Phew! (part 3 - Beach House)

We headed out on Sunday June 21st to my parent's Beach House in Lavallette, NJ! Dan's Mom and Boyd spent the first half of the week with us and then my parents came up for the second half of the week. Fun times on the beach, swimming, making sandcastles, shopping, doing the boardwalk, Uno tournaments and Scramble challenges, eating out, playing and THE MEMORY SONG (Make a Memory by Bon Jovi) which Kylie wanted to hear again and again in the car! All 3 of our kids got new hats while at the beach - Moo a Life is Good hat, Jack a camo hat from the Army Surplus store (I think we forgot to tell you that Mom Mom!) and Kylie a cute purple hat from a cute store in Point Pleasant :) Everyone loved their hats and used them at the beach, as well as just around! And Grandad got Dan a new Mt. Dew hat - and possibly the coolest hat known to man!

Got to spend a great day with family down in Bridgeton, NJ for Dan's Grandmother's 90th birthday! (we were able to be with both grandmothers for their birthdays this summer, how cool is that?) Loved seeing all the family and I didn't take 1 single picture. NOT ONE! I need to get some from others and post them later...here are some pics from the week...

Dan loves puzzles and normally only gets a chance to do one at the beach - which he loves. Each of the kids helped him and got to be a part of the "yay it's finished!" picture!
Mom Mom, Pappy and the kiddos

Snuggling on the pull out couch for the night

Chowing down on buttercream donuts from Century Bakery in Bridgeton, NJ - owned by Dan's uncle and aunt!

Dan took the big kids out in the kayak the last day there!

My Uncle Johnny, cousin Dave, Lindsey and Dylan came to visit the last day there - so good to see them and meet Dylan! He's adorable!

Phew! (part 2 - Malone)

Wednesday June 17th - spent the day in the car driving to Malone, New York!!! All day driving (12 hours) but it went really well and we had fun stopping at Cracker Barrel and Arby's (yum).

Thursday June 18th – Got to go out to the Calf Barn with Carl and Sam. Kids bottle fed some calves and we had fun looking around and playing with kittens. So fun to be back and see them not so scared anymore…Lunch with Gram and a long, long nap for everyone (4 hours for the whole family – much needed!)



Friday June 19th – Lunch out with Gram for her birthday and pizza from La Pizza! We used to order from La Pizza when we lived here and had a kid from our youth group who worked there. He said that anytime we would order and leave our last name, all the kids working there would giggle and laugh uncontrollably that that is our last name. Nice. :) Strawberry Shortcake for dessert (Gram’s choice every year for her birthday)!


Saturday June 20th – Megan and I went out for a date to The Almanzo Wilder Homestead! If you have ever read “Farmer Boy” by Laura Ingalls Wilder (2nd in the Little House on the Prairie series), it takes place about 5 miles north of Malone and where Megan was born! Megan started the book on Wednesday and we had such a great time there! We got our own tour by a girl in Sam’s grade at FA, which was great – Megan knew a lot about Almanzo just by reading the first half of the book and it was amazing to see it all and know that he lived right near Malone, went to the Franklin County Fair and had family that went to Franklin Academy (which is also where Dan’s Dad graduated from high school)! Loved it and will go back again (and bring Dan)! Then we stopped at Hostler’s for a special lunch out – she has been wanting to go out just the two of us for months – and we finally got to do it! The boys dropped Kylie off at Kris’s, where she helped them pick weeds, while they headed out to help move cows (which Kylie called the Rodeo). Then spent the night hanging out with Dave, Kris, Gram and the kids. I love that their kids are great, nice kids who were so great with our kids. To say that our kids adore Anissa, Carl, Sam and Aaron would be putting it mildly. :) Kylie and Gram went on a walk to the Calf Barn and 2 barn kittens followed them home. Megan and Jack kind of adopted one of them (Stripey) for the rest of the night. Snuggled it, cuddled it, carried it everywhere. We’ll see if it ever wants to leave Dave and Kris’s house now…sorry about that guys!











