Daddy's Home!

Well, he made it! After 134 days, he is home safe and sound. 10 jets arrived yesterday to be greeted by happy kids, crying wives, and lots of cameras. Mine almost didn't make it home due to technical problems. But he just kept pressing on. Boy were the kids happy to see him! Riley has talked non-stop since we got on the runway to greet him. It was like he knew Daddy was coming so he needed to start talking again. Even on the way to school this morning, he was non-stop. Something to get used to again I guess.

Our plans now are a little up in the air. Adrian needs to go to work today for a few hours to get clear to have his comp time. After that, the last day of school for both kids is tom. Very exciting for both of them. Riley had to miss his friends Graduation from Kindergarten yesterday. It wasn't so bad once he fully realized that Daddy was coming home at the exact same time.

Dylan will be finishing up 2nd Grade. It's amazing how big they have gotten! He is so grown up, even for his age. He will be starting football this summer. Some of his friends from soccer are going to be on a team together, so he is very excited to be back with them again.

Oh well, need to get some groceries in this house. Adrian lost a lot of weight while he was gone and is looking fantastic! Makes me wish I stuck to my diet better while he was gone! I have a lot of catching up to do!!!

Cheers!

Busy Week!

These last two weeks have been very busy for all of us. Last week Riley and I went to the zoo for a school trip. We had a blast with Mrs Ray's class. We got separated from the group for a while. That's when we saw a ferret take a dive into the pond to get away from the geese. He never came up. Which leads to the question...Do ferret's swim? Still looking for an answer. My guess would be no after what I saw!

Next we had Dylan's Birthday Party/Sleepover. Marcus got to stay and sleep over that night. We had a Pirate Theme and it seem to go over rather well.

After that, we had our busy school week with soccer practices, PTO(PTA) meetings, Art Show/Book Sale at Riley's school, and then the OSC Auction. That was a VERY busy night and most of the week I had work to do to get ready for it. We did really well and made a huge amount for scholarships! Sat morning Nicole, Sheila and I counted all the money and had a lot of coffee. We ended up raising over $9000! Fantastic since we were only expecting to make $5000.

Yesterday we also had two more soccer games. It was Riley's last one and Dylan has one more. They both are improving so much! Riley actually tries to kick the ball now. Dylan is becoming very good. He has learned to pass it off and is getting better at dribbling. They love for him to play forward. He is one of the only kids on his team that actually follows thru with the ball. He would have scored at least twice if he would have had some back-up this week. A few kids were out. Too bad! Than he asked to play goaly and made a couple of good saves. His arms we even red from where the ball hit. Ouch!

Dylan's Birthday, Part 2

Here are a few pictures of the Happy Birthday Boy. He enjoyed all of his parties. Last night was his party with his friends. It was a Pirate Party. The scavenger hunt was cancelled due to the weather going bad very quickly. It got too cold, too quick. So we did it inside instead. At last minute, I couldn't do too much. They found it quick. Oh well, it's the thought that counts!

Dylan's 8th Birthday

We have a busy life right now. On Tuesdays we have soccer practice. So we decided to have dinner the day before the actual birthday. Last night we had over all of the neighbors, and the Brecks, for a Birthday party. On the menu, picked by the Birthday Boy, was pigs in a blanket, mashed potatoes with gravy, and fruit salad. Yum!!! We had some grown-up food too. When all the yummy food was done, we also had a SpongeBob cake. With 10 kids and 6 adults, the cake was gone soon. We did save a piece for Mr Doug since he had to work the swingshift.

Dylan opened up family presents last night too. Daddy sent some cool stuff. We'll put some pictures on tom. The tatoo maker looks cool as does the Disgusting Science kit. Aunt Susan sent The Yuck Book. I didn't get to see it as it went with Dylan to bed. So did the ElfQuest that Daddy sent. Some of the other presents included WWF people and a Bionicle and a Frogz that sings Happy Birthday that Riley picked out. Katy and Brian brought a cool toy that sends little pucks flying. It works really well. It flies straight upstairs. It even includes 6 extra pucks for when we loose them or Maggie eats them.

We had a good time. Lots of food, friends, and presents. If only Daddy was here...

Back to our CA Trip

This is a picture of a "Deep Fried Twinkies" cart. They were not open at the time we went by, at least that what I told my kids. Dylan and Veronica wanted to pose by it anyway. I asked JoAnna how they were. She said it was "cholesterol on a stick".

As you can tell, it was cold in Santa Cruz. My kids and I brought beach clothes and flip flops. Boy were we suprised! Thank goodness I remembered to grab sweatshirts on my way out the door! So it wasn't too bad. This is the boardwalk that we took a long walk on when we first arrived. My kids were excited to be back at a beach. They were a little suprised at the the difference between CA beaches and the beach in Pensacola. BIG difference! Especially in the temp of the water. A lot colder in CA! We still had a good time. Dylan hung out with Veronica and Riley hung out, holding hands and all, with Jessica. It just reminded me that we need to make another trip to FL soon and play at the beach! I miss it more than the kids!

Helicopter

For Dylan's Birthday next week, his Grandparents decided to get him a helicopter. All of the dads in the neighborhood came out to give it a try on Easter. They crashed it a few times. Doug was a good flier and Dylan is getting the hang of it. He used his money to buy extra parts. The extra landing gear is on and he has used one of the extra sets of blades. Now he just needs to wait for Daddy to come home to play. Dylan says "It has a lot of gears and stuff. And it's hard to fly!" Now we just need to find somewhere closer to get extra parts for it.

Easter

I decided to take a little time off from our trip of San Fran and tell you about Easter. Here is a picture of the kids with Nanna and Grandpa. They had a blast with the Grandparents for the weekend. We had a lot of candy, a lot of food, a lot of friends, and a lot of fun. Katy, Brian, Sara and Seth came over for brunch. We then decided to crash Jackie and Doug's for desert. At least we brought our own Cheesecake and wine! Then everyone came back to our house to play with Dylan's early Birthday present, a helicopter from the Grandparents...