Lincoln State Park Camping

After 5 years...and much talking myself into it...we went tent camping. The four of us. We booked our site at Lincoln State Park several months ago in celebration of Brian's birthday...and hoped it wasn't a disaster. Ironically, we booked weeks before other sites were occupied...and somehow ended up with one of the worst spots! No big deal, we were rarely there. But did make note of some better sites for next time.

We arrived Friday late afternoon and set up camp. The kids were super excited! Hot dogs and chips were an easy dinner, s'mores rounded off the evening. Patrick was happy to get his bike out and tool around the campsite, which was totally bustling. We choose a primitive site, considering we actually prefer to not have electrical hook up....and joined quite a few, well, rednecks. That first night was a late one, but everyone did great sleeping in the tent. The weather was cool, just perfect. The next day, Brian made up some pancakes and bacon, then we headed out to the playground. Fishing came next, lunch, checking out the Lincoln Boyhood National Park and the living farm and museum. Dinner was a favorite camp meal - chicken pot pie and peach cobbler. Delicious! The kids were exhausted and hit the sack by 9, not complaining once about the noise. We laughed because our backyard campfires are more relaxing and "taking in nature" than this was. But, hey, it's Memorial Day weekend. What do you expect?

Sunday morning, we slept in and awoke to a day a tad warmer. Brian made biscuits for breakfast and we fished some more. Ok, the boys were fishing. Lucy's feelings about fishing can be summed up in her comment about 5 mins in to the experience -- "How long do we have to DO this??". She and I hiked around, played on the playground, chatted. After lunch we visited the Nature Center, fished some more, broke camp and headed home. Both kids were out, as predicted, before we hit 64 :)

This was a VERY fun weekend! I will be the first to admit that not only am I not a camper...but I have been hesitant to venture into this with the kids. The kids did GREAT! They loved it! Loved sleeping in a tent, riding bikes, eating campfood, fishing, and playing on the playground. It was so nice to just....relax. To not be distracted with Internet, TV, chores, etc. To take time and search a clearing for the acorn "bottom" that will fit a certain acorn "hat". To push kids on the swing to their content. To tell stories in a tent because you didn't bring books. And to fish the morning away and see a child's glee with every dip of the bobber. We can't wait to do it again!

Patrick's 5th Birthday...and welcome Ellie Elaine!

We celebrated Patrick's 5th birthday last weekend. We can hardly believe our baby boy is FIVE! That seems soooo much older than four! Lots of family was able to come, and our house was bustling with many overnight guests -- three cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents too. Patrick asked for a "How To Train Your Dragon" theme, and we were able to come through with a cake and all the trimmings :)

Favorite gifts this year were many dragons (go figure), Legos, a Razor scooter, and some outdoor toys. Actually, everything was awesome :) The weather held out and we enjoyed good conversation, great family and friends like family, and smores into the night. The following day was his actual birthday, and as requested we treated Patrick to Turoni's for dinner -- his favorite restaurant.

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy. We love you more than we can say. Your energy, your spirit, your curiosity and your kind heart are so amazing. It saddens me that your body no longer folds into my lap as easily :( We still remember when a nurse in the newborn nursery recommended a book to us after knowing you in those first few hours -- "How to Bend the Will Without Breaking the Spirit". And that's the line we've been dancing for the past five years...and hope to continue. Your energy will take you so far in life!

Friday, May 20th, we welcomed Ellie Elaine Hadley....Molly and Doug's firstborn. So neat that she fittingly arrived on what would have been Grandpa McNulty's 88th birthday. I can see him up in Heaven chuckling with the saints on that one...and Grandma right next to him rolling her eyes and tsk-tsk'ing him. We met her on Monday the 23rd. And she is beautiful, of course, at 7 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long. We love her so much!

Thank God for the blessings of these children. We pray you let us keep them for a long time :)

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful, wet Easter this year! The kids had been anxiously counting down the days til their baskets were filled with treats. And the bunny delivered: the DVD Tangled for Lucy, along with a Rapunzel Barbie and a stuffed bunny...the DVD Stuart Little 3 for Patrick, along with a Lego set and some Matchbox cars. And, of course, tons and tons of candy! Leading up to Easter, we celebrated with Patrick's preschool Thursday during the class party, and the weather held off enough to allow the kids to get outside and hunt eggs. We went to 10:45 mass at St. Wendel and watched our good friends' youngest daughter, Ava Hill, being baptized. Back to Hills for a delicious lunch and another egg hunt, just beating the rain. After that, we headed down to Mamaw and Papaw Bretz's house where the kids received another basket loaded with goodies.

