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!

This is such a busy and fun week for us ....... tonight we celebrated Alyssa's 8th birthday. Today we went to Lake Johnson pool for some good ole' fashioned summer fun. We got got home just in time for a really bad mid afternoon thunderstorm .We lost power about 6 times .

Alyssa had requested an Ally and Aj cake from Dq . After cake we went to see Ratatouili . She got alot of gifts . Her favorites are her new clothes and webkinz .

Lake Johnson Rocks! We have been twice this week ! Kids love playing in the sprinkler park and all three can now touch in the big pool! On tuesday when we went all three of the kids swam the entire length of the pool without stopping or touching ! wohooo! Little fishes!

Andrew can do 8 underwater summersaults in a row - i get dizzy just watching him !

Party Animals ! haha ! After Aryn and Alyssa's birthday dinner we went to an open house for a new cell phone company in the area . They had a face painter - She was amazing! Aryn is my little monkey and Alyssa is a tiger ! Such party animals!

Hard to believe my little baby is 6 ! where or where does time go! We did the annual girlie shopping trip . Went to Supa' target, Old Navy, Triangle town center mall, and Crabtree. As if that werent enough afterwards we went to Red Lobster for Dinner. The girls bought alot of goodies . Lets see ... Aryn bought a Disney cd, Sunglasses, Pj's , and Necklace, a Webkinz, and a new build a bear and accessories. ALyssa bought a diffrent disney cs, sunglasses, a bracelet, a build a bear, some clothes for her bears and a big closet for all the bear clothes.

we had a jello poke cake for her birthday cake . Yummo !

so where does your job fall - saw this and thought it was funny ! - crazy what kind of things i can find @ 1:40 in the morning :D

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/bing/0704/gallery.bing_50jobs.fortune/

Happy friday ! - this week has really drug ! TGIF!

Today i actually got to scrap - got 2 pages done this morning . Both from events from last weekend - new pictures inspire me the most ! I bought this new ek success circle cutter and used it for the first time on the fathers day page !

That picture on the fathers day page i blew up to an 8x10

and printed it in black and white . I have pictures of each

of the kids too -and just hung them in the bathroom - check

it out.- I really like how it turned out! The

"life is better at the beach sign" came from the

country house catalog .

lots of plans for the weekend - Sunday we are going to the raleigh road Drive in - cant wait - it has probably been almost 30 years since i have been to drive in . I am not sure kevin has ever gone .

Monday is the girls birthday so we are planning our annual " shop till you drop " session - followed by dinner at red lobster- girls choice!

something to add to your summer reading - appears Al Gore still has not gotten over his loss 8 years ago - if you dont have time to read the book and are looking for some quick amusement just go to amazon.com and read the comments http://www.amazon.com/Assault-Reason-Al-Gore/dp/1594201226/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4486516-6849448?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182479120&sr=8-1

HAPPY FATHERS DAY ! We had a great day at the beach.We spent most of the day at Carolina beach. Afterwards we stopped at Sticky Fingers rib joint - Kevin and the kids all had a great day. I drove home from the beach, which i dont normally do - and Kevin slept the whole way home. It was good too see him relaxed and happy!

recital day - Glad it is over . It is such a long day ! Dancers had to be at the center at 12:30 for warm ups. Recital started at 2:00 . Alyssa was the 3rd routine and the 3rd from the last routine. It was a 3 hour show ( even had 2 intermissions) Her performances were awesome ! She is such a great performer! Congrats Alyssa - It was your day to shine!

Pictures of Alyssa's class before the recital, Alyssa taking her Bow during the curtain call, and of Alyssa afterwards!

last night alyssa had her recital pictures taken - as much as i dislike these outfits she of course looks adorable . And i can also add that i am thankful she is not wearing pink , again !