Happy Birthday, RJ!

We celebrated RJ's 7th birthday on Saturday.  We were so very lucky to get Jip home for it.  We picked him up Friday night at 8 pm and came straight home to put the kids to bed.  

RJ woke up at 5:40 am.  Needless to say, he was excited for his day to begin.  Finally, at 6:30, Jip let RJ wake me up, and we headed downstairs to open gifts.

Then it was straight into playing and constructing.

We finally dragged RJ away from his gifts around 8:30 and headed to a new-to-us donut shop.  They "dip and stick."  They have two base donut flavors each day--vanilla and a specialty.  Then, they dip them in various glazes and top them with a variety of toppings.  So, we did a variety, including a s'mores (vanilla donut, chocolate frosting, marshmallow fluff, and graham cracker crumbs), peanut butter cup (vanilla with chocolate glaze and Reese's peanut butter cups), and red velvet cake (the special red velvet donut, cream cheese frosting, chocolate drizzle, raspberry drizzle).  They were delicious for 3 of the 4 of us.  Ryleigh didn't think too much of them and was wishing for a raised glazed donut.  At least she liked watching the donuts being made and assembled.

RJ really wanted to go out for his birthday meal.  He wanted someplace where he could have cake but where they wouldn't sing.  I suggested he put a candle in a pancake.  He loved that idea.  So, off to IHOP we went.  I brought a blue Lego candle.  The family sang.  Two waitresses hovered and smiled.  It was perfect.

It was more playing and constructing in the afternoon for the birthday boy.  The kids and Jip also played in the water outside for a bit.  They cleaned up, we ate dinner from Mom's Diner (the kids tell Mom what they want and she makes it), and Jip put them to bed.  Then, Jip hopped into his car and went back to the ship to get ready to go back to sea.

We are so lucky that Jip's 24 hours home happened to fall on RJ's birthday!  RJ had a great birthday celebration.  Thank you to everyone who helped him celebrate!

Summer -- Week 3

We had a great Independence Day.  First, we went to another Michael's workshop.  Ryleigh and RJ were the only two kids in the workshop, so they enjoyed monopolizing the instructor's ears by telling random stories and using her extra set of hands, as there was A LOT of cutting this time around.  The kids had fun making jester hats and puppets.

We joined our neighbors and friends for a little potluck lunch once the workshop was over.  The kids had a great time playing and wore each other out.  Jip and I helped fuel the excitement for Hannah and Angie, as their husbands' 8-month deployment is coming to an end very soon.  We are thrilled for them!

On the evening of July 4, we headed to our friends John and Patti's house.  They live in the middle of a great neighborhood, so they always get to host holiday festivities.  We were lucky enough to tag along again.  We enjoyed another great potluck, catching up with our friends, and watching the kids play.  RJ and Ry got to play with sparklers for the first time ever.  We also lit some fireworks--but don't tell anyone since it is illegal in Virginia Beach to have any.  ;)

The kids started swimming lessons at one of the Navy base pools.  It was a bit of a rough start, as Ryleigh declared she would not be in a class with a male instructor.  Lo and behold--the only class with a male instructor is her class.  But there are two females, too.  And, by Thursday, she decided that the male instructor was pretty okay.  RJ is in a slightly more advanced class, despite that he likes to give up on his backfloat almost as soon as he starts it.  But, they are working on a whip kick and a breaststroke-like arm movement with him, and he is gaining confidence.

After lessons on Thursday, we went to the fun pool at one of the bases.  It was in the 90s, but felt over 100 degrees.  We stayed in the water except when they made us get out and when we needed a little bite to eat.  We'll probably hit the fun pool a couple more times this week, too.  Both kids can go down the little slides by themselves and they can stand nearly everywhere in the shallow end, which has also boosted their confidence.

By the way, do you see those anchors on Ryleigh's suit.  Apparently lots of moms of Navy brats think alike and buy their kids things with anchors.  There were two other girls with the same suit that day.  One girl sought out Ryleigh and they went down a slide together.  It was cute!

We ended up getting Jip an extra day this week, as GW didn't leave on time for the scheduled practice for the pilots.  Ryleigh took full advantage and got Jip to take her to a movie at Cinema Cafe.  RJ wanted nothing to do with a movie, so he kept me company while I worked on some National Carousel stuff.

