Sunday - Art goes back home

This morning, Art, the boys, Staci, and I went to a breakfast social for Mom's Sunday school class.  It is rare that mom gets to show off both of her daughters and the grandkids at the same time!  They were having a 4th of July themed breakfast complete with trivia.  It is always nice to get to see mom's friends.  Zachary was feeling shy and asked if he could to go Wyatt's class, and luckily the church let him.  Yannick had no problem going to his class.  They had a guest pastor today, and he was fantastic.  Art and I really enjoyed him!  He is a chaplain for the Norcross High School football team, and a pastor for a recently planted church.  They also have a new worship minister that looks a lot like Usher, and for a moment, Art thought he had ended up in heaven. :)

After church, we headed back to Leisure Dr. so everyone could say their goodbyes to Art.  Then I loaded him up and took Marta to the airport.  Pretty uneventful.  I do feel badly for Art; I am here with the boys for 9 more days...over a holiday!  Back on Marta and headed back to Leisure Dr.  Then Mom and I took the boys out to dinner at Waffle House, and then to the playground for awhile. It was a nice outing...plus, Waffle House! :) 

Still no pictures.  What is wrong with me?

Sklar/Frazier/Counts/Taylor Beach Trip

It is difficult to recall what happened on what day as they all ran together, so I'm going to lump all the memories into one post.  Sadly, I only have 3 more pictures of our time there, so until I can get some from others, I'm stuck with narrative - a blog post no one wants. :)

Wednesday, in the morning, I went with Dad and Joy to the beach. Art had a conference call at 11am and needed to prepare for it.  Of course it takes forever to get three kids dressed and sunscreened.  But we did it, and made it out the door and claimed a space on the beach.  Tuesday night, we went with the boys to the playground, then took them back toward the house via the beach.  They LOVED the beach.  ZW had a great time karate chopping and kicking the waves, and Yannick splashed to his heart's content.  THey had been in their regular clothes, and I cautioned them not to go deeper than their knees so they would not get their clothes wet.  Yeah, that worked for about 10 seconds.  Yannick fell under once, and that was enough.  I took off their shirts and they got soaked in their clothes.  But they loved it.  So this morning, we were armed with sand toys and ready for beach fun.  The boys HATED it.  Zachary got hit by a big wave, skinned up his knees, and was done.  Yannick kept saying he was cold (it was already super hot out!), but I'm sure he meant hot.  It was too sunny, and they all hated it.  Soooo, we packed up and went to the pool.  Which they loved.  Back home for lunch and a nap.  Back out to the beach later when the waves were smaller and they had no need for sun screen.  This is also the night we did family pictures - without Creed.  he will have to be photoshopped in later when he arrives.  Tons and tons of pictures of course, and a few good ones.

This is not one of those

Not terrible.  Not our best showing.

Nor is this

I am sure there are good photos on Dad or Joy's camera, but not on mine.  This one is good though

Thanks for paying for our wonderful trip!

Dad shamed Art by wearing a belt, and classing up the joint a bit.  Art in his undershirt could not compete.  We tried several different poses for our family of 5, and none were great.  We even let them use lightsaber props for awhile.  I recall one or two are not awful.  I will have to get those from Dad, and add them back to the blog later.

