A Tractor Kind of Christmas.

We celebrated Christmas early with Phil's parents at their mountain house this year, and it was possibly the highlight of Luke's year. PopPop has so many motorized toys that Luke thought he had died and gone to heaven. He was SOOOOOO excited. A few days before we left Indy, we told Luke that we were going to go see Grammy and PopPop soon and that he was going to get to drive PopPop's tractor when we got to their house. Well, he has the memory of an elephant and talked about this for days. The morning before we left, this was how he greeted me when I went to get him out of bed:

Me (opening door, walking into his room): "Hey, sweet boy..."
Luke: "Grammy PopPop soon!"
Me: "Yep, we're going to see Grammy and PopPop soon."
Luke: "Ride tractor!"
Me: "Yes, you're going to ride the tractor with PopPop."
Luke: "Two days!!"
Me: "No, now it's only one day. We're going tomorrow!"

He never quite understood the countdown of days, but he understood very well that we were on our way to PopPop's as we made the TEN hour drive on Friday. He must have said "PopPop!!" at least 400 times during the drive and "ride tractor" 300 times. We spent the entire time reassuring him that yes, we were still headed to see PopPop, and yes, he was going to ride the tractor. It was a very long drive.... Once we got to the mountain house, we parked in the garage where the regular riding lawnmower (mowing is another obsession), the John Deere riding mower, and the 4-wheeler live. He was so excited to see them and immediately climbed up on the John Deere. Later as we were unpacking, he disappeared for a few minutes, and we found him out in the garage back on the John Deere. He run down the hall, through the laundry room, and let himself out into the garage. Needless to say, we were vigilant about dead bolting the doors after that. The next day Luke finally got to go for a ride. In typical fashion, he wanted to DRIVE, so PopPop got the John Deere going and let Luke stand in between his legs and steer. They just kept going in circles. It's a wonder PopPop didn't get sick. Later PopPop got out the big, refurbished Massey Ferguson. He drove Luke on the road all the way down the mountain and back up. It was the cutest thing and Luke absolutely loved it. When it was time to put the tractor up, he started to pitch a fit, but we told him that the tractor had to go nigh-night, and he was okay with that. The next day he got to ride on the 4-wheeler once with PopPop and once with Daddy and kept calling it a motorcycle. I guess it does kind of look like a big, fat motorcycle. By this time we had opened Christmas presents and Luke had received some lovely camouflage overalls and a hoodie from PopPop. Perfect 4-wheeler riding attire. We had a great time celebrating Christmas with the whole family (minus JoJo and Brian--boo hoo), but you'd never know to look at our pictures. They are all of Luke on some sort of machine. Oh well. Those are the only pictures he'll care about when he's older anyway.

I wasn't there for this and am wondering if PopPop really let him drive the John Deere out of the garage. Surely not.


He did let him steer, though!
Here is circle #374. And he only turned left, like a true race car driver. If this is a glimpse into his future, I'm in big trouble....


He insisted on "mowing" with this fertilizer thingy.


Overall-ed and 4-wheelin'. Yeehaw!


Headed down the mountain with PopPop.
(Luke absolutely had to have his hoodie up, even though it covered half his face.)


It was a long way down....


And they're back!


Riding the tractor is serious business.
Two hands on the wheel, and get out of my way!

Watching begrudgingly as the tractor goes nigh-night.

Thanks, PopPop and Grammy for making Luke's Christmas so special. He won't soon forget, which means neither will we!!

THAILAND.

One of the perks of Phil's job is that he gets go on international trips every once in a while. This time I got to tag along, and we went to Thailand. What an experience it was...traveling on numerous planes for a total of 32 hours straight, arriving to 90 degree heat and tons of humidity in DECEMBER, smelling and tasting the freshest, most delicious Thai food we've ever had, meeting the people and understanding while the country is called "The Land of Smiles", spending time alone together for the first time since Luke was born, and visiting some of our missionary friends and seeing how God is moving amongst college kids in Bangkok. It was an exhausting trip, but we are so glad we did it. Here are a few pictures of our adventure...


Testing out the rickshaw. It wasn't made for Americans. Phil barely fit.


Bikes, bikes, and more bikes at Thammasat Univeristy.


Photo-op on the side of the road in Phuket.

Beautiful fishing boats on the beach.

Phil's favorite part of the whole trip. The motor bike we rented for 3 days while at the beach.
If it weren't so incredibley cold in Indy right now, he would have left me and taken the bike home instead.

Making memories.

You're So Vain You Probably Think This Blog Is About You...

Luke has a new obsession: looking at pictures of himself.

Almost every time someone is on the computer, he will force his way onto their lap, practically yelling "YUTE! YUTE!" This is his way of saying his name, and we have learned that in this case it means, "I want to see pictures of myself now, and I could care less if you are busy doing something else." Here is a picture of him on Annie's lap during Thanksgiving. He's got her wrapped around his finger, for sure.