Brian Left Yesterday

We had a fantastic visit!!! We pretty much chilled out "around town" for most of his visit, though on the 6th we had a party for Tristan (he turns 9 on the 27th, but wanted a party with his dad), and from the 8th to the 11th we were down in Garmisch. I took 177 pictures while he was here, but my website only allows for so "few" I had to select the ones that I thought would be of interest for the different people that look.

It was really hard to say goodbye yesterday, much harder than the first time! We all got really used to him being around, now we have to adjust back to life without him. Avery did REALLY well with Brian. She took to him right away! You can see it in the first few pics, they are on his first day here. I think it is because: 1) her siblings were all over him, so she probably thought he must be a cool guy; 2) Before he deployed, we made videos of him reading bedtime stories and I play them for all the kids, so he was not unfamiliar to her; and 3) Brian just scooped her up and acted like he had been here all along. To reinforce the bonding, I went to a website:

http://www.daddydolls.com/

and ordered Avery (and one each for the other kids) a daddy doll. It is something that was started by soldiers wives, check it out, cool products there. On our picture page the one with Brian in Uniform, is the one I took and submitted to be put on the doll. I also ordered him a pillowcase and submitted a good pic of all four kids, I will send it to him for X-Mas. When we get the dolls (about 4-6 weeks) I will take a pic of them with their dolls and put in on the picture page. Okay so now a little commentary about the pictures....

http://www.msnusers.com/PilchFamilyPhotos

-Brian fed Avery her first fruit, pears, his favorite fruit.
-The squirt gun fight pictures are Tristan's birthday party. I had told him that Daddy would not want a bunch of other peoples kids running around on his R&R, so Tristan said "I'll have a grown-up party". So, we made a day of it. We invited our good friends Tina and Eric and went to a fabulous brunch in the morning (about 45-60 min away), came home had a squirt gun fight with some awesome squirt guns, then had a fabulous dinner with shrimp, steak and other stuff. I really think it is the best time I have ever had at a "kids" party! Tristan had a blast too. You will see our friends in the pictures. Oh one more mention of the party, my son's favorite cake is strawberry, so you will notice a pink cake... and yes he did get slightly teased for it... he laughed.
-Brian is teasing Avery on purpose with the french frie
-Sam's muddy back was after a bike ride with Dad...OMG!
-When you get to the pics of Brian in a blue shirt with the kids individually, we are at the airport waiting a bit before "sending him off." Once you see the group hug with Dad, Tristan, Sammi, and Keagan that picture and the rest are our last moments with him before he went through security.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and I hope your day is going well. We miss Daddy terribly, but every day that passes is another one closer to when he will come home to us for good!