December 2007

Our Christmas break was fantastic! Our good friends from Michigan, the Wiersema's, drove to our house in San Antonio. It was a huge surprise for our children to see John and Tammie Wiersema pull into our driveway and then be reunited with their old playmates Jacob and Anna, and to see their new little girl Brooke. We had such a blast with them!

We are already thinking about what we can do with them next year during the Christmas break. Maybe the Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, Ohio....who knows. During the break we celebrated Christmas, went to Sea World, the Alamo, the Riverwalk and boat tour. We hit the Schlitterbahn waterpark on Galveston Island, saw the rockets and toured the NASA Space Center in Houston, ate wonderful Mexican food at Mamacita's, and again overloaded ourselves at The Rainforest Cafe, and the Aquarium in Houston. We took tours on boats and trains. We celebrated Daniel's 4th birthday. We played. We laughed. We bonded again. We started to wonder why we moved away.

And then it was over....all too quickly and the New Year was upon us. Back to work and back to school.

My favorite pic of us in front of Sea World with the Wiersemas at closing time. What a fun day we had...and I didn't even throw-up on the roller coasters. L-R: Sadie, Jacob, Daniel, Rachel. At the Aquarium restaurant in Houston, Texas. Basically an amusement park-type restaurant with giant fish tanks, and many things to spend money on. Jacob is not happy. A common theme in many of the photos. As you will notice at one time or another one of the children will have a grumpy face. We celebrated Daniel's 4th birthday here.
L-R: Anna, Sadie, Rachel, Jacob, Daniel, Ashley, Thomas
Riding the train at the Aquarium restaurant. A tour thru a glass tunnel where the fish swim above you.
Daniel opening presents. Check out the joy on the face. He was very happy with the 'Transformer' toys.
Daniel as the "Black Spiderman" and muscles to go with it. At NASA Space Center. More of an educational day than a fun day. We were also running in "Tired Mode" by this time. Rachel is the sourpuss in this photo. This is one of the Saturn series rockets. It has been sitting outside for many years, and began to deteriorate. In the past couple of years a full restoration was done and a building was erected around it. It spans 2 football fields.
Uh...Houston we have a problem. "Hey Dad, so this is what the inside of a soccer ball looks like?"
A still life depicting a moon landing and environment. Again having to 'lift' Rachel's spirits a bit.
Amy makes the best cakes....period! But this time a store-bought cake with Superheros on top did the trick!
Thomas posing with his new sport coat. He is so handsome and growing up fast.
Boat ride with the Wiersema's on the River Walk in downtown San Antonio. It was a lovely evening and very pleasant. L-side: Thomas, John, Daniel, Sadie,Jacob. R-Side: Ashley, Tammie w/Brooke, Anne, Aaron, Rachel.
Again...more of an educational day at NASA. Aww..Mom why can't we play on the rockets?
Rachel having to gut out another photo.
Ashley having a brain dead moment. Daddy, having fun with it. Tammie holding Brooke. Christmas morning glory. Thomas was so good ALL year. He was happy with what Santa brought him.
Daniel in his "monster truck" as he likes to call it. All smiles of course.
Do you think she likes the guitar?
You can never have too many Barbies or princess stuff if you're Sadie.
Ashley, smiling 'cuz now she'll have something to do on the long bus trips to soccer games. Shamu puts on a show for us. Quite an amazing animal.
In the Sea World parking lot. Seemed like a good photo op. L-R: Sadie, Thomas, Daniel, Jacob, Rachel
Cool Hand Luke...er.. Cool Hand Ashley!
"Hey Ash, does your seat belt fit you?"
Hooray! New PJ's on Christmas Eve.....now we will look good for photos on Christmas morning. L-R: Ashley holding Brooke, Thomas, Daniel, Rachel, Anna, Sadie, Jacob. The 'Men' in the neighborhood putting lights on our house. What a wonderful thing to do while Daddy was in China. With all the houses decorated and shining brightly the 'Men' decided to band together and do something about that stodgy Parker home. We can't thank them enough! L-R; Chris, Manual, Thomas, Richard, Jim - They are our new best friends. We have great neighbors!
Daniel and Jacob's favorite ride at Sea World. With no line they could ride it over and over and over and over....and we were more than happy to let them!
Hey lady, watch the blow hole! One of the few pics with Amy actually in the shot. Flipper likes a scratch behind the ears!
Underwater Santa at Sea World. L-R: Thomas w/Brooke, Rachel, Anna, Daniel, Sadie, Jacob, Ashley.
Thomas has gone to the birds! I think this one would have sat there all day. Does that pocket logo on his shirt look a bit runny? Hanging out in a super huge bird cage. Sea World BFFL's! Aaron, John and Thomas. (notice John the Michigander in short sleeves) I guess I've already gotten wimpy to the cold. Yes I'm holding up the post. L-R: Ashley, Tammie, Thomas, Aaron Me and Anna. She is such a tender little sweetheart. Gotta get a couple of shots of Thomas playing soccer into this post. His season is over, but he did well. He an aggressive defender and even kicked the winning goal in a shoot-out in one of his games.

Thwap! Way to use your head Thomas! We always knew it was hard.

Going for the Pele-style bicycle soccer kick. Um...yeah right!