Dave and Laura's Wedding

Last weekend I traveled to San Diego, SOLO while the kiddos were in heaven at my sister's house with my parents, and brother in great hands.  Laura and I met six years ago when we were both in Okinawa and then went to Korea together for a summer college program.  We hit it off right away and were at each other's hip. I then moved to San Diego where she also lived and we became roommates.  Laura watched Andy and I fall in love and it was so neat to see her and Dave (who was stationed in San Diego) also fall in love. This past weekend was her wedding and I was honored to be apart of it.   Laura has now joined the Navy wife team and their stationed now in Hawaii!!

Dave, Laura, and I

Ashleigh and I have known each other since the 1st grade.. all through high school.. lived together in college for a few years.. and then she moved out to Cali and was Laura's roomate!

Utah and 1st Hair Cut!

Last week we took Clarie to our favorite kids salon in Virginia Beach for her 1st hair cut!  I was a little nervous if she would sit still, but she did great!!  We the mullet off of the back and then made it all one length. It still goes up in pig tails and pony tail... that's how much hair she has!

Taking the Taxi car for a spin

Claire sporting her new cut!  Also in aw with the Disney movie on... this salon is soo smart!

Drew and Cade on the swings probably talking about how they can sneak into the snack drawer!

Claire and Lucy LOVED each other and it was sooo cute!!  Lucy is seven months older than Claire and it's so much fun!  They will be  both so serious and give one another kisses while the other hold totally still!

One of Drew and Claire's favorite toys at Allison's awesome assortment of toys was a toy doll stroller!  Claire held completely still in it the entire time Drew pushed her.  This is the stroller that I need to keep in my car for her to sit in for errands if she likes it this much!

Claire could move right into Allison's house ASAP as she discovered the most wonderful cupboard at  her level.  Claire helped Allison with all sorts of organizing!

Utah

This past week the kiddos and I traveled to Utah to visit my sister, Allison, her husband, Jeremy and two children Cade and Lucy.  Cade is one year older then Drew and Lucy is six months older than Claire, so it's a blast!  We try every day for a great photo of all of the cousins and this is the best one we have so far!!!  ( I took away Claire's HUGE apple that she was chewing on and that really didn't help the photo situation)!!

Claire and Lucy couldn't be any more alike.  As soon as they hear one of us even have our hand on the dishwasher they come running in and are such BIG helpers!!  We really don't even need to run the dishwasher as the girls lick all of the dirty silverware clean!

                     It's so funny when the boys sit down to eat the take their shirts off!!  What boyzzzz!

Allison and I thought it would be fun to make up the dessert called dirt.  It's full of pudding, whip cream, crushed Oreo, and gummy worms.  We thought it would be funny to act like we were putting soil on the tree and then said we were going to try it and taste the dirt.  The boys were a little discussed, but since the girls already eat dirt they dove right in!!

                             Claire and Lucy didn't care if we called it dirt at all,  and dove right in!!

                                Playing some baseball and Drew already for some action in out field

                                                                    Allison and I

Botanical Gardens

Another HOT day here in Virgina Beach!  We met up with our old group of friends here at our favorite location, the Botanical Gardens. It's an awesome place with fountains and toys where kids can run free and wear out ALL of their energy.  I remember when we first moved to VB and Drew had just turned one, and seeing him at the gardens with all of the water for the first time.  Watching Claire about the same age today reminded me just of Drew.  Claire went charging in dipping her face in without blinking!

Our friend Moyra's little boy Nathan (Nati) he kept saying, "Hold baby".  I think though when I handed him Claire, he didn't think she was much of a baby!

Claire, Yared, and Kai

Kai's mommy Aya, and her daughter Mia. Mia was born two months after Claire

So today when we were driving to the Botanical Gardens I was telling Drew who all we were going to meet up with.  Drew replied back, "Mom I miss my friends here".  He sounded like a sixteen year old boy all buckled up in his car seat and gave me a huge lump in my throat.  I reminded him of the great friends that we have in Spain and how we can come back and visit the one's here in Virginia Beach.   I can only think that this conversation will get harder every two/three years when we have to move again...  

                                                              The boys... so busy fishing!

Back In The States!

Were back in the states!!!  Last week we jumped on a military flight back to Virginia Beach and will be here for about a week before we fly to Utah to see family and then I'm off solo to my friend Laura's wedding.  The kiddos were great travelers for the nine hour flight over.  AND we had to sit on the run way for two three hours before we even took off.  The jet leg is getting better every day for the kids and I stay busy running after them that I don't even remember that I have it!  

My brother Brian had a command Easter picnic this past weekend with a Easter Egg hunt, it was a blast!  Claire didn't care to much for the bunny though..

She did love the swing though!

Uncle Brian helping the kids on their bug hunt!

Easter day we took the kid's to the beach here with Brain and our friend Chad.  The weather was beautiful and as always they stayed busy in the water!

Chad chasing Drew with 42* water!  

And this is how I found Claire.. so busy in the kitchen while I ran to put clothes away!  No wonder why she was so quiet!

Summer is FINALLY here!  We took the kiddos to the beach the other day and they loved it!  We didn't exactly plan on getting wet, as you can tell by their attire!

Seabee Ball

This past weekend was the Seabee Ball.  This year it was out in town here in Puerto at a local

winery. It was a perfect evening and we couldn't have asked for better weather.  As you can tell from this picture the sun was a little hard to work with!!

It was so cute.. when I put on my dress to go to the ball Drew went running to his room and took his toy piano out and said, "Mom, mom, dance, spin around"!  It was so cute!! 

The gal pals

Olsen Family Visit!

A week ago Andy's parents, uncle, and friend all arrived here for a two week visit here in Spain!  We kicked off their trip with a four day voyage around Spain hitting Grazalama, Ronda, and Granada.  The kid's are in heaven having family here and a non stop playmate!

This was one of our fist stops the historic town of Ronda

Ronda is known for it's gorgeous 16th century bridge

Grandma and Drew getting ready to catch the bus to tour the Alhambra.  The Alhambra is in Granada and is a Moorish castle.

Drew loved walking around listening to the hand held tour guide!

Al, Andy's dad then took a turn with the hand held tour guide.. the only problem with this was by the time he was fnished listening to the guide and we asked him about the room we had just toured he would say, "I forget"!!  (Everyone had to wear their back packs in the front of them so one would't hit anything)