Fun in the Sun

Minus a day of rain we have been having a great time at the beach with all of our friends. Ethan, Nathan, Natalie, Tabitha and Luke are getting along great (most of the time) and we have only had one day of rain so far. The kids have been enjoying the sand to the extreme! Ethan rolls around in the sand like a dog and Tabitha likes to rub it all over her body.

Tabitha is also getting her fill of Baby Luke. As most of you know she has been obsessed with Baby Luke for quite a while now. She sings songs about Baby Luke and even does a "Baby Luke Booty Shake". Now that she is spending a week at the beach with him I think she is in love forever!

Here is the fish head that Brian found in the ocean. Yuck!

Ethan and Tabitha in the little baby pool on one of the back decks

Saturday, On the Way to the Beach

On the way to the beach this year we finally stopped to see Grave Digger! Ethan was so excited to see all of the big trucks in person. It just so happened that the day we stopped was when the owner/driver was doing a signing so he even had a chance to see him. The kids all walked under the trucks and tried to fit into the tires, which was pretty easy since they are so big. In the workshop you could see all of the trucks they were building and repairing. I am sure we are going to be stopping every time we go to the beach for many years to come!

Busch Gardens

Now it is time to play catch up on the posts. On our way to the beach this year we stopped at Busch Gardens with our friends Brian, Stacie and Nathan to have some fun! The kids rode lots of rides including the Big Bad Wolf. Ethan said he liked the ride but was NEVER doing that again! Funny! Here are some pictures of some of the little rides that Tabitha, Ethan and Nathan had a chance to do.

The Mommies and Daddies had fun too. We rode way too many roller coasters. Our backs hurt now! We had a great time and are looking forward to going back some time soon.

Happy Birthday Grandad!

So I am a few days late with the birthday wishes. Happy Birthday Grandad from all of us. We enjoyed eating pork chops and saurkraut. Especially Brian! Enjoy your panini maker and new Turkey hat!

Welcome Home Grandad

It has been a very eventful last few days. We had the scary event of Dad (Grandad) going to the hospital Thursday night while we were getting ready to leave for our week long trip to the beach. So we had a quick chance to visit him at the hospital but we were not able to welcome him home when he came home yesterday. So here you go Grandad. The kids wanted to say hello from the beach and so here is a cute little video message . . . We hope your feeling better Grandad! Remember, DON'T DRIVE!

Preschool Graduation

On May 30th Ethan graduated from preschool! We were all very excited for him. Daddy took off from work to come watch too! This was his third year in preschool so Ethan was a little sad to be saying goodbye to his friends. I am sure we will see them all again soon though! Miss Chris and Miss Denise did a wonderful job saying goodbye to the kids. Everyone work little red caps and even received small class rings on chains for them to wear. They sang a few songs for all of the mommies and daddies and then we were off to the picnic at the playground. Now we have kindergarten in Blacksburg to look forward to as our new adventure!

The Karate Test

Ethan had his green belt karate test a few weeks ago and I am just now getting around to posting about it. When we got there you could tell he was VERY nervous. He started with his sparring. Which, I have to say, is the funniest thing ever! I never thought I would want to see my own child hitting and kicking another child but when they have all that equipment on it is hysterical! He sparred two older kids and did very well. Ethan is still more about blocking and not getting hit then punching and kicking his opponent.

After sparring, Ethan demonstrated his form and kicks. He has been practicing this form for a long, long, long time and was ready to show his teachers how much he has learned. After he was all done, Ethan was presented with his brown stripe to show he had earned his green belt!

Yikes!

Yikes! Ok! I am going to try this blogging thing out. I figured I would try to get a jump on it so that I have all of the wrinkles ironed out by the time we move down to VT. So here it goes.

The craziness of our lives is calming down a little bit. Ethan graduated from his third year of preschool and Tabitha just ended her last ballet session. We have a week break until ballet recital practice begins so I actually get to wake up with the kids instead of the alarm clock!

Ethan just earned his green belt in karate and is SO proud of his accomplishments. Here is a picture of the two of them. Now, let's see if I can acutally get this loaded . . .