More than a month ago,
we heard the whole Temus Fam would be in town
to celebrate Thanksgiving together
before their dear founders
head off for Ghana on a self-reliance mission.
We hoped they might be able to fit time into their festivities
to join in the construction of our
annual Christmas Village and our wish came true.
We built it....
and they came!
The theme this year was
"wonders of the world and famous structures."
Those of you who know me well
know that I think little children
are about as wonderful as it gets
so here are our some of our precious wonders.
I'm pretty crazy about their parents too and they are a creative bunch.
Katie and Keith took on recreating the Grand Canyon.
We love Keith's sedimentary striations!
There was lots of discussion about Lava Falls
and since Liz has guided the river,
she was the in-house expert.
She said before you get to Lava,
you see Vulcan's Anvil,
a huge rock of basalt in the river
(the little tootsie roll nub just left of center).
Then you follow the bubble line and stay right or go left
but that big white mass in the center
is a hole the size of a school bus
so don't go straight!
Someone said something about inebriated tubers in the Grand Canyon
and it looks like this poor fella didn't make it upright
through Lava Falls.
Luckily there appears to be someone waiting
to help on
Tequila beach
(bottom left of picture).
The kids houses have a great vantage point above the canyon.
The next wonder was
Mount Everest by Joe and Jessica
with Chuck as consultant.
(He was a consultant on Lava Falls too.)
While it was being constructed I heard names like
Lhotse Face, Khumbu Ice Falls, and the South Col.
I loved the prayer flags. <3
Liz, Cory and boys
made a beautiful rendering of
the Great Pyramid of Giza
and their 2 year-old made the Great Sphinx of Giza
all by himself.
Paul made Brazil's
Christ, the Redeemer
and Alex and Marti added the walking path leading to the statue.
That's it for the wonders of the world,
now we're on to the famous structures.
Alex and Zac,
I guess because they're engineering-minded,
wanted to make the
Leaning Tower of Pisa
but with a twist.
They wanted to try and straighten it up,
hence the gummy bears pulling on the rope.
With Ashley on her mission in D.C.
Zac built the U.S. Capitol Building
in her honor.
We love you, Ashley!
I think that's supposed to be
Zac and Ashley on the toboggan
flying down
Capitol Hill.
Zac added one more thing,
a fire bowl down by the lake
which makes me think a boy/man may be out of scouting
but that doesn't mean scouting is out of the boy/man.
Nice job, Zac.
We had 3 more structures this year.
Sarah's son wanted a fire station
and a fire truck.
I love all the little firemen hanging on.
Katie's daughter built one house with Paul
that's on the rim of the Grand Canyon.
Then she built
and another house with our girlie
a colorful Hansel and Gretel style cottage.
The last house is for our fun Elder Branch
on his mission in New Hampshire.
A little cabin in the woods on a lake.
We love you, Hunter, and all your terrific friends in New England.
Thank you for sharing the most important gift of all.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Thank you for doing your part to
Light the World
because the greatest Wonder of all
was the babe who was born in a manger,
and is the Savior of mankind.
<3
