Happy Birthday Connor!

Last weekend was Connor's fourth birthday. His party included a train ride, carousel ride and gem mining. The kids also got play on an awesome playground and mini water park. There were a lot of kids from Hannah's class, so Hannah and Cole had a great time.








When it came to the water play, Hannah was by far the least wet kid at the party.
:-)

Happy 4th Birthday Sierra!

Hannah's best friend, Sierra, celebrated her fourth birthday last week at Monkey Joe's. The girls have such a great time together and you can't go wrong with a Monkey Joe's party (although Hannah wanted to see more of Monkey Jane instead of Monkey Joe). She is equal opportunity.
:-)

Gym-nash-tics Class

Through our local Families with Children from China (FCC) chapter's website, I was lucky enough to find a gymnastics class that is run by two native Chinese people and they teach using some Chinese words (like counting, "up" and "down", "balance", etc.). A lot of girls from the FCC are in the class, so Hannah gets to interact with children that look like her. So far she seems to enjoy it very much.
:-)

Dear Lauren Barksdale,

I think your paintings are really neat. I saw your work while on vacation in Alabama and have regretted not buying this painting ever since. If you ever decide to show your work closer to the North Carolina area, please let me know. In the meantime, I will be saving up/fundraising/stealing money to buy one of your beautiful paintings. Hmmm, I wonder how much money Hannah has in her piggy bank?

Love,
:-)

Do I look stupid to you?

If you're anything like me, I usually ignore ads like this that pop up in various places on the internet. Usually. But today while logging into my home email account, this gem pops up and catches my eye. Seriously? Do you think because both of these woman are wearing the same color lip stick (which was probably photoshopped) that I am to believe this is the same woman "before" and "after". Are you kidding me? Their noses are not even the same! I must be tired, because usually things like this pass me by. But not today. Today these ladies' lips really bothered me. Okay, I'm done. I feel better now.
:-)

A very fond farewell

Our lovely vacation was coming to an end, so it was time to pack up all the kids and stuff and hit the road. We tried to get one last picture (poor Addison) before we left L.A. (Ashley, I did not realize what L.A. stood for until we left. Duh.)




We planned to stop in Atlanta on our way back to see the aquarium. We had heard such cool things about it and never seem to have time to go to Atlanta and we have a real soft spot in our hearts for aquariums. We stayed near the Olympic park and were able to walk around a little bit right after we checked into the hotel.


Hannah took this picture of Chris. Didn't she do a good job?


This slide was a series of conveyor belt rollers. A little bumpy, but the kids seemed to love it.




I sincerely hope that I NEVER SEE THIS WHILE I AM IN THE WATER. When I took this picture, I was totally protected within the tube and that shark STILL freaked me out. I'm such a sissy.



Did I mention we love turtles? Correction: Hannah loves turtles. Thus as soon as we arrived, we were on a mission. This place is HUGE and they only have ONE stinking turtle. Thank goodness we found him.

;-)

Won't you let me take you on a sea cruise?

We thought it would be a good idea to take the kids on a Dolphin Cruise. There were many to choose from, but in this cruises's ad they offered "GUARANTEED" Dolphin Sightings, so we figured we had a good shot. The cruise was only supposed to take one and a half hours, but the dolphins were a little shy that day and our captain was determined to find some dolphins.


It was a beautiful day to cruise around - we got see some of the beaches and inlets. There were some gorgeous houses in the coves. Ahhhhh, to dream.



About two hours in, we saw about five dolphins following a crab fisherman. We stalked them for about fifteen minutes (apparently you have to leave them to the next group) and then headed back to the dock. You could tell the captain was very relieved.




Each of kids mugged for the camera in their little "sea cruise" outfits.




The last picture was taken at the restaurant after the cruise. Chris was jiggling Hannah (that's why his hand is blurry) and she was making the "Ahhhhhhhh" sound. What joy she takes in simple things.
:-)

Surfin' FLA

Where we stayed was located near the border of Alabama and Florida. So one of the days we headed to the Florida beach in the late afternoon to take advantage of the gentle waves, soft sand and less intense sunshine. The kids (both big and small) really enjoyed riding the boogie board. The picture above is my favorite of Hannah... oh come on you like too.











It almost looks like they know what they're doing huh?
:-)

The pool

The pool at the condo was awesome. Along with two pools, it had a water slide (which the kids went down about 1,000 times), a lazy river and a kiddie pool. A little something for everyone. Taking pictures in the lazy river was tough (my camera is not waterproof, nor can I move quickly to avoid splashes), but I tried to get some action shots of the kids on the slide.



I took a few pictures over the course of the week of the kids on the slide and I love how Riley held her nose EVERY single time. A very sensible girl.


Notice that Hannah is accompanied by Daddy - she refused to go down by herself so Chris had to go down the slide as much as she did. Mommy tried it, but after Hannah and Mommy got mouths and noses full of water, we decided that Daddy was much better at it.


Thank goodness the Kittrells thought to bring this floatie. Hannah got ALOT of mileage on it going around and around on the lazy river.


Cutie pie in the kiddie pool.

:-)