After all that candy....we headed to the dentist on Monday. Ironically. The kids were rockstars, hopped up onto the chairs and allowed the hygientist and Dr. Ray to clean and polish away. Even tolerated xrays! Patrick has 6 year permanent molars coming in already-- yikes!! Sadly, Lucy did a face plant on the driveway about 2 weeks ago...and the dentist confirmed that her left front tooth is dying. Geez. It's a little discolored, just really hoping it doesn't darken anymore. And she's pretty much going have to deal with it til her permanent tooth pushes thru in about 3 years. We did have the option of a baby root canal with a crown, but this really isn't necessary, especially considering it is a baby tooth. And they don't like to remove baby teeth at her age, it could affect her permanent tooth descending. Since she isn't uncomfortable or avoiding certain foods...it is what it is. As far as my teeth go, I have been in braces for about 4.5 months. Teeth are responding well, moving quickly...and I hope to be out of them before 2012. Hope :)

We have been busy lately! We all were up in Indy mid-April for Molly's baby shower, as she counts down the days until the end -- 35 weeks this week, I believe! So exciting! Brian continues to work like a madman, accepting his new job responsibilities like the champ we know he is. I have accepted a part-time position with New Harmonie Healthcare, and beginning June 1, I will be working Mondays and Wednesdays for them. We've pieced together childcare over the summer with some eager school-age kids, and the kids will be taking part in Resurrection's extended care program beginning mid-August when school resumes. We can hardly believe we will have a son in pre-K and a daughter in preschool. I am really excited about this new opportunity! I haven't worked at this frequency since Patrick has been born -- almost 5 years now. The other bonus -- this means I can drop my weekends at the hospital to once a month beginning in August. Which will be fantastic!

Patrick has his end of the year program next week at school and Lucy is preparing for her dance recital in June. We booked a campsite at Lincoln over Memorial Day weekend and have plans to spend a weekend at Sweetwater Lake with the family in July. Might try to sneak in a day at Holiday World and a few days in St. Louis, possibly catch a Cards game, at some point. And before we know it, Patrick and Jenny will be getting married in October!! So happy warmer days are here...now if we can just get it to dry out a bit...:)

Funny Q and A's:

How old are you and when is your birthday?

P: Four, May 22nd

L: Three, December 13th

Where do you live?

P: Oakfield

L: I don't know!! (followed by crying, geez)

What is your favorite food?

P: Pizza

L: Spaghetti

What is your favorite color?

P: orange

L: pink and purple

What is your favorite restaurant?

P: Turoni's

L: Peanut place (aka Logans)

What does your Dad do at work?

P: Boring stuff. Works on computers and helps people. (Lucy just nodding)

What do I do?

P: Go to the hospital and help people feel better. (Lucy still nodding)

What do you want to do when you get big?

P: What Daddy does, computer guy (obviously not THAT boring)

L: I don't know!! (more tears)....calmed down and said "A mom, like you"

What is your favorite movie?

P: Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs, all the Stuart Littles

L: Polar Express, Tangled

What is your favorite toy?

P: Dinosaurs and flying reptiles

L: Barbies and ponies

Where have my babies gone??

I realize it has been a while since I've randomly written about what the kids are busy with these days, and considering we hit another major milestone today...I figure it's time.

Patrick is closely approaching his 5th birthday on May 22nd. He is doing wonderful at Resurrection in preschool, recently receiving a great progress report from his teachers. He has made many nice friends as well. Patrick and Lucy are learning side by side - recognizing letters and working on letter sounds, counting, and identifying printed numbers. They are both very interested in reading and writing, and although Patrick is the only one who can actually write his name they both can very easily spell and recognize their names. And each others :) Just the other day, Patrick wrote our entire family's name without any help! Patrick is a good artist and his favorite subjects are ptyerodactyls, vehicles, and people. He is constantly building, amazing me with his Lego creations. And quick to add that he "didn't even have to look at the directions". Last night, Daddy took off the training wheels....and by lunchtime today he was speeding around the neighborhood like he had been for months. He loves to play games on the computer and on his Explorer, work on puzzles, and play make-believe. He is often in character, the most frequent one we see is a dragon :)

