An Evening to Ourselves...

Dan's mom is in town and graciously offered to keep Zeke and Kaiyah for us to go and spend a night away in a nearby hotel. Dan's sister and brother-in-law also gave us a new lens for Christmas and we had a lot of fun playing with it. We had a very good time and here are a few pictures. To see more, click here.

Rainforest Cafe...

Renee is here for a visit and today we decided to venture over to a mall we've never been to and eat at the RainForest Cafe! We had a great time! The mall was really nice, and they had beautiful "New Year's" decorations up (we would call them Christmas decorations!). The RainForest Cafe was so fun! The first time the lightening flashed, thunder roared and the animals went off Zeke was trembling. But, he soon warmed up to all the fun. Here are some pictures of our day!

Merry Christmas!

We meant to post our Christmas card a few days ago, but forgot. Here it is. Merry Christmas!

Christmas fun!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas yesterday and wanted to share a little of it with you. We got up and ate cinnamon rolls, read the Christmas story, opened gifts, and played with the gifts. Then, about noon, some friends came over and we ate beef brisket and all the fixings, followed by red-and-green velvet cake, pumpkin roll, and peanut butter chocolate squares. We also managed to get a little card playing in. It was a fun day. While we got to talk briefly with our families in the states and miss them greatly, we are extremely grateful for our children and for our friends on this side of the world. Here are a few pictures from our day.
Zeke exploring his stocking.
Kaiyah liked what was in hers, too.
Zeke opening a present. It's a parking garage!
Kaiyah opening presents, with a little help. She loved playing with the paper. (-:
Reading a new book from Uncle Fred and Aunt Jennifer.
Zeke looking for "the mouse that's about the house."
Playing cards.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Christmas is upon us and we're very excited! We have a thing at our friends' house the next couple of days, so we made some Christmas cookies to take. We even selfishly did all the decorating ourselves while Zeke and Kaiyah were napping. We had a lot of fun and were happy with the results.

O Christmas Tree...

Well, we've decorated for Christmas. Tami likes to get into the holiday spirit as early as possible, so two nights ago, we put on some Christmas music, dug out our tree, and had a holly jolly time decorating. It was fun this year because Zeke has gotten old enough to help hang the ornaments on the tree. He didn't, however, understand that they didn't all have to go on the same branch. Here are a few pictures from our evening.

Zeke putting on an ornament.

Another angle.

Zeke picking up an ornament after his branch wouldn't hold anymore.

A closeup of Zeke's branch.

The finished product.

Fall!!!

I, Tami, LOVE this time of year. Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday. I love the fall because it means Christmas is almost here! I love the weather, I love the clothes, I love the food (minus pumpkin pie that is), I love the feel of family that this season has! The other day Dan made some Chai Latte like they serve at Starbucks and I made some pumpkin muffins. Umm, umm good. That really started getting me in the mood of the season! Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying your fall season as much as I am. Here are a few pictures from our fall! You won't see any fall leaves from these pics though. Alas . . .

Grandma and Gran'dad!!!

Well, we had an exciting couple of weeks with Tami's parents, including a week in another country, visiting Tami's brother and his family, as well as two nights in a hospital. Thanks to all those who knew about Ron's illness and were praying for him. He's much better now and they headed home in high spirits. We were sad to see them go, though. Zeke said it best, "Granma no go bye bye. Grandad no go plane." Here are a few pictures from their trip. For more follow these links:

Dan and Tami's Home

Jeff and Becky's Home

Three Wonderful Years!!!

We got married 3 years ago October 15, and it's been the best three years of my life. Tami is the most magnificent woman with which I could have ever shared my life. No one else I know could do all that she does and still be happily married to me. She's a wonderful wife, a great mother of two and a very hard worker. She works hard at our church, she's learning a new language (soon to be learning a second new language), she keeps the house neat, and much much more.

Baby, you are the embodiment of a biblical and perfect wife. I love you more than words can express and I hope for many many more great years together.

Funnel Cake...

Yet another food post from the Shackelford family, but we just had to share. Dan woke with the idea of having beignets for breakfast, but after looking up a recipe that called for yeast and four hours in the refrigerator, we decided to try out a funnel cake recipe we found the other day. It was wonderful, even for breakfast!

Mixing the batter.

The funnel.

Putting it in the pan.

Cooking.

The finished product.

Double Stroller!!!

A few months ago, Tami met a very nice lady and her sister who gave us a double stroller that they didn't have use for anymore. We'd kept it in storage until today, when we decided get it out, clean it up and take it out for a spin. And it was quite a spin.

There is a religious festival here this month and every night about 8 p.m. they have a special meal. We decided to go with some friends of ours to one of the touristy areas in our city to eat. We got Zeke and Kaiyah in the stroller, and they were very cute, and it was easy to push around.

We got out to the place around 6:30 and found a restaurant with a spare table (there weren't many).

Kaiyah slept in the back of the stroller for awhile.

Eventually our food came and we waited for the time to eat.

It finally did, so we, along with everyone else, started eating. Pardon this next picture. Dan was talking.

After we ate, we walked around a little and ate some cotton candy and other sweet stuff.

A while later, we headed home. Tami was holding Kaiyah, so one of Zeke's friends got to ride in the stroller with him. They were both full of sugar and had a lot of fun the whole way home.

Unfortunately, sometime during the night, the rubber came off of one of the back tires. We couldn't find that one. As we were headed home, the other one came off and we managed to save it. The back of it was already being propped up with a stretch cord, so it's looking like the first adventure in the double stroller will be its last. Alas!

Lots of Public Transport...

We've talked about all the different transport in our city so here are a few pictures of some we were on today. It starts like this:

First, we needed to take Zeke to preschool, so we all piled on a mini-bus that goes pretty close to the school.

Second, we needed a new adapter cord for our computer, and we had heard of a place on the other side of town with lots of computer stuff, so we hopped on a train to go to the water's edge on our side of town.

Disclaimer: This isn't at all like the train we ride. This was a model outside the train station. The train we ride looks like the tramway (see below) but much older.

Third, we got on a boat to go to the other side where they sell computer cords. We got our cord quickly and were back on a boat in no time. After the boat, we got back on the train to get Zeke. After we got Zeke, we got another mini-bus to come back home. Tami got off at home with the kids.

Fourth, Dan continued on the mini-bus to a larger bus stop, where he boarded a full size city bus in order to go to a dentist to get a tooth fixed.

Fifth, the bus took Dan to a metro where he would ride one stop to get to the dentist's office. He didn't get a picture of the metro, either, but this is it's sign. The metro itself looks kind of like the tramway (see below) but underground.

Sixth, after the dental appointment, Dan walked back to the bus station (because it wasn't really that far) and got on a bus headed in the direction of our apartments. The bus took Dan to a tramway stop, where Dan got on his sixth mode of transport for the day and finally managed to get back. It's good to be home!