Bouncing fun

Cameron's friend Braxton had a birthday party at a local bounce house. All 3 kids had a blast!

Summer Camp

This year Ethan went to summer camp with his friend Tristan. It was only 2 nights so it wasn't too bad. Ethan had a blast!

4th of July

For the 4th of July, our neighbors had a pool party and potluck dinner. Most of the neighborhood was there so it was alot of fun!

Afterward, we went out in the country and did fireworks!

Vacation's end

Well, from the get go our vacation was packed full of drama so why should it stop when we get on the plane- right? Halfway through the flight I realize that I am not wearing my wedding ring. Suddenly nauseated I am panicking trying to figure out where I left it in our hotel room. I knew I didn't take it off in there so I have no clue- then I remember: I took it off when we went to the beach. I put it in the rental car in a little cubby with Jim's cel phone, thinking it would be easy to remember right there. Well, it had fallen to the back of hte cubby so we never saw it after that. My first thought is- it's a recession right now and somebody just had a payday by selling my ring :( I call the rental agency the minute we get off the plane and the manager tells me that all the vans have already been rented back out. Oh no! Then she remembers that our still hadn't because it came in later. They check, and sure enough- my ring was still there! WooooHooooo!~ How lucky is that!? It took awhile for them to get around to mailing it, but they did and I have it back. PHEW!

Our trip to Virginia

While we were in Virginia we had a huge list of things to do- people to visit, places to see, and places to eat! Oddly enough, Texas just doesn't have good mexican food. Lots of Texmex, but it is really hard to just find a good mexican place. We went to 2 of our favorites while we were there- yummmy! We also can not find any good chinese out here. Well, there is a good buffet but it just isn't the same as a hole in the wall take out place. Plus nobody does Eggfooyung gravy the way they do in Virginia...So we got some takeout while we were there. I could eat that stuff every day! Paradox is another great place. Love their crabcake sandwich and normally I do not eat seafood but those sandwiches are so good. And the kids get their meals served on a frisby!

The hotel we stayed at was pretty neat. Not a typical hotel- it was a loft style room. They gave us an inflateable bed for the kids to use which they thought was fun, and they had the nicest shower- it was HUGE! They also had the coolest elevators ever. They had these blue pads that had squishy liquid so you can step on it and make it move around on your way up or down. That could provide hours of entertainment right there! oh yea- another favorite was Ritas Italian Ice. Why there aren't more of these I don't know but I was so happy to be able to go there again before we came back home!

good friends

On our first morning in Virginia, we drove down to North Carolina to visit Linda. Last time we saw them Ava was a baby (so was Cameron!) so it was really weird to see this nearly 5yr old girl! The second we got there, Ethan and Cameron ran upstairs and played with Robert and Gordon as if it had only been a week since we saw them last. It was great that they all picked back up where they left off. Linda was taking the kids to Florida that day but left later in the say so she could visit with us. It was so nice to see her, Bob, and the kids. She even made her famous chocolate chip banana muffins for us- yummmmm!A couple of days later when Stacy and family got home from their Disney vacation we went to visit them. Ellie was just as shy as ever and hid under the table for a good while before coming out. Ethan and Ben just picked up where they left off and had a great time! The kids also played in Stacys pool while Stacy and I caught up. Stacy was also super nice and let me do some laundry- that was much needed! We actually ended up being able to visit them twice while we were out there.

We also got to visit Derek and his wife and kids- Jim worked with him in the navy, then followed him to NJ, then back to VA again. Then I got to watch Luke for them when he was a tiny baby. We have been trying to talk them into coming to Texas since it only makes sense that we follow each other everywhere! They do have family out here so it might actually happen!

The day before we left we stopped by our old neighborhood in Suffolk- got to see Melissa (our old babysitter), and her family. Had a good visit with them, and Ethan even got to see his old friend Kendri while there.

My old friend Alex came out one night and had dinner with us. He was one of my very first friends when we moved to Virginia many moons ago. The kids think he is super cool and love when we get to see him.

I think there was only 1 friend that we didn't see while there that we had wanted to, so that really isn't too bad. I was worried we wouldn't have enough time to see too many people or visit too long- but it all worked out well.