Last Thursday, I was at the highest possible point in the maze of the indoor play structure at Jungle Java when Gabbie says "Daddy, poop is coming!" It is amazing how nimble I was at climbing ropes, sliding down slides and going through tunnels with a three year old on my back. We made it to the bathroom just in time! Since then, Niklas and Gabbie have both been going fairly regularly. Hopefully Lukas will soon figure out that he can earn some suckers too!
Ok, so this slide show is dominated by Gabbie. Greta will be the first to tell you that Gabbie gets photographed so often because she is willing and she thinks it's fun. The photos in this shoot that do include the boys, obviously say something about the dynamic between them and their sister. It is becoming very apparent that a leader or boss is developing and there is no reason for anyone to feel sorry for this little girl growing up with two brothers. In fact, I often have to tell Gabbie that she is not the Mother of the family when I catch her yelling "One!, Two!, Three!..." at one of the boys. I can't say we didn't see things developing this way, Gabbie's personality was apparent from the moment she pounded down her first bottle in the NICU. I think she was determined to be the first one to come home from the hospital so she could get a head start on the two little trouble makers that were soon to follow. I don't want to brag, but she is also such a looker. Thank God, what a miracle these kids are!
Last Sunday we arrived back in Michigan from a 2 week hiatus in Lithuania visiting the family. The trip was very nice, despite some of the travel hiccups. It was nice to finally see Lithuania in the winter for the first time (for Greta it had been in excess of 15 years). On the way to Lithuania we were supposed to fly from Detroit to Frankfurt to Prague to Lithuania. We boarded the plane for Detroit on time, but ended up sitting on the runway for a couple of hours which pretty much guaranteed that we were going to miss our connecting flight to Prague. As good fortune would have it, Delta airlines had anticipated our late arrival and had already routed us directly to Lithuania on a different flight. Missing our connecting flight was a blessing in disguise as it eliminated a stop.
The way home, however, was a bit more of an ordeal. Apparently Frankfurt was having the storm of the century. People were cleaning out the grocery stores and stocking up on water as they had not seen such a storm in decades. We flew from Lithuania to Prague with no issue, but ended up delayed for 3 hours before we boarded the plane. After boarding we sat on the runway for another 2 and 1/2 hours before taking off because Frankfurt airport was so overwhelmed by the intense blizzard.
Arriving in Germany, and most certainly missing our connection to the United States, I was surprised to see only a few inches of snow. Apparently, they do no see much in the way of it around there. To make a long story short, we ended up spending the night and extending our journey home to over 40 hours. Needless to say, we are still recovering. Today, we spent the whole day sitting around the house doing absolutely nothing.
What a long, but fun filled Christmas Season this was. It always seems like such a deluge of gifts for the kids with their birthdays being stacked right on top of Christmas. Aside from a few Clark W. Griswold moments on my part, including a flat tire yesterday that my brother and I were unable to change, our 4th Christmas with the triplets was a nice one. We had a really great time getting together at my parent's house with my brother Ben, his wife Emily, their new son Jackson, my sister Sarah, her husband Adam and their new daughter Gianna. I think my mom and dad had a really nice time having all three of us together for the first time in a long time as well as having 5 grand kids in the house.
The Triplets
Jackson Myers
Gianna Licari
Jackson & Gianna
The 5 Grandchildren
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