First Day of School

Today was Anna's first day of preschool and I can't say enough of how excited she was! I got to go with her today for orientation. So we met her teachers and got to explore her new classroom together - or at least we were suppose to be together. Anna wanted nothing to do with me and she wanted to play and explore all by herself. Needless to say I don't think we'll have any "seperation anxiety" issues in this house and her teacher has already told me how 'outgoing' Anna is. (I'm hoping that's not teacher talk for annoying) But she was really cute and here are photos of her posing with her tinkerbell backpack on her first day of school! And if you're wondering what is in the backpack? Well that would be the supplies from her classroom list - - - 3 large gluesticks!

Volleyball-

So what's worse than my blogging capabilities? That would definetly be my photgraphy skills, as you will see in the following pictures. Last night we had some fun and went to the men's sand volleyball finals. (which are apparently held in Cincinnati every year) Justin's work gave us some VIP passes, so not only were we able to go for free, but we got free food, drinks and our pink wristbands - which Anna and Cameron thought were the coolest part, well almost.......

The coolest part for them had to be the these airsticks that they gave out. You know the things that you blow up and bang together to make noise? Yeah, they loved them! But the place was so crowded - literally not a single emplty seat - and we were squished all together that they kept hitting the people infront of us with them. Luckily the people infront of us had made good use of the "free drinks" and were really nice about it and just laughed it off. But Anna had sticks banging together the whole time and we all had fun.

Here's Cameron clinging to Justin's neck while trying not to miss any of the action on the court!

And here's the photo of Justin and the kids right when my camera's batteries ran out. Too bad - it would've been a great photo!

Cameron's Second Birthday

Well, Saturday was Cameron's second birthday! We decided to brave the humidity and 90 degree temps in favor of the special occasion and visit the Cincinnati Zoo. Justin's fellowship gave our family a yearly pass to the zoo with unlimited ride priviliges. Yeah! Or at least yeah for me - the above photo is Justin's only ride on the carousel. After which he got a little dizzy and queasy. No joke. So it looks like unlimited carousel rides for the kids and I. Yeah!








And of course there's Anna on the carousel. Not quite sure what kind of animal she's riding.

This ride was more Justin's speed - slow! The train took us around the zoo and of course the kids loved it.....and it was great to sit down for a bit.

Again...we all have to get equal photo time. Did you notice that the pictures are always of either the boys or the girls? Not quite sure why that is.

It wouldn't be a trip to the zoo without some posing. Anna and Cameron are all smiles for the camera!

Justin and Cameron , again the "boys" posing in the monkey temple.

This picture was taken by Justin of his two favorite things: Monkeys and..........ME!

After the zoo it was on to the good stuff.....presents! Here he is posing with some matchbox cars and a new movie.

Can you just see the excitement on his face? This is a pillow with his favorite thing in the whole world.......Shrek! I have no idea why he loves shrek so much, but he does. It was one of the few words he could say and he said it ALL THE TIME!

And it wouldn't be a true birthday without some candles to blow out. Yeah, be got gipped with the whole cake thing, but ice cream is just as good in his book.

***we apologize for the partial nudity***

With our new move and some of your new moves - we find our friends and family quite spread out! And without sounding extremely rude (really I mean it) - - - we find ourselves repeating a lot of the same information. So what's the answer?

The Strickland Family Blog!

Now this does not mean we want all the phone calls and emails to stop. Please continue them. This is just a way for our family to keep all of your families updated and continually involved in ours. Get it?

So without further ado - The first official installment of the Strickland Family Blog starts with Cameron's 2nd birthday!