Happy New year ! We spent new years eve @ the Raleigh First Night festival ( w/ 80,000 of our closest friends :D) The kids had a blast the theme was a 60's flash back - they made tissue paper flowers, we drank Squirt out of champaign glasses ( yes, grandma hilda North carolina finally has Squirt) , we saw a circus, a juggler, street performers, a parade, we dances to a band called strawberry fields(it was a beatles tribute band, we saw fireworks and the highlight was the acorn drop.

A little note about the famous acorn .... they do 2 drops on new years eve - we saw the kids drop . The acorn is a statue that has a home on moore square in downtown raleigh . The acorn is the " famous raleigh thing to do " - although the Andy Griffith statue at pullen is a short second . The acorn is also featured in the Nickelback "Rockstar " video :D

Oh, yeah and Alyssa was a volunteer for one of the street performers.... he was a juggler and she blew bubbles for him to juggle ! :D

Our cousins Rock ! we had a great time playing with our cousins ! sure glad they were able to visit during the holiday season!

Happy birthday day dear Kevin ..... I am so proud of Andrew he made Kevins birthday cake - from start to finish! The girls helped w/ thanksgiving ... Alyssa made the cranberries and Aryn buttered up the turkey .... Hope everyone had a great Turkey day - and happy birthday honey!

Happy Halloween - These shots were taken before TRUNK OR TREAT at church last week.

Say hello to my little friend...... ( this line is repeated frequently in our house and comes from "Shark Tales" -

My mom gave me some money for my birthday and i treated myself to this oh so cute vera bradley bag - LOVE IT !

Today Andrew finally started his Hockey lessons. After many a canceled classes at the local ice rink we enrolled him at classes in Cary . He spent alot of his birthday money getting suited up for the class( new helmet, shin gaurd, pants, elbow pad.... am i starting to sound like a visa commercial yet ??? ) ok so here is the PRICELESS part...... enjoy !

They did some really fun drills and they got to shoot a few pucks around.

in other news .... roller hockey starts tommorrow night ! Andrew did not try out to be goalie this year . he said he wants to score some points ! First game is thursday . They have 2 teams in his age group .

recital photos - The studio where alyssa dances computer crashed , thankfully i was sent the proofs first . I am not sure i will get the professional shots so thought i would share them here . The recital was on June 16th, 2007

tee ing it up! Aryns tball season is full swing! (no pun intended) doesnt she just stand out from all the boys in her pink helmet and bat :D A few pictures from tonights game ...

Love the shot of coach dad cheering her on! You go girl!

Andrew and friends finally got to celebrate his 11th birthday ! He has won an ice skating party at the Garner Ice house . It was exciting to say the least! When we got there the teen agers that were "in charge" had new clue we were coming , there was a hockey game in process and they were using the party room as a locker room ( so we had to wait almost an hour before the party was allowed to begin!) , they served burnt cold pizza ( but by this time the kids didnt want to eat so they could care less!) , and our poor neighbor brian had to go the emergency room - thankfully no stiches needed just a very large knot on his forehead! Andrew and friends all had a good time ( including brian!)

lol - i wish this would have turned out better - This is a picture that we took for our church directory. Dont worry , its not the one we submitted ! :D

Here fishy , fishy.... today we took a deep sea fishing trip abord the Starship . The weather was great and the sea was beautiful! Aryn caught the first ' keeper fish" later we found out that she had caught the biggest one on the boat ! She was so proud of her catch! ( not to happy when it was fileted, and we heard about that for days to come! - I dont think she will ever eat sea food again!)

awwhhhh - look arent they so cute ??? just like mommy - the girls had been asking for awhile for some scrapbook time with mom and this weekend it finally happened. I purchased some kits from wal- mart and they scrapped some of their summer vacation photos .

these are some of our favorite pictures from our weekend at great wolf - enjoy!



this is a picture i took of kevin and the kids coming down the Alberta Falls ride - pretty awesome huh :D










this is the 1000 gallon bucket over the kids play area - it dumps every 5 minutes !


