More Vacation Pics...Finally!

Not sure what Jen already told you about our vacation (and I am too lazy to go back and read her post), so I'll tell you my version. We left for Maryland on June 13th after I got home from work. Jen took the first driving shift and unfortunately had to drive most of the way because of a little mishap. When we went to refuel and switch drivers, I was bit by about five fire ants. As a precaution, since I am allergic to some type of insect bite and most likely the fire ant, I overdosed on Benadryl so that I wouldn't have to use my Epi-Pen. I managed to drive a couple of hours before I was ready to fall asleep at the wheel. Jen was forced to drive the remainder of the way, so she was pretty tired when we got to my parent's house in the morning. She wasn't able to get much rest there because we had to head over to Lori and Dale's house for Aidan's birthday party.

She did finally get some much-needed rest at Lori's.

Noah and Aidan are buddies forever!

Abby looking as clueless as ever. Which way did he go?

Aidan stealing some sips of soda. Lori picks her battles with him and this is one of the many that she has lost and continues to lose on a daily basis. Like I told Lori, she is lucky that he is so cute.

Here Aidan is again enjoying the Slip-N-Slide.

After Aidan's party, Jen went with the dogs to her parent's house and I went back to Bowie with the boys. That night, we went to a DC United game at RFK Stadium. It was the first Major League anything for the boys, so they were mesmerized by the entire experience. Before that though, we rested up at the house. Kate and Ethan rested by having a little Guitar Hero battle.

The following day, my parents had everyone over for Father's Day. Here are some of the cousins enjoying brunch.

And here are [most] of the rest of them.

A group photo of all the kids. It was quite difficult to get all of them to focus on me at the same time. This is my best effort.

Grandma Pat and Will .

In the afternoon, we set up the Slip-N-Slide and the kids went crazy. This is evidenced here as Evan slides into home. He may just have a future in baseball.

Will had a different technique.

And Isabel had yet another.

Skylar couldn't keep up with the big kids, but still managed to enjoy the water in the baby pool.

Not sure who started this exchange, but it looks like Eric is winning versus Will.

Or is he?

Dan joins in and sends Will a crystal-clear, ice-cold message.

When you mess with one twin, you mess with the both of them.

Noah didn't agree with Dan's philosophy and just laughed (and ran).

Monday morning we joined Jen at her parent's house. The rain joined us as well.

With the rain though, the money tree was able to sprout new money. Amazingly enough, this money tree also grows lollipops. I try to tell the boys that Pop Pop Wayne is just kidding them, but they don't believe me. I tell them, "Wouldn't you think we would have one of these at our house if they were real?" I guess they don't put that much thought into it.

Bill, Steph, Gavin, Evan, and Skylar joined us for the first couple of days we were there. This is Evan enjoying the clean, country living. For us, that included a campfire.

And a four-wheeler. Here's Will checking out their gift from Wayne.

Noah, Gavin, and Evan are digging Wayne's new Kubota utility vehicle.

Of course Noah had to check out the four wheeler as well. We couldn't pry the boys away from this for the first few days that we were there.

Since the house would have been pretty cramped with all of us sleeping in there, Bill and I decided to pitch tents and stay both nights in them with the boys. Bill set his tent up on a tarp to make it easier for clean-up later. Luckily, I did not. Later that night, there were torrential downpours and severe thunder and lightning. Bill had a river under him all night and thankfully I did not.

The next day we decided to hike around Lake Habeeb, the big lake in nearby Rocky Gap State Park. We didn't do the entire loop, but we went about three miles.

Skylar even got to go with us.

The boys took a break to pose for a quick picture.

And so did Jen and the boys.

Gavin and Evan as well.

Country living also includes fishing (for some people). I hate fishing, but the rest of the boys seemed to enjoy it.

Here's Will holding his big catch.

Ethan managed to catch a few as well. Truth be told, Wayne feeds all of his fish daily, so they are quick to bite anything small that goes in the water. You have to wait all of a few seconds to get a bite. I guess that is why the boys loved it so much. It's fishing without the boring part - the waiting.

Evan also loved fishing, but I really think he enjoyed counting how many fish he had caught more. He was in the twenties last I heard. The boy loves to count and is good at it too.

Here's Wayne and Abby. My guess is Wayne is trying to figure out how to stop Abby from going into the pond while people were fishing. She loved going after the bobbers in the water!

