Our First Week Here!

Just a view of their favorite park up the street from the Hotel

Issy smiling for the camera!

Here is Emilee's favorite spot!

Cooling off!

This was Joshua's favorite place in the whole park!

Issy and Josh on the climbing blocks!

Here he comes!

My Beautiful girl's!

Family fun in the pool!

Mommy take a picture of me, please!

Two girl's ready for some fun at Sesame amusement Park!

Entering the park, finally!

Happy 30th Birthday, Sesame Street!

Here we go, up, up and away!

Around the corner we come!

Here we are at the end of our ride!

Part of the huge splash down park!

This is Count's Splashdown!

Here is what the bucket does!

Splash!!!

Elmo in the street parade! Issy hated being this close to him, but Emilee loved it!

Ernie and Bert in the parade!

Joshua finally able to enjoy some water time!

Issy was exhausted! Can you tell Josh was too?

They all got their favorite character doll at the end of the day!

Just leaving the park before it closed!

It has been a long week adjusting to so much around here, but I think we are finally comfortable here. We've eaten at different places every night to get an idea of what is good here, but it's been hard to find that favorite one when they are all good. We found a park right up the street from our hotel which is very, very nice in a woods setting. Plus, it has a walking area. That is the big question every day from each of our girl's, "can we go to the park today, mommy?" I was happy to finally find a Wal-Mart and a scrapbook store. It was then that I felt more comfortable being here.=0) We've gone swimming just once, but only because Paul has been getting out of class later and it finally rained here a couple days this last week. It was nice though. The humidity wasn't high afterwards so we enjoyed the rain. The weather is suppose to get nicer this week so we plan to get in a couple more swim times. Paul has been enjoying his class here because it has been a lot of hands on experience and out in the field. His instructor has told him a few times that he is doing very well with this course so that is good. We were so excited that Friday finally came around because we knew it meant pizza night and Daddy would have a couple of days off before going back to class. Sadly I ended up with a migraine and was in bed early for the night, like 6pm, but the kid's and daddy went to Chick Fil - A to play in playground and had dinner there too. They were all a little tired of having so much pizza I guess. Emilee was so worried about me because of how bad the pain was for me that she called me a couple of times to check on me. Before going to bed I heard Emilee say a short prayer under her covers that went something like this. "Dear Jesus, please, please, please help my mommy feel better so that she can wake up feeling better and so she can get some rest so we can have some fun at Sesame Place cuz I really want her to go with us, in Jesus name Amen". She is such a blessing to me! Well, the sun started shine through our window at about 5:30 and I just couldn't sleep anymore because I was excited to take my kid's to this exciting place called Sesame Place in Philadelphia. I finally whispered in Emilee's ear at around 6:30am asking her if she was still wanting to go to Sesame Place and she turned over and smiled at me and then asked me if I was feeling better so that I could go with them to this happy place. We both started talkin about this and just couldn't stop. I had showed them on the computer what this place looked like and what we would be doing. We were out the door by 9am and was at the park by 10:15. We stayed there from open to close and the kid's actually did very well. Not much bickering except for when they were hungry! The weather was great, but of course hot. Good thing we were going to a water park and amusement park in one. Emilee was old enough to go on many rides, but my favorite part was to see her go on her first big roller coaster. She loved it, but was in shock right after the ride. We ended up getting a two day pass to go back again before we leave here and we are so happy we did that since we didn't get to all the rides before we left the park. We can hardly wait to go back again especially since we know what to expect now and where to go and what to do. I even have a plan to pick out my picture areas so I'm excited to get there and get some really good pic's. We plan to go the last wknd we are here so that will be something to look forward to. On Sunday we were planing on going to the beach since it is so close to us and the kid's love the sand. Well the weather took those plans away from us and we just ended up going to a Philadelphia Pretzel Factory! All I can say is mmm good! Paul and I had a Philly Cheese Steak Pretzel and it was to die for. For those of you keepin track, this was definitely a cheating day for me. Then we went touring the city by driving the van around town and stoppin to shop here and there. The rain finally stopped in the evening, but we just ended up doing laundry and having family time at the hotel. Looking forward to another great week, but the wknd is what we are really looking forward too. I think we are doing DC and New York City and ground zero! Lots of pic's to take and share. Love to all and I hope you enjoy seeing the pic's. I was able to find a great camera for a good price and small enough to carry around with me in my pocket and be able to now download pic's! I'm still hoping to get cord that fits my other camera.=0) Thank you for following us along on our journey while here in Pennsylvania. Love to all and God bless all!

Our Summer Journey 2010

Emilee sharing a drink with brother

Our first stop in Midland, Tx for lunchtime!

This was in Dallas as we were leaving!

