Virginia Beach day

Daddy had a meeting in Virginia Beach. The meeting was in the afternoon so we had time to do some fun stuff first. We stayed in a Hotel the night before so we didn't have to waste time driving. Janis picked the hotel based on price... Good thing we were on the 12th floor because the hotel was in the projects and there was a huge block party going on.
In the morning we went to the beach. It was nice. The kids loved it. Zoe has been asking to go back to the beach ever since our trip in March. Jackson played and played in the waves. Zach joined him but he liked playing in the sand too. Zoe spent most of the time attached to daddy's leg. These are my first pictures on the new iphone. I couldn't see because the sun was so bright and I didn't know where the camera lens was so a few pictures have part of my finger in them.
We stayed at the beach until our parking meter was up, then we went to an aquarium. Jackson and Zach wanted to see Sharks and snakes, mommy wanted to see and octopus and I wanted to see a gorilla. It was fun but they didn't have an octopus or any gorillas. Zoe actually touched a real snake! The kids did great in the car. It isn't easy to spend 8 of 24 hrs driving but they did it.
Dawson had a super blowout requiring us to pull over and change him on the side of the free way. Sometimes it might not be good to have a camera so handy... Well, here's some pictures.

June 2009

Just a few pictures of the past few weeks. At Jackson's end of year school party he wanted us to get a picture of him and his "favorite girl". One night when Janis and I were out Jackson helped the babysitter get Dawson to sleep, so sweet. Zoe is all girl, she wears curlers to bed sometimes. Zach and Dawson love to play together! Daddy had a day off so we played with squirt guns, uh, I mean washed the car. I'm not sure how Janis got them all to pose for that square.

Zach's B-Day

We just had Zach's #5 b-day!
He had a great time. it was a Kung-fu Panda party. He was so excited. I had to work but when I got home we went to Toy-r-us and got some Star Wars Legos and a Star Wars game for his Leapster. He is still my little Star Wars buddy. Sunday Jackson and Zoe wanted to keep the party going so they got the cake back out and mommy put some candles on it and they sang happy birthday all over again. It was so sweet. Jackson collected some of his toys (even ones he really likes) and gave them to Zach for his birthday. You could tell Zach felt very special, it was wonderful.
We sure have a great little family.

2 posts in one day!?

We had Jackson's birthday party. It was a Harry Potter Party. We had a sorting hat, every-flavor jelly beans, and we played Quiditch. I put a few pictures of the party and a few from the Great Wolf Lodge and a couple from Zach's singing show.

If only everyday was like vacation...

This past week was really great. I had the week off work and school (which is VERY rare). We started the week by getting family pictures taken at our favorite park. Then we went to see our good friends (the Turley's) at Duke. We went to a river and swam in a really pretty part where there were rocks for the kids to climb on and little pools for the younger ones to splash in. That night they had arranged for a sitter and we all got to go out for a fancy dinner. We even ordered appetizers and desert. When we left their house we went to the Great Wolf Lodge. Its a hotel with a big indoor water park. Jackson had a great time playing a Wizard game where you wave a special wand at different objects all around the hotel and earn special items and quests. He could have played for several more days. Zach loved the big slides. He started going down with dad but soon was doing it all by himself. He fell off his tube once and went down backwards all the way to the bottom. It didn't slow him down. When I got to the bottom he was already half way up the stairs to go again. Dawson and Zoe played in the waves and fountains. We got home on Wednesday and Janis and I decided to tackle the house. We went through every room and purged a bunch of things. By Saturday we had a van full of old toys, clothes, etc for good will. I felt really good to go through and get rid of so much stuff. It should make packing up to move (next year) a little easier. Today (Memorial Day) I had to go into work for a couple hours but I'm home now and we're planning on going to a pool and BBQ with some friends later (if I don't get called back to work).
It was wonderful to be able to focus on just being a dad and husband. This past week was a little glimpse of what "regular" life could be like, and we liked it! I guess if every day was vacation then vacation wouldn't be as special... What am I saying! that's craziness! BRING ON THE VACATION!

Beach Week 2009

We spent Spring Break at a house on the beach in NC. It was fun!