It's One-Eyed Willie!

Cast away!





Abby posing for a quick shot.

Here is Ethan, Will, Alina, and Aidan in front of the train station in Cumberland.

Lord of the Flies?

Some sweet bokeh.

"Hey guys, have you seen my shoes?" Aidan picked the most inopportune times to ask me that. Usually, it was as I was trying to take pictures of deer or wild turkey.

"Hey guys, do you want to play soccer?" This was Aidan's second most asked question. Doesn't he look so peaceful here though? Don't fall into that trap. He is a little hellion.

Before Lori left, we got all the kids together for a group shot. Noah was sick that day, so it was very difficult to get him to look happy at all.

This slowly turned into Abby's favorite spot to lay and sleep. Of course, it is right in the way of people going up and down the stairs. It figures!

Like I said, Aidan is a little hellion. Here is one example of why. He got Pop Pop Wayne good, didn't he? Or wait, maybe it was Abby that did this to Wayne? Oh well, I'll just blame it on Aidan anyway. You know, to go along with the story.

I managed to snap this quickly with my awesome new zoom lens in a break between Aidan asking about his shoes. You may be asking yourself, "That picture doesn't seem like it was taken with some awesome new zoom lens?" Well, I was over a mile away from the deer. How do you like it now?

I also got the boys to pose for some pictures while on the tire swing. Will wasn't very hard to convince. He did all sorts of model-like poses for me. He said that he is working on Blue Steel for me next, or was it Magnum?

Noah was bit by the modeling bug too. He's cute and he knows it. Work it.

Ethan was a bit tougher. He was more interested in flying high on the swing, so it was hard to get a good shot of him.

Here's Abby heading down to the pond. I don't know why, but this is one of my favorite shots of her. Maybe it is because she is walking away? Just kidding.

"Please help me!" says Abby. Can't you just see it in her eyes? Ethan has a tendency to overwhelm her with his love at times, and this is one of those moments. I'll love her and hug her and squeeze her and keep her for my very own.

And finally, a picture of Hanzie relaxing on the porch.

Preparing for the 4th!

We went to the beach yesterday and stayed for a couple hours. It was cloudy and in the low 80's which made it nice. The kids built the biggest garden ever! They planted tons of vegetables and got very upset whenever a person walked across their garden. Since their garden took up tons of space I'm surprised people didn't walk across it more often than they did!
Raking it all out.
Will was more focused on practicing the skim board. He gave Emma some pointers and she tried it out as well.

Today we made 4th of July, well 2nd of July, smores. They had red, white, and blue star marshmallows.
Here is the newest member of the Eagney family. Melissa picked up Jazz on Sunday. He is from the Aussie rescue. He is 5 years old and Melissa will be his 4th and final home. He is super sweet. His nose is scratched up because he has some form of Lupus.
Eating smores is never pretty...

just ask this guy!
Somehow during the kids adventures around the house they decided to crate themselves with the dogs. Luckily Abby's crate is gigantic. At one point Emma, Ethan, Abby, and Finley were all in there. They somehow even convinced Hanzie to get in with them!

Boogie boarding video!

The kids riding in together.

Vacation! (Jen's pictures)

We had a great two weeks away. Chris has many, many more pictures on his camera that are not yet converted so this is just a small glimpse of our trip and most of the highlights will come in a later post.

I think it is safe to say that Abby and Hanzie probably had the best time of all. They ran and ran and ran and were tired most of the time. Abby was so tired that she barely had the energy to steal food! Now that is saying something.

Here the boys take in a card game with Grandma on the porch.

Looks like Will might have something good!

OMg... so cute!

More doggy sleep time! Abby had her own bed there but always seemed to want to snuggle with Hanzie. Hanzie was too tired to fend her off so he just let her snuggle. Since we have been home I have actually seen Hanzie go lay with Abby so he must of realized that snuggling with her is not that bad!
We went on a hike to the bridge at Rocky Gap State Park and after took the kids to the beach to cool off. I think Alina was the only one to do any real swimming.
LEANO-BEANO! Noah Bean enjoys the lake.

Will takes time to pose for the camera.
Aidan filling his bucket.
Aidan decided to try on his big cousin's hat.

Alina!
Noah during the hike. The poor guy had a fever and a stomach ache during the hike and most of the second week we were there!
They made it all they way to the bridge.