Here we are visiting with Chris and Rachel!

Paul and his step-brother Chris!

stopped in Virginia for dinner!

Found these huge marshmellows in the store and the kid' loved them!

Joshua thought this was a huge treat for him!

Well, for those of you that didn't already know of this, we decided to go with Paul to a training that was in Pennsylvania for a month long. This is the story of how it all went for us with our oldest being 4 and our youngest being only 13mo's old and driving all the way to Pennsylvania in our minivan.

The first day all went well as far as getting on the road when we planned to after having breakfast at The Bagel Shop in El paso. We drove all the way to Dallas and was there by around 8pm. The girl's loved seeing all the lights on the buildings downtown and was really hoping they could stop in at Six Flag's Over Texas for a short time. Or even the water park across the street from the amusement park. It was all such a thrill for them to see. The girl's did well in the van playing games, playing dolls, coloring, watching movies and looking at the map to see where we were at. Josh on the other hand we believe started teething and also started to have the runs. Not good for being on the road. He didn't want to sleep for nothing in the van. If he did sleep it would be for a short while and then he would wake up screaming. As soon we got to the hotel in Dallas we ordered pizza and the girl's played doll's for a bit and then off to bed, but Josh didn't go to sleep until around 1 or 130am. We were off on the road by 12noon to the next destination which was Nashville, Tenn. We stopped for a brunch at Denny's and then we were off. The second day on this journey was much better with Josh then the first so we were very thankful for that. He was in a really good mood with lots of laughter and love to share. Thank you Jesus! We finally got to Nashville around 11pm which was good timing because we didn't think we would get there till way after midnight. We got into a hotel by the skin of our teeth through our step brother in law, Chris Hughes. He lives there in Nashville with his lovely wife, Rachel and we were so grateful to be able to finally meet up with them after 6yrs. and have brunch with them at Cracker Barrel our favorite restaurant. Anyway, everyone got great sleep that night including Josh so we were all off to a great start. After spending about 2 or 3hrs. with Chris and Rachel at Cracker Barrel it was time to say goodbye and get back on the road. We were also grateful to see Chris on the day he was leaving to boot camp for the USMC. So thankful to get pic's to cherish. Emilee was happy to meet someone going to fight for our country because she is learning daily about how soldiers fight for our country. She can't wait to send pic's that she has colored. By Sunday night we were in Virginia and by 3am Monday morning we were in Pennsylvania. The trip from Virginia was the worst because it was getting to the end of our journey. All our kid's ended up getting sick of some sort. Emilee was aggravated with her allergies. Issy was just having stomach pains and Josh was overly tired with teething pains and having the runs. Stops were getting more consistent and the cries were getting worse oh and my headache was beyond belief. Then there were tolls in the highway that we weren't aware of nor had the cash for and they didn't take debit cards so luckily we had our checkbook. We weren't suppose to check into the hotel until 4pm on Monday, but they were nice enough to allow us to check in at 5am with no extra charge. It was so nice to finally get into the hotel and get everyone their med's and into a bed and settled in. Then about 2hrs after we settled in Paul heard water dripping in the bathroom. Long story short, the man upstairs fell asleep while running his bath water and it leaked and leaked and leaked into our bathroom below him. The hotel mgr. felt really bad for us with little ones and treated us like gold to make sure we were comfy. It sure was nice to get such treatment like this after what we had been through the past 3 day's. Today is Monday and all we did was rest, rest and rest. I've had a strain all day today on my neck so I've done nothing but lie around to hopefully get rid of the pain. About to go to bed for the night and i still have the strain in my neck. Paul starts his training tomorrow and is eager to learn so much. I don't think we will do much around here, but I plan to start my training for a 5k run that is happening at Paul's work on Sept 18th. I really hope i do well at training for this, but we'll see how it goes. Right now it's all about getting rest and getting to know the area around us. I will post weekly about our adventure here only for those of interest and for my kid's to see and read about in the future. We figured out some great places to go see so we are excited for the weekend to come. I'm not liking the time zone here because it just goes by to fast and i end up being up till 2am every night. I'm sure I'll get use to it. I've started training for my first run that I'm hoping to do in Sept. It will only be a 5k, but it is my first one of hopefully many. I set a goal of wanting to do a half marathon when i turn 40 as a celebration of entering that new life and it's something I've always wanted to do so we'll see how that works out. Love to all and I'm sorry there are no pic's, but it's only because i forgot my cord to download. If i can get another one, i will then post the many pic's taken on our journey here.=0)

Joshua's 1st Birthday!!!

Can I Really Eat This?

The Results of the Cookie!

Eating Hamburger for the First Time and Loving it!

Wow, My First Drum!

Look at this smile!

