Cherry Point Triathlon!

We drove to Cherry Point, arriving Friday night.  We were up and at the pool by 8am to see Dan start.

Here we are, waiting.  The children wanted so badly to play in the pool, but I would not let them.  Well, its not like the lifeguard was going to let them either!

I realized that this is why I have so few pictures of Joshua- they look like this, or he's making awful faces.  So, I take fewer pictures of him! (This is actually out of order.  Here we are waiting for Dan to finish the 10 mile bike portion.)

Here is Delaney, waiting for the fun to begin.  She actually did not want to it in the stroller until someone else looked like they might sit in it.  Then she screamed like a banshee and shoved them out so she could climb in.

Callie took this picture!  Since I'm in it, I thought I'd share!  We're watching the swimmers and waiting for Dan.  He was in the 3rd wave, but he was a much better swimmer than a LOT of the people in front of him!

Joshua took this  rather blurry shot of Dan, waiting his turn to hop in the pool.  They started the swimmers off at 15 second intervals and had a 1 minute break between each wave  (That helped clear the clogs caused by the really bad swimmers who didn't write down an accurate swim time.)

After the 400 yd swim, was the 10 mile bike.  Here is Dan, finishing that p.  He did pretty good on it.  
While we waited during his biking, and the during the 5K run, the kids entertained themselves.  This ditch was an endless source of fun.  They had a great time leaping over it.  I was surprised none of them got really muddy or hurt!

We moseyed down for a better look and they took up a spot here.  So cute!  Joshua had to take his shoes off because he had red ants on him.  I was not surprised by that, since I had told him 10 times not to poke the red-ant mound, and he obviously did not listen.  Fortunately he (and the girls!) escaped with no bites.

Here is Dan, on his triumphal finish, just starting his sprint to the end.  Joshua went out a quarter mile to run in with Dan, but Dan sprinted the end and left Joshua in the dust, so that's why Joshua is not in the shot.

In the afternoon, Dan and Delaney took naps, while I took the older 3 to the pool.  They had a Fabulous time! Check out Callie!  She's so pleased with herself that she can put her face in.

Marian is a hoot.  She had a grand time swimming.  The kids were in the water nearly 2 hours.  

And here is Joshua!  

This was my girls this morning before church.  Aren't they cute?!   We went to our old ward and had a marvelous time and I realized how much I love and miss my friends there.  They fed us a tasty lunch (LOVE that 5th Sunday Spread Lunch!!) and we got back home before 7:30 this evening.  And I want to mention how much I love our new van.  350 miles on the tank and I've still got 1/4 tank left!  We didn't have to stop for gas at all on the way home.  We actually only took a 10 minute potty break.  And the kids were very good in the car- especially since we didn't stop to feed them either and they had to make do with the crackers and apples we brought with us.

Callie's Party

I use the phrase "Callie's Party" quite loosely here.  She has a birthday coming up in a week, but with all our friends moving and other things happening, I didn't know when I was going to get a party done for her.  She had a list of specifics that she wanted: a ballerina cake and a unicorn pinata were definite must-haves.  

So, as I was pondering how to make this all happen, Raina mentioned that the Joy School end-of-year party was happening and so we combined it with a party for Callie.  I was able to kind-of make a ballerina cake for her and Raina managed to find a unicorn pinata.  And thus, Callie had a party.

Here she is with her cake.  I made the mistake of asking her to help choose what she wanted.  We looked at tons of pix online and she wanted a 4 layer cake.  Silly me, I've never made more than 2 layers and I made a few tactical errors... such as I just made 2 cakes into 4 layers.  Waaay too tall, and listing.  Plus, the sides didn't go straight up, giving it a zig-zag look.  And did I mention it was listing.  I used a ton of frosting to cover the issues, but the trip in the car to Raina's house caused a structural integrity breach, and it started to separate. Callie did not care.  She declared it beautiful, and I will say that it was mighty tasty!

This is how thrilled Delaney was with the pinata part.  She sat here, just like this until the pinata broke and then she understood the purpose.  Well, she would grab a candy and eat it before moving on to the next.  Filling the bag did not occur to her.  Fortunately the other kids were very sweet and they put candy in her bag for her!

Callie was thrilled to whack the pinata.   All the kids got about 3 turns at it- the darn thing would not break!  Finally Raina took charge and after she whacked it a few times the legs finally fell off and the candy flew!

Callie had a good time with the bubble blower.  That was a big hit.  She had a good party and I had fun with my grown up friends too!

Memorial Day

We are big Memorial Day slackers.  I guess it is odd for me, as a military Brat and now a military spouse, to not do something big for Memorial Day, but I don't.  I'm not sure we'd have done anything this year, if some friends from church hadn't invited us over for a BBQ.  I love to go out and do social stuff like that and when food is involved.... well, I'm totally there!  So we went.  The weather was threatening, but it did not actually rain, so it was fine.  Plus it kept it cooler, which was nice.

I do not think this kid ate anything healthy. I saw her with a plate containing 3 brownies and 2 chocolate covered Oreos.

Delaney was thrilled with the unlimited watermelon.  Dan grilled us some mean burgers and I know I had a happy tummy!

Callie had a marvelous time searching for worms on the porch.  She is currently obsessed with worms.  She likes to find them so she can put them in the garden to help it grow. She's none too particular either on whether they are alive or not. 

Patrea had a fabulous kid-friendly house.  This is what the children spent their non-eating time doing.  And I realized I have no pictures of Joshua.  He spent the afternoon playing with Legos and I'm not sure if he came out to eat or not!  A good time was had by us all.  

Weekend Fun

The ward held an unofficial Father-Son Camp Out on Friday night.  Joshua said it was Awesome!  He had a fabulous time playing with the fire.  They had hot dogs for dinner, and roasted lots of marshmallows.  Joshua loved it all.

Here's Joshua, stirring up ash with his long stick.  He said the fire was the best part.  Dan said he was a little surprised Joshua didn't burn himself at all.  

Here's my silly boy in his tiny tent.

I got out the little pool for the girls and they spent all day Saturday going in and put of it.  Callie and Marian decided it was more fun to do it with clothes on and I ended up with too many pairs of sopping wet pants, shirts, and underwear on the bathroom floor.  They had a good time though and they were outside, so what's a little extra laundry?!  In this picture Callie noticed I was taking pictures of Delaney, so out she came, naked under that towel!  Silly pickle!

It took Delaney about a week before she actually played in the pool, but yesterday she was having a ball!   It was very cute.  And I much prefer all the splashing to happen in the pool, rather than the tub.

Rats.  I thought you could see her teeth better.  Marian lost her second tooth this week.  She is now missing both bottom teeth.   Much cuter when you see her than this shot shows.

Ultrasound

Today was our ultrasound.  I'm 21 weeks down, nearly 22.  Dan and I got to see our little future bundle of joy.  And very cute it was! 

And now I shall tell you that we are expecting another girl!  Yep, we'll have 4 girls, one boy!  Poor Joshua is going to be so disappointed.  Marian also was hoping for a brother, but Callie is thrilled.  I am also happy that I will not have to buy a lot of baby things.  After 3 girls, I have most things, although some may be pretty worn out by now!

So there is the scoop and you are now in the know.  Feel free to throw out some names.  Dan and I have no clue what we'll name this one and we're out of girl names we both like.  So we need some suggestions.  Well, we need them, as long as you don't feel insulted if we don't follow through and actually name our baby the name you like!