Maryn's First Thanksgiving & Other Autumn Fun

Someone looks mighty proud of her new size 3 (!) Huggies.

She is growing like a weed.

With our beautiful friend Lena on Thanksgiving evening.

Panda!

Rubik's cubes are not generally given enough credit

for being delicious.

Emerging from under the saucer where she had

managed to curl up.

We are so grateful to be sharing the holiday season with our two girls. Maryn seemed to enjoy her first Thanksgiving, partaking in ground ham, mashed potatoes, and some sweet potato casserole. Shortly thereafter, she observed the holiday practice of coming down with a cold - her first since we adopted her, so we can't really complain.

Carlyn has been busy rehearsing not one, not two, but three plays in which she's been cast (at church, school and her acting school). This Thanksgiving weekend, she enthusiastically helped me get the Christmas decorations out of the cubbyhole under the eaves upstairs. This was an early holiday gift, because it meant I didn't have to trudge back and forth 1/3 of the house's length doubled over, shoving boxes. She also stuck with it on the tree decorating for about twice as long as in any previous year and seemed to be interested in the stories about where we got particular ornaments.

Christmas will be doubly festive this year!

A Trip to Montana

It's official: we have not one, but two adventure girls. On October 28th, we left for a 10-day trip to western Montana, where I participated in two book festivals. My mom also came over from the eastern part of the state. What an entourage - ranging in age from 81 years to 7 months! And everyone was a good traveler, including our doll-baby!


There was some suspense. Even before we had departed from Cincinnati, we knew that weather-related delays might cause us to miss our flight from Minneapolis to Missoula. There were no more flights from MSP to Missoula that night and my presentation was the next morning.

When we arrived as MSP, we knew the countdown had begun. Ultimately, we had to abandon our stroller - we waited in the jetway for it as long as we could - then sprinted through the airport toward our next gate. When I heard on the PA system, "Passengers McDonald, this is your final boarding call..." I shrieked, yes shrieked, "We need a cart!" And miraculously, there was a cart. By this point, Carlyn was in tears from the sheer stress of it all. I'm sure we looked like a mess as we came down the aisle of that plane.

The fabulous flight attendant took an immediate shine to Carlyn and let her examine the demo oxygen mask and...get this...invited her to visit the cockpit after the flight. Keep in mind that we're talking about a little girl who is obsessed with aircraft and was planning to be a Cathay Pacific pilot for Halloween.

Upon our arrival in Missoula, she did indeed get to visit the cockpit, to push buttons, try on Captain Spencer's jacket, and - drum roll, please - shut down the plane for the night. She described it as the high point of her trip.

And Miss Maryn did beautifully. She enjoyed meeting Grandma, great aunt and uncle, and a few cousins. And she was a very cute calf for Halloween!

Who would've thought 10 more days in a hotel, just six weeks after our return from China, would go so well. We are truly blessed.