Andrew loved the Surf simulator - the line was long and he rode it over and over. By the end of the 2 days he was quite the little surfer dude!









Kiddos only on the Alberta clipper :D

2 super fun days at great wolf lodge in williamsburg , VA . Seems like we are always on the go - and looks like dad picked the mother load of places for the kids to burn off some of that pent up energy . Lots of water fun ! slides, sprinklers, wave pools, you name it water related and they had it !

if i were to pick what i felt each child's favorite activity for each child for this weekend i would have to say :
Andrew- surfing simulator ( which after alyssa got thrown off this one , i would have to say is her least favorite)
Alyssa - loved the slides - all of them - she isn't picky!
Aryn - loved the wave pool - everytime she heard the siren sound for the waves to start she would rush over and "ride the waves"

great wolf is alot of fun - 85 degrees year round and no elements ( wind, rain, or snow ! ) might have to visit again during the winter!

photos of the zoo ( and the kids trying to stay cool at the zoo ) and from Arlington national

LAST DAY IN OUR NATIONS CAPITOL

TODAY WE GOT AN EARLY START AS WE KNEW WE WANTED TO BE OUT OF TOWN PRETTY EARLY . WE TOOK THE TROLLEY TO THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL THEN HOPPED ON ANOTHER TROLLEY TO GO TO ARLINGTON CEMETERY . BY THE TIME WE GOT OUT THERE IT WAS ALREADY REALLY HOT AND REALLY STEAMY !
KEVIN HAD ALWAYS WANTED TO SEE THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD ( AND THE KIDS FOUND A BIT OF ENJOYMENT - AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE WHILE STANDING IN THE HOT HOT SUN ) WE ALSO SAW THE KENNEDY BROTHER TOMBS AND THAT WAS ABOUT IT - IT WAS SO CROWDED AND SO SWELTERING THAT THE KIDS WERE STARTING TO HAVE THE USUAL HEAT INDUCED MELT DOWNS !

ONE THING I SAW THAT I THOUGHT WAS INTRIGUING WAS A FUNERAL PROCESSION . I AM GUESSING IT WAS STAGED (NOT REAL). THERE WAS A LARGE MARCHING BAND OF MEN DRESSED IN MILITARY UNIFORMS AND A HORSE DRAWN HEARST - W/ A COFFIN DRAPED IN AN AMERICAN FLAG. VERY MOVING !VERY HUMBLING !

AFTER OUR TRIP TO THE CEMETERY WE WENT TO THE NATIONAL ZOO . WE TOOK THE TROLLEY OUT TO THE ZOO . THE TROLLEY STOP WAS ABOUT 7 BLOCKS FROM THE ZOO AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL - SO WE HAD TO WALK 7 MILES UPHILL - BY THE TIME WE GOT TO THE TOP OF THE HILL WE WERE READY TO GO ! - THANKFULLY THERE WAS A 7-11 RIGHT NEXT TO THE ZOO SO AFTER WE WENT IN TO SEE THE WORLD FAMOUS PANDAS WE STOPPED TO GET A SUPER BIG GULP AND SOME SLURPEES!

ON THE WAY BACK TO THE HOTEL FROM THE ZOO WE TOOK THE TROLLEY THRU EMBASSY ROW AND GEORGETOWN .ANDREW GOT THE LAST SEAT ON THE TROLLEY -RIGHT UP IN FRONT NEXT TO BUS DRIVER . THE RIDE THRU EMBASSY ROW WAS ENTERTAINING - THE DRIVER WAS TALKING SO FAST - POINTING OUT ALL THE HOMES OF POLITICIANS AND EMBASSIES -ON THE LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT , LEFT,RIGHT, RIGHT - SUPER FAST - SUPER FUNNY! WE WERE DIZZY WHEN WE GOT OFF THAT ROUTE!

