Maryland Adventures

We took a 10 day trip out to Maryland. Rick had to go out for work so we decided to take the whole family. We talked about packing a lot & Joseph decided he would get himself all packed up with the essentials he needed.

Our trip was awesome, except a delayed flight out to MD (we got in super late so the first night we didn't get to the hotel until 3:30 am Saturday morning), everyone getting sick (at least one person threw up 7 out of the 10 days), & Rick getting poison ivy (at least we think that is what it is, we have no idea where he picked it up). Thus we only got half of the things done that we wanted to, but we still had a lot of fun.

Saturday we started meeting with some realtors about our townhouse. You would think that with the housing market as it is there would only be really good realtors left in the business, but we managed to find some pretty flaky ones. That evening we had dinner with one of our old friends there. Lexie & Joseph didn't remember their little boy, Zachary, from when we had lived there before, but it didn't take them long to become reacquainted. They could not wait to see him again & again during our trip. Sunday (Father's day) we went to our old branch for church. It was so awesome to see so many old friends & how well they are doing. We have really missed them. The building that we met in used to be a Community Health Center. When we left, the church had bought the building & started remodeling it. We were amazed with the changes & with how awesome it looks now. The kids loved going to a new Primary & meeting new friends.

We also headed down to the College Park ward which we attended after we were first married. It was so fun to see old friends & family there (my cousin is now in that ward). We really enjoyed our time there. After church we headed to our old apartment. Lexie wanted to see her tree. We lived up on the 4th floor & every morning Lexie would talk to this tree out the window. She loved it, whenever she saw it she would start giggling & babbling.

Then we headed over to the University of Maryland where Rick went to Grad School. Of course Lexie had to go over & see what the flowers were on the big letter M.

The throwing up began Sunday night & Monday we (the kids & I) pretty much camped out in the hotel while Rick went to work. Tuesday the kids were stir crazy so we went & played at the school playground & made clover necklaces & crowns.

Then we headed over to our townhouse to see our old neighbors we have missed so much & played a little with them. Lexie also climbed a tree for the first time in her life (pitiful, I know).

Tuesday evening we went to dinner with our old neighbors & had a blast. Then we headed over to Rick's old roommate's place. Koda was very gracious to entertain us & he even let us play Rock Band with him. Andrew got the high score of 91% on this round (he was on vocals & he can't even talk). We have no idea how he did it.

As we were saying goodbye, Lexie found the letters on the fridge & left a message for her brothers. (It says, "stop it ok!")

That night & into Wednesday morning, Rick & I bowed before the porcelain throne and made our offerings (& we were very generous with our offerings). Man, I really hate throwing up. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our plans of going to the temple that night.

We kept it low-key & hung out with neighbors & a co-worker of Rick's & did some work on our house until Friday. I met a friend, Corinne, at a park to play with her kids & have a picnic. It was really fun & amazing to see how big her children are now. Andrew freaked me out a lot trying to climb on all of the big kid toys & having to do it all by himself.

Friday night we got to go to dinner with 2 of my friends from High School. It was so great to catch up with them! Andrew enjoyed running circles around everyone there. That was interesting.

Saturday we headed up to Hershey, PA to go to Hershey Park. We had a great time. The drive was gorgeous & the rides were great. Lexie loved the roller coasters while Joseph & Andrew enjoyed all of the spinning rides (especially the scrambler-they did not want to get off). After playing all day at the park, we had to rush over to the Chocolate Factory for the little tour where they give you a piece of chocolate at the end. Joseph really wanted his chocolate bar. Luckily, we made it just before closing time. Ironically enough, the day spent on spinning around and riding roller coasters was one of the few days that nobody threw up. We were very grateful for that!

While at Hershey, Rick noticed that what he thought were bug bites started spreading into a rash of swollen bumps. By the end of the trip it had spread to his fingers, arms, legs, stomach, and neck. Our best guess is that it was a reaction to poison ivy.

Then Sunday came again. We went to the branch & the kids were spoiled rotten. They really enjoyed their time there & would love to live in Maryland again. Once again, the kids had a great time being goofy with their friend, Zachary.

After church we headed down to the Washington, D.C. Temple & Visitor's Center.

This is the bridge that Rick help build for the Nature Trail on the Temple grounds.

Monday we said good-bye to our blue house again & to our friends.

And of course, Lexie had to climb on the tree one more time. She really likes tree climbing now.

Our plane on the way home was Maryland One. So fun & exciting, well Lexie & Joseph sure thought so.

We're grateful for all of the good people we got to know & associate with while in Maryland. We're so glad we got to visit with so many of them again!

Rick's Birthday & Father's Day

Rick had a birthday (shout hooray)! The kids had a great time making him a fun sign & making presents. Since we were going to be in Maryland for Father's Day, we celebrated the 2 occasions together.

On Father's Day we went to both our old branch in Brooklyn Park & our old ward in College Park. At the College Park ward, Lexie & Joseph got to list out 5 things they love about their Dad. It was really cute to read what they'd come up with.

Lexie's Five things I love about my Dad:

1. When my Dad reads me bedtime stories.
2. When my Dad takes me on walks.
3. When he pulled out my tooth.
4. When we play games together.
5. When he rocked me in circles to help me fall asleep when I was a baby.

Joseph's Five things I love about my Dad:

1. When he takes me to the airport to get on a plane.
2. When we wait for mom to come home on the airplane.
3. When he takes me home from Joy School.
4. When you picked me up in the black car when mommy ran out of gas.
5. When I get 1,000 presents on my birthday.

