Sentry Eagle

I don't know about you, but the summer started slow and now it moving crazy fast. Time is also flying by now that I am in my last trimester. The first trimester was SO slow and now our due date is approaching quickly. My most recent belly shot...29 weeks...or according to my first ultrasound, a little over 30 weeks.

We had a few visitors in July and experienced our first Sentry Eagle at base. Sentry Eagle is the largest Guard exercise in the Air Force and there were lots of events and things to do. Here is a photo someone took while getting a back-seat ride.

I thought it was just a one-day air show kind-of-thing but there were events three nights in a row in addition to some activities during the day and a full open house for the city on Saturday. Some pictures during the open house.

J touring a helicopter-he looks SO big to me here!

Pull the stick W!

While walking around, I noticed people kept looking at my stroller and laughing and pointing. W had poured a couple of water bottles into his seat and was playing with his toy boats in the water.

J and I watching the F-15E demo team:

We had a sitter for the boys for two nights and got to see the featured guest. A comedian who used to play Ross Perot on The Tonight Show. That is why Matt, Amy and the kids got to come because Matt flew in the exercise with other pilots from his unit in Texas. Matt managed to confuse more than one person being here in his flight suit.

One of the F-16s broke down so Matt stayed longer until it was fixed which was nice to get to visit with him more. He even watched the boys one night so Geoff and I could go out to dinner. Thanks Matt! Excuse the boys random pajamas here...they wanted in a picture with us pre-date night.

And we are excited to have Uncle PJ coming to visit in a few days followed by the boys' birthday, followed by Mark and Jan coming to visit. Time to get busy finishing projects before the baby arrives and the winter returns.

Family Visit

Matt, Amy, Chloe and Logan braved the long trip from Texas to visit us last week. Before they even left Texas, they learned that their last flight was cancelled so they had to stay overnight in a hotel without their luggage. Which, by the way, did not arrive for another day and a half after they arrived! Aside from the travel drama, we had a great time sightseeing and visiting. Right after we picked them up from the airport we went on a jet boat trip.

C, W, and G on the way to the lodge for lunch on the jet boat. We got to see deer, bald eagles, blue heron....

Amy, Matt, and J enjoying the sun and the scenery (notice everyone is dry):

G, C, and W on the boat on the way back-and a little damp from being splashed.

The driver did multiple 360 spins and raced two other jet boats back and worked hard to get everyone splashed on the way back.

The next day everyone (but me) went rock climbing and Matt helped Geoff set up an outdoor fireplace and a grill (thanks Matt!) Then we headed to Crater Lake the following day.

Whole group in the park:

Snowball fight in July!

Matt cooling off:

J and C by the lake:

The kiddos:

And we ventured out to another National Park. The Lava Beds in CA. L and J by some cool black rocks:

J enjoying the cave. This one took us down lots on stairs (in the complete darkness except for our flashlights) to the bottom of the cave to see ice on the bottom.

Coming out of the first cave flashlights in hand:

Heading into another cave.

Geoff and Matt went into a more advanced cave themselves and Geoff found himself inches from a bat! There are hundreds of caves at this park but I don't think you come across any bats unless you start crawling in tight spaces which is what Geoff and Matt were doing.

Smores!

On their last day here, Matt and Geoff had to work so Amy and I took the kids to walk downtown and enjoyed some time relaxing while the kids played for almost two hours at a park. The weather was awesome. Thanks for visiting!

Roughing It

We rented a cabin to go "camping" last weekend. Several families in our squadron own campers and venture out to some beautiful camping spots around the state and we wanted to join in on the fun. The trouble is...we don't have a camper, and we don't have a vehicle that will pull a camper. Sleeping in a tent wrecked havoc on the boys' skin the last time they slept outside. Luckily the campsite destination also had cabins to rent. It was a great little cabin...mountain view, full wrap-around-deck, outdoor hot tub, full kitchen and full bath, one bedroom with a queen bed and a loft with two twin beds. Really.roughing.it. The digs:

Geoff and the boys stayed two nights and I stayed one. I had a garage sale Saturday morning and wanted to get back to finish cleaning up from the sale: taking boxes to Goodwill, catching up on laundry, dishes, and just to have a night to sleep! I think this is the first time I have ever had the house to myself overnight since we had the boys...I got so much done!

