The Beach- day 2

Cameron finally warmed up to the water the second day we went. He had a blast playing in the waves. Sloane did better in the sand that day too

No- she isn't screaming- just making a funny face!

The Beach!

Day one at the beach-
Sloane wasn't too sure about the beach at first but she did like us to hold her when the waves would splash up against us. She also wasn't too fond of the sand but she tolerated it. Cameron wouldn't go anywhere near the water- he was more than happy in the sand though. Playing in the sand has always been one of his favorite things to do. Ethan of course is a fish just like always- so he jumped in and stayed in the water till we left for the day.

DC

We left Luray Caverns and stayed at a hotel for the night. As soon as we turned on the tv (first time we turned a tv on in a week!)Michael Jackson had just died. We were in complete shock. He was such a strange man but amazing also. When I was in elementary school he was super big- and my last name was Jackson. I figured it was my one and only chance to be 'big' so I told everyone that he was a cousin of mine. Some people actually believed it too- I was loving that!
Anyway- the next morning we were off to DC. Ethan is at the age that seeing stuff like the white house is really cool. I didn't want to spend too much time there as I really wanted to get to Chesapeake at a decent hour. We parked, then walked to the White House. There were some protesters there- Ethan thought that was pretty weird. I got my zoom lens out and decided to see what I could see inside the White House windows- hehe! I didn't see any Obamas peeping out, but I did see someone moving a ladder around in one of the rooms. Then we walked around the 'block' saw the Treasury, saw the Capital building way off in the distance, and saw a few other things in the distance. We had lunch at a food stand on the street- Cameron chased squirrels that were in the grass. Then we headed back towards the back end of the WhiteHouse. There was security there and they blocked all traffic to let someone important through- I watched them go by but it wasn't anybody I knew! As soon as we saw the White House again there was someone on the upstairs balcony, as well as 2 guards on the roof. I had switched lenses on my camera back to the smaller lens so I was trying to get the zoom on as quick as possible to see who it was- and of course by the time I got it on, the man had gone inside. So I just waited and waited. The kids got bored and Jim started nagging about leaving. Ugh- I was really hoping to see Obama come outside! After stalling as long as possible, we finally left. Bought the kids a couple of souvenirs and went to the parking garage. We paid $18 for parking- and I think we were there just over an hour! Yikes!
Then we sat in DC traffic for HOURS because we missed the HOV exit by a few hundred feet :(

some crazy protesters

You can see a lamp and mirror through the windows to the whitehouse. No Obamas to be seen though.

This is where I was waiting for the man to come back out onto the balcony. My family is too impatient. I could have waited for a long time for the perfect shot. Maybe I should look into a job as a paparazzi! LOL

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Jim offered to climb the fence and make a run for it toward the White House- just so we could make the evening news. Isn't that sweet of him. Though when I told him to go for it, he chickened out, claiming something lame about not having a job after that.....

Luray Caverns

After a week in Pennyslvania we went south to Luray Virginia to see Luray Caverns. It was the perfect thing to do that day because it was around 100 outside and so humid! The caves were so nice and cool! I thought Sloane might get bored down there but she loved it as much as the rest of us. These caverns were not easy to take pictures of. They look amazing but it just doesn't convey on camera. Either there was not enough light, or too much light...very frustrating! there is water on the bottom- so the bottom half is a reflection, not stalagmites. It is really really cool to see in person!fried eggs? Nope just a stalagmite!

A week on the farm

We had so much fun at the Bed & Breakfast. The kids miss Jeanette and can't wait to go back to her farm.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Family pictures

Make a Smilebox slideshow We had a great visit with all of the Caldwell side of the family, as usual! Hopefully we will get to see them all again soon.

Pennyslvania

It was alot cooler in Pennyslvania than we expected. It was sure nice to see family. We showed up halfway through the family reunion- we still got to see everyone and eat the food. Pretty much all the out of towners stayed for a few or more days so we got to spend alot of time with everyone which was nice. We slept at the Shantz House B&B, and had breakfast there- then most days we headed out toward Aunt Janes house. I love going to Aunt Janes house- it feels like I can make myself at home, even though I have only been there a few times- I have always felt that way there. She has the most lovely screened porch, and back yard. The kids had fun playing games in the backyard. Cameron made friends with Lisa- the fudgesicle lady. Yea- he knows who has the good stuff!

Seems we werent the only ones with a run of bad luck on the trip though- Bob decided to get a cool scar on his head from the sink at their hotel, and Carole did a dance down some stairs and landed wrong.

