Ryan's First Ice Cream Cone

Yum!!  We went to the Aquarium for story time with Andrea, Aden and Caleb this morning.  Afterwards we took the kids to eat and play.  Ryan enjoyed his first ice cream cone after lunch.  Believe it or not, a napkin bib kept him clean.  His face on the other hand :)  Needless to say, he enjoyed every bite!

Dave Update

Dave has been doing well out on the TR.  It has almost been a month since their departure.  They have gotten to do some good flying on the journey south and it sounds like morale is high.  They arrived off the coast of South Africa on Saturday.  B/c the harbor is so small the ship has to stay in the ocean and they send Liberty boats out for the guys.  Unfortunately, the seas were high so they has some trouble getting people off the carrier and into Cape Town.  Dave did get off for 8 hours today.  He had some great food and saw a little of the city, apparently the beaches are beautiful.  He also saw some of the shanty towns and was amazed to see the huge financial disparity that exists in South Africa.  They now continue on their journey.  One month down!!

Fall Fest at PDS

Today was Fall Fest at Parish Day School.  It's our big fall fund-raiser.  Since Dave is away the kids joined me from 8-1 to help set-up all of the games and do some playing of their own.  They were FABULOUS!!  Thanks to some other Mom's that provided extra eyes while I was running around in the morning, the boys were a pleasure to have helping and they had a blast!  Colin especially found it very fulfilling to have taken part of "making everything fun".  That being said, we all enjoyed meeting the babysitter at home after lunch.

In the Woods

We met the Barker's (Amy, Cady & Dax) for a hike at First Landing State Park today.  The kids had a great time in the woods and picked up some cool pine cones, moss, bark and leaves.  We had a picnic lunch after our hike.  Then they made a collage out of their treasures.  Big thanks to Amy for the great pictures :)

Colin's 4!!!

Today our little boy turned 4~  It's had to believe that it has already been 4 years since we welcomed him into this world.  What a wonderful 4 years it has been.  We had a great party to celebrate the big day.  Colin had asked for a "LEGO" party so that's what did :)  Lots of legos to play with and yummy lego cake to eat.  Some good friends of ours were wonderful to let us borrow their bounce house, which of course was quite a hit.  I think a good time was had by all!

My Future's So Bright...

Owen & Ryan are looking good in their shades!

Ryan's First Crew Race

What a great morning!  Ryan's Godmother Liz had a crew race in Norfolk this morning.  Daddy and Colin were off playing softball so Ryan and I headed over for the race.  The race was just outside the Norfolk Botanical Gardens.  We got there just in time to watch Liz's 4 crush the competition!!  I was itching to hot-seat into the boat when they pulled up to the dock!  Ryan thought the whole event was very cool, especially the oars and Liz :)  Maybe there will be yet another rower in the Baird family.

Our Own Olympic Flag

In the month of August we are doing a Mommy and Me Olympics with Stroller Strides.  To kick it off we got to make our own Olympic flag and fly it during class.  We even won the Silver medal for our flag.  It was lots of fun and great mess to make. 

Home Depot for 2

Ryan got to join big brother today for his first Home Depot project.  Swinging hammers must be an innate boy skill.  Thankfully all fingers were spared and the flag holders turned out very well!  Colin painted his flag blue when we got home.

Car Wash?

The car was in desperate need of a wash and so were the kids :)  They all had a blast and the car looked great.  Both boys are super-duper helpers, especially if it's a Daddy project.

Mornings on the beach

We hit the beach every morning while we're here to take Riley for a swim.  The boys play and we enjoy the sunrise.  This morning we grabbed the fishing pole and some squid and Colin had a go at catching something.  Not sure that the bait and hook actually stayed in the water long enough to catch anything swimming by.  He did catch lots of seaweed and had a great time.  By the end of the morning Colin was quite a master at reeling it in.

Mini golf

We're having a great time in Duck with Dave's parents, Andrew and Sarah.  We took the boys miniature golfing this evening, what an affair...  Ryan was very "helpful" as he picked up everyone ball for them and handed it right back so that they could hit it again.  He did take a few swings at the ball as you can see.  After a few holes Ryan and I hit the stores nearby and Colin finished his first 18 holes with Dave.  He had a great time and had some pretty amazing shots.  Some yummy pizza to finish off the fun.  Colin ate 5 pieces!!!

