Kindergarten Field Trip to the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk

Today I went as a chaperone on Ryan's school field trip. We went to the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk. It was a nice day, not too hot, actually a little chilly in the shade. The kids enjoyed seeing all the animals. After the zoo we went over to the park for lunch and playtime, then it was back to school. I had to try and keep track of 5 non-listening little boys which was stressfull, not sure if I'll go along again. Kaitlin had a good time too. She's just now knowing some of those different animals. They have a petting zoo w/ pigs, goats, cows, lamas, donkeys etc... Her favorite part was the duck pond where we also saw a lot of geese and turtles sunning themselves. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Beach Stroll and Lunch

Friday I met my mom's group (SAHM's of Hampton Roads) and we went for a stroller walk up and down the boardwalk. We went about 40 total blocks (20 up and 20 back). It was quite the workout. It looked like a mob of strollers with about 20 of us. A few people asked if we were part of the new stroller workout fad. They have horses on the beach now that you can "rent" to ride. We just liked to pet them for a few mins. Kaitlin says "neigh" very well. After the walk we all sat and had lunch. You can see the king neptune statue in the background (behind Kaity). We had a good day, it was overcast but I prefer it that way since if it was a hot sunny day I wouldn't have been able to go.

Day at the Park

Thursday Kaitlin and I met some friends at the park and had a picnic lunch too. She's really starting to get adventurous and fearless which is good and bad. She loves to climb all the way to the highest spot and just sit there and not go down the slide. She was showing her neatness at the park by trying to pick up even the smallest piece of trash and throw it away. She can't stand a mess or clutter! I guess I've taught her well - I'm always straightening things up. We had such a nice day it was near 80! Here are some pics we took.

Happy Easter

Easter Sunday went by very fast! We had so much to do and not much time to do it! Ryan dyed eggs with Aunt Stacey and Uncle Bob on Saturday night so they were ready for the Easter Bunny to hide! When he got up in the morning he could hunt for his basket and the plastic eggs in the house. To his surprise there was money in some of the eggs! Then we all got ready and went to church. When we got home we had discovered that the Easter Bunny had also hidden the real eggs outside! As soon as Nonnie and Jack came Ryan could go out and find them. While we were waiting for them to get there the girls got to hunt for their eggs. To my surprise Meagan and Kaitlin knew exactly what to do! They found the eggs, shook them and put them right into their baskets. The girls also got baskets filled with all kinds of goodies but their eggs were filled with goldfish crackers and teddy grahams... We needed to leave Aunt Stacey's by 2pm to get home at a decent time for Ryan to be able to go to school on Monday. We did leave about 2:30pm and got home at 6pm to see daddy. Kaitlin and Ryan hadn't seen him since the Monday morning before. Chris grilled cheeseburgers on the grill and we had a nice dinner and some time to relax after the long trip. Then it was time to get unpacking and reorganized!!

Spring Break

Wednesday, April 12th we drove up to Aunt Stacey's house in Ashburn, VA. We stayed there until Sunday. Wednesday we had "girls night" and went out to do some shopping - what girls do best!! Thursday we joined Aunt Stacey and Meagan at their weekly playgroup at our friend Robin's house. Friday we went to visit Pop Pop and Grandma Gail and Ryan stayed the night w/ Nonnie and they went to see Ice Age 2. Saturday we went over to mom's for easter dinner and to see Gi Gi. We had to split Easter up into 2 days so I could leave at a decent time to get home on Sunday. The kids had fun playing at the park at Nonnie's. It was a beautiful day - was suppose to rain and didn't - that's always nice. Here are some of the pics we took at Nonnie's park.

Jessie

Many of you have been asking how Jessie is doing. Well she will be one next month on May 20th. She has been getting better. I'd say she's 75% house broken. We can't leave her alone in a room for long or she'll find something to chew up. She doesn't really know the difference between her toys and the kids toys. She has figured out how to go up and down the stairs and will do that any chance she gets (she use to be afraid of the steps). She whines when she doesn't have her doggie bed to lay on. When we wash it she goes crazy until she get's it back. Her last visit to the vet she was just over 20lbs. We have been told that she's not going to get much bigger, which is fine w/ us. Here's a picture I took of her last week.

Ryan the Pilot

Ryan attended a birthday party at the Air and Space Museum in Hampton, VA on Sunday. They got to have a science demonstration w/ liquid Nitrogen - very cool, and a flight simulation ride - which ended up being just a motion simulator - like you were on a roller coaster. He thought that was the best part! He also got to make a kite to take home. Here he is as Ryan the pilot! This was also the first time I was away from Kaitlin for any extended period of time. We left the house about 12:30 and got home about 4pm!! She was sleeping most of the time we were gone but still good b/c I got to get out and have some much needed one on one time with Ryan.

Signs of Spring - Finally

It finally has arrived. Spring is here! My flowers are in bloom and I am all congested...and so is Kaitlin. We seem to be the only ones that suffer from allergies. Ryan use to but not so bad down here. Mine seem to only last about a week instead of a month like they did in DC. Here are some pictures of our yard. While I was at mom's last weekend Chris was putting the wood timbers around the flower beds. Looks nice!