November - Part 2

Our second week in the US we drove down to NC to see our friends there. When we'd visited in August we didn't have time to see Tipton's friend CJ (due to an unscheduled broken arm...) So we made sure to see him on this trip. They picked up right where they left off, as if they'd never been apart. And it actually SNOWED a little while we were at the playground!

We also met up with my friend, Milli, who made good on her promise of having a brand new baby girl for me to hold! The kids were quite taken with Eleri. She is a beautiful baby!

And of course a visit to NC would not be complete without meeting our friend, Jo, at "our Mexican restaurant."

We were able to see our friends, the Killmeyers, several times on this visit. And of course we had to get the annual "kids on the steps" picture... (Mark, Tipton, Karen, Lilli, Leanne)

And then the long drive back to VA. The kids were actually very good in the car. Especially when you consider that a "long" car ride is driving from Malmö to Lund - about 25 minutes. It took us 5 1/2 hours to get from NC to VA. Tipton mostly read his comic books.

Lilli played with the little princess 'action' figures and their accompanying entourage (talking mice, crabs, fish, etc.) that our neighbors (Mike, Patty & Phil) had given to her when we visited with them.

The next day we picked Grandma Suzie up from the airport. Lilli showed her how she can draw pictures of faces.

And of course we went over to Uncle John's on the weekend. Lilli has become quite taken with Roxy, and decided that she wants to be a dog.

When Lilli wasn't tormenting Roxy she was practicing her hand at being a hair stylist. Her cousins Cam and Tru have lots of hair for her to practice on. But only Tru would sit still enough for her to brush his hair.

In school Tipton had been using Swedish money (kronor) to practice his math skills. Dave decided that in preparation for our trip to the US Tipton should learn about American money (dollars.) As an incentive to learn, Tipton would get a little bit of American money every time he did his "money homework." Tipton learned very quickly and was always asking if he could do MORE money homework. He liked getting the money. He liked counting his money. He walked around the house singing "I love money! I love money!" So he was very excited to actually get to BUY something with his money. He chose to spend part of his money on a Mars Mission lego set - "the one with the big bad guy alien ship!" He was very excited to get a receipt that showed his purchase. And he put the big spaceship together all buy himself!

While Tipton put together his legos, Lilli practiced her hair styling skills on cousin Donna.

For dinner that night we had dungeoness crabs. YUMMY! We had missed having crabs when we visted in August (again, I refer to the unscheduled broken arm.) Uncle Bob and cousin Donna came over to eat crabs with us. It was the first time that my Mom (aka Grandma Suzie) had ever eaten crabs. Very fitting to have such a new and delicious meal since it was her birthday. Of course, we had to celebrate with a luscious chocolate cake!

Tipton and Lilli helped Grandma Suzie blow out the candles.