Visiting the Dubas

It's been a loooong time since I posted to this blog...but I realize that Mike is not the only who checked the blog while he was away on deployment. Sorry to keep you all waiting! Here are some fun pictures of Nora & Caroline with Summer & Landon Duba last weekend. We had a great time visiting with Johan and Cindy and were so grateful that Cindy watched the kids Friday afternoon while we went to our home inspection (which went pretty smoothly). The kids had a great time together...my personal favorite was watching Summer, Nora and Landon play the game they invented called "Who does Landon want to marry?" (where do they come up with this stuff?! I fear this means it may be time to wean Nora off of her Disney princess movies). The game basically consisted of Summer and Nora dressing up and then asking Landon to pick which one he wanted to marry, to which Landon responded by pointing at one of the girls with a grunt and running away. Not too far from the adult dating experience, I'd say. ;-) We are looking forward to soon be living a mere 1/2 hour away from the Dubas and to many more visits to their neighborhood farm, walks around the lake, and inventive kid "games."

Easter week w/ Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Matty

Here are some photos of Easter with Grandma and Grandpa, as well as our trips to Hampton's Bluebird Gap Farm and the Virginia Beach boardwalk later that week (complete with family bike ride!). This is the second year in a row that I have failed to get a good Easter picture of the girls in front of the blooming azaleas in front of our house...maybe it has something to do with the fact that we're always in a rush to get to church, they've just rejected their Easter bonnets, and I'm usually yelling "C'mon! Smile! Look happy! It's Easter, %&#!"

Bowling

Although it didn't turn out to be the April Fools' Day surprise for Daddy that we hoped for (thanks, Nora, for blowing our cover!), we had fun bowling at the Little Creek base last night. Nora was beside herself with excitement. It took all our effort to get her to sit still while waiting for the rest of us to take our turns, to stop running and leaping into other people's lanes, and to stop lifting up her dress (she truly is Mary Katherine Gallagher!). Caroline really wanted to play too...poor thing. Give it another 6 months, kid! Daddy came in first, and Nora came in second with a score of 94 or so. Not surprisingly, Mommy lagged behind and came in third; she was the "loser," as Nora kindly pointed out. I'm also including a picture of Daddy and Nora heading out to their date on Tues. night to see the Thomas the Tank Engine show near our house.

Homecoming - Friday 3/27

It was a cold and rainy night...no, really, it was. Our homecoming plans were somewhat altered due to heavy fog that sat over the Hampton Roads area all day Friday. Instead of being pierside at 11, the Iwo Jima didn't pull up to the pier until about 4 p.m., sans fanfare (nobody manning the rails, no family allowed on the pier). Mike found his girls waiting for him around 5:30 p.m....we were all cold and wet, but unbelievably happy nonetheless. We came home, changed into warm clothes (except for Nora, who insisted on wearing her Aunt Alli wedding dress), and ate a delicious dinner of fish sticks and box mac & cheese.