Our children are so grateful for their awesome Dad. It is so much fun to see how much they love him. We're grateful for our Dad's & for all they do for us.

Last Day of School

Lexie has been so sad about school coming to an end. She will periodically just burst into tears telling us how much she will miss her teacher. So far, we've been able to cheer her up with promises of 1)getting to meet a new, fun 1st grade teacher & 2)getting to visit her Kindergarten teacher again next year. Today school was really fun. Normally, Mondays are "hard working days" but today, it was a "hard playing day." I went over to the school early to drop off a few things & see if her teacher needed any help. Joseph loved getting to "sit on a number" & watch the end of cars. He really felt like a Kindergartner & loved every minute of it. Lexie loved having him there. Andrew had fun making messes.
I've decided that I should not go to the school in the spring anymore. On Thursday I went to help in the class & we had a tornado warning. The kids got to crouch in the "tornado position" for 45 minutes. Today, one of the other teachers & I were laughing & saying, "Wouldn't it be funny if we had another one today & you guys had to stay until 4?" And then, it 15 minutes before school was to be dismissed, there was another tornado warning. Good times.
We can't believe how quickly this year went & how much Lexie has grown. Kindergarten was so much fun!

Kindergarten Celebration

We were invited to Lexie's class for an end of the year party where the kids showed us how much they learned this year. (And boy, it was a lot!) They started off with their afternoon meeting where they shared news. I love how Ms. Hendrickson taught them how it is polite to look people in the eyes when they are speaking or when you are listening to them. After someone shared news they would ask, "Any questions or comments?" It was so cute to hear the different things that the kids said & asked.

Then each child read a story they wrote about pigs. These kids have such great imaginations. I love all of the "juicy words" they used & how they read with expression.

Then Lexie got to share with us her paper about what she learned this year.

We sure love Ms. Hendrickson! She is such an awesome teacher. We are so grateful that she was Lexie's Kindergarten teacher. She really helped her to love school & taught her so much in such a fun way. Hopefully, I can use some of her ideas at home with the kids. We will be very pleased if the rest of her teachers are as good as Ms. Hendrickson.

We ended the celebration with donuts & then getting to take Lexie home early. Since we got out early we decided to take the kids all out for lunch. (Silly Andrew could not get enough of Rick's drink.)

How Comfy?

We had some friends that are moving away over for dinner. Andrew was so distraught when they left that he stood at the door crying. We decided to let him grieve on his own. When the crying finally stopped we went to check on him & found him asleep on the floor. Good night, Andrew and farewell to our friends.

Joy School Graduation

Joseph graduated from Joy School. (But he'll go back next year, too.) He had such a great time this year. When I asked him what his favorite thing about Joy School was; his reply, "All!"
At the graduation the kids had a great time singing some of their favorite songs from the year. And we had a little dance party. As Miss Jen handed out the diplomas she talked about each of the children. About Joseph she said, "Joseph is what I call freakishly smart." I started laughing. She also said that he was a good boy who was good at obeying. We are so impressed with what Miss Jen has been able to teach him. He loved showing us his worksheets & what he accomplished. It was awesome to see how much his handwriting has improved over the year. He's also become a great little reader. Joseph loved all of his little friends at Joy School.
We sure love Miss Jen! Thanks for another great year!

Tornado

There I was just playing Mancala with Lexie & Joseph, Andrew was asleep, & Rick was reading the newspaper. I looked up & saw this white streak behind my neighbor's house. I took a second look & realized that it was a tornado. We hurried the kids down to the basement & I ran out to the front porch. Rick grabbed the camera & here is what we took. It's really long, so don't feel like you need to watch it all. This video is after the tornado started diminishing. It did touch down over by Southlands Mall by our house & the news said it was on the ground for 30 minutes, but I'm not sure about that. We saw it for about 15. We're sorry we didn't grab the camera faster & get some better shots.

We got a lot of hail. These are pictures about 20 minutes after it stopped hailing so most of it had already melted. Thankfully, the extent of our damage is that all of our pretty flower blossoms are gone. Buildings were damaged as close as a mile from our house.

Lexie & Joseph said many prayers while they were in the basement for our safety & we are grateful that all of our prayers were answered. We're also glad we had a shortened Church schedule today-or else we would have missed all of the fun!

You can check out this link for more videos about it.

The Tooth Fairy Came

We can't believe our baby girl is growing up. She lost her first tooth last night & was so excited for the Tooth Fairy to come. She had been wiggling the tooth for about a month in hopes that it would come out sooner. Her corn on the cob at dinner sure did the trick.

No teeth missing:

One missing tooth:

She was so happy & excited!

The Tooth Fairy came.

It Runs in the Family

Sunday morning Andrew found this marker & he tried desperately to get it behind his ear. He was so pleased when it finally stayed.

We think it may run in the family.

Memorable Afternoon

This afternoon Joseph followed Rick around while he mowed the lawn. At the end of mowing, Joseph asked, "So when you vroom it, it shims the grass, right?" It sounded accurate enough for a 4 year old, so Rick agreed. Joseph happily said, "Now I know how for when I need to do it."

After mowing, Rick sprayed the grass with weed killer. Joseph watched intently and at the conclusion asked, "Do you just push on that (pointing to the trigger) and the spray comes out of the end?" After being answered in the affirmative, Joseph again stated, "Now I know how for when I need to do it." Rick mentioned to him that it was great he was learning how to do so many good things, to which Joseph replied, "This is a day I'll never forget!"

(And yes, he did pick out his own outfit today. Don't swimming suits and pajama tops go well together?)