Joy had to leave Thursday morning to get back to work - boo!  Thursday Art was ready to try the beach again.  I cautioned him that they boys hate the beach in the morning, but he wanted to try anyway - hoping things would be different with DaU there.  Nope.  We quickly packed up again and moved to the pool.  Poppi and Mimi took off to get the golf cart they were renting for 24 hours, so Art and I traded time with the boys in the deep pool and the kiddy fun pool.  I enjoyed the pool, and had no problem being there.  Art, being at the beach, wanted to be at the beach.  So he was not thrilled to be at the pool.  Poppi and Mimi came back, and we got some yummy dipin' dots ice cream to share with all of this.  Wyatt wanted to play mini golf, and Z wanted to go back to the pool, but it was best to head back for lunch. So fun to go back in the golf cart!  Now it seems like a no brainer to have one here.  This place is massive!  We got a big rain storm, so we could not go to the beach or the pool, but  once it was stopped I was eager to get the hooligans out of the house for a bit. Dad took me and the boys to drive around the complex.  We stopped off at a small duck pond, and bought some duck food to feed them.  they had several babies.  Again, I bet Dad has some cute pictures!  We also rode to the little grocery store in the complex to get some more toilet paper.  It was definitely fun to drive around in the cart.  Creed came in this afternoon, and could not go on the beach because of the rain.  But that did not mean no fun for the rest of the night.  Oh no.  Once the kids were in bed, Dad took Staci, Creed, and Art in the golf cart to go "cruisin'".  They came back after about 45 minutes insisting that Faye, Joanna, and I try it as well, so we went with Dad while Creed and Art opted out.  Oh my.  Wow.  There are hardly words.  The complex management blocked off a long road along the perimeter off for car traffic.  Only thing allowed were golf carts.  And what they did was drive in a long long oval, hundreds of carts long.  Much of the time, kids would hold their hands out to give oncoming carts high fives.  I simply cannot do justice to the phenomena of golf cart crusing.  I slapped a lot of hands.  I got some free beads.  i got some glow in the dark stuff.  Teens were exchanging phone numbers.  There was a huge variety of carts.  Some basic, boring rentals like ours.  Some tricked out extra long ones.  Ground effects.  I did not see hydraulics, but I'd bet they had some.  Joanna jumped out of our slow slow moving cart to take some pictures.

Whoo Whoo!  Check us out!

Check us out!  If I had known this was like clubbin' on wheels, I would have definitely not worn my work-out clothes!  Incidentally, I had them on because I was going to take a walk with Joanna and Faye until thankfully I remembered that  I have 3 kids asleep and no one else was in the house.  Oops!

So yes, this was quite the experience!  We had had enough after about 30-40 minutes, and Dad had to orchestrate a break from the endless oval of cruisers.  Easier said than done.  Ps. the leis were a gift from a little girl who was also cruising with her parents.  So cool. :)

Joanna had to leave crazy early on Friday to make it to a bridesmaid's luncheon for a wedding she is in on Saturday.  Friday morning Poppi drove us (me, the boys, and Faye) to the pool before he had to return the golf cart. Art went to the beach to enjoy the higher waves.  He was supposed to meet up with Staci and Creed, but never saw them. He got stung by something and wanted to go inside but could not find them, so he trudged his way to the pool, but I didn't have any keys and Z and Poppi and Mimi had gone to return the cart.  Poor Art!  He said the chlorine water helped it a bit though.  Our time after the cart was considerably less enjoyable.  Walking is for losers. During nap time for the boys, I went out to the beach with Faye.  It was definitely hot, so I was not planning on staying more than an hour.  I laid on the beach for a bit, then rode the waves for a bit then laid down again.  Kids were still asleep when I got back.   Tonight when we went to the beach to play with Staci and Creed, there was a wedding going on.  Zachary made the comment that they were sure to get some nice pictures because the lighting was so pretty.  Because it was our last day and because we did not want more leftovers, we ordered pizza for dinner.  Art and I were in charge of dinner, and yes, it does appear that we wimped out a bit, but we really wanted to enjoy the lovely time at the beach.  Faye was very gracious and met the pizza guys at the front gate so we could stay on the beach.

After the kids went to bed, Faye Staci and I played different versions of Bananagrams for awhile until Faye went to bed.  Then Staci and I made a dumb decision to stay up late (knowing we had to get up incredibly early!) watching Baby Sitters Club.  At least we were in bed by midnight!  The alarm was going off at 6:30am the next day.  Dad wanted us out at 7:30 to avoid any check-out traffic which we were told could take hours.