We went out for an early dinner then dropped Jip off to the ship Saturday evening.  Because they left late, we're not sure if they'll be back as scheduled or not.  We sure hope so--it would be delightful to have Jip here for RJ's actual birthday.

This week holds more lessons, RJ's real birthday, the coming and going of Jip (whether it is for 24 hours or just 6 hours), and more.  As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!

Summer -- Week 2

Even though no one went to camps this week, we certainly didn't lack for anything to do.

On Monday, we went to a workshop at Michael's.  Each week they have a theme for the crafts, and this week was "space."  The kids enjoyed making aliens out of Model Magic, a watercolor/crayon Martian landscape, and a paper alien.  RJ didn't quite get the space concept, so his Model Magic alien ended up being a dinosaur and his landscape ended up being a seascape with a shark.  Oh, well.  No need to stifle the creativity, and they both had a good time.

Jip surprised us all by arriving home a couple days early thanks to things going well while floating around the Atlantic.  And, bonus--the CO gave everyone Wednesday off.  So, the kids decided to show Jip the trampoline place we went to with our neighbors a few weeks ago.  The three of them had a great time jumping.

On Saturday afternoon, we hosted RJ's birthday party at BrickHeadZ.  RJ had a great time building with his friends.  The birthday party leader kept the party going with games, such as grabbing Legos of a certain color with chopsticks, and challenges, such as building a town.

I don't think the staff was quite sure what to make of our lunch choice.  RJ really, really wanted something he normally eats and definitely not the party food of choice, pizza.  So, we served bagels and cream cheese.  We also had a meat tray and condiments so people could make sandwiches with the bagels.  At least the chips, fruit tray, vegtable tray, and the water and apple juice were normal.  We finished off with cupcakes that had toppers made out of marshmallow fondant.  I found a lady on Etsy to make them for me--she mailed them from New Jersey and they were perfect.

Saturday night we decided to go watch our minor league team (for the Orioles), the Tides.  Before the game, they held a princess tea.  So, Ryleigh went to the tea while the boys wandered around and hung out.  Ryleigh decorated and ate a cookie, got her face painted, and took a few photos with princesses.

Are you wondering why there is a weird pink and red heart in the middle of the photo?  Well, it's because of this dude:

He got up from the bar and deliberately photobombed the picture.  I laughed it off at the time, but I was not happy and I'm sure my Amy look let him know it.  Ariel's look also let him know it.  Thank you for that, Ariel!!  I felt like George Costanza and didn't have anything good to say at the time.  But, I have since decided he was a jerk for jumping into the picture and want to say now, "The jerk store called, and they are running out of you."  (That's the line in Seinfeld that George wishes he would have said to a guy who had made fun of him.)

Anyway on to baseball... I was able to get tickets just to the right of the home team dugout on the first row.  We were all chipper when the game began at 7:05.

Ryleigh and RJ got to see themselves up on the big scoreboard screen at one point, so Ryleigh spent much of the game trying to get a cameraman's attention again.

RJ was bored and fidgety.  But, by golly, we wanted to see the princess-themed fireworks promised for after the game.  Nine innings and still scoreless.  Innings 10 and 11 passed with some excitement, lots of pitching changes, but still no score.  Ryleigh was getting punchy and RJ was just exhausted.

FINALLY, in the bottom of the 12th, with 2 outs, a Tides player hits a double.  The next guy up had been having a rough night, so we weren't hopeful.  But, he singled.  The runner who had been on second then decided to brave it and kept running for home.  When the umpire signaled the runner was safe, it was pandemonium.  Everyone was ready for the thing to be over (maybe even the umpire, because on the replay on the screen, the runner looked out).  And, the players acted like they had won the World Series.  They cleared the dugout and threw Gatorade on both guys who reached a base.  It was pretty great.

We enjoyed the fireworks and finally made it home at 11:30.  On our way out of the stadium, RJ told us the wait was worth it.  I'm so glad, kiddo.  But, poor Jip had to be up early to go to the ship for a duty day.  Thankfully, he'll be home tomorrow for the holiday.  

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