While camping, we ate the best fish tacos we have ever had (courtesey of two families in the squadron) with freshly caught fish. The boys played in the lake for most of the day and then they were all about the hot tub at the cabin. J really enjoyed his trip out on a fishing boat with Geoff and Mr. Jay - he even caught a fish on his little Lightning McQueen fishing pole.

Returning:

Poor W had a bit of a rough time on our trip. He lost his turn on the fishing boat and had to sit out of the hot tub for the first day. :( I think he was overtired. He enjoyed playing in the lake though.

Bloom!

It has been fun to see our landscaping take shape and bloom this summer! I didn't even really know what color some of the flowers were going to be. Here is a picture just after completing landscaping last summer:

Now!

We are loving all the pink.

Geoff finished the fence and it looks great! Will post more pictures soon.......

24 Weeks* Update

*Update from OB appt.* My belly is measuring 27 weeks. And I received yet another "wow, she is moving a lot" from the doctor trying to hear the heartbeat. I have another appt. in three weeks for glucose testing and a possible Rhogam shot. So far so good!

24 weeks today...possibly a little further due to that first ultrasound. But let's just say at least 24 weeks.
There is a little kick-boxer in my belly. I cannot believe how much and how hard she is kicking in there. Maybe she just has a lot of room to move around due to my extra-large uterus and is taking advantage of it!
I have been terrible taking belly photos this time. I took one religiously every week with the boys and here I am with picture number three. I have an appointment tomorrow so I might post more later.

CaLiFoRniA

Geoff was one of two ground crew for a NASCAR fly-by last Sunday so the boys and I loaded up the van and drove down to meet him in California. I was jealous of the hour-long flight it takes in an F-15 versus the 5-hour car but what can you do? We checked out some DVDs at the library and I just kept putting them in for the boys to watch since it was just me in the car with them. The cutest movie by far? "Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin". I have never seen the boys smile and laugh so much watching a movie. I am talking peels of laughter from the back seat. I wish I had the video camera to capture all the cute laughter...but will settle for a couple of over-the-shoulder pictures:

Here is W skimming through all the touristy brochures:

We toured the Jelly Belly Jelly Bean factory first. I had no idea how much went into making their jelly beans. The tour guide gave me the "belly flop" bean during one of the samples due to my ample belly (thanks a lot--are you saying my belly is flopping?)..and kind enough to give me two bags of free jelly beans at the end of the tour. My favorite flavor was red apple. I would have never noticed that the bean is red on the outside and white on the inside just like apples.

Wearing our hip hats for the tour:

The boys pretty much ate everything out of the sample bag...every once in awhile one of them would have that face showing they were eating something they did not like. And once W spit out a mouthful of jelly beans.

We went to the California State Railroad Museum on Saturday in Old Sacramento.

It is known as the best train museum in the country. I have to say it was amazing. Even if you are not a big train lover...it is very impressive.

This model train display would even turn to a nightime display.

Playing in the toy train area:

We figured we should go before the boys completely grow out of their train phase. The boys are still loving their toy trains...but I am sensing it is nearing the end. It makes me sad.

We rode on a real steam engine. And we sat in the car directly behind the steam engine...so at times it got pretty loud:

The area around the museum is great too...it all looks like the Old West and is full of fun restaurants and shops. We ate at a cute coffee cafe called "Steamers" for lunch and then shot the rifles at the shooting gallery.

W's turn:

J's turn:

We went swimming...well not really swimming...but hung out in the hot tub. It wasn't that warm in Suisun City:


The next day we drove out to Sonoma to see the fly-by and walk around NASCAR. After battling traffic three hours before the race (NASCAR fans don't mess around I guess) the boys were kind of done by the time we got there. Lots of sensory overload. Lots of people, lots of helicopters circling overhead, lots of noise and craziness...just like we were in the midst of "Cars" the movie. And there was a fun set-up to promote "Cars 2":


The stars of "Cars":


Posing in front of Finn McMissile:

It was like a huge college tail-gate party. But where else can you buy a seatbelt bag?

J getting his VIP bracelet on for the VIP tent.

Watching an airplane show before the race:


The boys perked up when they saw the large motorized shopping cart zooming around the track.

Then Wes and Alaric flew the F-15s over the track (always cool to see) and the boys and I headed out. I was very grateful that someone took pity on me (thank you baby belly) and offered to take us back to our car in a golf cart. That might have been J and W's favorite part of NASCAR. Really. I think they need a couple of more years to really enjoy the race.