new year, old friends

Happy New Year!!

We made a last minute decision to spend New Year's in David's hometown of Lake Charles. There were several people he had been wanting to see; and, in addition, Elise really wanted to see Emmy and Pop's house- we hadn't been back there to visit in quite a while, and she couldn't remember our last visit.

I think we crammed as many visits as possible into our short visit. It was great to see everyone!!We were really bad about taking pictures, (although I think Emmy took about 500- will have to snag some of those) but David had a LOT of fun playing with his new FLIP video camera that my parents got him for Christmas.

David was able to see some of his oldest friends - they are such great guys (and girls- Sadie- we love you too!) and it was fun to catch up with everyone. The kids loved Mr. Jace, Mr. Jason, and Dr. Bill. We were also able to visit with David's childhood nanny, Mabel, who he just loves to death, as well as her husband. She was so excited to meet her "babies", and like everyone we saw, thought Bennett looked like a miniature David. We visited with his Godmother, Lynn, his surrogate Grandparents the Stevens, and Jace's parents the Dennisons. All this in 2 days!!

We spent the afternoon at Jason and Jodi's great house...they have three boys, and based on the number of toys, you could tell. Our kids' eyes lit up when they saw the selection, and, of course, they were dying the ride the little four wheelers. This resulted in one of my favorite videos of the trip. (*Don't worry- no Parnells were harmed in the making of this video. And, I promise, the four wheelers go really slow. I am an admittedly over-protective Mom, and was initially totally against letting them ride...but, I came around.)

Listen closely for Bennett's laugh when he crashes. This is SO HIM.

Our girls were pretty brave and tried the four wheelers as well...so I can't leave them out!

Although the last-minuteness (word?) of the trip initially stressed me out, I am really glad I went with the flow and we went. The kids loved seeing where David grew up, and his parents were excited to have us there as well. Lots of generations of Parnells have lived in that house, and I know it was neat for them to have the youngest generation there. We are thankful they were willing to accomodate us and all of our stuff on such short notice!

The kids all crashed on the way home today, and David and I are totally wiped and about to go to bed early- IF David will stop showing me all of his prom pictures and sports awards from the scrapbook he swiped while we were home!!!

Happy 2010!

Nicole