Tea Anyone?

Lily set up this tea party all by herself. Of course I joined her for some yummy onions and cookies!

April's Summer Visit

June 16-June 21: My sister, April and my niece, Cailyn along with their friends Jackie and Emily came to Virginia Beach for a week long visit. It was a WONDERFUL week. I loved every minute I was able to spend with my sister and sweet niece. All the kids played really well together and we jammed in many fun activities. Some of my favorite memories are listed below:

- A week with family!

-The kids playing in the backyard and eating popsicles

-GOING TO A PEARL JAM CONCERT....YAY!

-Watching the kids have a blast at Ocean Breeze Waterpark

-"My Favorite Things" Girls Night (separate pics/post to follow)

-Coldstone Creamery

-Making a water slide out of the slide in our backyard

-The kids enjoying Chuck E. Cheese (Thanks Grammie Shaw)

-Lots of girl talks with Ape

-The kids playing hide-and-seek with Jackie

-An entire week of sunny, hot weather

-Shopping

-Yummy BBQ and margarita's

-The kids playing on the swing set

-Lots of hugs from Cailyn

-All the help from my sister and Jackie

-Meeting Emily...a super sweet little girl

-Walking the boardwalk and playing in the sand

-Watching Em, Lily and Cailyn bond

-Sharing a wonderful week with my sister....I miss you already sis!

Reconnecting

When living here in Virginia Beach the first time, Jeff and I were able to meet some really great friends. Now that we're back, many have moved on to different duty stations. Our good friends, Maritza and Bryan were friends we met the first time around and are now stationed outside New Orleans. Over the years we have stayed in touch and watched their family grow.

Maritza is originally from Virginia Beach and decided to come home this summer with her kids. We were really excited for the opportunity to reconnect and get all the kids together for a visit. On June 16th Maritza brought her gang over to meet the girls. It was really great to meet Elena and see first hand how big (and busy) Nate is. We had a wonderful play date. The kids kept busy with crafts and played outside in the pool while Maritza and I caught up. Lily was so excited to play with Nate and actually rivaled his energy level.
Thanks for coming over to visit Maritza, Ellie and Nate...it felt like no time had passed!! We hope to enjoy a few more visits before you head back south. (And Bryan....Ellie looks JUST LIKE YOU!!)

Father's Day 2008

The girls and I had a great day with Jeff. He actually only had to work for part of the afternoon so we enjoyed some quality time together as a family. Jeff's father's day started out with him sleeping in, a rare and special gift all by itself. Once he woke up the girls were so excited to give him their presents. We went shopping earlier in the week for a few things and Lily made a craft at summer camp. They also helped with the entire wrapping process (what a project that was). Lily picked out some new shirts and a few of the Frog and Todd books to read with Daddy. He said they were his favorites as a child so it will be something special for them to share. Em decided to go with a more traditional gift. She chose the new John Adams novel by David McCullough, as she knows how much her Daddy enjoyed 1776.

We truly had a great morning just lounging around and playing with the girls. Lily and Emma loved all the special attention from Daddy. They have really missed him these last 2 months. In the afternoon we had a birthday party to attend. It was private party hosted at a facility with several bouncing houses and slides. The kids had a blast jumping and sliding with Daddy. Em especially loved the slide and eventually mastered it on her own. All in all, it was a great day with Jeff. Even though he had to sneak off to work during the party, we hopefully were able to show him how much he is loved and missed. Happy Father's Day to you Hon...you're the BEST Daddy to our little girls!

Daddy Day

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful fathers I know. Enjoy your day!

Congratulations Brooke and Josh!

MAY 22, 2008:

Brooke (one of my good friends from UMaine) and her husband, Josh welcomed their second little girl on May 22nd. Here is an email from our friend Abby who saw Brooke at the hospital.

"Taylor was born on Thursday at 5:55pm. Brooke was induced at 2:00pm and pushed her out in 2 minutes, what a pro. Taylor is 7lbs, 12oz and 20in. long. Sydney is loving her new baby sister. Brooke looks fantastic and both are doing well."

Congratulations to Brooke, Josh and Sydney. We can't wait to meet Taylor!