Sunday June 21st – Drove to the beach house via Long Lake! Stopped for lunch, a trip to Hoss’s and went to Dan’s Dad’s headstone. Fun to have the kids pick flowers (clover) and leave them there for him. So sweet.

Phew! (part 1 - NoVa)

Me and my football Tweeter

Alright, so it seems that we have a bit of catching up to do. Dan has been worried that, because we haven’t posted in over a week, that you will think that we aren’t having ANY fun here in the States. The opposite is certainly true and we’ve been way too busy visiting family and friends and having fun to take time to post (not to mention a lack of internet access). So, here goes – as best as I remember this week:

Saturday June 13th – Hung out at Matt and Tiff’s with Mom and Boyd – yummy food, good catch up time.

Sunday June 14th - we went to Matt and Tiff’s church family day. The kids played, went down an inflatable waterslide and Dan and Matt participated in a game of flag football. They were awesome, had a lot of fun and were very sore the next day. Mark, Abby and Mary Kate came out, too, as well as Mom Mom and Pappy, so that was a blast! Megan got to go to Abby’s soccer game and cheer her on with MK.

The Guys before the flag football game

Jack and Kylie making a leaf "salad" in Pappy's hat

(I love the lighting)!

Sammi - the newest addition to the family :)

Monday June 15th – Dentist time for all 5 of us. We’re pretty sure Dr. Ashton can now put his oldest through college with the amount of money we spent there. Dan and I went to Mark and Heather’s after we put the kids down for bed and watched “Dan in Real Life” in their newly (at least to us, since we’ve been gone for a year) finished basement. So fun and all too soon real. “You’re a murderer of LOVE!”

Tuesday June 16th – Went to lunch at our friend’s house. So fun to see Colleen, Mary, Sarah, Mrs. Berry, Holly, Caroline and Katie! Thank you so much – lunch was wonderful and I still want the recipes for the tortilla soup and chicken salad! Love that the kids got along so well…and that Mary and Kylie were so cute together.

The Tweeters have Landed!!!

We made it back to the good old US of A! The flight was long but went great and the kids did amazing...so far they are taking the 11 hour time change effortlessly which we have been extremely thankful for. We arrived to an outstanding welcome at the airport with Matt and Tiff and their whole crew there as well as Kristen's Mom and Heather with their crew. Not to shabby for our kids to be welcomed by nine cousins who they then had a blast running with and playing on the way out to the cars. And they also brought some great welcome signs for us we wanted to share, it sure made us feel right at home being back!!!!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to make the signs for us, we loved them!

Wheels Up and Moo's Nails

Here are Miss Moo's nails. She didn't want to go to Smile to get them done like me and Kylie - she wanted to get them done at another place, so I took her last night :) She got her school colors and name written on her thumbnails and then fun stripes on her toes. Too fun.

And we are out - we'll be in the air for the next 24 hours, then in Virginia! We plan on visiting friends and family, eating at yummy restaurants and shopping. :) See you in a bit!

Last Days of School and Getting Ready

Last Day of school for these two today.

Kylie and I got our piggy toes done - I got the same ones as last time - it was stressful to figure out what would be a good design to have to show people back in the States. K. Nok jokingly told me that she could not believe that I was making her take it off, only to do it again. I told her it was because I love it so much :)

Megan and Jack had their 2nd to last day of school on Tuesday. Class parties, crazy hair day and pajama day for Megan. Jack did a mohawk that only lasted a little bit and Megan decided she didn't want to do "crazy" hair, just something different. Incidentally, Dan bought me this shirt for my birthday...it didn't fit (but I loved it anyway).

Jack and his teacher, Ms. Pat. She rocked and we're sad she will be moving back to the States :(

Jack and his cute friend, Cheyenne.

Kylie Grace

Jack

My littlest girl wanted to look like my biggest girl with 2 french braids.


Megan and Kaya

Daddy and Kylie at dinner last night.

Last day of School!!!

And in case you forgot, here's the 1st day of School!