Thanksgiving

In the morning Stephen went and played American football with some friends. Then after he got back we headed out to a friends for dinner. It was nice to not have to do all the cooking. We did however bake some rolls (Stephen's grandma Hood's recipe) which were a big hit as well as a banana cream pie. It was nice to not be in the kitchen most of the day baking and cooking, but I think because all of that was missing it didn't feel quite like Thanksgiving. It made me realize how much smells tie in to your emotions and memories.

Tournament Pictures

When we were in Italy for the American football tournament my camera didn't take very good pictures. They were all zoomed far out and fuzzy. I guess my camera doesn't take very good action shots. But luckily for us the photographer for the base the tournament was on, came and took some photos of the games. I think Stephen was one of her favorites from our team because he was in most of the pictures. Which is too bad for the other teammates and great for us. Thankfully Stephen didn't get seriously injured in any of the games but you can see, in one of the photos in particularly, he was a little bit crazy. I guess some might call it dedicated or determined.

The Beach

Our last day in Italy we made it to the beach. It wasn't warm enough to get it in but we thought it was still worth the trip, especially since Emerson has never seen the ocean before. Emerson thought that it was pretty cool, as long as you were holding him. The water was a little bit more intimidating when he was closer to it.

Pisa

We got to go to Pisa one of the days that we were in Italy. It was a goregeous day and it made all the whites stones of the leaning tower, baptistry, chapel and cemetary really stand out. The actual area where all the buildings are located is prety small and compacted. It's kinda out of place the way there are these white magnificient buildings surounded by a bunch of street merchants and buildings that don't really match. The leaning tower, as well as the other buildings, are really quite impressive. Emerson was too young to go up the tower but it was still quite the experience to just be near the tower. It's amazing to think that it has survived all these years and hasn't crumbled to the ground.

The Baptistry

The Chapel

The Cemetery

Stephen and teammate Matt

The Balcony

We didn't take many pictures of the hotel as were didn't spend a whole lot of time in the hotel room, but I had to get one of Emerson looking out from the balcony. Every day Emerson wanted to go out on the balcony and look out at all the "balls" that lined the walkway. The "balls" were big white round lights that lighted the pathways and Emerson thought they were super cool.

Italy

This past week we spent a couple days in Italy for Stephen's American Football tournament. The first day in Italy there were no games so we we drove to Florence. But by the time we got there it was getting dark and we weren't 100% sure we were parking legally so we didn't see any of the main sights in Florence. Instead stumbled upon a market and enjoyed walking through and looking at the different items for sale.

Emerson in his somewhat shady carseat.

Stephen and Emerson infront of an old church in Florence.

Emerson getting driving lessons from Stephen.

Emerson and the Changing Table

Emerson loves his changing table. He especially likes opening and closing the door on it and the

other night Emerson decided that it would be the perfect place to crawl inside and hang out. As you can tell by the "cheesers" he was very proud of himself.

Emerson's Wellies

With the weather changing and becoming more wet we got out Emerson's wellies that were given to us by one of Stephen's siblings. We put them on to make sure they fit and Emerson loves them. If he sees them he wants to put them on. He likes to go tromping around the play room with them. Yesterday we went outside and of course Emerson chose to wear his wellies. It was so much fun to see him walking around like he could conquer the world because he had his wellies on.

Football

This video is from Stephen's American football game last Saturday against his teams rivals (Support). Stephen's team (OPS) are in the green uniforms. You can pick Stephen out by the festive orange shorts (Saturday was Halloween).

Happy Halloween

We forgot to take pictures of Emerson at the "Trunk or Treat" Saturday night, but these are some of him from Friday in his "BOO" shirt. Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween.