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!

Happy Birthday America!

Our 4th of July plans were seriously messed up by a little tiny popcorn kernel.  Ben and Rhone spent a good part of the morning in urgent care trying to get the kernel out of Rhone's ear.  We still tried to make the day fun and special even though he  couldn't go swimming so we had to skip out on some of our plans with friends.  We still meet up with them for a yummy bbq, the parade and fireworks.  We are so lucky to live in American and enjoy such a blessed life.

As Rhone was painting this flag he said, "She's gonna love it, Mom" I asked him who was gonna love it and he said, "You know that girl whose birthday it is." I asked if he was talking about America. "Yah, Mom. Merica's gonna love it."

Fresh made granola with fruit and yogurt was our patriot breakfast.

We made flag treats

Red, white, and blue gear shirts

We got Rhone a little "fire cracker" that was spring loaded with streamers and confetti (DE doesn't allow any fireworks).

My little cutie at the parade

We are quite the crew at the parade

Yummy bbq dinner

Waiting for the fireworks to start,  It was still around 90 degrees!!

Just passing time

Waiting, waiting, waiting for it to get dark.  It was worth the wait though.  Happy Birthday America!

workin' man

I don't really keep track of all of Ben's work adventures on the blog.  I guess I figure if they are important to him he will blog about them, but lately I have been thinking that when our kids flip back through our family album I want them to know what their dad does.  Ben has been some pretty amazing places in the C-5.  He made history on the Air Forces first mission through the arctic circle.  You can read about it here. He's traveled to all sorts of places in Europe and the Middle East.  He headed west for a trip to Hawaii and Japan. He spent a month in the Czech Republic brushing up on his language skills through a special language program.  He spends a whole week on call 24 hours making sure that all the planes the roll through our base are on time and safe and most importantly he helps orchestrates the Dignified Transfers of fallen service men and women returning home day and night.  Most recently he and his crew handled a very dangerous emergency situation without injuring anyone.  We have been waiting months for the safety board to close the investigation.  Thankfully they finally did so Ben could get in one last mission and his Air Craft Commander Check ride.  We have had a love/hate relationship with the C-5, but honestly I know Ben will miss his travels around the world and the friends he has made here. We are so proud of him for working and sacrificing so much.  And I am so grateful that I get to stay at home and take care of our children.  What a luxury that I get to spend my days with our kids.  OK I am all done tooting Ben's horn. :)

 

 

He was on the ground for less than 24 hours in Hawaii, but still found time for the beach....

.....and banana macadamia nut pancakes

Water on the run way caused this much damage to Ben's plane.  They managed to land it in one piece (well besides the pieces left on the initial runway).

 To finish up our time here Ben got us some time in the flight simulator.  Rhone was so excited to put on his flight suit and go to work with Daddy.  I even got to spend some time flying.  Seriously there is a lot going on a time.  Ben was getting a pretty good laugh at how much I was concentrating.  We even got to fly over Hawaii.  My last landing was pretty terrible.  The plane bounced so hard, Sylvie woke up in her car seat.  What a fun day and a fun way to say goodbye to the C-5.

He couldn't take his eyes off that plane, not even for a picture

Good thing its a big cockpit

Ben was telling Rhone that he was a good pilot.  Rhone confidently piped up, "I sure am a good one Dad."  The sim instructor was cracking up.  What a character

A little after flight debrief.