Hilton Head Island

Justin and I got back last night from a wonderful 6 day trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Justin's fellowship group puts on a shoulder and knee conference there every year and are nice enough to take along the wives. Justin's mom flew out and watched the kids here in Cincinnati and off we went for a little trip....just the two of us!








While all the guys worked hard, they did have a three hour break in the middle of the day. We were able to eat lunch together by the pool and then all the "boys" were off to play games on the beach. Here they are playing a little bit of beach-football....I think they're huddling here.









The favorite was sand volleyball. Though on the last afternoon they all got heat blisters on the bottoms of their feet from the hot sand. Me - I cheered on from the comfort of my lounge chair and umbrella....with a yummy pina colada!









And here's a shot of all us fellows together on the last night. We went out for a nice dinner at a marina, you can kinda see some yachts in the back!

Happy 30th!!!!

Today is Justin's 30th Birthday!!! To mark this special occasion, I'm going to steal Christine's "10 Things You Should know" so that we can all learn a little more about Justin. So..........Here are 10 things you don't know about Justin

1. His favorite dessert is a chocolate milkshake

2. He hates "salads" - the kind with mayonaise.....egg salad, potato salad, chicken salad, macaroni salad, etc....

3. He loves Chic-Flicks

4. Has never gotten anything less than an A or Honors in school

5. Is a really good dancer - His secret dream is to be a back-up dancer in a music video

6. He remembers EVERYTHING! - he is my personal calendar, TV guide, and mapquest.

7. He actually hated and fell asleep during Les Miserable - can you believe it?!

8. Loves "90's black-sex-music"....you know the stuff: Jodeci, Dangelo, Brian McKnight, Blackstreet, etc.....

9. As a child he had the biggest buck teeth you've ever seen! Thank goodness for braces!

10. He is a twin.....so Happy Birthday to Josh too!

House Hunters

It's offical! We now own another house (well, not technically...we close August 1st). We are so excited! Justin, Cameron and I flew out to Cedar Rapids two weeks ago and did a weekend worth of house hunting. We came out with two houses we really liked, but one really fit our style. As always there were compromises to make, but in the end I think we got the perfect house for us. So now, after a week worth of negotiating, we have a new house! Sorry about ALL the photos...you should see how many are on my camera!

Here's a photo of the outside. They call it "new cottage style".... I don't remember learning about that in any of my design classes.

Photo of the garages. I'm thinking that the one straight ahead will be mine. The less turning and manuvering the better!

Here was the MAJOR selling point of the house.....the kitchen! On my "new house list" was an awsome kitchen and this one had it! I love to cook and this kitchen has everthing from major counter and cupboard space to a huge walk-in pantry!
Kitchen view number 2. Love the large sitting island.
Again, can I take enough photos of it? YOu can also see that the family room is off the kitchen.
Front door shot, and Cameron digging for candy in my purse. You also get a little glimpse of the den there in the corner. The home was a parade home which is why there are curtains hanging up.
This is the built in fireplace/entertainment center in the family room.....and we don't have to buy a tv!

This is the eating area off the kitchen with an atrium of windows to the lower level. I love that it lets in lots of light and overlooks the back yard.
Stairs down to the lower level off the atrium area.
Wet bar in the basement. And for those of you who know Britt Bremner, this is her brother Chris. He was nice enough to help us find a house in Cedar Rapids.
The drawback to this house was the basement. It wasn't as plush as some of the other basements and was a bit more narrow than homey feeling. Like I said, we had to compromise. It'll make a great play space for the kids.
Justin's number one on his "new house list" was a great yard. Again....we both got our number ones. The house is on just over 1/2 an acre and backs up to a city park. It also has this really cool built in grill area.

View of backyard. Our lot line goes to the pine trees, and then behind the trees the city park starts.

That's all the photos! We'll be expecting company now that we finally have the room and we're only a few hours from those of you in Rochester!

Marathon Man

Justin ran in his first marathon today! The annual Flying Pig Marathon held here in Cincinnati started at 6:30 this morning and Justin was on the start line! Justin has been training for the past nine months and the kids and I were at the finish line anxiously waiting for him. He ran all 26.2 miles in four hours.....way to go Justin!!! As you can see he was REALLY tired when he finished and wasn't exactly all smiles for the camera yet.
After he went through the recovery area he was in much better spirits. Tired, but happier. He even got Anna and Cameron a dish of ice cream which they greedily ate at 10:30 in the morning! Who needs cereal when you can eat ice cream?!

Grandparents

My sister and I packed the kids into the car and went up to the Cleveland/Akron area to visit our extended family for a few days. We split up and stayed with diffrent aunt and uncles so not to overwhelm and one household with four toddlers running everywhere! Here are a few pictures. This is of my sister and I with our grandma. It was her 81st birthday this past Friday and she still looks great!
Here we are with our Grandpa. He wasn't too thrilled to get his picture taken.
And here are all the grandkids with their great-grandma. Surprisingly all the kids are looking and smiling....except for grandma!

Zoo Flowers

My sister and her two kids are here visiting us for a little bit. We decided to take all of the kids to the zoo where they are having a big tulip show. The tulips all through the zoo were absolutly beautiful! Unfortunately our MANY attempts at a photo with all four kids smiling failed. Here are a few of our trys. The kids kept freaking out over the giant bees buzzing around the tulips. It made for a few tears in some of our photos.
The tulips in the background of this photo look like they're painted - but they are real!
This was just an overview shot of one area. Like I said......BEAUTIFUL! (not to mention the 80 degree weather we had that day)

Escapee

The past week has been quite an ordeal with Cameron. He has finally learned how to climb out of his crib and he is quite proud of himself. We'll put him down to sleep and a few minutes later he runs out to us, all smiles, and proudly proclaiming that he has "climbed out my crib!" ---And we do this over and over and over again! The other night I thought that he had finally fallen asleep, so as I went to peek in on him this is what I found. He and Anna were all snuggled into her bed reading books. How can you get mad at that?!