I love it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70xGUxznYY&feature=player_embedded

Dan’s Birthday Surprise!

Dan has been very busy traveling lately but he took time for a short break to celebrate his 36th birthday.  It was a busy Saturday with 2 soccer games and a volleyball clinic,  but luckily, our last soccer game was in Gig Harbor just across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.  The kids and I surprised Dan by continuing on to a campground near the Hood Canal for some boating and relaxing; followed by a steak dinner and angel food cake(undropped) by the campfire. 

     As usual, Dan does all the work when we go canoeing! Paddleboats are fun too! Lucy and I played on the dock. Sorry, I couldn’t pick just one photo of Lucy LaRee. It was all fun and smiles until Lucy realized all her people were leaving her on the dock.Dan had to open his presents by the light of the car’s headlights. The kids shamelessly begged for some of their Dad’s Jelly Bellys.  He shared, of course. The stars were out and the marsh mellows were yummy.  But most importantly, a very awesome man was celebrated by his family.  Some of the things the kids said that they love about their Dad are: 

“that he works hard for us so we can have the things we have and live the way we live”-Emma,

“that he takes time to do fun stuff, like camping, with all of us”-Chas,

“that he loves each of us so much”,-Katie. 

Dan is a giving and loving person who always thinks of the kids and I before himself.  Happy Birthday Danny!  You’re the best!!!!

happy Birthday Dan

Happy birthday Dan!! 36 I think. I hope you had a great birthday.

Cute Couple

This is Joshua's beautiful girlfriend Megan. She came to Maryland to meet the family and Joshua's friends - we are enjoying her company and think she is delightful.

We went to Six Flags today and took this picture when Megan beat two Marines (Josh and Clay) at whack-a-mole .. she won this cute monkey (and so nicely gave it to me because I am currently crazy for monkeys!) ... before the game began we made a rule: "the looser carries the prize for the rest of the day"

Can you tell who lost the game?

Guess Where I am :)

I am writing this blog from 30,000 feet.  Even though I am a geek (nerd, techie, etc choose your own term) I am amazed by this technology.  Delta offers Internet access on it’s flights now.  It costs $12 per day but if you have to get some work done it is amazing.  I had a coupon so it was free for me.  Even better. 

I supported satellite internet in a previous job and it was terrible.  This internet is pretty fast and allows me to connect to all my work projects.  I’m even sending Instant Messages to Crystal as I fly.

I’m glad they still don’t allow people to talk on their phones but having Internet access at 30,000 feet is AMAZING!!!! 

(Getting upgraded to first class also helped improve my mood along with the fact that I am going home and not leaving my family behind)

California Here He Comes

Clay has orders to Camp Pendelton ... so he's going to hang out with Joshua in California for about 3 months.

When he's done with his training he expects to come back to Maryland where he'll go to college at Jaqui's alma matter (Montgomery College).

In other news ...

Jaqui is back in school and taking 4 classes, working full time and being a full time parent to Jaylin ... she's shooting for graduation in 2011. We are so proud of you Jaqui!

Nate is planning to move to Florida - probably around the first of the year. He'll be going to college when he's not at the beach :-)

Jon and I like that our kids have houses in all the best vacation spots (Hilton Head, Miami Beach and San Diego).

Go kids.

Lucy’s Favorite Toy

Lucy loves my watch.  It is the worlds best chew toy in her opinion.  Even if the watch is on my wrist she will reach down and try to take it off or at least chew on it.  One day last week I left it home when I went to work.  When I got home I had a very soggy watch!!

Congratulations Clay

Clay earned the title of United States Marine on September 11, 2009.

We are very proud of Clay and very very very happy to have all of our children and grandchildren in one place. Josh flew into Maryland on Sept 10th - then he flew to NC with mom and Joe; we met everyone else at Jayson and Jaqui's house later that night and we've been having a blast ever since.


Clay and baby Taylor ... she slept through the graduation, but woke up to give Uncle Clay a big congratulation smile!



Clay with family J3 - thank you for hosting all of us. There is always a welcome mat on the front porch of this family and we love visiting with them. We also love eating Jayson's cooking. Today we ate "Amazings" (Clay asked for them) which are toasted bagels with cream cheese, soft fried eggs, turkey, cream cheese and ooey gooey melty american cheese.

Land of many waters

We went camping labor day weekend with David and Lana and some friends of ours from church.   David picked up Rebecca (Aunt Carol’s granddaughter) on the way to campground.  It was lots of fun to be with the family and friends for the weekend. 

It was RAINY.  You will notice that there aren’t very many pictures with people in them.  It just rained so much that I didn’t take the camera out of it’s waterproof bag very often.

On the way up to the campground it was (of course) rainy.  But the sun broke through and we go this awesome rainbow.  We thought that was a sign of good sunny camping.  WRONG!!!

Here we are at camp on Saturday.    Notice the raincoats and the fire.  Both were a constant companion this trip.  We kept the fire going from the time we woke up until we went to sleep.

Lucy Hanging out in the tent.  We all slept with hats (they call them beanies here in WA) to stay warm.

This is the view from the campsite.  Of all the wonderful places I have pitched a tent this was one of the prettiest.  The lake was wonderful.  The campground had 20 canoes for campers to use.  When it stopped raining long enough we would take the boats out.

Did I mention it was pretty?

1st day of school

Liberty finally got to go to kindergarten. She has been wanting to go for years. She has a great teacher and a very nice bus driver who picks her up everyday at 8:19. They yellow necklace lets the school know what buss she belongs on. We have one of each this year High, middle and elementarily school.

Summers over!

Here the kids are on their first day of school.  Katie is in 6th Grade, Emma 5th and Chas is in 2nd.  They are pretty excited to see their friends and be back to school.

Here are the posts from the last two years.  It is amazing how much they change!

http://6screaminpigs.blogspot.com/2008/09/first-day-of-school-puyallup-style.html

http://6screaminpigs.blogspot.com/2007/08/off-they-go.html