Bringing in the Harvest

We spent Friday and Saturday morning in the fields, literally.  

Friday we joined some friends for blueberry picking.  Ryan ate his weight while Colin and I picked and picked with thoughts of all the yummy things we were going to make when we got home.  Blueberry muffins were first on the list and were ready for dessert that night.  I let both boys help which was a riot.  I wish I had pictures!  You're never seen quite so much flour and sugar out of the bowl.  Ryan has not quite figured out that we have to cook some things before we can eat them.  We had a few tears when the muffins went in the oven.  They were worth the wait!

Saturday morning Colin really wanted to share the picking with Daddy so we headed back down south.  We went to Henley's farm and picked blackberries, corn and green beans.  Colin, Dave and Ryan all managed to avoid the thorns but I actually got stuck on one of the bushes, Dave had to help me out.  ouch!  The boys got to sit on one of the tractors and we had a great conversation with one of the resident roosters.  A very fun morning!  When we got home Colin insisted on "carrying in the harvest".  He was quite proud of our labors.  I made a blackberry-blueberry pie that was delicious!  We still have lots of berries left so will have lots more yummies to come!

I've got you little brother!

We spent the morning at the Botanical Gardens with Amy, Cady and Dax.  I brought the single stroller because Colin asked to walk in the Gardens.  He changed his mind... but, it led to the cutest strollerful I could ever ask for.

Update on our Spring

Let's see if I can do a quick update on our late Spring.  We've had our first trip to the opera, gone rock climbing, soccer, trips to Duck, NC, welcomed another golden to the Baird family (not ours!) and have even taken the boys camping.  It's been lots of fun and very busy! 

Colin played his first season of soccer which he was very hot and cold about...  He enjoyed the games, but as he says, the drills are "boring".  School ended 2 weeks ago with an amazing end of the year party at a classmates house.  They live right on Linkhorn Bay.  His friend's family have an old shrimp boat that they have refinished.  So, Colin got to go on his first boat ride.  He loved it!  Afterward he kept asking why Nol's Daddy didn't drop the shrimp net.

Ryan is doing very well.  I think he is truly enjoying having his big brother home each day.  He is completely enthralled with anything that has wheels and gets very sad when he can't get to the train/car table in Colin's room.  Ryan continues to be my daring one, he'll climb anything, or at least try :)  He's starting to say some words, mostly things that start with "B".  It's hard to believe that he's at that point already.  The past 16 1/2 months has flown by!

Dave continues to be very busy with work-ups for his upcoming cruise.  He's currently in Fallon, NV with the entire airwing.  He recently transitioned to Maintenance Officer, which means that he's in charge of all the guys that keep the jets running.  It's a lot of work but he has always enjoyed being down in the shop.  We can't wait to have him home soon and plan enjoy the time we have left before he deploys.

 As for me, I'm keeping busy with the boys.  I've started running again, yeah!!  It's been since college so it's slow going but we're getting there.  I'm running a 5K in St. Louis in mid-June (I'll be out there for the NATA conference) and have registered for the Rock-n-Roll 1/2 Marathon here in Sept.  I don't plan to run the whole thing, but will do as much as possible.  I'm still working 1 weekend a month at the children's hospital in Norfolk.  That is a bit more difficult now that Daddy is not always around to watch the boys, but I really enjoy keeping my foot in that door, so we make it work :)

Here are some of my favorite pics for our last few months.  We'll keep up to date from here.

Our first trip to the opera, Pinnochio.  The face painting was the highlight!

Strawberry picking.  Didn't pay for this one...

Water at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens

Miss Maisie (Joy & Denny's new puppy)

Colin's 1st trophy.

Smores!

This duck needed a good bath!  In Riley's food?!

Colin's 1st boat ride.  In heaven!

Our First Blog

This will be a new challenge for me!  But, with Dave's coming cruise it will serve as a great way to keep everyone updated on our family both here and abroad.