Back in Waterloo

Saturday, Robert came over to Des Moines and picked me up to take me back to Waterloo. He came bright and early so he had some "grandpa time w/the girls.

One of the fun things about being over there is I got to participate in Halloween w/the girls again. Rachel didn't go trick or treating but she stayed at Grandma Mona's to pass out candy.

I went out with the "fairy" and her parents. Isabelle was a little trooper, she went up and down the blocks and was very poliet remembering please and thank you and "Happy Halloween". This year was really fun because she was so into it and was really excited to see the other kids costumes.

Another bonus of this trip was that we got to see Jonah. His Daddy, Justin is now no longer active duty Army. He is on terminal leave which means that he is using what leave he had saved and when the leave is over he will be officially done with the active duty phase of his Army life. It has been a long seven years with two trip to Iraq for him. I know that his wife and children are glad that they don't have that looming in front of them right now. I know that I can breath a sigh of relief on this one. One down two to go!

I love this picture of Jonah and Isabelle. What do you think he is asking her? I think he is asking, "Is this crazy bunch of people really our family? This really wasn't what I requested." I hope that Izzy is telling him that while we may be a little wacky we are pretty lovable and that we really love each other lots. I don't know though, Isabelle looks pretty solomen. I also go to attend Rachel's first concert. She is playing the clarinet. I think the band director had way more guts than I would have, these kids have only been playing together for two months. It was very informal and very basic. I think the point was to show the parents that it doesn't take knowledge of an entire scale, I think they know five notes now, to play a song either as a group or as a band. The did a couple of pieces as a band and also some ensemble pieces.

Rachel participated in the ensemble clarinet piece. For the amount of time playing and all it was fairly good. A lot less squeaking than I anticipated. Their next concert will be after the first of they year. I can't wait to hear that one and see the progress that they have made. It was a great time and I enjoyed every minute of it. I love being around the girls and they are so loving. The hardest thing is coming home. The one bonus is we are only two hours away from Joyce and her family and 30 minutes from Justin and his.One last photo from the trip.