Sikorski Saga

Even though Luella had a cookie and Santa seemed jolly, she still screamed when he held her. Even better, when we previewed the picture, she brightened right up, pointed, and said "SANTA!" with a big smile on her face.

Tim's unit held a Christmas Party. One unit fund raiser is voting for stand-ins for elves and Santa. The Battalion Commander was voted in as an elf. He realized too late that he forgot his shorts at home. Luella did not like sitting on Santa's lap. Odd, because her word of the month is "SANTA"! Poor Adam. At least Santa gave her a cuddly teddy bear that says "roar".

For the record, yes, Luella loves eggnog! Luella's first lefse! (It's Norwegian potato bread/ tortilla type thing best with butter and sugar!)

The huge Christmas tree in Union Station with US and Norwegian flags as decorations. The Norwegians , Kyla and Luella, in front of the tree. Tim showing Luella the full scale train model, complete with trolls!

In case you were wondering how much bigger Luella was than Goobers. Kyla giving Luella kisses. Tim bench pressing Luella!

Mom, I don't really remember this white stuff falling from the sky! The first few flakes falling in the morning of Dec 5 th . By the end of the day we got 4 inches of snow! It melted away completely 2 days later.

Yes, the horns hold up her halo!

Even though there's banana up/on her nose, Luella says I'M NOT A MONKEY!!!

This is the Center for National Response. It's right off I-70 in West Virginia. It was part of the interstate, but the tunnel thru the mountain was too difficult for the state to maintain , so they let people train in there. They can make it rain, blow wind up to 40 mph, fires, explosions, all kinds of awesome training. Here's Tim's company at the entrance to the tunnel. Tim was playing Army while we were hosting Ginger before her big move. Tim and April Miller - team leaders discussing their missions from the day. Tim and his company commander, MAJ Alex Lovase discussing football, or something. Take cover! They have paintball gun attachments to their weapons so you can see where you got hit. One of the missions was to rappel down this hill... Then wade thru this tunnel for 1/4 mile in icy cold water to get to the objective site... As you can see, it was a really long day. Tim was the commander for this mission. The Soldiers had to traverse thru a collapsed tunnel....

Luella loves giving raspberries to any exposed skin. Luella gets a kiss bye bye from Auntie Ginger. Luella practicing talking to Auntie Ginger on the phone. Ginger, good luck in command in the sandbox! See you April 2009!