Lucy is three going on sixteen. As usual. Too big for her skinny britches and entering a fiercely independent stage. It's a lot of "I am NOT a baby", and resisting us carrying her most of the time. She graduated to a "training wheel bike" with her all time favorite painted on the side -- Rapunzel. We recently took her to see "Tangled", her first theater experience...and she absolutely loved it! And loved having a big soda and popcorn :) We still do tumbling/dance weekly, and her class is preparing for their recital in June. Just last week at class, I realize how much stronger and more coordinated her movements are. She is frequently dressed like a princess, complete with necklaces, bracelets, a purse and heels. Typically with a dragon on her tail! Her vocabulary continues to be ridiculous, using as many big words as she can during the day. Favorites are "did you realize....?" and "I didn't recognize...." or "such-and-such is similar..." The kids play very well together, we are so lucky for that. Lucy will start preschool next fall alongside her brother in pre-K, sharing a room for this year only until he moves onto Kindegarten.

We keep pretty busy during the day -- from playdates at MEGA gymnastics to the library and Children's Museum. With warmer days approaching, we will add the park and zoo back into our rotation, and hopefully the pool. Both kids tear up and down the street all day long on their bikes, and Lucy tackles the hills with the same drive as her brother. We are looking forward to the new swingset, which is anticipated to be up sometime in the next month. Hopefully. Naps are pretty much history, but quiet time with a movie in the afternoon seems to be a pretty good alternative. As is the earlier bedtime for Mommy and Daddy :)

Weekend Getaway

Very last minute, we decided to treat ourselves and the kids to a weekend away. After looking around a little bit, we settled on Big Splash Adventure Water Park in French Lick, Indiana. We had heard good things about it from friends, so decided to go for it. It's close, it's relatively inexpensive, it's right up the kids alley.

The kids had no idea what we were doing. That's the beauty of childhood, things are happening around you and you are totally oblivious. I was able to get the van all packed up during the day on Friday and the house set to leave town, all right under their noses with very few questions that were apparently answered with my vague responses. Friday afternoon we left with intentions of going out to dinner. Nothing different, something we do fairly regularly, but there were many complaints as to how LLLOOONNNGG the drive was. About an hour and a half. We arrived at the resort, checked in and settled down to eat at their restaurant. Which, for those of you considering visiting this place...don't eat here. Food and service is mediocre, prices are high. Talk yourselves out of the fact that it's convenient because it's within the hotel. Just use this place for breakfast, since it's included in your package. Spend half the money and eat at the DQ in town. Anyhow...kids are still clueless. We bring our stuff up to the room and it starts to sink in that we are staying. Pretty excited! The room is adequate, the built in bunk beds are a major hit. Luckily, it was decided right away that Patrick would sleep on top, so we avoided that battle.

We spent a couple hours that evening at the water park. Very cool. Again, for those of you thinking about going, know that your children under 46 inches are limited to about half the park. Which, for us, was fine. They have a wading pool with swings and fountains and another big area that has all kids of water features including two tube slides. The other half has four tube slides for bigger kids and adults, as well as some deeper pools. Brian went down those slides several times, and I humored him and did it once. Totally dark, totally enclosed, aggressive ending. Pretty cool if you are into the thrill ride scene. Not for me. Oh yeah, also the lazy river that circles the place. Both kids enjoyed that as well. Patrick really had the most fun of all. He was the perfect age and size to really enjoy all that he could do. Lucy was a little more timid (*gasp* - not really), preferring to hang out in the smaller wading pool and miffed that she had to put on a life vest to get into the lazy river. Apparently that was seriously interfering with her ability to "bounce" off the bottom of the "river". Go figure, it keeps you afloat :)

Saturday afternoon we went over and explored around the Railroad Museum. Kind of disappointing, all that entails is walking around a bunch of parked train cars. But free. We got back to the resort after stopping for ice cream and let the kids play in the arcade while we sipped on Bud Light Limes (another perk in our book). Spent 10 bucks to win a couple of junk toys that they were totally thrilled about. Saturday night we ate at Chicago's pizza, a tiny restaurant at the bottom of the very steep drive leading up to the resort. VERY good pizza, great service. Would absolutely recommend this place and will be eating here again the next time.

All in all, a great time despite the kids fighting winter colds. They enjoyed the water park, slept very well in the room, all we could ask for. We are rejuvenated and ready for spring!!

Merry Christmas!

Ice cream parlor set from Santa!

Patrick and Morgan at McNulty Family Christmas, best buddies :)

Sledding at Ellenberger Park...wheeee!

...and sledding some more...

Enjoying the White Christmas morning...

Very happy with his Sky Racers airplane!