Saturday

We got up, got everyone ready and somehow managed to get out of the house right around 7:30.  Not too shabby!  We stopped for breakfast at a Chik fil a which was glorious.  It was empty of kids, so our boys had a great time playing around.  We caravanned with Poppi/Mimi/3 boys in the minivan, and Staci/Art and I in her car.  After lunch Art rode with the boys, as they were asking him to, and he even got a nap because the boys fell asleep.  I had a fantastic time in Staci's car chatting, listening to a bit of a book on cd, and the most fun, playing with her talking text message app!  So hilarious!  We stopped for lunch at chick fil a again.  Luckily, I had packed a lunch for the boys, so they did not have to endure more CFA!  I should have bought some polynesian sauce while I was there for Art to take back home.  We finally made it back to Leisure Dr.  I went to the grocery store with Faye, and picked out dinner.  Tortellini.  Quick, easy, and a huge success for all 4 of my guys.  New sleeping arrangement for the boys.  No more pack-n-play for Yannick.  He got the toddler mattress, and ZW shared the futon bed.  Hopefully this works out well.  Kids in bed, and time for the train game!  Sadly, Art has to go back home tomorrow.

At some point during our East Coast trip, Art's hair looked like this

Oh yeah!  Back off ladies, he's mine! :)

Travel Day Manassas to Myrtle Beach

We ended up having a pretty relaxed morning.  We were up early enough to shower, pack, eat breakfast, take some family pictures, and still be on the road around 9am.  Not too shabby.  The rental car trunk was huge so we had no worries getting everything in.  There was even some time to sit and read.

Yannick reading one of his favorite train books to Eli

Zachary was very very pouty about having to leave.  He did not want to leave his cousins, especially Jacob, with whom he had a special bond.  He kept saying it was not fair that our time was split evenly between cousins, and the beach/atlanta.  Little does he know, he would be hard pressed to find anyone in Manassas that wants him to stay longer that about 5 days! :)

Then we were on the road, and headed out.  I had packed lunch for the boys so they would be able to play when we stopped for lunch.  I was able to find a CFA with a play place, so we were all happy.  Oddly though, the boys were not that interested in playing.  There were too many kids I think.  So we ate and left.

Then the boys finally napped, which always makes me relax a bit more, knowing they will be in a better humor later for having gotten a bit of a nap at least.

We made pretty decent time, and made it to Myrtle Beach well before dinner time.  Poppi and Mimi met us at the airport and took us back to the beach house.  This place was crazy!  I had seen a map online, but this was even more in person.  It is like a large subdivision with only one entrance/exit.  There are places to tent camp, places to put your RV and blocks and blocks of beach houses.  Some are massive, and elegant, some are little more than a single wide trailer.  Our house was just a few feet from the walkway to the beach.  There were golf carts everywhere!  You could rent them if you did not have your own, or if the property did not have one.  Dad was planning on renting one later this week.  We got in, got settled, ate dinner, and decided to go to the pool first.  It was a great pool!  It had 3 different places you could be, maybe 4 even.  Zachary and Poppi stayed in the deep pool to play while Wyatt and Yannick enjoyed the zero-entry pool with water guns and splash bucket, and waterfall.

Here is Mimi getting into the fun of using the water gun

I have almost no pictures of our time at the beach so I hope I can steal some (like the one above) from the family. 

After it started getting a bit chilly it was time to walk the long walk back and get the boys ready for bed. Like at home, here they got to share a room. Bunk beds and a trundle bed. 

We were pretty tired but there was time for a competitive game of bananagrams 

Nutso!

Last full day - Opa & Oma's

July 24, 2013

Today was a big pool day.  Several days have been.  Once day, Sunday maybe, was full of everyone in the pool splashing, jumping, and being crazy.  Today was more of that.  Everyone was in the pool for hours, getting out only to eat.

Our little guy taking a snack break

Also hanging out with his only younger cousin (for now)

Eli was quite happy to be in his papasan hanging out on the porch with everyone!

I took no pictures of all the pool shenanigans, but I did get at least one picture, and one video of Wyatt in the pool.  Sorry Z and N, nothing of you! 

