From Alaska, With Love(s) and Lesar's

My niece, Shanna and her husband, David are both in the army and stationed in Anchorage, Alaska. They have two little girls and recently, Shanna's sister, April moved in with them, as well. They all came to Minnesota for a visit a few weeks ago, and we were privileged enough to get to see them first...because we were the only ones with a vehicle large enough to hold all of them, and us! Here they are in the back of our van:

Shanna, David, Ja'lyn, Maleah, (in the car seat) and April.

As I looked back there to take the picture, it occurs to me that we have a van full of "Love." That's Shanna and David's last name. ;) We took them all to Olive Garden for lunch, and were joined there by my daughter, Jessica who had just gotten off work. Then, we delivered them to another niece, (Crystal's) house, where they were going to stay for the next 2 1/2 weeks. Crystal and Nate have a pet chinchilla named, "Fumbles." Here's Ja'lyn, meeting her for the first time:

They were soon joined by two more nieces, (Crystal's sisters), Amber and Lacy:

My sweet little grand-niece, Maleah at about 6 1/2 months

Here's Shanna, holding her after her first Minnesota bath

My parents stopped by that night too, to welcome the visitors:

I thought it was cute when my dad reached out and scooped up his great-granddaughter, as she was running by. Ja'lyn seemed to enjoy it, too.

Then my mother picked up Maleah, who was happy for a moment...but then decided she didn't really know these great-grandparents, and wanted her mama back.

At age 3 1/2, Ja'lyn is a wiz at putting puzzles together. She finished this Dora puzzle in less than 10 minutes:

Ta-da!

Four of my beautiful nieces, Crystal, Amber, April and Lacy.

Lacy had bought a harness for the chinchilla, and Ja'lyn got brave and decided to try to hold it.

She got a little scared, and kinda dropped the furry little creature once, but then she picked her back up again.

Exhausted, after their 12 hour flight with their two little girls, Shanna and David take a few moments to relax:

They spent time with a lot of their Minnesota family over the next couple of weeks, and we joined them whenever we could. David had really wanted to bag himself a deer on this trip, so spent a few days at our place. Alas, the deer managed to elude him, but while he wasn't out sitting in a tree, dressed in blaze orange, we got the chance to get to know our nephew-in-law a little better.

Since they were here over Veteran's Day, some of the family got together for lunch at TGI Fridays. They were giving out complimentary meals for military personnel and veterans that day. My daughter, Jessica came with us too, for her lunch.

April, Shanna, David, CJ, and Ja'lyn, deciding what to order

My grandson, CJ and his 2nd cousin, Ja'lyn became very good friend while they were here. Ja'lyn stayed here overnight with him a couple of times, and they had great fun together.

Shanna, holding Maleah, who is holding her new Cabbage Patch baby

Since they were visiting so close to Thanksgiving, we decided to celebrate early. There were about 65 people at my parents' house for this gathering,

Here's a picture taken in the garage, at dinner time.

...including David's mom, sister, nephew and two little brothers who

drove all the way from New Jersey, (27 hours), to see the Love family too. It's a long way from NJ to MN, but not as far as it is to Alaska! His brother, Francis is only 4 years old...and his baby brother is just a little younger than Maleah!

David's mom, Frankie, brother Francis, sister Kristin, (holding his nephew)

Ja'lyn and "Uncle" Francis

The guys, solving the world's problems after dinner...or perhaps they were discussing deer hunting, or cars...or some such thing.

After a wonderful 2 1/2 weeks of visiting with my nieces and nephew-in-law, the time had come to say goodbye. Jessica and I took them down and dropped them off at David's uncle's house. He lives near the airport, and wanted a chance to spend some time with them as well, before sending them off, on their 12 hour flight back home.

One more shot of Shanna and Maleah...with David's uncle in the background. We're thinking he looks a little bit like George Foreman. What do you think?

Shanna, Ja'lyn and Maleah...one more time.

It was so nice to have them around for a couple of weeks, and now that they've returned to "The land of the midnight sun," we'll all miss them very much!