Easter 2011

So as I mentioned before, Eric and I got food poisoning from a salad. We missed church, but were able to gather ourselves to have dinner with the Wackerles and their family. There was also an Egg Hunt. Colin was so excited to find one egg hidden near the Caterpillar Toy but was instantly distracted with climbing on top and playing with the toy instead of hunting. Maybe next year he can find two eggs! We had a wonderful time hanging out with the Wackerles and look forward to many more fun family memories.

Spring Break 2011

We traveled down to Myrtle Beach for our 8th year of Spring Break fun! This year, Gramma, Granpa, and Aunt Anna joined us. We rented a pet friendly house a block from the beach in Murrels Inlet. It is a little bit slower in that part of MB. We had a lovely time together, even though Colin was ill for most of the week. The trip down started off with a huge delay, Cracker Barrel you stink! Service was horrible and our simple breakfast order took an hour for us to get. When we finally got back on the road we hit a wall of traffic since everybody and their brother from NY decided to head south for their Spring Break too. Our trip took us 10 hours. Luckily Rufus and Colin did a fantastic job with the extended car ride. Upon arriving at the house we quickly settled and the rest of the crew arrived safely during a downpour. We had dinner at O'Keefe's Irish Pub. It was a very friendly family place downside was there is still smoking allowed in some restaurants in the South. Sunday morning we all managed to get ready for Palm Sunday church service, we attended a catholic church near our house. It was a long service and Colin wasn't feeling well. Afterwards we took a drive down to Brookgreen Gardens and we were able to catch the plant sale, and took Aunt Anna through the gardens. Monday we spent our day at the beach, Colin was feverish in the afternoon-evening so we made plans for a doctors visit for Tuesday ASAP. Monday evening we had dinner at The Original Benjamins Calabash Seafood and when we finished up we walked along Barefoot Landing to people watch and window shop, mostly to walk off some of our dinner. Tuesday we got an appointment for the afternoon with the doctor, Grand Strand Pediatrics (we were pleased with the visit). Tuesday we split up, guys went fishing and gals went to the zoo and butterfly garden at Brookgreen Gardens. The butterfly garden was lovely and Colin seemed to enjoy the trip too. The afternoon was spent indoors for Mommy, Daddy and CJ since his medicine kicked in and helped him get some much needed sleep. Wednesday we (forgot what happened-fill in later)
Thursday we had to say goodbye to Gramma, Granpa, and Aunt Anna in the afternoon so we all spent the morning on a beach walk together. It was a wonderful way to say goodbye to them. We were sad they had to leave early. Friday we (forgot what happened-fill in later)
Saturday Colin, Mommy, Daddy, and Rufus spent the morning on the beach. Our activities consisted of flying the Buzz Lightyear Kite, digging in the sand, looking for sea life in the water, and wading up to Colin's waist. We had lunch one last time at River City Cafe and then hit the road. Our road trip took us along the path of the destructive tornadoes we missed on our drive down. Thankfully that stupid Cracker Barrel delay allowed us to be south of the storms traveling north. It was really sad to see all the destruction along 301. Our family made a stop for CJ's dinner at a Denny's and later that night both Eric and I got food poisoning from the salad. This episode of FP caused us to miss Easter Sunday church. Hopefully God can forgive us, we were kinda busy between the bathroom and trying to sleep it off. Next post will have Easter pictures. Colin is demanding bubble time, gotta go!

March into April 2011

I have been slacking, but that is because we really enjoy spending every waking moment playing with Colin, talking to Colin, singing to Colin, throwing the ball around with Colin, walking Rufus with Colin. After we finish with dinner and dog duties we get CJ off to bed and just veg out. Then we head off to bed. Work has been CRAZY for me, and Eric had a furlough scare but was reassured that his work funding is separate from the Government Shut Down, it will just delay the pay. Hopefully they can work things out so that Eric can get his work passport pushed through for his travel to Germany, he claims is in June. We shall see. Last weekend we spent Saturday hanging out with the Harmons to celebrate Matt's 3rd Birthday! He requested no one sing Happy Birthday at the party. On our way home we picked up a toddler rocking chair from a Craigslist posting. Who knew that $10 could buy such fun for a 14month old? Colin LOVES to play with the rocking chair. He has even climbed into it several times with a book. He is super cute. Currently he is getting more into books, he will bring them to us and demand we read the book. Still doesn't have the attention span to last for the whole book, but that is coming soon! Eric and I keep thinking that there are some clear words coming soon, just waiting to see what he will say! As for teething, these molars are NO JOKE! Ever since the first broke through he has had fewer nights of restful sleep. We went to the doctor Monday morning and CJ was diagnosed with ANOTHER ear infection. The medicine works great, but it sucks that he keeps getting them. The positive thing is the doctor acknowledged that the infections are linked to the teething, not just random infections. Hopefully we won't get to the battle about tubes for his ears. Our family friends, Sean and Deanna(Kohrs) Gordon gave birth to a healthy baby boy March 30th, Maxwell. He is a little cutie, we can't wait to meet him! The weekend prior to that was the National Marathon and Half Marathon and since we had several friends running we decided to jump in the car early Saturday morning and stand on the side of the streets of DC to cheer our friends on. Jeff Doroh, Eric Ferree, Nicole Harmon, and several of our kickball teammates were running their fastest. After the race we hung out with the Harmons/Ferrees and then headed to Crystal City to grab some drinks and dine with the Dorohs. It helped to rekindle the dedication for my training. I am working on getting another 5 miles in tonight. That was a busy Saturday, I can't even remember what we did Sunday. Whew!

On a sad note, our Beta Fish-The Wolf, this morning was found sunk to the bottom of his vase. Eric tried to help revive the fish, but it didn't work. A sad day, we will miss you fish!