Winter Break

Bryce & Drew are on Winter Break this week.  Papa Jim was able to fly down to spend the week with us, but unfortunately, Nana had to work. The highlight of our week was going to The Raccoon Mountain Caverns in Chattanooga, TN. 

It's a good thing I didn't really understand what I was getting us in to, because I probably wouldn't have gone!

We wore helmets with flashlights, knee pads & gloves.

We went on a 2 hour tour climbing rocks

We pulled ourselves up rocks with ropes

We repelled down rocks

We slid down rocks on our rear ends

We belly crawled through tiny tunnels that were only 1 1/2 feet tall (this was NOT fun!)

And even walked across 12 inch wide suspended bridges!  Can you see the fear in my face?

We learned a lot about geology and even got to see bats & salamanders! We got wet & muddy and it was scary at times, but overall it was an awesome adventure & experience.  I'm so glad we did it.  Bryce & Drew did amazingly well and want to go again!

That's a tiny salamander next to Drew's hands.

We're Going on a Trip in Our Favorite Rocketship!

That's the theme song from the boys' new favorite show, "Little Einsteins!"

Speaking of trips... we are taking off on 2 trips back-to-back!


Jimmy has flight training in Atlanta next week so the boys and I are gonna tag along and make a little road trip out of it.  We have several friends along our driving route that we'll get to visit with and several friends in the Atlanta area.  During the day when Jimmy is in training the boys and I will go see friends and then meet back up with Jimmy in the evening.  The weather has be cold, dreary, snowy and icy here so I'm looking forward to warmer temps and new territory to explore!


Since I've started blogging a few years ago I've "met" several Mommy's of multiples.  2 of them in particular have twin boys just a few months younger than Bryce & Drew.  Both live in the area that we will be traveling to, so I'm hopeful we'll get to actually meet in person and see our cute twin boys playing together!


Then, just 2 days after returning from Atlanta we'll be taking off again....this time to HAWAII!!!


Mom & Mike are going to their condo in Kauai and had invited some friends to join them.  Unfortunately, they had to cancel their trip so, as of just yesterday, we have decided to join them!  Nothing like making vacation plans to Hawaii just 3 weeks out! 


Oh my goodness...so much to do!  Gotta go buy swimsuits, sun hats and flip flops!

A Kentucky Thanksgiving

The next week, all 6 of us piled into our van and headed to Kentucky for Thanksgiving with Eric, Donna, Logan & Jordyn.  It's about a 12 hour drive so we stopped 1/2 in St. Louis to stay the night.  The boys were perfect travelers.

We had a wonderful time with my brother & his family.  We had not seen them in about 1 1/2 years so it was really fun to see the little ones (Jordyn, Bryce & Drew) A.K.A "the triplets" together.  
They got along so well and had so much fun together.  They played amazingly well together and actually entertained themselves for hours at a time...something my boys NEVER do at our house.  What's up with that?

Bryce & Drew had lots of fun playing with their cousins and Uncle Eric.

Most of all, we were just THANKful to be together for the holiday.  Eric will be deploying again in just a few weeks to Afghanistan so it was good to spend time with him.  It makes me so sad to think that he will have to leave his 3 girls for another year after just spending a year in Saudi Arabia. Hopefully this will be his last deployment before he retires.

We tried to get a cute picture of Mom &Mike with the 4 grandchildren.  Logan & Jordyn look cute but look at my little monkeys!

Thank you Eric, Donna, Logan & Jordyn...we love you all!

Summer Vacation - 09

We are just returning from an awesome 3 week vacation in The Pacific Northwest...and are exhausted! I'll be back in a few days with some new posts!

Kentucky Memories

Entertaining 3 two year olds and a 10 year old = a fun, active and very busy vacation!

The kids had lots of fun playing in Uncle Eric and Aunt Donna's backyard. They have an awesome play yard & bounce house.

We ran the garden hose down the slide to make a water slide into the kiddie pool. Bryce and Logan liked it the most.

Too bad Logan was just a little too big for the pool!

Cooling off with the hose... Logan, thank you for being so good with the boys!

Drew spraying Jordyn...smart girl, huh?!

Aren't "the triplets" cute?

Grandma was so happy having her grandbabies together again. Isn't it crazy that they were born about 48 hours apart?

We chilled out one day at the water park at Ft. Knox. It was perfect for all the little ones.


We also had fun playing games and eating pizza at Mr. Gatti's (kind of like Chuck E Cheeses.) I shutter to think how much money was dropped into those silly machines...it was pretty entertaining though, I have to admit!

"The triplets" got along really well and had tons of fun together. The only mishap involved a black dry erase pen, a sneaky little boy, 2 walls and some carpet!

They loved to sit at the table and color on their dry erase boards...it kept them occupied for quite awhile, until Drew slipped into the other room and left some beautiful artwork for his Uncle Eric and Aunt Donna! Thank goodness for magic erase sponges, understanding family and Donna's plan to repaint! Jimmy and I were horrified, of course!

Once again, the boys did awesome traveling. I cannot sing enough praises for DVD players in cars!

24+ hours in the car + 4 days of traveling, + 2 hotel stays+ lots of summer road construction+ hot, humid weather, + Mommy's bad back = tired parents but also lots of fun, special, family memories that we wouldn't trade for anything!