Florida in October

We made a quick, long weekend trip to see Ian's parents outside the Orlando area near Mt. Dora. It was super nice to spend some time with them - especially "Mama", Ian's grandma who is 100+ years old (though you'd never guess it from the photos below.

The Thompson estate...



Nia with her Daddy and Grand-Daddy aka "Pak"


Ian's Grandma :)


Auntie Kay helping Nia perfect her swimming skills...



Ian's grandma. :)

Happy Halloween (posting in December!?!)

Yes.... I'm finally getting around to post again. I've been seriously slacking on the blog - I'm just uninspired in my busy-ness lately, and never feel like getting on the computer outside of work. But since I'm on vacation I'm making an effort to get caught up!







She loved her ladybug costume, and so did I! I didn't think she could be any cuter than in her kitty costume last year, but this was pretty cute, dontcha think? :)

Nia's first pumpkin carving experience

My gosh- she's SUCH a girly girl. She was very hesitant to dig into the pumpkin to clean it out. In the beginning, she'd only use a spoon. But finally, after watching me for a while she got in there! She talked and talked about the experience and it being her first time (she was so excited). And we think our jack-o-lantern turned out great!

Roller Skating is a Blast!

We took Nia roller skating for the first time Saturday. We had so much fun! It's been a long time since I'd skated, but luckily the skill came back to me as well as A LOT of great memories from childhood skate times. I wondered if Nia would get tired of not skating well and of the falls getting to her. But she did great - she didn't want to stop and actually seemed to do pretty well.

Festival Fun

After their performances (see next post), the girls took in the festival fun. That's Maya and Bella behind Nia - more info about their wonderful family in the next post. You can tell they all had a blast. I've never heard so much laughing from these girls!

Olympic Training

Nia had her first gymnastic exhibitions this weekend at one of our suburb's annual festival. She was a little shy the first day during the first few minutes and it was touch and go whether she'd participate, or sit and cry. Fortunately she did buck up and had a great time. We're really proud of her and she's proud of herself too which is a great thing. The smiley girl next to Nia is Bella - her parents, Joe & Yvonne, are among our best friends here. They too went to the Air Force Academy and Yvonne studied engineering just like Ian did. She's out of the AF now and stays busy with her 3 gorgeous girls while Joe flies for Fed Ex with Ian.

Haircut!?!?

Nia and her best friend had a play date yesterday. I should have known better than to trust them when they got quiet alone in Nia's room. At one point their hairdressing play turned in to real hairdressing (!) - note Nia's newly shortened hair in one spot.... They both got in trouble, but I'm trying to remember that this is a rite of passage. On the upside they didn't do what I did with my best friend when I was little - I cut my friend's ponytail off, and she cut one of my braids off! So at least I don't have to cut all of Nia's hair trying to make it look ok like my mom had to do for me.