Catching Up--part 3

A & C on Christmas day
A & C meeting their new cousin "smiling" Meredith

All of the cousins

Caleb loved his fireman suit from Tia Tricia and Uncle Doug

Caleb is excited about his "big boy" carseat

Daddy brought home some flowers for Annelise

Showing off some more Christmas presents--Dr. coat and cute animals made by my grandmother

FINALLY, it snowed and John took the kids sledding

More Catching Up

More photos. As I got sick, John started taking the kids out on hikes and other fun outings. They always had a great time.For Tia Teresa. What a pose!
"Fun" with Mama

FUN with Daddy--on a hike

more fun with Daddy--climbing

Caleb LOVES camping (and "sleeping in the tent with the cover on it and eating outside") so John and Caleb went by themselves one day

Hiking with Daddy

Annelise's 1st day of "school" or co-op. She and her friend Samuel were so excited

Fun canoeing before sickness set in

Catching Up

It has been a while since I have posted photos, so here is a start.

A & C sleeping in the closet at the beach in July. They had such a great time.
My favorite part of the trip!

The four cousins...before Meredith.

Playing withDoodad

Piling on top of Tia Tricia

Picking Blackberries and Raspberries near our house

Annelise's 5th birthday

Caleb LOVES mowing with Daddy

And by himself

OBX

For my 30th birthday, (and for John's birthday and our anniversary and Christmas presents) we went to Avon, NC in the Outer Banks. There were several "incidents" on our trip, but we had a good time anyway. As we were about to cross the bridge to the OBX we heard on the radio that hwy 12 was closed in Rodanthe due to flooding from the ocean waves. That was the only road to Avon. We quickly tried to find another route and were told that the only other way to get there was by ferry. The ferry only ran twice a day...10am and 5pm. It was about 10am when we learned this, and the ferry dock was 1.5 hours away. The 5pm ferry was a little late (and quite rocky by the end of the trip) so we missed the next ferry to Hatteras and had to wait about an hour for it. Instead of getting to the house at about 10:30am, we got there at 10:15pm...what a day. At least we got to see the sunset on the ferry.

The second night we were there we tried to turn on the gas fireplace. I found a remote with a fire symbol and thought that might turn it on. It didn't...it set off the fire alarm. After 10 minutes we found the code, but the firetruck was already heading down the street. That was the least fun part of the trip.

The waves at the beach were incredible. They were huge and continuous and there were rows of them far out into the ocean. We sat and watched them for a long time.

Here are a few photos from the trip. There are a lot more photos in the photo album on the right column. The first one is John's favorite picture.

sunset at the beginning of the 1st ferry ride

walking onto the beach

fun with shadows

a lot of fun with shadows

We took so many pictures, but couldn't get the perfect wave

Oops, I forgot to tell him the water was coming

Some big waves

Hatteras lighthouse

Back of the beachouse overlooking the Sound (John is on the top deck)

On the deck enjoying the sunset over the Sound

Belated Birthday

On July 5th, Annelise turned 4 years old. We had a birthday party for her. She had a great time with her friends and was just telling me about her special cupcake. That reminded me that I have not shared the photos here. It was a hot July day so we had a morning party. Because of the 4th of July holiday being on July 5th, we were able to have the party on her birthday. I am sorry I did not post these sooner. The first few pictures are from a few days after her birthday. We went hiking after church, then went to the park for fireworks in the evening.

Skiing

John took Annelise skiing on Thursday. He said that she went from not being able to keep her balance to this. She had a GREAT time and John really enjoyed spending time with her and teaching her to ski.

Another Snow Day

Church was canceled Yesterday because of the snow, but we were able to spend some time with church friends anyway. We went sledding and ended up staying much longer than we expected. Annelise enjoyed it at first, then got scared and wouldn't sled for a long time. Then as we were getting ready to leave, she decided she wanted to try again and LOVED it. We ended up staying for another hour or so. It was so much fun. Caleb even seemed to enjoy it...well, he wasn't crying.

Icicles on a restaurant
Ally sledding with Caleb

Annelise and daddy getting ready for take-off

Caleb "sledding" on his belly

Here is a video of John and Annelise sledding together.