Wyatt preferred to have no floaties and stay in the shallow end and swim under water to his heart's content rather than wear them and be in the deep end with all the jumping and splashing.

It was a bit chilly, but once you got used to it, it was so very nice!  

But one can't stay in the pool the entire time!

I think that Nick was a bit jealous, and climbed into Art's lap while he was holding Eli.  Though Yannick seems content to share with Eli.

Cutie cute!

Sadly, that's all the pictures I have for the day.  I don't remember what else we did on what days.  We grilled steak one night, which was excellent.  We had sandwiches and watermelon on the deck.  The surprising thing was that we never played any games!  I did get to finish watching the last 20 minutes of Soul Surfer with Mia today (I think).

Tonight was a pain because Art and I had to go pick up the rental car.  Opa drove us to the airport, and we had to wait around for awhile while they washed a sedan for us.  Then back home, late (around 10pm), and time to pack up for a bit before bed.  No time for swimming tomorrow morning.  We are headed out after breakfast.

Sunday at Opa and Oma's

June 23, 2013

The first big shock was - what in the world is this wet stuff coming from the sky??  Oh wait, accessing my deep-past memory, I remember the word....R A I N.  :)  We have not seen rain since April, and then it was sunny still, and only a few hours of it.  Before that, it was January I believe that we had rain...maybe early February.  :)  So yes, it was pouring, ugly dark skies, etc.  Opa and Oma were excited for all of us to see their new church.

Before we could get started though, we needed to pass through another Karl facial hair stage

Not scary at all. :)

Their church had a nursery, which Nick thankfully went into without any issues.  There was no children's church however, so our two, and Paul/Railey's 5 stayed for the service.  We were so big we took up nearly two entire rows.

The service was enjoyable, and our kids were placated with markers and notebooks.

Back to Oma & Opa's for lunch, swimming, and naps.

Tonight was the big "adult's only" dinner out.  Jessica agreed to babysit the zoo of boys, and Mia forwent her adult evening to babysit Eli.  I don't have very many pictures of the evening, but it was wonderful.  A big table, so it was hard to chat with everyone - perhaps we should have switched up seating every so often. :)  Here's what I took:

Karl (no facial hair now) picking out the wine.

NOT SLEEPING!

Everyone but Thomas, who is (obviously) taking the picture.

Hmmmm...not sure what they are talking about :)

I am sure there are better pictures somewhere.

Back to the house, to find all the kids outside checking out the giant moon.  They were on their way back to Paul & Railey's to get ready for bed.

I got to check out the pieces Mia submitted for acceptance into the advanced art program.  they were amazing!!  I could have started at the piece of the running shoes for hours.  Just wonderful.

And finally, to bed!  Tomorrow is the last full day.

  

Saturday - Air and Space Museum

June 22, 2013

This morning was the big outing to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum overflow site at Dulles airport.  I was not expecting it to be so big, and so well put together - for an overflow site!  It turned out to be really excellent.  Pay for parking, but not for entry, which is amazing too!  Art and I went with our boys, Paul's boys, and Opa, in two cars.  We saw many wonderful things.  All the kids were in great humor and behavior.  A bit of a meltdown for Wyatt at one point by the bathrooms, and Yannick struggling near the end.

Some of what we saw:

A view of the entire hangar

Oh yes, we made each kid have a buddy.  Here are cousin best buds Andrew and Wyatt as buddies.  Matching even!

Counts grandsons (minus Eli) with the astronaut suit.  I will need to frame this picture!

John with an impromptu buddy in Nick

Very cool fighter jet that Z and W know from their jet cards.  A Harrier Jump Jet?  A Strike Eagle?  I don't remember...but they would!

Very cool car plane.  Fly it to an airport, take it apart, and drive it to the office.  Love this!

Still, after 7 years, my arch-nemisis.  :)

So cool cousins, hanging around, watching a video, eating, animal crackers secretly.

My favorite - the Space Shuttle!

