.

Hi Everyone! We’re having a good time relaxing here in Toulouse, France. Tomorrow, we’ll fly a brand new Airbus A320 from the factory in Toulouse to Orlando, FL with a stop in Goose Bay, Nova Scotia. If the winds are bad, we’ll have to stop in Iceland for gas too! (Bjorn, let us know if we should wave to anyone there when we takeoff…) It looks like 10-11 hours of flight time and then we’ll have to get from Orlando back to NYC (another 2+ hour flight) standby. That will be a LONG day!

Our vacation has been good — we’ve gotten a lot of down time. Elizabeth has been gradually beating the chest cold she had and is feeling a little better, although she’s still pretty tired. Thanks for your prayers for her — she has had a tough time, but we’ve had some good time to relax and regroup as a couple after our crazy last two months. We’ve been eating at cafes, walking around town, going to a museum and an old church and just hanging out.

We’ll be back in a couple of days and when I get my equilibrium, I’ll post some pictures!