Last week was birthday extravaganza. Well actually this summer has been birthday full. Monday the gang went to Outback for Ben's birthday.
Tuesday was a family shopping day. Lunch at Tijuana Flats followed by shopping at TJ Maxx and Trader Joe's. I was very excited to find a laundry basket that matched our bedroom (even has "laundry" embroidered on the side) and has handles for easy carrying up and down the stairs. One of my pet peeves about a 2 story house is the laundry not on the same floor. I've also realized all our homes have had a laundry room right off the kitchen, which I used to not like but now realized is wonderful because it was a great reminder. But our laundry room here is tucked away so I easily forget. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Then when we do get to the laundry Sergio and I have laundry parties. As much as a laundry party sounds fun, loads and loads of folding are not. (Btw, this is mostly a reminder to myself for someday when I buy a house. With the amount of moving we do, I'm trying to keep a list of likes and dislikes).
As for Trader Joe's, we have fallen in love. We go about every 2 weeks now, and the whole family has their favorites. To name a few: frozen mini chicken tacos topped with their verde salsa, shredded mexi-cheese, and a squirt of lime...yumm. Or their spinach and chive pasta (originally suggested by my mom, the whole reason I was excited to have a Trader Joe's) topped with organic sauce. For dessert, sublime ice cream sandwiches: vanilla ice cream sandwiched between 2 chocolate chip cookies, with the edge rolled in mini chocolate chips. Dad, I know your mouth is watering already at the thought. Ice cream sandwiches are something we both love. The mini chocolate mint ones are also good, but wish they made them in the bigger size, too. Hannah loves the fruit grain bars, similar to nurti-grain bars, but are made from organic grains and without the extra preservatives and artificial stuff. She goes crazy when I put the boxes in the cart, because she wants to eat them right then and there. Which reminds me that she now vocally, and with pointing and hand gestures lets us know what she wants, especially in regards to food. She also enjoys their oatmeal raisin cookies, and baked snap peas. We buy a lot of her snacks there, because they have a great variety of organic and non-preservative options.
Wednesday, Sergio and Adrian went flying. As a birthday gift from Adrian's wife, he rented a plane and Sergio flew along as his camera man, to the Wright Brothers National Memorial in North Carolina. It's about a 45 minute flight from here.
The Memorial
Each rock marks where the first 3 flights landed.
The original hangar
Their bunks.
While the guys were off on their adventure, Adrian's wife Julie, Hannah, and I went to lunch and then just hung out at our house.
Thursday Julie, Hannah and I went to the swimming pool on base. It was great to get Hannah back in the pool since her swim lessons, and see she has retained what she learned. While Julie was doing laps, Hannah would watch for her, and get excited every time Julie came up out of the water and waved. Afterwards we came back to our house and hung out some more. Hannah really adores Julie.
Friday was Adrian's birthday, so we had a birthday bash at their home. They live on base, and the housing is absolutely gorgeous. We are so sad we were not able to get housing upon moving here. We are finding out that we actually probably could have, but the housing office made an error when wait listing us. And the worst part of it all, is after we did the calculations of rent, utilities, deposits, and expenses that are included in on base housing, it is costing us over $5000 more to live off base till our lease is up. :(
Saturday the gang went to Busch Gardens. Active duty and 3 dependents get a free ticket once a year to any of the Busch parks. It had been years and years since I had ridden a roller coaster. Either with age, or my fears have changed, either way they were a lot scarier than I remember. On the first roller coaster, as it ascended to the top I thought how pretty is this view, then quickly realized how high up we were. Which quickly led to the thought, this thing is going to go down, and only one way, Oh My Gosh it's going to drop. I quickly closed my eyes, and drop went the coaster along with my mouth as I screamed. Without opening my eyes I turned to Sergio and screamed, "You are crazy, why would you ever want to fly jets!?!" (The following photos were taken with our little digital camera as we did not want to carry around the dslr.)
Riding the tram...and looking a little concerned.
She insisted on wearing her back pack, which I had packed her snacks and sippy in.
Bald Eagle
Arctic Wolf
Hannah loved the wolves.
Playing in the Sesame Street water area.
Hannah and this little boy had a confrontation. He turned around and accidentally bumped her. Which led to her giving him a "how rude" look followed by a few words. She literally said something to him in toddler talk. He then looked very ashamed, confused, and nervous. The poor little guy was pinned up against the wall. I told him it was okay, and tried to steer him back in the way he was going, but she had him too scared to move.
Italy is that a way...
Sunday after church we enjoyed an outing at Starbucks. Sergio ordered a smoothie with Hannah, but she just loved it so much, that he had to patiently wait to share. It was cracking us up. While her and Sergio took a nap, I did a little shopping for a few more things in our bedroom. I finally found a vase for our dresser. I have a few final touches before I post pictures. I also changed the living room a little. I wanted to add some color with some splashes of blue. The red brick on the fireplace is drowning out my red couch, which has always been the color statement of our living room. I also think the blue will give it a little more cozy and relaxing look, versus the dark formal colors of the brown and reds. Just need to find a couple blue throw pillows, and would like to replace the gold mirror above the fireplace with a large black and white photo. My head is dreaming of a formal dining room with that mirror above a buffet someday. I also have ideas for the kitchen to change out the chef decor we currently have. However I'm going to patiently wait till we move because I don't want to customize wall decor to this home, only to have it not fit the next home.
Along with cleaning the whole downstairs of the house yesterday, we set out to rake and bag pine needles in the backyard. Not only did we do just that but also tackled the garage. I could actually park my car in there now if I wanted. It'd be a tight squeeze but would fit. However since the owners never fixed the automatic garage door opener I'll just continue to park in the driveway. But it is nice to have the empty space. I know Sergio loves it for working on his bike.