And the little Nick with this helicopter, as requested by him. 

Then we went to go up the control tower to look out the windows, and then to listen to the air traffic controls.  Then finally, off to Chick fil a for lunch.  Poor Z.  His least favorite place.  He even managed to drop some of his dreaded nuggets on the floor, then was crushed, having thought he would get out of eating them, a CFA employee brought him a new box of them.  Luckily for him, Ben was still hungry, and the nuggets got shared around...except for the one to replace the dropped one. :)

Once everyone was fed and happy it was time to go back to the house for rest time, and of course more swimming!  

We also got a picture of Oom Karl with his "wants to shock Oma" beard, stage 1.

Tomorrow we get stage 2.

Tonight, since Karl/Laura and Thomas were all here with the rest of us, we had a split "girls" / "guys" night.  I took BOTH Zachary, and now Wyatt over to Paul/Railey's to have a sleepover with the cousins.  Wyatt was a bit of a surprise actually.  We were not expecting him to be comfortable spending the night in a different house from us.  But he was insistent, and so of course we let him.  They both remember sharing a room with all of the PCounts boys last year at family day.  Nick of course also wanted to go, but we vetoed that.  Wyatt was even outwardly ok with their dogs, and big up a brave front about liking dogs.

Once genders were separated, the ladies all watched Soul Surfer.  We started it last year during family day, but little Yannick had one of his screaming episodes, and I had to bail, and the others had a hard time hearing.  It is a good movie!  I'm glad that Mia wanted to watch it again.  However, we did not make it to the end bf some started dozing off.  We left off with about 20 minutes left, so we left that for another night.  I did my sit-ups (can't let weeks of "booty bootcamp" go to waste!) and was asleep instantly after that.  No idea what time Art made it back to bed.

 

Friday at Opa and Oma's

June 21, 2013

First off, happy happy birthday to Opa!!  Not everyone was here yet, but that did not stop us from enjoying some yummy yummy cake with very lemony icing!

Swimming.  Lots of swimming.  Every day was lots of swimming.  So wonderful to have the pool right there in the backyard!

The afternoon activity was going to play mini golf, and get some ice cream.  Art and I had a tough decision to make because when we were all about ready to go, Yannick was still napping.  To wake him or not wake him was the question!  Janneke was going to stay home with Eli, so we could have left him sleeping, but what if he awoke before we got back and he was not thrilled to be there w/out the rest of his family.  We also (erroneously, as it turns out) thought he would love to play miniature golf with us.  So we woke him up.  He is generally a great waker-upper (official term) when he is forced awake.  Like it's a great surprise.  We were a big group going.  Our family of five, Railey and the 5 kids, and the benefactors, Opa and Oma.  We broke into 3 groups: Me, Railey, Mia, and Yannick in one group, then Art with Wyatt, Andrew, and Ben, and finally Oma and Opa with Zachary, Jacob, and John.  Our group was fine except that Yannick was a total pill.  Art's group was a struggle until he finally let Andrew and Wyatt just do whatever they wanted.  All in all it was a fun time for all the kids, except for perhaps temper tantrum throwing Yannick, who several times just sat down on the green and screamed for DaU.  

Opa and Oma with the some of the grandkids (minus Mia, Yannick, and John) that were in attendance.  It was plenty hot.

Next we walked across the parking lot to get kids cones for everyone.  It was delicious ice cream for sure!  Though Yannick wanted none of it.  Seriously, what kid turns his nose up at ice cream?  Our Nick does I guess!  He basically made it a tough outing for all of us, but we persevered.  

What finally made him happy for the afternoon was

Getting to ride all the ride-on toys that Opa and Oma have.  Nick ended up parking them all in a line, and taking turns with each one.  Pretty cute.

More swimming, dinner, and bed.  