Another shot of the crew atop the bridge.
"This is how I roll!" Hanzie spent much of the 15 hour trip back home like this.
We had a quick awakening to hot weather when we got home. It was quite cool most of the time we were in the mountains. The first week the highs never made it out of the low 60's for the most part and it was in the 40's at night. We didn't bring very many warm clothes so we actually had to go out and buy some stuff! The dogs had to get use to walking on a leash again and I had to get use to the stress of walking them both on a leash again. How relaxing it was to go on hikes with them every day and just watch them have a blast roaming through the woods, swimming in the springs and ponds, and chase deer, turkey, chipmunks, and bunnies. No worries, neither one of them is fast enough to catch anything! I must say that Abby still enjoys chasing butterflies more than anything else. The boys spent most of their time on the 4-wheeler their Pop-Pop bought them. Ethan had two small wrecks and Will had a close encounter with the pond. Overall they were very responsible on it and had a blast. Of course they wanted to bring it home but there was just no way to fit it. Ethan also rowed the boat all around the pond. I was surprised that he would go out on his own to do it. Most nights they had a campfire. While Bill and Steph were there visiting they camped out a couple nights. It was actually cold those nights and they were freezing in the tent. I was snugly warm in the bed with my pups in the house!

Truly finished!

Today was the true last day of school. Ahh... We finished up everything that we could around noon and headed off for summer. Poor Ethan had a headache Sunday night and took some medicine. He woke up Monday and had a headache but failed to say anything to me about it until we got to school. I only had chewable Motrin with me and he hates it and would only eat two. He needs like five or six for his weight! So, his head continued to hurt him for the rest of the day. As soon as we got home from school he rested on the couch and started throwing up! For some reason that word has been in our vocabulary consistently for a few weeks. Today he had a fever and headache and took more Motrin. He took a dose this morning and hasn't needed any since. He definitely seems to be more himself now so I'm thinking he is back to 100%. Hopefully Will stays healthy!

Chris also threw his back out playing soccer on Sunday. I'm telling you, we ought to just stay in the house for a few weeks! Hopefully it will be better before our long drive. I'm hoping that drive doesn't upset my back. We will be in the van and I have driven great distances in that with no problems in the past. I'm thinking that it is just Chris' SUV that didn't work out for me. I'm really starting to feel old!

Ethan ended the year with straight A's. The child hasn't gotten a B yet. Hopefully when the time comes he doesn't get too upset. He is like me and expects no less than an A. Of course he works for his As. Will and Noah both got straight +s. They are excited about being 1st graders.

Chris has some videos and pictures to post but due to the bad back he hasn't been hanging out on the computer lately. Hopefully he will get around to it before he leaves. Ethan just fell asleep sitting up in bed reading. I wanted to snap a picture but my battery is dead and I'm not allowed to touch Chris' camera!

What time is it? Summer time! It's our vacation!

This has been a whirlwind week! Monday Ethan had his awards ceremony and Abby was spayed. It is safe to say that Ethan had a better day than Abby! Ethan got tons of awards and was very excited. He got an award in every subject area for straight A's for the entire year. He also got reading awards, an In the Zone award for good behavior, and a creative writing award. We picked up Abby around 4:15 on Monday afternoon. She was quite groggy. She pottied tons when we took her outside before we got in the car. Then as soon as we got home she threw up twice before coming in the house. Then, every time she tried to stand up for hours she would throw up again. She wouldn't touch water or ice cubes so I was a nervous wreck. Chris played puppy nurse after I went to bed and apparently did a better job because he finally got her to eat an ice cube and drink some water around midnight. Noah didn't look good all day on Monday. He kept saying he felt fine but he had super glassy eyes and flushed cheeks. I finally took his temperature around 7:00 and it was 102! It sort of worked out because I was able to stay home with Abby and Noah on Tuesday! Noah's fever shot up to over 103 on Tuesday and was completely gone by Wednesday afternoon. Abby was 120% by Tuesday morning. The other Tuesday event was Chris' purchase of a motorcycle. I'll let him tell you about that!

