we said see ya later to our friends and our house

I thought it was really important for Rhone to have the chance to say good bye to all his friends (well I needed to as well).  So we made little good bye gifts and played together one last time.  Whew leaving behinds friends sure can be rough.  These are the people who we spent our holidays with and celebrated birthdays with and who took care of Rhone while I was in the hospital with Sylvie. They are our family when our family is far away. We have been blessed by so many people in DE, not just those in these pics.  It took me 2.5 years before I knew it, but Delaware really was where God wanted our family for the past 3 years.

A sweet hug good bye with our Air force friends.  Moving sure is getting harder the older Rhone gets.

Sylvie and the boys

Isn't this what childhood is all about.  Just hanging out with good friends

Sylvie and T are only a few weeks apart.

Ben managed to get an action shot of the moms. 

Rhone and the boys from church after hours of bouncing

We will miss the 1st house we ever owned!

Right after these pictures we crammed ourselves into the truck and set off across the country.

we said goodbye to the beach

Hands down one of our most favorite things about living in DE was being close to the beach.  We took a break from the chaos of our house and packing to hit the beach one last time.  It was so nice to enjoy time as a family and pretend like we didn't have a care in the world.  We made only our 2nd trip to the Fractured Prune Donut Shoppe.  They hand dip them right in front of you when you order them.  They were so delicious.  We finished up the beach outing by using the rest of our tickets at Funland on the Rehoboth Beach Board walk.  I can't believe how much Rhone has changed since we have been in DE.

This is how he decided to carry the body board.  Doesn't he just look like a little beach bum?

Our little beach baby.

Rhone is not afraid of the waves.  He will spend hours out there getting tumbled and pummeled with water.

Our little family

Look how brave Rhone is to boogie board with Ben!

You have to look really close, but it says Delaware in the sand.

This is the most delicious box of donuts I have ever had.

He was all business on these rides.

Scrapple is a local Delaware food, so I insisted that I try it at least once before we left.  So one morning we made it out to a little local cafe to give the questionable meat a try.  That big old brown slab is scrapple.  It wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad either.  I feel like my DE experience was pretty complete.

Even Rhone gave it a try and he really liked it.

4 month sweetie

 

This little lady is growing up so, so fast.  I cannot believe how much she smiles!  When I was pregnant (and extremely sick with her) I would joke that she better be as sweet as sugar to make up for my horrible pregnancy.  Well I think she pulled through and really is.  She had one last check up before we left DE.  She is about the 50th percentile for both weight and height and in the 25 %  percentile for her head.  She is getting to be a good roller and starting to enjoy tummy time.  We think that her eyes are going to stay blue and that her hair might stay red.  She sure does look a lot like her daddy.

Here's Sylvie with her "shrinking" kangaroo.

Pretty blue eyes

Well Hello Lady Liberty

We really tried to squeeze a lot into our last little bit of time in the East.  We took a last minute trip to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  One the way up we were able to meet up with some of our Air Force friends who are stationed in New Jersey.  We loved getting to see them.  We decided not to try out NYC with 2 kiddos.  Instead, we opted to take the ferry to the Islands from the New Jersey side.  We were sure glad that we got there bright and early before it was too crowded.  Both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty were really interesting.  I had no idea that the US was so selective about who we would let  immigrate in the 1800s.  The inside of the Statue of Liberty was closed, but it was still interesting learning about it.  Did you know that Gustave Eiffel (that architecture of the Eiffel Tower) is also the one who designed all the support of the Statue of Liberty.

At the hotel.  Rhone loves her so much and she puts up with all his shenanigans.  I couldn't love them more.

NYC sunrise behind us.

Ferry Passengers

Immigrants' documents at Ellis Island

Lady Liberty

I had never seen the backside of her.

He was super impressed can you tell?  One grumpy old lady yelled at us as we were getting off the ferry that Rhone would never remember it.  Guess she might have been right.

This is the New Jersey Sept 11 memorial.  The 2 walls are at the same spot in the skyline that the towers were.

Oh baby

We decided to squeeze in a baby shower for my friend Amy before we rolled outta town.  Throwing a party at your house, while getting ready to move, wasn't exactly my most brilliant idea, but I am so glad that we were able to help celebrate this sweet little girl on her way.  I couldn't have pulled it off without help from Ben and my two friends Amanda, and Lyanna.  Sorry I am so slow getting these pictures to you Amy!

Rhone helped me make some of the decorations

This picture didn't turn out so great, but all the pink and oranges were so cute together.

Cute decoration and gift

Ladies from church

Amanda brought a fun game to make a baby.  There were some pretty cute ones.

Opening all the pink gifts

More guests.

Thanks for letting us help you celebrate your baby girl Amy!