Let me show you Grandpa how to do this!

Joshua's Cake and First yr Pic!

Enjoying his part of his cake!

Well I'm a little late on this post, but I guess better late then never right? What a blast we had celebrating our son's first birthday. We had our niece, Bella and nephew, DJ here from Louisiana so that made it extra special. When Joshua woke up in the morning he was in such a great mood and just had a smile non-stop on his face. I got Josh a cookie with heavy frosting for him to have in the morning so we put a candle on it and sang Happy Birthday to him. He just loved the attention and clapped for us while we were singing. He was so cute! He liked looking at the candle being lit and wanted to grab it. Time went by so fast on this day after the morning thing was done. I couldn't believe that before i could think straight it was already time to greet people at the door for his party. I invited like 30 people to the party, but was happy that only 15 to 20 people were here because I was going crazy with all the hospitality work, but loved it too! Joshua loved opening up his gifts from everyone. He would clap after every gift that he opened. He really enjoyed the drum instrument that my dad got for him and knew exactly what to do with it when he opened it. Joshua also enjoyed everyone singing to him at the end before having cake and ice cream. He would smile and clap for everyone and again enjoyed seeing the fire on the candle.

Joshua is now 13mo's old now and finally has two teeth at the bottom of his mouth. He is babbling a whole lot of baby talk now. He says a lot of peoples names now and it is so cute! I like to hear him say "Emi and Bella"! Bella is our niece from Louisiana---his cousin! He is trying to walk, but not quite there yet. He takes a couple of steps, but then falls, but he makes a lot of attempts. We know we are in trouble once he starts, but sure would be nice so that we don't have to hold him all the time. He already climbed all the way up our stairs one day when we weren't looking and totally scared me, but he just laughed. He is a big charmer with all my lady friends and such a big flirt too. We look forward to what our little Josh will be like in a few months or even years, but pray it is all in God's will. I hope to get better now with this blog posting, but with so much going on right now with my niece and nephew being here, it can be difficult so bear with me. Love to all and thank for keeping up with our blog.=)

Memorial Weekend!

Breakfast from Mc'Donald's to start the exciting day!

Joshua looking at a balloon as it took off!

Breathtaking for sure!

Sisters!!!

Me and my beautiful girl's!

So beautiful!!!

My little charmer!

Emilee and Isabella in a fire truck at the Balloon Festival!

Daddy and Emilee trying to come down the hill for the first time!

Joshua touching the sand for the first time!

Here I go, mommy!

Mommy, you are so doing it wrong!

Just trying to make it down the hill!(lol)

A beautiful pic of White Sands!

Issy climbing to the top all alone!

Faster mom, faster!!!

Loving the craft time as a family!

Very focused on her craft!

Emilee feeding the deer's in the morning!

Waiting patiently to go shopping in Ruidoso!

My squeeze with my sissy!

Get a pic of me too mom!

Emilee wanted to show off her new sandal's!

Emilee blowing and making a wish!

Emilee giving mommy a (weed) flower!

Emilee couldn't believe how big this Indian was!

We finally got to see the deer eat their food on the day we were leaving!

The last deer to eat the food!

Smiley bear faces!

Our mean bear faces!

What a great time we had together as a family with lots of stuff to do. We started off with the Balloon Festival that was just down the street from our house. The girls slept in our room the night before and we woke up at 5am and was out the door by 5:30 to get breakfast and to the launch for the balloons. The girl's just loved being up when it was still dark. The first Balloon didn't even get off till around 6:30, but the girl's were in awww. We were sitting pretty close to the balloons so the noise from the fire in the balloon scared Issy at first. Emilee was the same way when she was that young. We stayed there till around 9am and then we headed to the flee market for the first time with the kids. Emilee just loved seeing all the garage sale stuff. She walked away with nothing from there, but then we had to hit the Dollar General next door for something to drink and they all came out with new summer shoes that lit up. From there we went over to my dad's house to visit with Grandma and Aunt Sara one last time before they left for Michigan on Sunday. We stayed there for a couple of hours and then came home for a nap and then we were on the road by 6pm for our weekend at the cabin. We rented a cabin in Cloudcroft for 3 1/2 days. It was a blast for all of us. We did crafts, played games, washed dishes together, went on nature walks, played at the park in town, fed the deers, watched some movies, went to white sands monument park and went shopping in Ruidoso on our last day. Our cookout on Memorial Day was delicious! We had hamburgers, veggie chips and fruit salad. Then for dessert we had some cake. Oh and we also collected pine cones to decorate! It was all very fun and included so many memories for us to cherish. At then end of our time here we took a couple of bear pic's with the bear hat's that were there. Emilee keeps asking when will we go back again.=0)