Rudolph(s) and Santa Had Fun

When we signed the kids and Jip up for a fun run over a month ago, we crossed our fingers and hoped for good weather.  Well, Virginia Beach sort of cooperated with that hope.

The kids ran the Rudolph 1K in Virginia Beach on Friday night.  Around 140 kids ran out of the convention center, down the block, and back into the convention center.  Jip and I divided and conquered.  He got some video outside and I got a couple pics inside.  Unfortunately, I didn't get Ryleigh crossing the finish line, though-- I had wrongly assumed she would cross with RJ, so I was looking for him.  Instead, she was a few seconds ahead of him, so I didn't see her until she was already past me.  Sorry, RyJo.  Both kiddos came back into the convention center a tiny bit damp, but at least it was warm.  After RJ and Ryleigh got their post-race snacks, we headed to dinner.

The next evening was Jip's turn.  As part of his registration, he got a Santa suit.  Jip's run was 5 miles and included a run along the Virginia Beach boardwalk through the city's Merry Mile lights display. We caught up with Jip just as he was coming off the boardwalk and made him stop for a picture.  Once we found Jip after the run was over, we grabbed some drive-thru provisions and went back to the Merry Mile to drive through it.  I'm sorry to say that it was a little rainier on Jip's run.  The red bled onto the white trim and Santa looked like Mrs. Claus had had some laundry troubles.  So the Santa suit only got to make an appearance in this run, then it had to head for the trash.

Ryleigh had her in-studio performance for ballet over the weekend, but I think I'll share that performance and RJ's in-studio hip hop performance on next week's post.  So, pics and videos to come...

Until next week, cheers!

A Jip Featurette

Shhhh...  I'm blogging/bragging about Jip this week.

Over the weekend, we celebrated his birthday with lunch at our favorite BBQ joint.  Jip opened his presents from us and tinkered in the garage a good part of the day.  I think it was just the amount of hoopla (virtually none) for him.

But, we need to have SOME hoopla, right?  So, I'm sharing a couple more items from his time as acting Commanding Officer.

Being acting CO around Veterans' Day not only means you get to be in the local parade, but it means you get to host the base ceremony as well.  Here are a few pics that the shipyard posted on FB:

And, no guarantees the link will work, but here is the post about the ceremony:  https://www.facebook.com/NorfolkNavalShipyard1/posts/10156181442837799?__tn__=K-R.  If the link doesn't work, just search for Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) and scroll down.  (The post was made on December 11.)

Jip also got to do a radio interview while acting CO.  It's a fun listen--about 20 minutes.  Enjoy Jip's answer about how much paint is on a ship!  Here's the page from the Federal News Network.  Go to the page and then you should be able to just click the play button in the shaded box near the top of the page.  https://federalnewsnetwork.com/navy-2018/2018/11/navys-oldest-shipyard-prepa

This week is full of meals with friends and colleagues.  At the end of the week, the kids will be running in a 1K and Jip will be running in a 5 miler.  Keep your fingers crossed for good weather.  Hopefully we'll get out to see some Xmas lights and maybe do a few other things.  As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!

December is Here!

December arrived in full force for our household.  After a normal week at school and with all of our after-school activities, it was time to be busy.  First, we attended the kids' school's PTA Pancake Breakfast.  We made sure to get in the line where breakfast was served by RJ's teacher and the kids' head PE teacher.  One of RJ's favorite teachers, Mr. Scales, even came out of retirement to serve juice to the kids.  It was a great way to start our busy day.

After the breakfast, the boys headed off to RJ's last coding class for 2018, where RJ coded and Jip did some work at a nearby Panera.  Ryleigh and I headed to Ocean Tumblers for her team and individual pictures.  Official photos should be back by Christmas.  But, I took a quick snap while we were waiting for the individual photos to start.  I love their leotards this year.

After gymnastics pictures, Ryleigh and I scrambled to ballet.  We were 20 minutes late, but still made it to get a few stretches in at the barre and then work on the in-studio performance to Carol of the Bells.  I've vowed to not watch the rehearsals so I can be surprised by the performance.  Of course, pictures and video of that to come in a couple weeks.

Saturday evening, Jip and I headed out to a shipyard-related party.  The food was good and the DJ was too loud--a typical Navy party.  Meghan babysat the kids for the first time, and they adored her.  They watched some Sound of Music, talked Pokemon, and more.  Meghan will be coming back next Saturday so Jip and I can get dressed up again for another party.

This week should be a little calmer.  RJ and Ryleigh still have to get Christmas gifts for each other, but they've narrowed the search.  Ryleigh needs to buy a Secret Santa gift for gymnastics and I need to get a white elephant gift for NMCRS, as both of those parties are next week.  In between, I'll work on getting Christmas cards out and maybe throw in a little baking.  As always, pics to come.

Until next time, cheers!

Thanksgiving--Navysgiving--Friendsgiving

We hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.  Ours was busy, but so enjoyable.

