El Paso Trip: December 11, 2009

It was a gorgeous Friday morning at Fort Bliss. I was refreshed from a very good night's sleep, wide awake at 7:45 ... got dressed and went outside to explore and walk. I took this picture right outside the Annex, building 5020, where I was staying. What a view of those beautiful Franklin mountains!
It was definitely "chilly," in the upper 30's ... but that wonderful sunshine made it quite tolerable.
The Annex is located very near one of the officer neighborhoods, so I strolled along those streets and enjoyed a refreshing walk. I don't have a picture to show you, but each of these houses is marked with a name plate telling you the name of the officer, his/her rank, and his/her special achievements. I walked past the house of the "Commander of the Black Hawks," as well as several different colonels. This is a very pretty neighborhood ... part of the officer "perks" I guess.
I loved seeing the GREEN leaves that were still on some of the trees here. I am ashamed to say that I really don't know the names of many kinds of trees, nor can I identify them. I know we have oak trees in our back yard, and we have some pine trees and a birch out front ... but I am completely unfamiliar with many of the trees that grow in Texas.

Since the children were in school all day Friday, Diana didn't pick me up from the Annex until about noon. We ate lunch and then went to K-Mart to check out a sale on some toys for Christmas ... and soon it was time to pick up Matthew from the bus stop at 2:40.
This is Matthew having a cuddle with Sophie, the family dog. She is a "mix" and I can't remember what Diana told me about her various breeds. She does NOT like strangers, especially if they are MALE. But she loves the children ... and they adore her. Matthew and I played some games together with our Memory cards and then it was time to walk back over to the bus stop and greet Chris and Ems ...
We did a TON of stuff after Emma and Chris came home from school. We made beautiful foam sticker pictures, we played a bunch of different kinds of Checker games, did puzzles, and just played and played.

The kids really had fun with their little $2 puppets (from Michaels ... don't you LOVE that store?). We used the box I shipped the Christmas presents in to kind of make a little puppet theatre. We got out the markers and stickers and ... went to town! Matthew and Emma squeezed inside the box together and put on a brief show ...
Here is Chris holding one of his many Transformers. When Diana asks him what he wants for Christmas he says, "One million Transformers!" He just loves tinkering with them. Unfortunately, not all of them are sturdy or well made ... so they break rather quickly. Christopher has quite a collection of ... pieces of Transformers!

Diana cooked us a really delicious recipe of "Sticky Chicken," which consists of a homemade brown-sugar glaze baked in the oven with skinless chicken breasts, along with some rice. And after dinner, the kids and everyone cuddled up together and watched the first half of Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Fransisco (one of the DVD's I bought them for Christmas) But then it was time for bed ... and Emma and I were headed to the Annex for a sleepover! :)