Our typical Christmas Eve was a bust this year, being that the kids were still feverish and battling a viral infection. Instead of mass and celebrating with the Bretz side, we stayed home and made our own snacks, watched Christmas movies, and enjoyed the snow coming down. Some Bretz family stopped by with gifts and to wish us a Merry Christmas. All in all, being home was actually a very nice alternative. But prefer the tradition :)

Christmas morning the kids were up before 6...the second time. Patrick was at our bedside around 3 am to tell me that he "didn't hear anything". Santa was very good to them, bringing Patrick's desired Imaginext Sky Racers Carrier and Optimus Prime and Lucy's baby doll and multiple accessories as well as an ice cream parlor set. For the first time, we opened gifts fairly slowly and enjoyed the kids glee (especially Patrick, who announced that most of his gifts he "wanted his whole life") and surprise. Other favorites included a shared Lego set, Leapfrog Explorers, a RC monster truck, and many puzzles and other crafts. Lucy was mostly impressed with a small spiral bound Princess notebook and a LED flashlight that Santa left in her stocking. Who knew. Daddy and I made out good as well! My big gift was supposed to be a food processor (which made pizza dough quite nicely last night, I might add)...but there was a small box pulled out of the tree after all the other gifts were opened. Big, beautiful diamond earrings! To replace...and then some...the ones that Daddy gave me several years ago that I lost. Love that man. I felt a little silly giving him his hiking GPS, which I thought I was secretly splurging on. Oh well.

Celebrating continued later that evening with Christmas dinner at my parents house. The next morning we had a second Christmas morning with the McNulty side. Later that afternoon, we took the kids sledding over at Ellenberger, their first experience on a decent size hill which they really enjoyed. For about 30 mins :) Sunday family dinner was that night as usual at Mom and Dad's and we headed back home on Monday morning.

Fevers broke Christmas weekend, an end to the illness that we felt had been lurking since, well, Lucy's birthday, really. We enjoyed lazying around the house and watching the kids play with the new toys. Totally ready for spring now, unfortunately winter has just begun. We finally decided on a swingset and anticipate it's arrival after the first of the year. The last of our Christmas to the kids, something that we will enjoy this spring and many years to come.

Christmas Fun!

Yeah for some snow! The kids enjoyed the little bit of time we were able to spend outside late last week...but a little disappointed it wasn't perfect snowman-making snow. Friday night we enjoyed pizza at Turoni's on Main and then headed to Garvin Park for the Fantasy of Lights. This has become a tradition for us, something Brian and I look forward to doing with the kids right before Christmas. Saturday night we prepared our holiday cookie dough so we could decorate our Santa cookies tonight. Yummy!

Some of the less fun parts of the weekend include battling winter colds. Patrick is coughing up a lung, which has become expected from him every cold season. Luckily, we wised up after that first winter and are the proud owners of a nebulizer and take stock in Albuterol and Flovent as well as Mucinex...which has spared us trips to the pediatrician as well as more money out of pocket. Lucy rebounded from her stomach bug on her birthday just to find a cold involving the chills and fever at 103. Again, thank God for Motrin....which has allowed us to enjoy Christmas preparations isolated in our own home :) And, for myself, the joys of braces. I have found a new appreciation for oatmeal and soup....but am very much looking forward to the prettier smile over the course of the next 12-15 months.

Happy Birthday Lucy!

Yesterday we celebrated Lucy's 3rd birthday. Wow. Time flies. Three seems so much older than two, for some reason. We are back to that time of year when we can say we have kids a year apart, a four year old and a three year old. Sounds crazier :)

The day started off not so well with Lucy waking up sick in the night, but she had a very speedy recovery. We had tacos for dinner and I was able to pull off a rather bear-ish looking kitty cat cake. We got her a camera among other things, this was by far her favorite. She was showered by gifts from everyone else, including a beautiful homemade doll carrier with matching diaper bag and several outfits from none other than Grandma Bretz. Other fav's include a Barbie doll, a puppy in a carrier, and a whole set of baby doll accessories.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl. You have enriched our lives in so many many ways. Your red curls and impish smile can melt any heart. We love you so much!

Breakfast with St. Nick

Thanks to Grandma Bretz for making us our Christmas vests! We received many compliments!

Meet Daisy!