  

Heading back East

June 20, 2013

Today was the big day.  Cab arrived at 4:30am.  Amazingly, all the kids woke up as we were moving them to the taxi mini van.  With good attitudes mind you!  Zachary was super helpful at the airport, keeping Yannick calm.  We let him stay in his car seat and we just dragged him along the line to check our bags.  We were pretty nervous how today would go, traveling so early, on such long flights.  I cannot say it enough.  They were great!  They did so well.  

Yannick was so very excited about being on an airplane.  His recent obsession with planes pays off for us.  "Highway to the Danger Zone!"  

This kept him occupied until time to board!

Here they are eating their butter and chocolate hagleslaag sandwich.  Yum!  It was a bit chilly when we left, but I still love the unnecessary hoodies up!  

So what is our secret to good kids on the plane?  Very easy: s c r e e n  t i m e!  We started out with a backpack for Yannick and a backpack for Zachary and Wyatt to share.  Toys, books, markers, etc.  That worked for about, oh, 7 minutes.  :)  Actually, Wyatt and Zach did play cards for quite a long time.  But after about two hours, toys were boring, snacks were over, and it was time to up our game.  

Yes, that is our two year old playing games on the iphone.

Big boys taking turns with the gameboy and the ipad.  Sweet sweet electronics!

Zachary finally fell asleep at one point and stayed asleep for about an hour.  We were shocked that Yannick had not fallen asleep yet...and then he did...during descent.  So Art had to carry a sleeping Yannick out of the plane, and through the airport, where he woke up at our next gate, after less than an hour nap.  

We had a layover in Denver, which I was excited about because I knew they had those long moving sidewalks  which the boys would enjoy.  And i was right, they DID enjoy it!  

This was before he had his temper tantrum, and sat down on the moving sidewalk, refusing to "go", but not being able to stop the sidewalk from moving.  I seriously had to laugh out loud!

Zachary and Wyatt enjoying their ride.

Then all of a sudden it was time to board the next flight.  This time both Wyatt and Yannick wanted to sit with Art, and I sat with just Zachary (and someone else at the window).  After playing with toys, reading, and getting more snacks, they were ready for more screen time.  This time, it was so quiet and easy, that Art fell asleep on the plane!!  Lucky him.

As we got to Dulles, all the good attitudes and behavior broke down.  We should have realized that Wyatt was super tired, and been more kind.  But we didn't until it was too late.  He had a major major meltdown.  But we somehow got all our luggage, all 3 carseats, and into Paul's van without major incidence.  Both Yannick and Wyatt fell asleep on the way to Opa and Oma's and stayed asleep in the van while we unloaded and said hello to everyone.  

Then it was time for food and for swimming!  Once the sun starts to go, the water is plenty chilly - as I knew because I was the one in the pool with the boys this evening, while Art stayed on the deck chatting with his family. 

I think this is Paul messing with the camera, while Art enjoys his borrel.

We got to meet baby Eli for the first time, which was wonderful.  And so fun to see Janneke as a mom!

We had dinner pool side and the boys reconnected with their cousins.  We thought all three boys would sleep with us the first night until they got used to their cousins again, but Zachary was distraught.  He wanted to sleep with them the first night!  So we let him.  By the time we went to bed, we were exhausted!

It is wonderful to be here! 

Playground

Our last day before leaving for the massive family get-together trip.  We took a picnic lunch to a park that we went to long ago when Art was doing a coach's training.  It is a cool park with several different parts, including a bike park with dirt course with jumps etc.  Always fun to watch the big kids doing that.  This time we went over to the large rock climbing area for the first time.  We visited all parts of the park before heading back home for naps.  It's a good park.  Calabazas Park.  I aslo talked with an older lady that was there with her granddaughter.  She was telling me that she has three grown sons, and they all live within 30-45 minutes of each other.  She gets a lot of time with her grandkids.  Sounds so lovely!  Makes me sad for our parents who have to fly all the way out here.  You never know where The Lord is going to take you and what life will look like.  It is not what we would have chosen, but it is what God has given us and He is good to us.  It is quite lovely here!

Zachary made it on top of the monkey bars for the first time!

