Fun stuff

The yard sale really took up most of our Sat, but we did get out our little pool and slide. Sunday Ben had work, so Rhone and I stayed up late snuggling and made brownies with sprinkles.  Which were cool enough for Rhone to declare, "this is the best day ever". Monday we headed to a local water park.  Rhone had a blast, but it was pretty roasty and hard to find shade for Sylvie so after a few hours and lunch it was time to call it quits.  

This week the USO Sesame Street Tour came to our base.  Rhone was pretty excited about seeing Elmo and the story and songs are all geared towards things that military children deal with.  Rhone had a fun time singing and dancing a long and he was looking pretty rockin in his USO bandana.  I kept trying to get him to go up close to the stage so he could give the characters a high five, but he said he was too scared.  As soon as the show was over he burst into tears because he didn't say hi to Elmo.  I was the only one walking out with a kid in tears.  Lucky me ;)

 

I bet he went down this slide at least 50 times.

Sylvie with her silly hat.

We're on Sesame Street.  Sylvie barely made the photo :)

ELMO!

Rhone dancin' around

Watching the show.  Even Sylvie woke up for it!

camping

 We started Memorial Day weekend off with a camping trip.  We sure are glad that Ben was home to help us remember those who serve our country!  Ben had work off on Friday too, so Thurs afternoon we headed out to a local state forest where camping was FREE (that's a pretty rare thing in the East) and we beat the crowds.  We really had a blast and the weather was great for camping.  Rhone loved that there a practically no rules when you are camping.  We cooked dinner and dessert and popped popcorn and Rhone even roasted some tiny marshmallows.  We drove out into a clearing once it was dark so we could gaze at the stars.  Sylvie was a good sport too.  She would just look up and stare at all the trees moving around her.  Sylvie only woke up once that night and she didn't even disturb Rhone.  The next morning we cooked a dutch oven ham and bacon frittata and Rhone went on a treasure hunt. We crammed a lot into our trip, but we had to get back in time to set up for our yard sale Sat. morning.  We cleared just about $200, but it was sure a lot of work.  The good news is that we have a lot less junk to move.

Helping mom with the outdoor cooking

 

Mmm the upside down pineapple cake turned out pretty yummy

This was everyone's first time popping popcorn over a fire and we didn't even burn it.  Plus it provided us with lots of entertaiment

Rhone spent a long time trying to throw popcorn into our mouths (remember that part about no rules when camping). I am happy to say that I caught the first piece

Rhone even caught one in his mouth, but not this one.  See it hitting him in the neck.  We were all laughing pretty hard about this little game.

Rhone and Ben found these chairs at local discount store.  Ben was pretty excited to be honoring both his and Rhone's birth states.

Sitting around the fire and snuggling Sylvie was the perfect pass time.

Snoozin away.  She is such a sweet sweet baby

Roasting the marshmellows all by himself

Bed time story. Ben was pretty mad I used the flash

Sylvie even has her own little sleeping bag in her pack and play

Look at this tiny frog!

Sylvie's view

X marks the spot of the treasure

Family photo.  It was mighty humid in the morning.

What a weekend!

 Ben hasn't been flying much so we have been doing lots of fun things with our daddy.  This month is bring a friend free to the YMCA so Ben has been my guest so we can work out and even take the kids to open swim.  Whew this Body Pump class is really kickin my buns.  It's an hour a free weight lifting set to music.

Ben got off early one Friday so we headed down the the "far away beach" as Rhone calls it.  It was a windy and cooler day, but we still had fun playing in the sun and relaxing.  Our umbrella was a life safer to block the wind for Sylvie.  We cleaned up and headed to the outlets to do a little shopping and then had a late night dinner at 5 Guys.  The next day was the Strawberry Festival.  We picked some yummy fresh strawberries, got some food, and listed to the live music.  Sunday we made a quick trip to DC.  Ben's sister found some handicap equipment that she needed over there.  It was the only day the lady could meet up so we took a little break at the zoo and tried out some Vietnamese food before making the trip back home. 

My little swimmers

Beach Boys

I am one lucky momma

Sylvie just snoozed most of the time.

Picture compliments of Rhone

Jumping over his big hole.  This is one of his favorite things to do at the beach.

mmmm strawberries

It was pretty cool to see the elephant drinking

There is a tiny yellow spot in the top right that's a cheeta

Father and Sons camping

Ben was home this year and able to take Rhone on the camping trip with our church.  Ben loaded everything up and even went shopping for the food.  I rounded up a few glow sticks for Rhone to share with his friends.  Rhone was so excited that he seriously could not wait.  Sylvie and I got together with 2 of my friends whose husbands/boys were camping too.  It was so fun to sit around eating Chinese and just catching up on life.  We sure will miss our church friends here when we leave.

   

Celebrations!

Sunday was both Ben's birthday and mother's day.  Honestly it's not as much fun when they fall on the same day, but we did our best to celebrate anyway.

Since Ben turned 30 this year we got together with some of our friends.  We ordered some yummy bbq sandwiches and and sides from a local restaurant and sipped on some old fashioned sodas at the park.  We finished the night off with some Rita's Italian Ice.  It was fun to joke around with friends and watch the kids play at the park.  What a great way to celebrate the start of a new decade.  Ben also opened most of his gifts Sat since we knew Sunday would be busy.  There were no surprises, because Rhone excitedly told Ben everything his was getting about a week before :) .  He got the new ipad and was pretty excited about it.

Sunday morning was crazy.  Ben had to be at church at 6:45 am.  I scrambled to get the kids, my talk for sacrament meeting, and crafts for the primary kids ready and out the door.  After church we were all pretty exhausted and by 2:30 pm everyone was ready for a nap.  We were shocked when we didn't wake up until 4:30, but I guess we all needed some sleep.  I got to open my presents and then we had dinner and Ben's birthday cake.  Whew what a busy weekend (pictures of the fathers and sons' camp out coming soon).

Ben opening his present that Rhone picked out.  It is 2 super soaker water guns (rmember how cool those green ones were when we were kids).  I spent about an hour in target one night while Rhone picked out this gift.

Rhone helped me make this pack of bottle treats for Ben and a book with 30 things we love about Ben.

Ben and and kiddos at the park.

Me and my sweet kids after church

Sylvie turned 2 months on Ben's birthday.  She weighs 12.2 lbs and is 22.5 inches long

I sure am so grateful for these two adorable spirits.  I really have the most amazing career!

I got these cool keepsake boxes for each of the kids and a necklace with Rhone and Sylvie's names for my gifts.

Blowing out the birthday candles

Rhone gave me this pretty long stem rose and a card he made in nursery.  He has the best nursery leaders.