Italy!

Here are a few highlights from our trip to Italy. I posted more, including inside the vatican museum, on our blog: www.benandmarindashaha.blogspot.com

In front of St. Peter's Basilica
Em finally starting to pull her own weight
Caroline, not as much of a gourmond as she appears to be

Our fancy pants hotel... they served the best breakfast each morning. Em's version of fine dining was a glass of milk and a muffin

The Colosseum



Inside St. Peter's: Michaelangelo's "Pieta" one of the only works he signed.
Em was a real trooper on this trip
Venice!

Demotivational 2

Sorry for the delay, the Internet was down out here for a while, but here is the latest weekly demotivator. Hope all of you enjoy it.

Hailey Jo Shaha

Like the Colonel said, Hailey Jo finally decided to make her debut on the 30th of Nov at 1148. She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and measured 21 3/4 inches. We are all doing well and just grateful to have her here and that she's healthy.

Demotivational

Hey family, I wanted to share something with all of you that I have found very uplifting. That something is demotivational posters. I will post one a week unless told to stop, and here's one that I'm sure will be funny for all (especially Dad). Enjoy.

Thanksgiving spider

Hey guys! Happy Thanksgiving. Just wanted to freak you out a little. This is a real tarantula that my father-in-law Bill has in his office at school. It was really cool to hold. I tried to get it to go on my head but it balked when I nudged her up there. I think my hair was too spiky. Love you guys!

Dave

Marine Corps Ball, Sheraton Hotel, Warsaw

The ball was a lot of fun. Doesn't Marinda look great? The only drawback to the ball was listening the Marines blab about how they're the greatest thing ever. Of course they found a quote from an Army General supporting that theory. (Probably misquoted).

Marinda's Marines

As you can see, Marina was not as interested in the old Marine's stories. (see next photo).

Retired Marine

This guy had some hilarious stories. I ended up talking to him forever. He was an Arabic FAO and has some wild stories from the late 80s. The funniest story was about his former General boss who "had the Pearl of Great Price memorized" and would quote it all the time. He (the general) worked for Franks back in the day. I was dying laughing when he was going on and on about the Pearl of Great Price.

Halloween

We were the rocker family. You can't see my boots or netting stockings. The nose and lip rings were extremely annoying. Halloween is not Natalie's holiday. She did okay at the party until she saw someone in full hockey player gear. It really scared her and we took her home. It started snowing that night and snowed 5 inches that night.

Natalie antics and some great old photos I found of her with Grandma Williams

Natalie insisted on lying in bed with Grandma.

 Once Natalie realized that this yard decoration ghost was not dangerous, she became quite taken with him, requiring him when she went to bed, requiring him to be served food when she was, and periodically asking us to give him hugs and kisses. Not many of our Halloween decorations made it outside this year.