happy birthday Charlie!!

Charlie started his birthday out early by waking up with a runny nose about 2 am! He was sick throughout the day but did delight in seeing that the balloons and streamers had been changed from pink to blue and that there was a stack of presents waiting for him to open when Jeff and Heather were both home. Since he was sick I let him just take it easy all day which involved a LOT of computer time as well as TV and a nap (a perfect day!!). Later than expected we had a birthday dinner and then called family on Skype to open presents, do cake, etc. It was fun to have others involved as well even from across the ocean! Despite being sick Charlie had a good time and is a very proud 4!

6 year old slumber party

We finished up Heather's birthday celebration with a slumber party for 4 of her friends from school. After watching the clock all day her friends finally came over at 4. They played at a few parks near our house for a while, had dinner (kind of), decorated pillowcases--which took way less time for them to color than it did for me to sew their names on--ate cake, opened presents, and played, played, played, watched a movie (kind of) and then time for bed, well 10:30...It was time change night here but when their parents came around 9 they were remarkably awake and smiling. Bedtime was a challenge but with a few threats of separation and Heather coming out "to talk"--but not really in trouble b/c she actually was trying to get her friends to go to sleep--they fell asleep and slept until 8 the next morning. Charlie even played with them the whole time and everyone got along amazingly well--probably better than 4 14 year old girls would for that length of time!!

Friday I got to go on a field trip to the flight line with Heather's class which was really fun for Heather to have me along. The trip was OK but the kids had a good time. Otherwise the week was uneventful except that Jeff and I took turns being sick--neither one of us very happily! Today we started Charlie birthday celebration with a trip across the island to see a lighthouse (he wasn't that impressed) and go to a large park that's right on the water (what isn't here!!). It was a beautiful day, 62 and sunny but the wind kept us in pants and sweatshirts and just cool enough to not stay out all day!

fun weekend

We had a fun weekend exploring the island and taking it easy. We first went to Heather's favorite rocky beach to find sea glass. Cameron took a nap in the car while Charlie decided he didn't want to walk on the beach so Heather and Jeff went exploring. They found a jellyfish that Jeff rescued and threw back into the ocean. Then we went to the "big rock" beach where we climed over the rocks and the kids posed for some pictures. We decided to try out a local restaurant which turned out to be interesting. The first page of the menu was all fish/seafood ending in octopus and squid--not my type. The second page offered almost as few options and we settled on a steak kabob which was presented hanging from a rack kind of thing--it was cool. The flavor unfortunately was not too much to our liking--but the presentation made up for it. We then fed the ducks at the duck pond and headed home. The kids and Jeff had yet another camp out in the living room--a new favorite weekend activity. Sunday we just took it easy, Heather played with her basketball, a favorite present so far, and we walked to a few neighborhood parks. The weather is in the high 50's and the wind keeps it quite cool. Can't wait for the beautiful weather that is said to be coming our way sometime...

happy birthday Heather!

Heather turns 6 today. She reminded me of the hour when she was born, coming into our room about 2:30 am, sniffling and unhappy. She curled up next to me and slept the rest of the night, waking up with a big smile and knowing it was her birthday! Jeff and I put up streamers and balloons in the kitchen which made her very excited. As she was getting ready for school she commented that she knew there would be more decorations when she got home--uh better get on that!!
We took cameron to the doctor and he recorded a whopping 21lbs at 6 mos. She said he's healthy and sent him off to get shots. He then woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and has been kind of restless since then. Hopefully another day and that will pass.
A funny thing--Charlie has randomly "fixed" lunch for me. He can get out pepperoni, cheese, yogurt, fruit and two kids plates for us to eat on. He usually asks me what I want and then I make suggestions. This usually occurs when I'm feeding cameron and he suddenly needs to eat, Yesterday he informed me that he didn't have to ask me what I wanted next time b/c he already knew ;-) cute! He's also counting down the days to his birthday!

6 months

Cameron is 6 months old today!! He didn't really seem to interested in celebrating but we gave him some rice cereal (for the first time) at dinner to celebrate in the same manner as his siblings. He wasn't too interested, didn't seem to get opening his mouth so something could go in it but I"m not sure who would be too thrilled at rice cereal anyway. We'll try to get him the idea and move on quickly to something more fun...like oatmeal...or peas...

ohio and "home"

Home is a funny term--so far it means wherever we are currently living--and Ohio. Somehow that is simultaneous for me...Anyway we had a great time our last week in Ohio. My sister and Bryan came over from DC and were inundated with attention from the kids. They just love having someone to play with them, sit by them, and entertain them. I'm lucky that my family is so willing to do pretty much anything and give up whatever time they thought they might have to themselves to play with the kids and give Jeff and I a little break. After a day of birthday celebration, tennis, and legos Kelly and Bryan left and the kids enjoyed grandparent time. In the few days we were there we went to the playground, shopping, to see a few friends, and the kids even got to pick out a birthday present each. They took a long time picking out just the right thing and in the end were very pleased with their choices. We finished up the week with pictures of cameron and Heather made a necklace for my mom for her birthday while Charlie supervised my mom making his superhero shorts. It was a great trip as always!