On Wednesday afternoon, Jip discovered that one of his officers who recently arrived was still living in a hotel with his wife and young son, as they hadn't found a suitable place to live yet.  So, after a little prodding, he convinced them to join us for Thanksgiving lunch.  With just four adults eating the normal Thanksgiving fare, the crockpot turkey breast worked perfectly.  They indulged my culinary experimentation desires and helped me try a pumpkin dump cake recipe for the first time.  The kids kept mostly to themselves so our guests' one-year-old could nap.

A few minutes after sending our guests back to their hotel room, we hopped into the car with a bunch of pumpkin whoopie pies and headed to our friends Patti and John's home for Thanksgiving evening festivities.  We joined a dozen other people in delighting in delicious desserts and playing a couple games.  RJ got the final prize in the saran wrap game and quickly handed it to his sister.  Ryleigh will head to Starbucks with me in the near future so she can spend her gift card on an old fashioned donut.

Friday was spent decorating the house for Christmas.  Saturday was (mostly) a day dedicated to others. We found some old toys, clothes, and books to donate to Salvation Army.  Then we ran to Walmart to have the kids do a little shopping to give others some holiday cheer.  The kids found some clothes for 2 boys and 2 girls near their ages to put under the Salvation Army's Angel Tree at the shipyard and picked out a couple toys for Toys for Tots.  That evening, the kids were rewarded for their good deeds with the new Wreck-It Ralph movie at our favorite Cinema Cafe.  Sunday found us relaxing, playing with neighborhood kids, and getting some holiday-related tasks completed.

This week should be close to normal, but we have a busy weekend ahead with a pancake breakfast, coding, gymnastics team pictures, and ballet--all before noon!  Jip and I will be attending a Navy function that evening and trying out a new babysitter.  Hopefully she is ready for our two!

As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!

A Chill (and Chilly) Week

After the long weekend for Veterans' Day, we quickly found our routine again.  RJ had his field trip on Wednesday, and I tagged along.  I don't have any pictures to prove it because 1) RJ wanted me there but didn't want me to be too close, and 2) it was tooooo coooooold to get my phone out of my pocket.  Thankfully the field trip was Wednesday and not Thursday--Thursday was chilly and miserably rainy.  

The weather cleared on Friday.  As we were walking home from the bus stop, we ran into our new next door neighbors.  It turns out their daughter is also a third grader.  She immediately accepted our invitation to come play and the kids had a great time.

On Friday evening, the kids went to a kids' night out at Sylvan Learning Center.  It turns out a former BrickHeadZ employee now runs some of the programming at Sylvan, so the kids knew exactly what to expect and had a great time.  We look forward to doing it again when it is offered.

Over the weekend, we did our usual ballet and Ninja Zone, but found time to do some serious cleaning of the playroom and was able to move our old desktop computer to the playroom for Minecraft and maybe the occasional school project.

This week is short due to Turkey Day.  But, we plan on packing it with some decorating for the holidays and a few odds and ends to keep ourselves busy.  As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!

That A Girl!

On Monday, Ryleigh received the Principles of American Citizenship Award for 1st Grade at her school.  The award is given to one person in each class each month who exemplifies the monthly trait.  Ryleigh's trait was diligence.  My normally not so shy girl turned shy when the spotlight was on her.  But, I know she was proud of herself, and I know her teacher loved singing her praises.  Her award read:

"Ryleigh has shown her diligence since the first day of school.  I can always count on her to be working hard.  She not only manages to turn in high-quality work, but also helps others who need assistance.  Ryleigh has a kind heart and infectious smile.  She is the perfect candidate to represent first grade for his award.  Congratulations!"

Jip had a full week as acting Commanding Officer.  His first not-at-the-shipyard duty was presiding over the shipyard's apprentice program graduation, held at Chrysler Hall.  The kids and I watched it on Facebook Live (pushed to the AppleTV).   The speech was somewhat pre-written, but Jip made it his own.  He did a nice job and received lots of compliments from some audience members when it was all over.

The kids had Tuesday off for election day.  I had Ryleigh's parent-teacher-student conference, which was led by Ryleigh.  Ryleigh is doing great, per Mrs. Dodd--but, we already knew that!  The day wasn't fully free from school, though, as the kids had to complete their projects for the second virtual learning day thanks to Hurricane Florence.  RJ made a presentation in Google Slide (it's like PowerPoint for all of you non-Google people) and submitted it electronically.  And Ryleigh made a poster about a community helper.  She picked a firefighter, and she was so proud to showcase her Uncle Eric on her poster.

Our weekend was fairly quiet.  Ryleigh attended a birthday party and I had a lovely time at a baby shower for one of my fellow Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society volunteers.

On Monday, we observed Veterans' Day by participating in the Hampton Roads Veterans' Day parade at the Virginia Beach oceanfront.  There wasn't enough room for all of us in the car, so the kids and Jip got to represent Norfolk Naval Shipyard and I got to play photographer.  I sat next to Mrs. Rock, who kept me entertained as we swapped Japan and traveling through Asia stories.  Her husband, Admiral Rock, was in a Corvette, so there was no room for her either.  :)  Once Jip and the kids came by the reviewing stand, they hopped out to watch the parade--Jip from the viewing stand and the kids with me in front of the viewing stand.