We did alot of sight seeing in Pennyslvania. We saw some railroad museums and some cool tracks at horseshoe curve- were you can see the trains come all around the mountain. We also did the incline plane- a must if you are visiting Johnstown. Then I also decided we HAD to see the windmills. This is oneof my biggest passions right now- I am obsessed with windmills. It took QUITE a bit more driving than we expected and then we found out we couldn't even walk up to them- they were fenced off. The ones in Idaho are not fenced. Still- we got close enough to them to see just how enormous these things really are.

Incline Plane with the city of Johnstown below
Train tunnels

Horseshoe curve- you can see the train wrap all around the mountain above you.

Vacation from hell?

Friday the 19th we left for vacation. Had to catch our first of 3 flights at 7am. Once we got on the flight, there were some technical problems so we waited.....then they fixed whatever was wrong and off we went. We were supposed to stop over in Chicago- well there were thunderstorms so after circling chicago a few times the pilot decided we couldn't land so we went to St. Louis and sat on their tarmac for over 2 hours waiting for the storm in Chicago to die down. NOT fun with a baby! At first we weren't allowed off the plane, then they decided we could get off the plane but we wouldn't be allowed back on. Well, that pretty much meant we couldn't get off the plane! Finally we head back to Chicago, but then there is lightening in the distance so we are not allowed off the plane for 15 or so more minutes. We were all hungry and tired! Thankfully the kids were all very well behaved. We make it off the airplane and of course our next flight is delayed a few hours so we eat some really horrible pizza and then get on board. Off to DC. Well, since our flight was so delayed we ended up missing our Pennyslvania flight by about 4 hrs. They said they couldn't get us on the next day so we would have to wait for 2 days in DC (on our own dime of course!) and then they would be able to get us on a flight. Well, since Jim's family reuinion is the next day that is unacceptable. I cried to the ticket agent and she gave us a hotel room for the night. No luggage though- that will take a few hours to find they say. So off to the hotel- we have no pullup for Cameron (in the suitcase) and he still wets at night- yep- peed all over the place. Up early the next morning- put our dirty clothes back on and head back to the airport to get our luggage. We had decided to rent a car and drive to Pennyslvania. Unfortunately not many agencies allow one way rentals so the only one we could find was in down town DC at Union Station. We get our bags- one is missing (they say it made it to Johnstown already- weird, WE didn't make it that far so how did our bag???) my suitcase was all ripped up but don't think anything was missing.

OK- we have our bags now so we catch a taxi to take us to Union Station so we can get a rental car. The taxi driver talks us into letting him just drive us all the way to PA, and we jump at the chance- it means we don't have to drive through DC and it means we get to actually relax a bit. He says it will only cost about $50 more to have him do it- well worth it if you ask me!

On the ride out there I ask if he is Muslim (he is wearing a turban on his head), no- he is Sihk- so he taught us about his beliefs. It sounds like a really nice religion actually. We learned that ALL men in his religion have the last name Singh- ALL women have a different same last name. Apparently this was done to get rid of the class system that Hindus use, as their last names tell what class you are in. In Sihk all men and women are the same- nobody is more important than anyone else. Fascinating!

Phew finally in PA- the taxi ended up costing $400 which was more than the driver estimated, but it was still worth it. We even got there before the reunion was over ! WoooHooo!

Since we were getting to PA later than expected we weren't going to be able to pick up our rental car- so we called Bob and asked if he would please rent it for us (suuuure, we will pay you back Bob, of course we will! ) He had it waiting at the reuinion for us.

Finally we made it to our destination and things don't look so bleak.

Summer is here!

Sloane got her own little splash pool. Before putting it outside I set it up in the family room and she made a little 'nest' She loved it so much I almost didn't put it outside!Sloane loves swimming with daddyBut it is really tiring!

Cameron showing off his new skills!

Mackenzie, Cameron, & Caden getting ready to jump in!

Ouch!

Lakeview Circle Gang

This neighborhood has been great. We all have our own friends on the street. Unfortunately one of our friends had to move. Blake was Ethan's very first friend in TX. We had a rough first year with him but things eventually got better and of course, now he has to go. I tried to get all 4 of the 'gang' together for some pictures but with summer vacations there was never a time when all of them were home so we got 3 of the 4 anyway.Ethan, Blake, & Noah

Cameron is swimming!

Cameron finally decided this year that he was ready to put his head underwater. He sees Ethan having so much fun in the water and wants to do that too! He did really great! We paid more than we would have liked for the lessons but we had heard such good things that we hoped it would be worth it, and it definately was! Cam jumps in the deep end now- though he does have to have some sort of floaty, but hey- that's ALOT more than he would have done before swim lessons!

The picture above is of the swim 'contraptions' that they use that make these lessons so successful. All they are are noodles zip tied together- pretty cool!

C-ya later 3rd grade!

Ethan had a GREAT year this year. His teachers were alot of fun and Ethan really tried hard this year to do his best. We are so proud of him!