On our walk yesterday afternoon, the kids and I stumbled across the sweetest little gray kitten. Of course, they had to stop and pet the cat. And pet and play and pick her up. And there were many tears when we left it behind. But not for long, since she followed us. I felt bad and let Patrick hold her on the walk....and she made it home with us....and scored a nice blanket and food and water on our deck. Where she was waiting at the door for us this morning, meowing. Mommy and Daddy caved, we let her in. Chloe, our 6 year old cat, is the least enthusiastic about this new addition to the home. We named her Daisy (really hoping Mommy is right and she is a girl, but figure shortening to Daze if need be is pretty easy :). I figure she is maybe 6-8 weeks old. Really playful and sweet, loves the kids and snuggles right up to both of them during those little bursts of naps that kittens take throughout the day. We have to remind the kids that she is a kitten, that her scratching and biting is just her way of playing and she really does NOT need to be carried around all day. We went to Target and picked up her own bowls and food, as well as some toys that Chloe LONG ago lost interest in. She is scheduled to see the vet on Friday. We are hopeful that with some time, Chloe will begin to appreciate this new friend :)

Happy Halloween!

This is our first Halloween in our new home, obviously, but this holiday particularly is special for that reason. We have trick or treated in our current neighborhood for the past two years, meeting up with friends. I often said how much I would like to live here, and we even walked past our now home last Halloween, newly finished and up for sale. Funny how things have a way of working themselves out :)

Anyhow, this was my weekend to work. Naturally. We carved our jack-o-lantern Friday night and Brian spent today making a big pot of chili. True to tradition, we met up with friends a few doors down and hit up the neighborhood. Daddies pulling coolers of beer and kids walking (what?), enjoying the beautiful day and raking in the loot. Patrick was a dinosaur and Lucy a princess, so excited to don the costumes that have been hanging in their closets for weeks now. We ended up with several people back at our house, eating chili, drinking beer and spiked cider, and plenty of kids underfoot. Happy Halloween!!

Fun Fall Weekend!

Saturday morning after breakfast we packed a lunch and headed over to Shawnee to visit Garden of the Gods and Rim Rock. Following the rather painful drive there (lots of "when are we gonna be there??? This is taking HOURS!!" and anything you would expect from two kids under 5 within striking distance of each other), we arrived. The park was actually pretty crowded. The kids did GREAT listening and held our hands as we scrambled over the rocks. We grilled out hot dogs for lunch and took a nice hike around Rim Rock. Brian and I were impressed with the improved endurance and cooperation this year as compared to this time last year and our disastrous Smoky Mountain vacation :)

Sunday morning we went to mass, out to Donut Bank for breakfast, and off to Mayse Farm Market for what has become our October tradition. The kids loved playing in the hay bale maze, sliding down the slides, sling-shotting gourds across the field and finally riding the tractor to pick out the perfect pumpkin. What a beautiful LONG weekend for the Bretz Family. Hooray for federal holidays!

Testing Windows Live Writer

Just wondering what crazy things I can do with this.

Two peas in a pod.

First Days...

Patrick completed his 3rd day of preschool today, and the growth from this year to last is just amazing. We have decided to give him an extra year of preschool, probably one of the best decisions we have made. He has school Tuesday and Thursday mornings, same classroom and same wonderful teachers at Resurrection. His behavior in general and interactions with his classmates has matured so much. He is excited to go to school in general, walks in without the hesitation that was so pronounced last year. With some prodding from us, he is attempting to make some new friends. He offers more information about his day and is much more interested in sitting down and working on projects, writing his name, counting, reading, etc.

Lucy started dance/tumbling class tonight. She had her leotard on after breakfast and had several crying jags when she realized it was gonna be a while. She very much enjoys having something of her own - brother has school and she has tumbling. Lucy is pretty shy around most everyone except a select few she feels very comfortable with, so this is a great opportunity for her to be exposed to other kids and another adult (NOT me), plus get all the physical and academic benefits. Ok, that sounded ridiculous...but I am a PT. Anyhow, she loved it. Pretty much as long as I was the primary adult guiding her, she was all about the songs and dancing and tumbling. And our good friend, Lucas Rudolph, is in the same class, so that is a double bonus.

Indy Weekend

We enjoyed a nice long weekend in Indy and kept quite busy! We left on Friday morning and took a different route north so we could stop by Sugar Mill State Park. It was the perfect halfway point. The kids enjoyed visiting the Pioneer Village and splashing in the creek. Plus, it wore them right out so they crashed the rest of the drive :) That evening we went with Mom to see Will Ferrell's "The Other Guys", which was pretty funny.

Saturday morning the kids, Carissa and her kids, and Grammie went to the Children's Museum. No matter how often we go, the activities are still as exciting as the first time. The guys were hard at work helping Patrick get his plumbing in order. That evening after mass we went over to Molly and Doug's to celebrate Mom and Dad's birthdays -- they both turned 58 this weekend! Happy Birthday!!