Wednesday was the big In the Zone Field Day for all the kids that had zero discipline referrals for the entire year. I'm happy to say that nearly all the kids at the school got to attend. I was put on event duty and was standing in 95 degree heat and sun all day! To top it off there was a local wildfire blowing some nasty smoke towards the field for a better part of the day. Blah... The kids of course didn't seem to mind. The only competitive event was the 50-yard-dash. Each child ran it and was timed. They gave out grade level awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Will came in first for kindergarten! There are nearly 90 kindergartners at our school so I was impressed! When we got home from school on Wednesday Abby was standing at the door with Hanzie to greet us! The boys had built a fort around Abby's crate Tuesday night and left one of her crate doors unlocked. We NEVER use that door to access the crate so Chris didn't even think to check it when he put her in. Well, she had the day to roam the house. I am extremely happy to say that the only evidence that she spent the day outside of her crate unsupervised were three chewed up Lincoln Logs! Not bad for a 4 month old lab puppy! I was so proud of her. No accidents, no damage. She didn't impress me enough to let her try it again though!

The kids finished out the school week on a happy note. Their teachers had lots of fun events planned and kept them busy and out of trouble! I can hardly believe that Ethan is already halfway through his elementary career! To celebrate the end of the year the kids had a waffle party last night that included M&M's, chocolate chips, whipped cream, ice cream, syrup, and sprinkles. Oddly enough, the boys asked for dessert later in the night! After dinner the kids all watched the new Naked Brothers movie that premiered last night. They stayed up a bit late. I'm not sure how that is impacting them this morning at the select soccer try-outs. Hopefully they will all do okay. Will and Noah are lucky to have Melissa as a coach that knows what she is doing. Ethan did not fair as well this season so we are hoping that the traveling teams will offer better instruction and prepare them for high school soccer!

Graduation Season!

Will and Noah had their kindergarten graduation on Friday. It was really cute! Chris videotaped it and said he would upload some of the videos. Noah had a small speaking part and Will performed in one of the songs. Ethan's 2nd grade awards ceremony is tomorrow.

Friday evening Melissa and I took the kids and the dogs to the dog beach while Chris and Mike were motorcycle shopping. The weather was perfect and the beach was once again empty. The dog beach is at the inlet which also happens to be where the sharks hang out. To get to the ocean you have to walk a mile or so along the river beach. During high tide the river beach becomes very small and in some cases non-existent. Friday it was non-existent! We decided that we would brave it and walk around the mangroves in the water rather than taking the paths through the park that take you to the ocean. I mean, we came to walk the beach, not the paths! Well, it was a bit deeper than we had anticipated and we actually had to SWIM out around the mangroves. It was between 6:30 and 7:00 so we were doing all of this at prime shark feeding time! Luckily we did not see a single shark although it is safe to say there were plenty of them out there with us. We finally made it to the beach and decided to go out to the sand bar to hang out with the dogs since we had already braved the water once. The dogs and the kids all had tons of fun.

Yesterday was Sammy's birthday party. It was quite hot. The kids didn't mind the mid-90's since Amy, Sammy's mom, had rented a huge inflatable water slide! They also had the pool, trampoline, zip line, and club house to keep them busy. So, while I was dripping sweat they were nice and cool and having tons of fun. We stayed for 3 hours and I think most of the fluid had drained from my body by then. I left with a splitting headache. I came home and rested my back for a bit and then we headed off to the shuttle launch when it was even hotter! When we parked it was 96 degrees! After our short hike to the river we were all sufficiently heated up. I think that had a lot to do with the kids' general attitude towards the whole experience. Poor Abby and Finley came along and were hot, hot, hot! I had taken Hanzie to a night launch before so I thought Abby should have the experience as well. Lucky for Hanzie it was at 9:00 at night in December!!! For those of you that would like to come to see a launch, you have until 2010 when the shuttles are retired.

This morning we spent a couple hours at the beach. We had loads of fun. The kids kept busy boogie boarding. We swam out past the current to the sand bar and the kids had even more fun there. It was hot enough to keep us in the water the entire time. It is mostly European tourists that are here right now, so although there are plenty of Speedos at the beach, it is not that busy yet. Not that our beach is ever that busy, but it sure is nice to have plenty of room to spread out and not worry about kicking the soccer ball into anyone's territory!

We are looking forward to our final week of school. I'm sure there will be plenty of behaviour issues to contend with throughout the week, but I will just have to keep reminding myself that there are only five days left. Last week was a short week and felt more like a month than a week. I wonder what this week will feel like! Then the countdown is on for Aidan's birthday party, the DC United game, and the mountains! The boys can hardly wait and have been writing about their upcoming vacation every day at school.