Another Hot Day, Another Waterpark

On Sunday we visited the Aeropalms Waterpark on Base. For $5.00, I must say it is quite a bargain. There are several slides for adults (and 2 for children), a children's pool, snack bar and free life jacket rentals for the kids. We took our friends this weekend for a few hours to beat the heat and we had a blast. Lily was a little afraid of the deep water (we think the ocean waves scared her the day before), but warmed up with some coaching. Within the hour she was swimming around in the deep pool by herself. Jeff and I were able to ride the slides too, thanks to our friends Beth and Bryan. Although we bought season passes to Ocean Breeze Waterpark, I'm sure we'll be coming here as well. The best part...Jeff being able to spend the ENTIRE day with us.

The Start of Beach Season

June 7th: Here are some pictures of our first day at the beach this season. The break was rough, but with temperatures of 100 degrees, it felt so refreshing to jump in and cool off. It was Emma's first time actually walking in the sand. Lily was a little overwhelmed with the waves and just wanted to play in the sand. Beth, Jeff and I were all knocked over by the waves at some point...which made for lots of laughing. We couldn't stay long because of the extreme heat, but we all enjoyed the cool water and ocean breeze.

Watch Out.

Emma didn't enjoy the waves as much as Jeff

Sunday's Newspaper Headline

Our Weekend with the Eldreth Crew

Our good friends from Germany, Beth, Bryan and Gabi, moved to D.C. recently and decided to come down to Virginia Beach to spend the weekend with us. They picked a hot weekend to come to the beach, as temperatures were over 100 all weekend. We had a great time hanging out together and although it had been a year since we last saw them, it felt like no time had passed at all. Here is a recap of the weekend:






Friday
Lily waits up super excited to see her buddy Gabi
They arrive at about 8:30 p.m
Hugs, talking, tour of the house
The girls lay in bed together and giggle while reading books
The 4 of us enjoy pizza, wings, wine and catch up




Saturday
Jeff , the girls and I get an early walk/run before the Eldreth family awakes, temperature is already 90 at 8 a.m.
The girls play on the swing set and in the pool
We hit the beach around 1:00 but only stay 2 hours...temps are over 100
Everyone gets red
Jeff works in the afternoon and Lily sleeps 3+ hours (the sun is exhausting)
We enjoy BBQ, drinks and game night with Kim and Larry
Menu: guacamole w/chips, burgers, dogs, 2 pasta salads and blueberry pound cake
Margaritas flowed all night

Still too hot at 9 p.m. to sit outside so we spent the entire evening inside
We laughed uncontrollably playing cranium...the girls won!!

Sunday
Jeff has the entire day off...yay (just studying in the evening)
Jeff makes a large breakfast (blueberry pancakes, eggs and sausage)
We pack up and try out the Waterpark on base
$5.00 for Aeropalms Waterpark...NOT BAD
The girls have a blast and we stay cool, temperature is 100 again today
Jeff and I ride some water slides while Beth and Bryan watch the girls (thanks guys)
We grab some lunch and ice cream on the way home from the Waterpark

Thanks so much for coming to visit this weekend Beth, Bryan and Gabi. We had a blast. We are looking forward to your next visit, 4th of July weekend!

Celebrations

One.... Happy 1st Birthday to our Niece Sophia! We love you!

Happy Birthday Pop Pop! We hope you had a great day. We miss you!

Ocean Breeze Waterpark

On Tuesday, my friend, Erin and I loaded up the kids and headed out for a waterpark adventure. The temperatures are in the high 90's all this week so we decided to head to the Oceana Waterpark to cool everyone off. Well...wouldn't it be our luck to have 4 children under the age of 3 packed up and ready to swim and discover the park was closed every Tuesday for maintenance and cleaning!! We were so shocked and disappointed! Lily even said, "that's not fair Mommy!" So I asked Erin if she was brave enough to try Ocean Breeze Waterpark, a local tourist attraction. She agreed and we were off.

We arrived and headed right straight to the Children's Pool. Once we were settled, Erin and I immediately both smiled, we had found our summer hangout spot. The park has an amazing kid section, complete with child size water slides, lazy river, a pirate ship with slides, waterfalls, water seesaw, swings and more. We spent the afternoon chasing our crew around and enjoying the beautiful day. The best part, the park has life jackets for every child and more life guards than you can shake a stick at.

Erin and I (and the kids) had so much fun we both bought season passes. Since we live so close to the park, I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of our free time here this summer. It was a little difficult to take pics, as my hands were full holding Em and chasing Lily. Here are a few I snapped...

The ride home....I guess they had a good time!