It was a beautiful day for a parade and I think the kids had a good time.  They had a few people from school recognize them and yell out their names, and I know they liked that.

This week, RJ has his field trip and Jip continues the acting CO gig.  The kids are going to try a new Kids' Night Out at Sylvan on Friday--I'm excited to see how they like that.

As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!

Halloween Business (Busy-ness)

Whew!  We had a lot of Halloween business to take care of this year.  Or should I say busy-ness.  We were so busy in the days leading up to Halloween!

First, I wanted to share a paper craft I made a couple weeks ago for Halloween.  I was pretty impressed with how it turned out.  Thank goodness the designer of it had really good instructions on her blog!

On the Saturday before Halloween, Ryleigh wore her costume to ballet.  Then she put it back on for our afternoon at the Virginia Symphony Orchestra's PB&J kids' series concert.  The series has a new conductor this year, and while he doesn't have the same boisterous personality as the previous conductor, he did a fine job and I bet he'll find his groove for the next one--you could tell he was a little nervous this time.  After the concert, we picked up Greer and Gavin and brought them home for a sleepover.

On Sunday, I volunteered for the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society at the USO's Trick or Trunk event.  They had told us to plan on about 1000 trick-or-treaters.  But, the weather was beautiful and other trick-or-trunk events that were scheduled for Friday and Saturday were cancelled due to weather.  So, they all came to the USO event.  Organizers estimated we ended up with about 3,000 people.  Whoa!  We had enough candy, and I really enjoyed spending the afternoon with my friend Ariel.  Jip and the kids came for a little while, but they didn't do all of the trunks, as there were just too many people.

On Tuesday, RJ got to wear his costume to hip hop class.  Well, he got to wear only part of it because the mask and claws wouldn't have been the best idea in the studio.  They also did an in-studio performance for any parents who were there.  It was fun to watch!

Finally, Halloween.  We had gorgeous weather, so no coats were needed.  Greer and Gavin came to trick-or-treat with RJ, and Ryleigh trick-or-treated with the twins on the next street over.  I walked with the girls, Jip and Walter, the boys' dad, walked with the boys.  We crossed paths several times, but the boys were faster and ended up back home well before us.  We got rid of all of our candy and a good portion of our non-candy (Dollar Tree toys).  It was a successful evening!

If you can't tell, Ryleigh was an alacorn (pegasus and unicorn hybrid) and RJ was Blue from Jurassic World.

This week is a bit unusual.  The kids have Tuesday off for Election Day, but Ryleigh still has a parent-teacher conference (I already had RJ's) and it is a virtual learning day, which means completing projects at home.  Jip is Acting Commanding Officer for the next couple weeks while the CO finished moving his family to Virginia and attends a meeting on the west coast.  The weekend was pretty calm CO-wise, but we'll see what the week brings.  Jip has to give a speech tonight at the Apprentice Graduation, so hopefully I'll have pics of that to share next week.  And, I'm sure I'll have other pics to share as well.

Until next time, cheers!

Fall Family Photos (2018)

We had a marvelous time with Dyan of Dyan Witt Photography.  This is the fourth time she has photographed us, and she never disappoints.  This time, I couldn't narrow down our session to only 10 photos, so I splurged and got the whole session.  I won't bore you with all of the photos, but please enjoy a few shots from our lovely afternoon/evening.

Until next time, cheers!

Celebrating Fall and a Couple Birthdays

Last week, the kids and I celebrated my birthday on Tuesday evening with a fairly quiet dinner at Chili's after gymnastics and hip hop classes.  Three other birthdays were celebrating there, so there was definitely no need to hear the staff sing Happy Birthday again to me.

On Wednesday, the kids and I took Greer and Gavin to Hickory Ridge Farm.  Their parents are in the process of moving into a new house, so the boys were grateful to get away from unpacking boxes and I think their parents were grateful to not have complaints about unpacking boxes for a couple hours.  The kids completely wore themselves out.  We recharged with pumpkin cookies, but my two still slept really well--and I'm guessing the other boys slept well, too.

Jip returned from Maine/New Hampshire suuuuuper late Friday night, but he was able to jump right back into our weekend routine, despite the lack of sleep.  After ballet, we ate a little lunch and then headed to Tye Dye It Yourself for Ryleigh's birthday party.  What a great time!  We ended up with 11 kids, ranging from Kindergarten to 4th grade, and I think they each had a great time.  Parents loved meeting one another and gabbing until the very end.  The staff at the shop were amazing.  It was truly one of the best parties we've had for the kiddos.

This week should be pretty normal, but another busy weekend is ahead with a school dance, Halloween party, PB&J symphony series, and trunk or treat put on by the USO--I'm volunteering for NMCRS at our booth and the kids will get to trick or treat with 998 or so of their closest friends.  Add in coding, ballet, and Ninja Zone, and I think we're fully booked. 

As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!