To the Beach!

Ocean waves, sunshine and a warm breeze...a perfect way to spend the day!

For whatever crazy reason, I had this wild idea to take my family to the beach.  Its not like in Washington state where the coast is only about an hour away....to get to the actual ocean beach from where we live, its about a 3.5 hour drive, if traffic is good.  And also unlike Washington state, the beaches here are packed!  Almost everyone I spoke to about going warned me about how bad the traffic would be and that I should hold off due to the holiday weekend.  But I was determined.  After some consulting with friends, the Acosta's, I learned what beach I wanted to get to and when I doubted myself about going, they gave me the extra push to "just go", traffic is crazy no matter when you go and if you let it dictate when and where you go around here, you will never go anywhere.  So, instead of going on Saturday morning, we headed out on Sunday.  Jay wanted to go along, too, even though hanging out in the hot sunshine on a beach is probably the last place he wanted to be, not to mention he'd just come off the midnight shift at work.  He was a trooper for the sake of having "family time".  Here are some pics from the day:

Traffic was flowing nicely at 9 AM....

The HOV express lane was closed off to cars and only allowed motorcycles on this day.  The boys got a kick out of all the bikes and all the spectators and emergency vehicles on the overpasses waving flags and flashing lights.  Didn't realize Sunday was the annual Memorial Day "Rolling Thunder" motorcycle rally in DC, meant to honor prisoners of war and soliders missing in action and raise awareness of the issues facing the nation's veterans.  This year was the 25th anniversary of the rally, which started out with only 2500 participants and spectators and has now reached upwards of 900,000.  I've never seen so many Harleys... 

This is the long toll bridge that is apparently the cause of much gridlock headache and what my neighbors warned me would be horrible if we went this weekend.  The Bay Bridge crosses the Chesapeake Bay to and from the eastern shore in Maryland.  The Coronado Bridge in San Diego was the biggest/longest bridge I'd seen until now.  Clearly we lucked out going on Sunday morning, hardly any traffic!  Though we hear the bridge was backed up seven miles on Monday night...eesh!

Made our way to Bethany Beach in Delaware, but it was so crowded we couldn't find parking, so headed a few miles south to Fenwick Island and found easy parking right near this beach access path.

Little did I realize, I should've let Zac stay covered like this!  Darn sunburns...

Jay trying his best to enjoy himself

First time touching the Atlantic Ocean!

...and then we couldn't drag them away...they had so much fun!

I don't "do" water, but I did stick my feet in for a little while

Trev thought he was ready to conquer, but decided he wanted nothing to do with the water.  I think the waves scared him

Thought I would be busy chasing him around, but he was content just playing in the sand

Jay and I took turns standing watch at the water over the big boys.  Good thing Jay came with afterall, not sure how I would've managed that alone

Sand toys are the best!

Didn't realize, as I was lounging around, that all the while my kids were getting burnt to a crisp :(

 

Jay had applied some to Zac's face and neck since he's the fairest one of all of them, and at the time they were wearing t-shirts.  Just didn't think to do it once the t-shirts came off til much too late in the game.

Unfortunately, the face application was not as thorough as one might've thought...i honestly think their actual eyeballs got burned too!

All in all, it was a great day and fun memories made.  The little beach town has mini golf, go-karts, fun restaurants, and candy and ice cream shops (we had ice cream to die for there...).  We definitely plan to go back someday when we can stay a day or two longer and actually experience the town more, and also would love to see the beach at dusk.  Hopefully the memory of these awful sunburns doesn't outweigh the fun times they had playing at the beach.  Live and learn.  I just gotta continue to remind myself that they are only 1/4 Filipino!!  You can bet my kids will be the most covered, slathered up kids on the beach next time.  

Turtle Invasion!!

First there was Chip, the sweet little baby turtle that came for a visit.  The other day after some heavy rains, we were visited by two more turtles, a little bigger than Chip...

Scotty actually saw the bigger one first on our way out to the bus stop, so Jay came and grabbed him so Zac and Trev could see it.  

Here he is trying to make his escape...

Zac can't help himself, he must play with the turtle! 

Then Diane found one wandering up by our garage.  The boys got a kick out of them.  I gave in and let Zac keep them in a box, but the bigger one actually escaped.  So I let them both go and told Zac they did it on their own.  Yes, I know they are harmless, but I still don't think I want them as pets!  Besides, May 23 is 'World Turtle Day', I could hear them chanting "LET US FREE".

This old guy, about a foot and a half long, is one we will not be bringing home!!  He was trying to wander across the road in our neighborhood.  When Jay realized it was a SNAPPING TURTLE, we decided to mosy right along and not bug him.  He looks like some sort of dinosaur, so prehistoric-esque!  And this isn't even considered very big for these guys.  EEEEK!

