Fun Runs Team Shafer 2013

I need to give Kelly props for getting into road races while we were stationed in Europe…We had both done sporadic Marathons in the last 18yrs, but Kelly really pushed herself to do half-marathons, 10-milers, and 10km races over the last 18-24months…And she has been doing awesome :)

So fast forward to our short time in North Carolina with getting settled and traveling to see family…She looked at the November / December race calendar & signed us up for the Turkey Trot (10km) & the 12kilometers of Christmas :)

We decided that it's important for the kids to see mommy & daddy doing fitness fun times…iMan now associates races with Bouncy Houses :)

Here are some photos to show what's been happening…

the route

my hero

our team…cheese :)

the local signage..

our reindeer...

Our Crew!

mommy, iMan, and Rudolph...

Santa made an appearance & everyone was all smiles :)

Here are some videos…

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving in Pinehurst, NC includes

…..

FARM time!!  We have some military friends here who own a farm so we were blessed to hang out with them and…this little guy! :)

or as he is called "#56".

the kids had a BLAST running around and we were doubly blessed because the sun came out :)

Yep! That's a tractor with a post digger.

Mommy & sweet Isabella cuddle time!

Not only did we have fun on the farm but there was lots of FOOD!!

The kids had a great time at the "kids" table. They were all lined up so they had a good view of the movie playing!

don't they all look cute? 

We also had lots of FUN!

Wii dance time!!

the girls go head - to - head...

Daddy & Mommy chillin' -- the lil' one belongs to our friends :) Daddy did bust a move, but that's about what it was…busted :)

Isabella was rockin' it!

does it look like someone had chocolate pie?

smiles all the way! It was a fun day!!

Thanks to God & our friends @ Travis Farm* for a Thankful Thursday :) We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

*https://www.facebook.com/pages/Travis-Farm/190761514330360 

Airborne Troopers

Yes, we sometimes work on Saturdays & this was a beautiful one for Team Shafer to get out and enjoy the blue sky with the Airborne Community…

Here's Daddy sharing a little of his work with the kiddos :)

the assembly area

checking equipment

all looks well

iMan is lovin' it

scanning the horizon

what is that? it's so loud

the aircraft

the waiting game...

any jumpers yet

i see them

up in the air-->what a beautiful site!

preparing to land

the Parachute Landing Fall aka PLF:
iMan & Ava-K practice edition

iMan was more dynamic & Ava-K kinda, well the sand was fun :)

iMan holding his risers and checking his parachute aka canopy

iMan controlling his canopy

Here's the complete video version :)

packed up; time to relocate to the car

iGirl's thoughts on the day

the best Daddy day ever!

The last couple months...

have been full to say the least!  Check out some of the happenings...

We got here on a Saturday and the kids started school on a Tuesday!  Then on Friday this happened!  I got a call that Isaac had fallen at the playground.  He split open his chin and had to get stitches.  It was a little traumatic for both of us!  After he got the shots to numb his chin he fell asleep and slept the whole time he was getting stitches…huge praise!  It has healed just fine, thank goodness! It kinda has a little pirate look to it, so he likes it as well...

This is what it feels like our house has looked like the last couple of months!  We had 2 small shipments come out of storage (you can store furniture while you are overseas) and then our HUGE shipment!  This is after unpacking the dishes and the kids had a blast with all the paper.

We had a to be creative in the absence of our toys and art supplies.  Isaac was making costumes out of anything we could come up with…paper towels work great for a mask!

…and old paper works great for arm bands! :)

We have eaten out off & on these last couple of months!  Isaac likes to use old paper towel tubes for telescopes, so this one made it to dinner with us.  We have had a lot of great family bonding time.  Right now, the kiddos love to be attached to me! Can you tell from the photo? :)

The last couple months have involved a lot of treats and "go-with -the-flow moments."

These kiddos have been troopers and we are so proud of them!  They are adjusting well to our new house, community and school.  Having a few cookies here and there helps! :)

Bon Voyage Netherlands!

We know that we have been complete slackers!!  All I know is that it feels like I have been through a million boxes in the last couple of weeks.  I have been SOOO busy getting our house unpacked and in order! 

Anyway, we need to do some backing up to really get caught up! So here we go...

Right before we left the Netherlands we had to have one last ice cream run. There is an awesome ice cream place in the town of Brunssum where the NATO base is.  Here are the kids with their favorite ice creams...Ava is a pistachio fan, Isaac is all about chocolate and sweet Isabella is all about vanilla 99% of the time but this day went with "stashio" too! :)

Last ice cream cheers!

There is a great pond in town too so next it was off to the pond to see the ducks and enjoy some sunny weather!  By the way, the shirt that Ava is wearing is her "lady shirt" and it is her FAVORITE shirt.  Just today she wanted to wear it for the 3rd time this week (and it's only Tuesday!)!

Fun times at the Brunssum pond!
Maybe back tomorrow with another blog post but no promises...