Memorial weekend fun....

We had a enjoyable weekend having fun with friends and enjoying the great weather. Whitney, Jonas, and I started the weekend off with a harbor tour and Jim and Maren opted for playing disc golf. They sure missed out! We enjoyed learning about the history of the area, seeing all the navy ships that were in, watching the shipping traffic through the harbor, doing a tour of Fort Wool (an island fort), and viewing Ft. Monroe and the Comfort Point lighthouse from the water.

The kids were getting bored with the lecture on the fort tour so they instead enjoyed eating the berries off the mulberry tree that we were standing under.

The blue roofed yacht club in this picture sits where Blackbeard the pirate's head was once posted on the end of a stake after the locals had captured and killed him. This was to serve as a warning to other pirates.

This osprey had built a nest on one of the maritime navigational markers in the harbor. If you look close you can see a baby osprey that had recently hatched. It was a great day to be out on the water and to be able to gain a different perspective and appreciation of the area we live in.

Later that evening we joined some friends for a BBQ at the beach. The kids had fun swimming in the water and playing some water balloon volleyball.

On Memorial Day we just hung out at the house getting things done and then went to accomplish the goal for the weekend: buy a new grill. We have never actually bought a grill since we've been married as all the ones we've had were used ones that were given to us and we used them until they were totally rusted out. We had to break it in that night with a tri-tip.

Random visitor...

The other day I sent the girls out front to pick up some trash that had blown into our yard. They came back in a few minutes later and said the neighbor had a turtle. I was thinking that the neighbors must have some cute little pet turtle that they happened to have outside. Well an hour later I happen to be walking by the front storm glass door and see this big turtle sitting on our front porch looking like he was waiting to be let inside. By the time I got a camera out he'd climbed into the flower bed and hung out there for awhile. I called animal control not knowing what to do as he wasn't the most friendly looking and had some sharp looking claws that I didn't want to get near. He disappeared before animal control got there but they said it sounded like a snapping turtle and they are common in the area but not to touch them as they have a painful bite. Where he went in 15 minutes time is beyond me as it took him an hour to make it from the neighbors porch to ours. In talking to the girls later they had just seen the turtle on the neighbors porch and thought it was theirs. Luckily they had been smart enough not to try and touch it!

Vamos a la playa...

I love when the weather finally gets warm enough to head to the beach for fun. We definitely don't take advantage of living only 10 minutes away often enough. We spent a few hours playing in the water while my mom was still here visiting. This last weekend we went down to play on the playground and take a long walk down the beach. There is something very calming about long walks on the beach. Maren just loves the water even if she doesn't have her suit on she wants to be out in the waves playing. Even Jonas enjoyed catching a few rays.

Happy Birthday Whitney!

Our big girl is now 5!
Much to her delight it has been a week of celebrations. It started with a picnic and party with her friends Friday evening. It was quite windy at the park but the kids still enjoyed their hot dogs, playing at the playground, and attacking the pinata. It was a ladybug themed party so we made cupcakes for the celebration.

She got to open presents with Nana-san before she left and then was able to take ice cream cups to preschool to celebrate with her classmates. She chose ice cream cups over popsicles so she could have something to put the candle in. Later we had a small family celebration after her soccer game but much to her dismay Maren blew out most of the candles first so we had to relight them. She's been planning her multiple parties for over a month so hopefully it all lived up to the hype she'd put behind it.

Grandparents visit and blessing day...

We've enjoyed all the help we've had around here the last few weeks with Grammy and Pops here the first two weeks after Jonas was born and then Nana-san for another 2 weeks. While Grammy and Pops were here we had some fun going to the Ringling Bros. circus , a couple of children's festivals, fishing with Pops, and going to the base airshow (though we didn't really need to go as we could see and hear much of it from the house.) The grandparents were able to overlap a weekend so they could both be here when Jonas was blessed at church. Here's a few pictures of him in his blessing outfit:

Easter weekend...

We spent Saturday afternoon participating in an egg hunt put on by the base. Both areas for the girls age groups were "pick up as many eggs as fast as possible off the grass until they are gone" type hunts. They both ended up with close to two basket fulls. Afterwards, Whitney had fun at a birthday party for a friend from school that was held in a warehouse full of the big inflatable jump houses and structures. After dinner we headed out to go bowling as a family. We all had a good time as the place had a ramp and automatic bumpers that popped up for the girls turns. Whitney even beat Dad in the first game. Sunday, we enjoyed the loot from the Easter bunny, the day at church and then enjoyed dinner with some friends. Jim had to head to work but we then headed to another friends home for an egg hunt and dessert. The girls enjoyed all the treats from their two hunts. Maren initially freaked out at the start of each hunt I think from the excitement of the countdowns but once we showed her what to do she got into it. The Easter bunny was walking around the area during the base hunt with a bucket of candy and Maren quickly figured out that was an easy source of candy so kept going back to get more treats from the bucket during her hunt.

Spring Break Days 3-5: Disc golf and the zoo

Days 3 and 4 were spent hanging out with Dad which meant at least one round of walking through the woods (disc golf) with him. On day 5 we joined our friends the Napoleons for a trip to the zoo and a chance to be out enjoying the beautiful weather. Maren was so excited to see each of the animals but I think her favorite thing was feeding the goats. Whitney enjoyed being with her friends. After our hike around the zoo we headed to Doumar's Diner for some ice cream. This place has been around since 1904 and the original owner was the inventor of the ice cream cone on Coney Island. We got to watch one of the grandsons make ice cream cones on the original machine while we were there. The sign above the machine reads "This is the WORLD'S FIRST CONE MACHINE still in use today, it was used in 1905 at Coney Island N.Y. by Abe Doumar inventor of the ice cream cone & this machine."