Cruising

A few weeks ago my friend Stephanie asked if Norah and I wanted to go on the Princess Cruise with her and her daughter.  We signed up that night and Norah couldn't wait until it was time to meet the princesses. 

Norah planned her outfit carefully and then changed her mind and wanted me to bring her peacock princess outfit so halfway through we had a costume change. 

 Each princess came in and sang a song to the girls

 Norah was in awe for most of it.

 This one makes me laugh because neither girl was impressed! ha!

Norah danced the afternoon away on the dance floor.  She was so excited when the princess joined all the little girls on the dance floor.

Norah was looking to see if she could see the boys on their boat.

That same day the boys were all on the Truman Aircraft Carrier.  Joel was so excited he hopped out of bed at 5am. He usually is our harder child to wake up in the mornings.  They were all so excited.

Going over the tunnel

Brent and the boys were guests of Debbie and Captain Burley.  Its so fun to call him Captain Burley.  He has worked so hard to get that.  The boys had so much fun.  I asked Colin if it was fun seeing people salute Mr. Rod and he said "well they all basically salute each other" haha

The night before Colin was asking how we were related to Mr. Rod and Miss Debbie and I told them how my brother married their daughter so Angela is my sister in law.  So I said they were related in a round about way through marriage.  Colin declared them grandparents-in-law and I'm not sure that's a real thing but either way its been special to be apart of the Burley family the past 10 years.

No big deal - just sitting with the Admiral watching the planes take off and land.  Colin said that their rooms and bathrooms on the ship were like a hotel.  I think next time he needs to see where the enlisted men sleep.

The boys had so much fun on the ship and haven't stopped talking about it.  Brent said he felt so honored to be with Rod and Debbie the whole day.  They had an amazing experience on the boat.

It was a fun cruising day for us all. 

Civil War with Grandpa

 Last week Colin spent a few days with Ma-ma-maa and Grandpa. He could've stayed a lot longer - he was not ready to come back.  Joel and Norah played better too - sometimes I think Colin is more of a quiet instigator than I think! 

One day Grandpa took him to Richmond to go to the civil war museum and look at some battlefields. 

 All of these pictures are from Colin's camera. I thought he did a great job.

 In Colin's words:
We went out and saw the battlefields of Gainsmill.  We saw Cold Harbor too.  We tracked down an ancestor from Pennsylvania reserves.  And there was a Chick-fil-a built right where our ancestor camped out! I had fun with Grandpa.

 Colin has shown the picture of our ancestor to everyone who has come over

 Colin couldn't believe they built a chickfila on a historic site but they still went inside and ate lunch!

vacation

We just got back from spending a few days at Shenandoah Crossing Resort.  Brent and I had been a few years ago and we've been talking about bringing the kids ever since.  Its a beautiful resort and has a lot to offer. We didn't get to do everything and the kids were sad to leave.  We could've easily stayed a few more days. 

We brought Ant Ant with us and are so glad she came with us!

Ant Ant is also a genius because she started giving and taking away points for the kids based on behavior. She also gave tasks like sweeping the cabin or when we were waiting for something she would have them search for a specific rock.  Then at the end she got them something from the little store or gave them arcade tokens based on their points.  Joel was all about it and got the most points.  He also got the most taken away but his drive to get all the points balanced it out and he came out the winner! 

 Norah was so excited to ride a horse. She woke up in the middle of the night asking me if it was time yet and made me promise to take lots of pictures of her riding the horse so she can show Juliauna (the girl next door)  I promised and she went back to sleep until 5am and then just laid in bed until I finally got up with her. 

 I walked next to Norah and Brent had the camera and this is what he took!  All head shots and none of the actual horse.  Thankfully Ant Ant took lots of pictures of Norah and the horse.

 Norah and Sneezy

 Oh Brent! He was so excited to show me what he took and said he got a lot of really great ones. 

 Colin and Brent got to go on a trail ride. 

 Colin rode Spiderman

 Brent rode Rocky

We spent some time petting and feeding the horses. They have a little feed machine that you put money in to get a handful of grains. Norah laughed hysterically everyime because it tickled. 

A fun vacation, or "vaca" as Joel kept saying (complete with air quotations)

Norah is convinced we went on a misson and we can't convince her it's vacation. She will correct anyone who calls it vacation. 

Mission, "vaca", or vacation - enjoyed by all