ON THE WAY OUT OF DC WE MADE A PIT STOP AT RECOLLECTIONS SCRAPBOOK STORE - IT WAS DEVINE ! LOVED IT ! WAY BETTER THAN AND ARCHIVERS! :D

pictures from day 2 in dc - most from night tour

dAY 2 -TALES FROM DC

I DECIDED AT THE LAST MINUTE TO BUT SOME OLD TOWN TROLLY! WOWZERS AM I GLAD WE DID THIS! - MADE GETTING AROUND SO MUCH EASIER ! YOU KNOW WHEN LOOK AT THE MAPS OF THE CITY THE BUILDINGS DONT LOOK THAT FAR APART - I KNOW THAT I PROBABLY COULD NOT HAVE COVERED THE AREAS THAT WE RODE AROUND IN ONE DAY IN A WEEK! IT WAS ALSO A GREAT WAY TO COOL OF - WE WOULD SIT IN THE BACK OF THE OPEN AIRED TROLLEY AND LET THE WIND BLOW THRU OUR AIR .

TODAY WE WENT TO THE LINCOLN AND JEFFERSON MEMORIALS. WE WENT TO ESPN ZONE FOR LUNCH - AND WENT TO THE FORD THEATER. ARYN WAS VERY INTREGUED BY LINCOLN - SHE HAS ASKED ALOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT HIM AND WAS SHOCKED WHEN SHE HEARD HE WAS DEAD!

CONVERSATION INSIDE THE MUSEUM OF THE FORD THEATER
A- " WHAT IS ALL THIS STUFF"
MOM - " THIS IS MEMORABILA ABOUT THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ABE LINCOLN"
A- ' WHAT DO YOU MEAN DEATH? HE DEAD?"
MOM- " HONEY, HE DIED ALONG TIME AGO"
A- VERY SHOCKED AND VERY SAD "HOW? "
MOM - " HE GOT SHOT "
ARYN - VERY SHOCKED AND VERY SAD JUST PUT HER HEAD DOWN AND WALKED AWAY .....

AFTER WE WALKED AROUND THE MUSEUM WE WENT UPSTAIRS AND SAT IN THE ACTUAL THEATER AND LISTENED TO SOME PARK RANGERS TALK ABOUT THE NIGHT HE WAS SHOT. ARYN SAT ON THE EDGE OF HER SEAT . AT THE END SHE SAID SHE WANTED TO GO DOWN TO THE BOOK STORE AND GET AN ABE LINCOLN BOOK. SHE WAS SO INTHRALLED WITH HIM, IT MADE ME SO PROUD OF HER. HOW SHE TOOK A REAL AND TRUE INTEREST, SHE WAS SO COMPASSIONATE AND SO FULL OF GRIEF. I REALIZED THAT SHE HAS GROWN UP SO MUCH THIS PAST SUMMER .

OK ENOUGH OF MY MUSHY MOM STUFF ...

AFTER FORDS WE TOOK THE TROLLEY BACK TO THE HOTEL. THE KIDS AND KEVIN WENT SWIMMING . I TOOK A NAP ( SEEING A TREND ) THAT NIGHT ANDREW AND I WENT ON A NIGHTIME TROLLEY TOUR OF THE CITY! IT WAS FABULOUS . IT OLD KEVIN IF WE GO TO DC AGAIN WE WONT DO THE DAY TIME TOURS ONLY THE NIGHTTIME ONES. ALOT COOLER AND THE CITY AND MONUMENTS ARE SO BEAUTIFUL AT NIGHT .

DAY 1 WASHINGTON DC
We did alot of fun things . The first night (saturday we left real early in morning). The look on the kids faces when we could finally see all the famous Washington buildings in the horizon was priceless . I have never seen them so quite in all my life. We found our hotel very easily and walked the the Smithsonian Air Museum ( only 1 block from our hotel). We enjoyed lunch at Mcdonalds - which happens to be the worlds largest mcdonalds . We walked back to the hotel took a quick dip in the pool ( i should say kevin and the kids took a dip i took a snooze) - We got dressed and hopped on the subway and headed to RFK for a NATIONALS GAME
NATIONALS WON ! SUPER DAY!