Rodney's Visit

I recently reconnected on Facebook with some old friends from Eugene, Oregon.  We met Christie and Rodney when Jay made the move back to Oregon and transferred from the Nebraska Army National Guard to the Oregon unit in 1999, before we were married.  Rodney and Jay were both 2nd Lieutenant platoon leaders and became buddies quick; and Christie and I kept each other entertained while the guys were away.  They first went to Germany for training (a trip Jay barely made back to the states in time for our wedding!) 

Here they are taking a leisure day in Germany



Then in early 2001, they both went to Fort Benning, Georgia for three months to attend the Infantry Officer Basic Course (IOBC).  Christie and I, and their little one Jazzlinn, made the trek across country, flew into Atlanta and drove the two hours south to Fort Benning to visit them for a weekend.  Here they are pictured after one of the times we met up together for lunch while in Georgia (not sure why back then we didn't do a group shot...):

The only thing I remember about that plane ride is that Jazzy didn't like it one bit!!  

Ah, the joys of traveling with toddlers - such fun!

Unfortunately, Rodney injured his ankle while at Ft Benning, a few weeks shy of graduation, and was unable to finish the course.  He was the honor graduate for the entire class and sadly had to miss the ceremony.  He then resigned his commission with the National Guard and joined the Eugene Police Department.  Here they are pictured at Rodney's graduation from the Police Academy in 2002 (again, not sure why we didn't do a group shot, instead I just have random pictures of them!):

We moved away that same year, to report for duty with the Coast Guard, and hadn't seen them since then.  Now with Facebook, we've been able to reconnect, so when Christie told me Rodney would be in DC for National Police Week, it was a must that we get together.  Rodney ended up taking a whole day out of his four days here, renting a car, and coming down to Virginia to see us.  He stayed the entire day when he could've been doing sightseeing or police stuff....it was a great time hanging out and catching up! 

BSing over Chinese food...Rodney has some good police stories!! 

Talking trailers

Buddies

Ended the day with a lovely dinner out.

It was a great visit, and just goes to show that true friendship can stand the test of time!

Mother's Day

My mother's day was pretty low key and nice.  Jay and I had plans to go to dinner the night before, but we were both exhausted from a full day of baseball activities and Jay had worked the nightshift on Friday - so Chinese take out was the better option at 9PM on Saturday.  The next morning, the boys surprised me with a cute sign for my office that Jay had special ordered from our good friend, Carin Anema (she's also our realtor/contractor friend, she is multi-talented!).  I have it hung already above the doorway. 

That afternoon, the boys and Jay took me to a great Italian place called Bertucci's, where they cook the pizzas the way pizzas should be cooked, by brick oven.  Yum.  After a quick stop at a soft serve ice cream place just down our road, we headed home for a relaxing remainder of the day.  Here's a pic of my boys and me (note the grumpy toddler), just before heading out to lunch.

The Five Trees

A few years ago the owner of the house decided to lay down more dirt to fill in the backyard....no one is quite sure why he did this and it still has the neighbors scratching their heads...but as a result it blocked the natural drainage and created some problems for the neighbors backyard, and also killed five beautiful trees that were probably nearly 80 years old.  The neighbors had been trying for years to get the owner to do something about these dead trees because at some point they were gonna come down due to the howling strong winds we get thru here.  So finally Jay said something to the owner and it wasn't a week later that he had guys out here to take care of it.  I am sure it was a pricey job for him (neighbors said when they cleared trees to put in their pool, they spent almost $20k....eesh!), but he didn't hesitate to take care of it and ease our worries.  Lets face it, he'd be looking at a lot more dollar signs if one of those big trees came crashing down on our house or the neighbors house!  Surprised that he hadn't taken care of it before this, but it is done and here are a few pics to capture the event.

 

Boys like to climb trees, I bet this is a fun job! 

Timberrrrrrrr 

This part sucks, but someone's gotta do it 

Loading up the branches 

This was the biggest of the dead trees and the one the neighbors worried about.  Good thing they took it down because as they started cutting it, it just started crumbling.  Turns out, it was rotten and hollow on the inside from what they think was probably the work of centipedes - EEEK!! 

Clean and clear.  Firewood anyone?

Mother's Day Tea

My Boy and Me

Scotty's class hosted a Mother's Day Tea for us on Friday afternoon and I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the moms showed up - it was a full house and so great to see the kids light up knowing their moms were there!  The kids sang some songs and between each song, they each had some sort of one-liner to share about their life with mom.  They did a great job and made us moms proud!  Afterwards, they served some sweet tea and cookies and showed us several things they made for us.  I loved every minute! 

My place card

As I've volunteered every few weeks, I've gotten to know some of these kids and I really enjoy my time in the classroom.  They call me "Scotty's Mom" :)

This is just a snapshot of a booklet he made about me, I will keep it forever!

This is his vision of me hanging in the 1st Grade corridor 

I have to say, I am beautiful!

And check out the shoes - FANCY!  He knows his momma! 

This was the letter underneath my "picture" 

His wonderful teacher, Mrs. Lawson