June

I've fallen behind again. Several different excuses but I'll spare you and just skip to some summer fun in the month of June. I don't want to overload you, so I'll save July for another post.

We had a busy June spending a large majority of it visiting family. MariCagle and Nate spent a whole 6 sleeps at Grammy and Poppop's without the parental units. They each have attempted this before, but backed out when it was time for us to pull out of the driveway. However, this time no tears were shed at all. (It nearly broke their mama's heart, but it's a good thing I guess.) They spent their week doing all sorts of fun things including swimming at Uncle DJay and Aunt Terri's pool, McDonald's every day for lunch, Chuckie Cheese, going to the movies, playing in the sprinkler and just playing and spending time with Grammy and Poppop. I have to make special note of their trips to McDonald's. As tasty as Mickey D's food is, that was not the draw to the restaurant. During the month of June they featured Kung Fu Panda toys in their happy meals and my kids quickly became obsessed with collecting all the different toys. (This came to be a huge advantage come time for swimming lessons, more on that in my July post). Bottom line...they were spoiled rotten which I guess doesn't make that week any different than any other, but they certainly had a good time. Grammy and Poppop have pictures but I failed to get them from them at our last visit, so you'll have to take my word for all of it. :)

And as if that wasn't enough fun...towards the end of the month we spent about a week and a half going between both sides of the family's homes. We got to spend some quality time with grandparents, great grandparents and aunts and uncles which is always very special. Picturewise, I have some awesome shots of both MariCagle and Nate tubing at Nana and Pa's house. This is was their first tubing excursion and they just love spending time with Nana and Pa on the lake. I have to say these times are especially sentimental for me since we spent a great deal of my childhood on that lake. Lots of memories then and now...check out the tubesters...

First mate Nate. Riding on Pa's boat feeds right into his current pirate fetish.

Cindy went with MariCagle the first time out. A little into the ride MC very sweetly asked what would happen if Cindy just let go and if Cindy thought her mom might let her do it all by herself. And so off she went...

Nate too had some company his first ride. Thanks Aunt Jodie. Aunt Jodie taught him a little lingo too...Cowabunga Dude. But he was also off on his own before we knew it. He was quite the daredevil for a kid who , at the time, couldn't stand the thought of putting his face in the water. When he wasn't going over bumps he tried to make them on his own bouncing up and down.

The kids also enjoyed the slip-and-slide while at Nana and Pa's. It took some warming up to, particularly on Nate's part. Again, he wasn't too fond of water in his face, but quickly got over it and enjoyed dancing up and down the slip-and-slide. Nate also took the name of the water fun literally, he would slide down and on his way back up, would purposely 'slip,' hence the name 'slip-and-slide.' :) MariCagle is always quite the princess, and that didn't change on slip-and-slide. After one slide into the grass and dirt at the end, she was very careful to stop herself short each turn so as to avoid getting dirty.

Notice she has already started slowing herself down at this point. :)

Eeeeww!! Dirt and grass!

Nate was still warming up to the idea at this point. Notice he's over to his right trying to avoid the sprinklers on the left side. You'll be amazed at the progress come July during swim lessons!! I know I am.

And there's still more for June!! Can you believe it?!?! We were lucky enough to celebrate five very special birthdays. Three whose actual birthdays are in June...Happy Birthday Pa, Quinn and Ward!! And a couple that were early celebrations for July...Happy Birthday Cindy and Ryan!!. Everyone loves birthday parties and Nate and MariCagle are no exception. Thanks for letting us celebrate with you guys!

Stay tuned for more of our summer fun! Hugs and kisses to you all!

Some progress?

Here is a clip of Nate on his guitar from a couple of weeks ago. Progress? Maybe...

Disney's Animal Kingdom

We love living in Florida!! We spent the day at Disney's Animal Kingdom with the Tyre clan. It was our first time to the park and we had a great time. Ofcourse, our fun day was largely due to the company, but the park was great too. The kids really enjoyed the animals (including elephants, giraffes, hippos, gorillas, rhinos, turtles, birds, a porcupine, to name a few of the highlights), the parade, the carnival games, the 'safari,' meeting Disney characters and the list just goes on and on. It was a hot day but no one (well maybe Brandon but only to convince us we needed ice cream treats) complained about the heat - there was just too much excitement. Here are a few snapshots from our day. Hope you like them.

We were very excited to start the day! And it was definitely a wild time.


They are a good looking bunch, but you can see right away why it was a wild time!

The kids were very excited to meet all the characters. It was surprisingly easy getting them to pose each time. As you can see, we met Mickey and Goofy, but we also got to take pictures with Rafiki, Pocahontas, Jimminy Cricket and Koda from Brother Bear.

There was a fun play area with dinosaur fossils, slides, waterfalls, footprints, and climbing nets that the kids enjoyed. I think they just loved being able to run around without waiting in line!