Sunday morning we headed to the Indiana State Fair. What a great time! We got to pet the barnyard animals, go thru the Little Hands exhibit where the kids did "chores" in exchange for "money" at the market, and got to "buy" a treat at the end. We played in several buildings full of kids activities and even fed the goats. We enjoyed plenty of good food - fresh milkshakes, popcorn, apple cider slushies, corndogs, and icecream. There was tons of equipment parked out on the lawn, and we got some cute pictures of the kids climbing all over it. They were thrilled to spend some of their money in the John Deere store, walking out with new toy tractors. That evening we went to Sunday Family Dinner at the Kenneys -- a great end to a wonderful weekend.

Craft time!

The kids are on a roll with "projects" lately. Especially Patrick. It's such a neat thing to see such creativity and persistence. We have been slowly building our "project box" with construction paper, markers and crayers, glue, scissors, hole punches, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, beads, yarn, etc, etc, etc. We save everything that appears (or not so much) to be reusable in a project such as empty paper towel holders, food containers, and soda boxes. Yesterday's masterpieces include a bird costume and a pipe cleaner hat. And doesn't every mother want a large yogurt container punched with holes and thread with orange yarn and pipe cleaners on their nightstand? It just completes the look. I was relieved when Daddy got home and confirmed that no, he didn't need that box for his cord reel anymore. Because it had been transformed into a costume. At the Children's Museum last week we spent the greatest amount of time at the project table where they had a tub of empty paper towel holders, duct tape, and Scotch tape. Might be a very inexpensive Christmas for us this year :)

New Home!

We closed on our brand new home on Friday, July 9th. And sold our old home on Boberg at the same time. An ideal situation, we were very fortunate. I had taken the kids up to Terre Haute on Thursday night where my sister, Molly, met me and brought the rascals the rest of the way to Indy for the week.

We painted like maniacs from Friday night until mid-day on Monday. And got the entire house minus the laundry room finished. Which I did agree to leave white :) Looking back, I have no idea how we got it done. We had a system -- I trimmed, Brian rolled. We are a great team! Tuesday morning we backed up the UHaul to our old house and started the moving processs. It was greatly helped by Brian's brother, Mike, who spent his entire "day off" helping us. By 4 pm that evening, just about everything was moved over and we were deep into unpacking. We spent the next couple of days unpacking, organizing, and running errands. I have to say that I was very proud of our perseverance, but most of that was driven by the realization that whatever doesn't get done NOW will take twice as long with twice the amount of stress with the kids underfoot :)

The home is beautiful. The neighbors are great. We have taken walks the past few nights and clocked 2 miles around the entire subdivision, which will be a great course for jogging. And it will be great to let the kids ride their bikes on our walks, which they were not able to do on Boberg.

THANK YOU SO MUCH to my parents and siblings for helping with the kids this past week. We have been able to get sooooo much done, and relax a teeny bit too :) I know the kids have had a great time touring the city of Indy (from what I understand they have done the Childrens Museum, multiple parks, the pool, seen Toy Story 3 at the theater, had a slumber party with the cousins a time or two, and just had a blast spending time with the family). Mom is bringing them home this afternoon and we are REALLY excited to see them and show them their new home. Funny that this is most likely the only home they will ever know, I really don't know if they will remember their first home. We will. It was a good home for us, we were a little sad leaving, but it's time to move on.

Stop in and visit anytime. Cold beer is always waiting!

St George Island

We just returned from our family vacation in St George Island, Florida. What perfect weather, what perfect company, what a perfect time. My Mom and her sister, Aunt Pam, have been busily planning this vacation since this time last summer. We were able to coordinate 37 people between the two families, giving us 15 kids ages 10 and under spread out over 5 beach homes. We were steps from the beach and the kids loved playing in the sand and splashing in the water. Monday night was McNulty family dinner night, so we hosted a Mexican Fiesta complete with games and activities (that my mother was very proud of) and Wedneday night was Manning family dinner with an Italian theme. Friday night was a pitch in with fresh seafood and all the trimmings. We shopped in town, got the chance to sneak away several times without the kids courtesy of the grandparents, and simply enjoyed kicking back on the beach with a cold beer. We drove 12 hours straight, through the night both times and the kids did fantastic. Definitely the way to go with little ones -- they were out by 10pm and snoozed til 6am. Thanks to Daddy for powering through while we rested :) Enjoy the slideshow!