Underwater World

Luke's cousin, Bill and his wife, Robin and their 2 kids (Jackson & Charlotte) treated us to Underwater World at the Mall of America. We had a great time with their family - thanks! Audrey loved watching the fish swim over and around us and she also enjoyed watching Jack and Charlie :)

not quite sure what to think

Charlie, Jack & Audrey

haha - I had to put this one in there too...this is right before we had to wake her up to take Luke to the airport, she is a total bed hog!

Daddy's girl

Audrey and her daddy made up for lost time while he was home. She just loved being around him...especially in his big strong arms:) Luke is such a great Dad and was willing to do anything (silly, ridiculous and painful) to get Audrey to smile, needless to say I just loved watching them together and couldn't stop snapping photos!

She wanted his tags

swinging is even more fun when Daddy pushes you

'what are you doing Dad?'

'Here, let me help'

Sibley Park

We were able to take Audrey to Sibley Park while Luke was home. The park has been remodeled and looks great! They have a lot more animals and a nice park too. Audrey loved all the animals - especially the ducks...well that's what made her kick her little legs the most anyways ;)

Feeding the billy goat some hay

Checking out the ponies

It's not goodbye...

We had to put Luke on a plane back to Iraq early this morning...of course it was another tearful send off, but we know that the time will go quickly and the next time he's home with us it's for good! Luke and I have talked about what a blessing it's been that somehow being half-way across the world from each other our relationship has grown even stronger. We are just so thankful for the time we had together as a family. I'll post more about the last two weeks, but here's a few pictures from this morning.

Luke's Home!

We are SO happy to have Luke home for his 2 week R&R break. He arrived on Saturday and we spent the night in the cities. It has been so great to have some family time and Audrey is just loving having her daddy home :)

Anxiously awaiting Daddy's arrival at the airport

Toys

I don't really know why I bother to buy Audrey toys. Her favorite things to play with are the remote control, paper, water bottles, and measuring spoons.

Dumping the spoons out all over the floor

They must taste good too

*also notice her front "clump" of hair is still there:)

"oh...hi...were you watchin' me the whole time?"

Playing with the remote on Uncle Jake's lap,

doesn't get much better than that :)