Yannick after his diaper change, riding on the bee.  He was sad that his brothers were done riding on the bee by the time he got there.

Big boys on the roller treadmill thing.  Such an odd piece of equipment. :)

Then back home to prepare for tomorrow's big day - as we fly off to VA, drive to Myrtle Beach, drive to ATL, and fly back home.

Ikea Trip

Since we are leaving in a few days, and Art will be at the house without us for about 9 days, I want to leave him with a few projects for him to work on.  Hence the trip to Ikea.  Lucky for him, I actually got less than was on my list, because I could not find something I liked for 2 of our needs.  Still, he has a few things to put together: a 3rd Billy bookcase for the playroom.  Zachary is getting older and so are his books.  We are running out of room for the wide range of books we have for their 3 ages.  That, and I usually get them each a book when we go to Goodwill. :)  Also a third chair for the craft table.  Yannick will no longer accept less than exactly what his brothers have.   I also got about 16 frames to replace the large photo screen I have had for over 11 years.  Which broke.  In the hallway.  When Zachary was practicing his four square.  We should have known better.  Sigh.  I also got a new comforter and matching decorative pillows which will make some people happy - for our bedroom to have one consistent "look" which can be decorated with, and not an ever changing array of duvet covers changing the look of the room with each laundry cycle.  :)  Stephanie Watson has made me grow up. :)

I picked Tuesday because kids eat free in the Ikea cafe.  We got there about 30 minutes early on accident.  Worked out fine because the kids ate their snacks in the car and we listened to REM.  Then I dropped Z and W off in their kids center (Smaaland?) for their first time.  N was so sad he did not get to go.  I was surprised at how quickly the 45 minutes passed and I had to book it to pick them up - not even close to being done!  Sigh.  So we continued shopping with all three kids which was *NOT* a disaster.  Ok, it wasn't horrible, but there were some tears.  So we got nearly every bit done and we made our way for the free meal.  Not bad, feeding the 4 of us for $5. :)  Sadly, none of the kids loved their choice.

Z thought the mac and cheese was yucky, but ate all his veggies.  W did not like his chicken strips, but the fries were good.  Y liked his chicken just fine but had to trade his yellow carrots with Z orange carrots because he could not get past the odd color.  I enjoyed my salad.  They of course all loved their chocolate milk, AND watching Spongebob on the tv.  Sheesh.  Yannick spilled chocolate milk on himself (a classic move for him), and we went to change him before finally being able to leave.  Turned out being able to leave was a bit of a nightmare, because of how they set the place up.  The elevators we needed did not "go down" (which of course they do, they just want you to go through the whole store to get out).  So it was a bit of an ordeal with 3 very tired kids.  3 hours in Ikea and we survived. :) And now Art has some projects while we are gone, and I have some home improvements.  Not something I want to do every Tuesday, but good to know the option is there.

Happy Father's Day!

What a busy weekend!  A party, a class at McClellan, and now Father's Day.   The boys picked out Father's Day present for Art weeks and weeks ago when they saw Justice League pj pants.  They were very excited.  Wyatt said "WE love superheroes, DaU loves us, so of course he will love them!"

Breakfast in bed for DaU, then Zachary reading to him while in bed, then DaU reading to the boys, then all 5 of us cuddling in bed!

Just Zachary and DaU for a bit, with Z reading to Art while he ate his pancake.

Then all the boys joining him for his Father's Day breakfast celebration

Now DaU reading to us.

And then, there were just two left lazing around in bed. :)

Then after finally getting out of bed, finishing coffee, we put together a picnic lunch to take to the playground.  Art also pulled rank on us and decided we would have a family baseball game.  It worked out better than we thought.  Yannick even got a hit from Art's expert pitching. 

Zachary up to bat with Wyatt acting as catcher

Our expert pitcher, using a tennis ball

You have to be ready when Z is up to bat - he hits killer line drives!

Then home for naps and church.  Pizza for dinner of course!

Happy Father's Day Art!  You are the very best father to these boys!  We all love you so!