We drove to Baltimore on Friday and encountered Space A travel. We got to the airport to find out that the desk closed at 4 every day (it was about 4:30) and would be open in the morning. We headed into DC to meet up with my friend Lumi and her family and extended family who allowed us to visit for a few hours. Her triplets were cute but I'm not sure I'm cut out for that many at one time!! The kids enjoyed playing with Julia and exhibited in the car all day behavior (hyper!!). In the morning Jeff headed over to the airport to find out that we couldn't get any information until roll call at noon but that we all needed to go and check in, return the rental car...so we rushed through to get to the airport and then sit and wait. Luckily the USO was nice so we had somewhere to sit and the kids could watch cartoons. We made it onto the flight and like before the kids did great! We are so lucky to have great travelers in our children and they even have fun on the planes and going to new places. Currently they want to go back to Disney...so now we're "home" in the Azores...

disney fun!

We had sooo much fun at Disney that I don't even know where to start. The kids were very excited to get to the hotel and it was hard to get them to sleep the first night. We stayed at Pop Century and did the shuttle to and from the parks. It worked out really well (except for the night all three kids fell asleep and we had to try to get them on and off the bus--fortunately we made friends with the person behind us in line--all three kids slept from the stroller to the bus to the stroller to their beds. We did Magic Kingdom the first day and the looks on the kids faces was priceless when Mickey, Minnie, Snow White and more rode in on the train to greet them. Every day we made it by park opening and closed down a park that night--FUN! Magic Kingdom was great. Because we were there early we rode three rides then went to see the princesses. Heather was kind of a nervous shy and pics of her with the princesses the first day were just OK. Charlie was just in awe of them and had a sweet look on his face as they talked to him. I made them autograph books so that they could have all the characters sign and the kids had a great time getting autographs--ending with like 51! After the princesses we saw Mickey and Minnie and got a standard family pic before heading off for a few more rides, parades, and more characters. We closed the park down that night with the "wishes" fireworks show.
The second day we went to Hollywood studios-a favorite for character spotting and Lightening McQueen--Ka Chow as charlie said when he saw him! We rode the toy story ride--probably our favorite of all parks. After the Playhouse disney show we headed to a character lunch with Jo-Jo, Goliath, and two little einsteins. Probably our favorite as the restaurant was small and the characters came around twice and then did dances with the kids every 15 minutes. We did the car show, Beauty and the Beast and then Ariel before finding a great character spotting spot where the kids got to interact with a LOT of characters including bad guys. Snow white left a lipstick kiss on Cameron's head and he was pointed at as "kissed by a princess" the rest of the night. We walked around after most people had left which was pretty cool.
The next day was Epcot. Not quite as interesting for the kids. We did the "kidcot" stations but they were a little young for Epcot--probably would skip it next time except for some character spotting and the nemo ride. We also really enjoyed some of the traditional shows, juggler, acrobats, drummers. We had dinner with chip and dale, mickey and pluto in the revolving restauraunt which was fun but we agreed not the best character meal. We stayed for the "fireworks" show at the end of the night which was cool but made for a pretty long day...Finally we went to animal kingdom which the kids liked. the safari ride was pretty cool and the Lion King and Nemo show were outstanding! The kids also liked the boneyard which was just a big playground with slides where they could run around. We caught the jungle parade and then headed out back to hollywood studios to see Fantasmick which was REALLY neat!
Our last day we went to magic kingdom early for our breakfast with pooh, tigger, eeyore, and piglet at the Crystal palace. Because it was early we got to see the park fairly empty, the kids walked through the castle and we got some cute video of the three kids (i mean two kids and jeff) skipping through the park. We enjoyed the breakfast although it was a large room and the characters only came by once--but you could see them a lot and they did a parade which was cool. We watched the dream along with mickey again which the kids loved and the move it shake it parade which was probably my favorite thing at the park as the kids danced to the music and with goofy! We left the park to go swimming but Heather fell asleep on the way to the hotel. She slept while charlie and jeff swam then we headed back to the park for the spectromagic parade and who can miss wishes fireworks on your last night?! Charlie took an evening nap while Jeff and heather did a few rides then we watched the parade and fireworks.
Disney is truly a magical place, especially when you see it through your kids faces and excitement seeing characters, wondering what will come next, and hugging a person in a large mouse costume ;-). It was so much fun for all of us I'm not sure who enjoyed it the most. Watching the video and looking at pictures makes me smile--and hopefully will for a long time. Pictures to be posted when I get a chance.