Phew! The longer I wait to update my blog, the harder it is to find the time to sit down and post everything! It's been a busy December with Dani's visit and the 2-week trip to Michigan. Here are the highlights in probably more detail than you could ever want:
Since my last post, I only had 1 1/2 more weeks of work before Christmas break and Dani's visit. My students are all making good progress except the one who is MIA about half the time. We had an EA2 Christmas party on Friday, Dec 11- it was held at an Irish pub restaurant with good Irish food and an open bar. It was funny to meet a couple from Michigan that also met in advanced math classes, played trumpet, and even knew someone Kayle knows from Caledonia High School band. The wife also works for EA2 and the husband works for Microsoft. All in all, talking to them was kind of eerie and, despite all the similarities, I maintain that we are a bit less geeky than they were...
Saturday the 12th was super busy. I went to a girl's brunch at Brenda's house in the morning. Brenda made a delicious breakfast spread and we sat around and talked for a few hours. After, I rushed off to practice Christmas carols and go caroling with my youth group girls at a senior center. I was very nervous that we might not have enough singers, but, with 10-12 of us, everything went smoothly and the seniors were rocking it out with us by the end. Finally, I finished out the day by meeting Kayle at Jeff and Paula's house for a cookie baking/Christmas party. Kayle went with some other friends earlier in the day. I was exhausted by the time I arrived, but I still enjoyed some chili and yummy Christmas cookies.
On Sunday, I was the primary (1st-5th grade) Sunday school teacher with Kayle helping out in the room too. Then, we came home, made two meals for new moms in our CG, and delivered the meals to their homes in Bellevue. Both said afterward that they enjoyed the chicken picatta with pasta and veggies. At night, I went to a youth group leader's meeting. (Now, can you see why I didn't post earlier?)
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I had CG and youth group respectively. We celebrated Christmas with a big meal together for CG and we saw many faces that have been busy attending to babies lately. We also surprised Kim and Jay, our hosts, with a gift card to a fancy restaurant so they could go on a nice date. In youth group, we studied advent by talking about Christ's second coming and how we anticipate both Christmas and Christ's eternal kingdom at this time of year. We had a good conversation with lots of questions and things to wonder about.
On Thursday Dec. 17, Dani arrived in Seattle! I picked her up from the airport in the late-morning and let her settle in a bit. Then, we went grocery shopping together and made pasties as a surprise for Kayle. On Friday, Dani and I went into Seattle while Kayle was at work. Dani got a massage for her Christmas present (I was supposed to get one at the same time, but one of the massage therapists was sick that day). Meanwhile, I walked to a nearby bookstore and enjoyed a gingerbread latte in the Starbucks next door. Afterward, we headed to Pike's Place market and downtown Seattle where we shopped a little and ate at a lovely Chinese restaurant. We finished by touring the Seattle aquarium, touching the urchins and anemones, staring at the cute seals and otters, and enjoying an octopus presentation. Of course, there were lots of colorful and odd-looking fish too! We took the bus back to Redmond and picked up Kayle from work.
On Saturday, we enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner in downtown Bellevue and went to "Snowflake Lane," an outdoor Christmas celebration at the mall with fake snow and drummers dressed as toy soldiers. On Sunday, we went to church in the morning. While Kayle served in the tech booth, Dani and I went out to breakfast at Denny's. We spent the rest of the day making cookies for our neighbors. We made many, many gingerbread cookies and decorated them all! We also made almond bars, chocolate chip cookies, and cranberry walnut cookies. We delivered them on Monday morning before our flight, and they were much appreciated by our neighbors. Several said that we made their whole day!
On Monday, we began the Michigan chapter of the month by flying home with Dani. We finally made it, after a short delay in Detroit, around midnight Michigan time. In Detroit, we laughed when they announced over the intercom that we would need to take another plane from a different gate because (and I quote) "this plane is broke!". My mom and a bunch of Hinkles met us at the airport. It is so nice to see family again!
I couldn't possibly tell all the adventures of being home in Michigan, because it seems like we saw so many people! We enjoyed several family days with a Maxey celebration and prime rib lunch on Christmas morning, a Hoksbergen family gathering also on Christmas day, and a Hinkle Christmas bash on the 26th. We enjoyed seeing all the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins as well as opening gifts, having a white-elephant exchange, eating many cookies, and playing some board games. I also enjoyed going with my dad to serve food to the homeless one morning and eating lunch at Sam's Joint with my brother, Aaron. The Hinkle household was also quite busy with 3 Burmese foster sisters now (there are now two Esthers and Siang), bringing the total Hinkle family count to 10 if you include the two of us.
Of course, we also saw some high school friends over break. One evening, I went to a girl's night at Bridget's new house. I reminisced with the other 7-8 girls for 7 full hours of non-stop talking. I also visited with Emily J that day by going to see the Princess and the Frog Disney movie in the theater and sleeping over at her house at night. On New Year's Eve, we had a co-ed high school party with about 10 friends at PJ and Lisa's house with board games, Euchre, more Christmas cookies, talking, and watching the ball drop. Our friend, Conall, also stopped by the Hinkle house to visit with us one afternoon. All in all, it was refreshing to catch up on the lives of our friends.
We returned to Seattle on Saturday, Jan 2. With the time change, coming back is physically much easier than heading to Michigan. We left Michigan around 1:30 and arrived at home in Seattle by 6:30. After some quick partial unpacking, we relaxed and went to bed early.
Today we went to church in the morning, including helping out in the booth and in children's ministry. We spent most of the day just catching up on e-mails, doing laundry, and relaxing. It's hard to believe that we need to go back to work tomorrow!
We love you all dearly and can't wait for our next trip to visit!
Angie and Kayle
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