Summer Vacation 2010

A few weeks ago, the family and I went on our summer vacation about a week after Ethan got out of school. We went back to Florida again to the same place we went four years ago. It is a little town called Seagrove Beach about halfway between Destin and Panama City. It is about two miles from Claudia's favorite place in the whole world, Seaside (the place where "The Truman Show" was filmed, but that is not why she loves it).

Lucky for us, the oil in the Gulf had not reached there yet so we got to spend plenty of time at the beach. However there was a lot of seaweed and algae in the water so we were cleaning that stuff out of body parts that I can't mention in this family blog.

Also, we went on this trip with the same good friends we went with four years ago. Only this time, we had three more children with us so the adults were outnumbered by kids this time. Our friends moved to Lafayette, LA last summer which happens to be the halfway point in the drive to Florida. This made it perfect for us to drive to their house on the first day and then continue with them to Florida the next day. We also did the same on the return trip.

Below are several photos from our wonderful beach vacation.

The house we stayed in.

The boys checking out their bunk beds after we arrived.

The boys eating gelato from our favorite ice cream place in Seaside.

Christian not wanting to join the rest of us in the water.

The young boys enjoying the shallows with their dads.

Christian and Baby K relaxing on the beach with the beach houses in the background.

Baby K tuckered out from lots of playing in the sand.

Tim flying a kite almost 500 feet up (Zoom in to see the tiny kite).

Finally getting Christian to play in the water just at the shore (He liked the tiny clams).

Christian getting a kiss from a sealion.

Ethan shaking hands/fins with a dolphin.

Christian enjoying a yummy cupcake.

Dinner out on our last night in Florida.

Family photo taken on the beach at sunset.

One last meltdown on the beach.

SMG Field Day and Last Day of School

The day after Ethan's kindergarten graduation was Field Day at SMG and also the last day of school for this year. The kids spent all morning playing games and doing different activities. They even had a snack before being let out early at 11:00 AM.

Claudia also took about 600 pictures that morning. A few are posted below for your enjoyment.

Kindergarten Graduation

On Wednesday, May 26, 2010, Ethan graduated from Kindergarten. There was a short singing program by the kids and then they each got to walk across the stage to receive their certificate. It was very cute to see all of the kids on stage.

Claudia took it upon herself to document the entire event for all of the parents. In other words, she took about 200 photos of every child graduating (the rest of the parents still took their photos). Below is a shot of Ethan getting his certificate from the principle, Mrs. Doskocil.

Ethan also got recognized as a Super Reader for reading books everynight before bed for about four months. Below is a shot of all of the Super Readers.

After the ceremonies, Ethan got to take pictures with some of his classmates and his teacher. The taller boy with Ethan in the first picture below is his Big Buddy, Matthew. He is a fifth grader. (Each kindergartener gets assigned a fifth grade Big Buddy to help them with some projects throughout the year.) The little girl in the second picture below is Annie, Ethan's former girlfriend. I think they still like each other, though. The last one is of Ethan and Mrs. Bara, his teacher.

Our Mother's Day Weekend

Our Mother's Day weekend started out with a trip to Gnismer's Farm in south Arlington. For those of you not familiar with it, it is a small family owned farm on Bowen Road in south Arlington. They allow the public to come in and pick their own fruit and veggies. Claudia used to bring Ethan here all the time a few years ago with her playgroup. This year the word must have got out because it has been packed with people whenever they open for picking (they have to close more frequently now to allow for the fruit to ripen)..

This day we were picking strawberries and it was Christian's first time to go. We had a lot of fun but we had to search harder for the good strawberries because in the 20 minutes they were open before we arrived, all the really good ones got picked. Mimi and Daniel joined us near the end so we could have Daniel with us for the day while Mimi went to work.

Some of the photos don't look so good because Claudia accidentally changed the setting on the camera from Auto.

After picking as much as we could find, we went to Ethan's baseball game (hence the baseball uniform Ethan is wearing)(Sorry, no pictures).

Once the game was over we went to Dallas for the annual Baby Reunion that our baby doctor holds every year on the day before Mother's Day. It is a big outdoor picnic with bounce houses, face painting, balloon animals, and food. The kids had a wonderful time and so did we.


On Sunday, Mother's Day, we went to mass where Claudia served as a lector and all mothers were invited up to the alter for a blessing. Afterwards, I took Claudia (and the kids) out to lunch to celebrate Mother's Day. Then after Christian took his nap, we met up with Mimi and Daniel for dinner to celebrate Mother's Day with them.

All and all, it was a wonderful weekend.

Look Who Joined the 21st Century

One month ago, I joined the 21st century when I upgraded my phone to a new smartphone, specifically the Palm Pre.

I really love this phone. It is touted as Palms version of the iPhone only better. It has the ability to run multiple apps at once (which the iPhone doesn't). It has a more intuitive user interface (which the iPhone doesn't). It is touch screen and also has a slide out keyboard (which I love because I hate touchscreen keyboards like on the iPhone). It has a 3.2 megapixel camera that also shoots video (which the iPhone doesn't)(I think the newer, more expensive, iPhone does have these features). And it has a built in GPS receiver for use with Sprint Navigation (which the iPhone doesn't).

My favorite part of the phone is the Palm Synergy feature which takes your contacts, calendar, and email from multiple accounts and organizes them into one view. All of your calendar events are on one calendar with color coding. If you have the same contact on Facebook and in your email contacts then it recognizes that and combines them in one view while still keeping the info in separate accounts. This has helped me stay organized with so many things going on at once.

The Palm Pre has taken a while to gain popularity due to previous failures by Palm but the critics love this phone and so do I. Check out what it looks like below.
Now I just need to upgrade Claudia's phone and we will be good. (She is eligible for upgrade in July)

Christian's 2nd Birthday

Exactly one month ago today we had Christian's 2nd birthday party at The Little Gym in the Arlington Highlands (I know this post is late but I explained that here). His actual birthday was two days prior on Earth Day but that was a Thursday thus the party on Saturday.

The party was great fun with all of Christian's friends in attendance and even a few of Ethan's friends (older siblings of Christian's friends).

It is hard to believe that just two years ago (and one month), we had our second child. He has always been told how cute he is by us and by just about any other person that sees him. I hope he doesn't become vain because of it.

Below is a picture from his actual birthday at just a few minutes old (i.e. April 22, 2008) and then a few from this year's birthday party. Enjoy!