At Rafiki's Planet Watch, they had several 'animal encounters' where the kids got to see some of the animals up close and learn about their habitats and other characteristics. (The adults especially appreciated that the 'Conservation Station' was air conditioned.) Here you can see MariCagle petting a Gopher Sea Turtle. It was so much fun seeing how curious they were about the animals and how much they actually paid attention and learned. MariCagle was quick to correct me when I mistook the tortoise for a turtle. She and Ward also loved looking for birds and matching them to the bird watching guide. We just had a great time! Thanks Tyres!

Before I wrap it up, I wanted to list a few things I learned today that I thought were interesting and a little surprising, at least to me....

• Hippopotamuses are nocturnal!
• Tortoises (and turtles too, I assume) can feel it when you touch their shell. The shell actually grows out of their spine and has nerves in it.

So now I can call this blog educational too huh?!? :) Hope everyone has a great week!

P.S. In case you were wondering what we did with our newest member of the family while we were gone all day...Albert had a babysitter. A boy who lives here in the apartment complex checked in on our pup throughout the day. It was a little amusing (to me at least) how worried Brandon was about leaving his baby. But Albert is no worse off for the day and we did have a fabulous time!

MariCagle's Violin Recital

Just over a week ago, MariCagle had her end of the year violin recital at her teacher, Mrs. Cohen's house. She performed two pieces. The first was a special number that she performed with her friend whose practice time is just before hers. Their practices often overlap a little and they get to play together some each week. Mrs. Cohen helped them to come up with a little scheme where they each pretended to have a broken arm, and played one violin together. One held the violin and fingered the strings while the other worked the bow. Everyone got quite a kick out of it especially with their miraculous recoveries to play each of their solo pieces. MariCagle's solo piece was 'Perpetual Motion.' It's a pretty long piece for her, but she still managed to play it from memory. I was especially proud of her handling her mess up at the end. She hung in their until she and Mrs. Cohen were able to get on the same page and then finished the piece gracefully. She truly did great, but you can judge for yourself! Enjoy!

MariCagle and her friend playing 'Aunt Rhody'

MariCagle performing Perpetual Motion

Our Favorite 'Grader'

It was a bittersweet celebration, but we celebrated nonetheless that our little girl is officially a 'grader', i.e. a first grader. She had such a wonderful Kindergarten year...we are incredibly thankful for her super teachers and her wonderful school. It has been a great experience for us all!

The children celebrated their graduation by presenting a reading of Dr. Seuss' 'Oh, The Places You'll Go!' and adorable songs. They received their diplomas in style and celebrated with cake and goodies afterwards. It was a great end to an even greater year.

Below are some clips from the graduation day. My pictures did not turn out well - they were all very dark - maybe one day I will figure out how to deal with lighting issues. Happy Summer everyone!!

The first clip in this video is MariCagle reading her part. She had the last lines of the book. She did a fabulous job! And the second clip in this video is MC receiving her diploma.

This song was my favorite, though it's really hard to choose. MariCagle is just so animated when she sings. I love it! Her love for singing just shines through.

Here's the one picture I took that turned out. Our baby!!

Happy Birthday Nate....again!

Nate enjoyed his second birthday party at Nana and Pa's over Memorial Day weekend. (I'm a little behind in my postings - sorry.) It was a great weekend because of the party Nana had for him and because of the awesome time we had hanging out with family. It was a real treat having most everyone there, even Grandma and Papa. (We really missed you Cindy and Newman!) Pa's boat was lots of fun with rides on the lake and a little skiing fun for Mom and Dad. And the grown ups had lots of trash-talking fun with Pa's other new toy - the pool table. It was really a fantastic weekend! As I type this, it makes me miss everyone that much more - hugs and kisses to all of you! And we'll have more fun next time we all meet back at the homestead. :)

I guess it was because I was having so much fun that I only got pictures of Nate's party. I always forgot to take it on the boat! I'll do better remembering it next time. Enjoy these of the Natester having pirate fun. He was especially patient as he had to look at all of the big presents wrapped so nicely for a 24 hour period before he was allowed to open them! Aren't we cruel!?!

What child doesn't love blowing out the candles?
Nate certainly doesn't shy away from the attention!

Nate got fabulous presents. He is still enjoying everyone of them, especially since we've started our summer break. We are always first to admit that our children are spoiled! Thanks to everyone for the great gifts. Thanks especially to Cindy and Newman for the awesome super soaker. We will certainly bring it back when you're visiting so that you too can enjoy it! :)

I think this shot sums up the weekend nicely. We had such a wonderful time that we were all quite exhausted by the weekend's end. Can't wait until next time! Until then, take care everyone!

Happy Birthday Nate!

Four years ago God delivered us our beautiful son Nate and we celebrated his existence this past weekend! (The first of two birthday parties, this one being held at Grammy and PopPop's, and next weekend we will celebrate again at Nana and Pa's - believe me, he is worth at least two celebrations.) :) It was a pirate party as Nate is THE pirate expert, and thanks to friends and family, he had a fantastic time. Check out the action below.

Here with his homemade Backyardigans birthday cake. That blue icing was mighty tasty!

Argh!
Check out those pirates. There was quite a battle with those foam swords!

Make a wish!