This past weekend, was 3 day weekend for Jason. Usually he comes up to see us late Friday night and has to leave fairly early on Sunday. It does not give us much time together and since we are staying with family, we don't get to actually be just a family very often. So this weekend we decided that the kids and I would go down to VA to see him. That way we could get there just as he got off work on Friday and not have to leave until Monday late afternoon. It was such an awesome weekend! Having Jason around is more than wonderful for me. When he is gone, I feel so overwhelmed so much of the time. It is me against three! But when we are together, it is fun and we are a team. I can not wait to actually be a family again! Only 3 more weeks and this 11 month separation will be over! Yay! We had a fun filled weekend. We went to a couple different lakes and parks, a museum, took a boat ride, did some shopping for the kids winter clothes, went to lots of yummy restaurants, slept in late, watched Tom and Jerry together as a family and just had quality time together. One day I overheard Kyle saying "We are just having some good family time!" Speaking of Kyle, he did not survive the weekend without injury. I think that this pretty much is a preview of the rest of his life. By the time Jas got to our hotel Friday night is was close to 7 pm. He walked in and then we pretty much turned around and walked out to get something to eat. We stepped out of our hotel room and all three kids took of running down the hall. We yelled for them to stop, which they did, Kyle stopped and leaned against the corner of a wall. Aiden ran right into him. Kyle immediately started to cry and Jason ran over to pick him up. Immediately we saw blood gushing out of the back of his head - a lot of it. We ran back to our room and checked out the wound. It was not as terrible as we imagined, but probably could use a couple stitches. We opted instead of going to the ER, to go back to Jason's room on base and get some liquid skin. The trauma of getting his head shaved and stitches was worse than the wound. Which we did. It was a bit embarrassing to meet some of Jason's friends for the first time with our sons head full of blood. All was good until the next day Kyle and Aiden were playing around in the hotel room and Kyle fell off the bed backwards and landed on his head. He reopened the wound and more blood was gushing out. And you guessed it, we were on our way out. We cleaned it up and applied more liquid skin and forbid rough play until Kyles head was healed. I am sure the hotel staff probably thought a murder occurred in our room with all the blood soaked towels and clothes in our room. I cleaned everything out as best as I could, but blood is hard to get out! I don't even have the time to tell you about how he fell through dead branches on the nature trail. Luckily that fall did not have blood involved......
Checking out the tadpoles in the water.
Aiden trying to catch one.
This picture took forever to get! lol Sometimes I wonder why I even try! I hope they appreciate all these photos when they are older!
Ry loved running up and down the dock.
One day we went to the Marine Corps Museum and looked around for hours. This place has so much to see. If you are ever in the area, I would highly recommend it. I know I might be a bit partial to anything Marine Corps, but it is really neat. And it is free!
The Marine Corps Museum.
What is more exciting to boys then a whole museum full of planes, helicopters, tanks, guns and war exhibits? Well, probably actually getting to use them or ride in something would be more exciting, but they did have a blast.
This is the Cold War area, it was actually cold in there! This museum is truly amazing.
Listening to real recordings of men from the Vietnam war
In a tank
Aiden getting up close to check out an exhibit
Kyle checking out a gun in the Vietnam exhibit
Ryleigh did pretty good in the stroller the whole time we were there. She only really cried once when we stepped in to the Cold War area and they have all the sounds of battle in a closed in space. It scared her a bit.
On one of the observation decks on the museum.
We stopped at a Nature trail to let the kids get some energy out. They had a blast running up and down the trails.
Getting ready to check out the trails.
Kyle checking out the wildlife, he is aiming a bit high though, he was probably looking at pure sky.
Jason didn't get to see too much, except Aiden
Happy to be out and RUNNING. They were always way ahead of us.
Aiden looking for wildlife
Ryleigh checking out the scenic overlook on our nature walk
Picutres like this are why I keep my camera close. I love this picture!! You can see how much she loves her brothers.
Trying to get a good picture of all three kids - it just was not meant to be that day.
Ryleigh taking a break to give Daddy a hug.
Daddy teaching the kids something about a tree or something about nature. Jas lives to be in the woods, so he is in his element.
We also went out to a lake one day and rented a motor boat and took a ride around a lake. It was a big lake and really beautiful. The kids loved being in a boat and Jason thinks we need a new one now. :) The old John boat with oars just is not the same I guess!
Aiden having a ball!
The family in the boat
Ryleigh was a little nervous at first, and clung tightly to Jas (and Jas clung tightly to her!), but she warmed up after a bit and had a blast!
Here the boys are pretending that they are scared. Not too convincing.
Happy, happy kids.
In this picture I am not clasping my hands close to my heart, tilting my head and admiring my lovely, well behaved children. On the contrary. I am clapping my hands and making noises trying to get Ryleigh's attention. :)
Jas let the boys each take a turn at the steering the boat.
Captured a great Father/son moment! :)
Kyle's turn
On the way home we stopped to see Granddad and the kids and I stayed the night with him. Thanks Granddad for your hospitality and putting up with the kids! I know it was a bit louder than you are used to! The kids had fun at McDonalds and enjoyed playing with Buddy! Hope you enjoyed the blog since I know you have been missing it. :)
For a field trip a few weeks ago I took the kids to an animal refuge center. Here they are, after checking out a bear.
With all the wild animals they had, lions and tigers and bears, the boys were most interested in the big buck. He seemed interested in them too, he followed us all along the path.
The boys kept saying "I bet Dad wishes he could be here!"
Ahh, school! Don't be fooled by this happy face. It does not always look like this. Apparently I do not hold a candle to Mrs. Dubbs.
Kyle showing his true feeling for having to sit at one of Annah's volleyball games. Sitting is not his cup of tea.
Aiden and Ryleigh at a game. Ryleigh got the hang of the whole cheering -someone- deal a few games into the season. She would just randomly say "Go Annah!! WoooHOO!"
Aimee (or as we affectionately call her Baaimee - so dubbed by Ryleigh) cutting onions. This particular onion was really making her cry and I told her that I had heard if you put a piece of bread in your mouth while cutting them, it would absorb the oils, she had heard the same thing about sunglasses. So she tried both. :) It made dinner prep just a little more interesting. If you try this at home you won't be hungry for dinner though, you eat too many pieces of bread.
