The Things You See.....

Still haven't figured out this one...leave your guesses in the comments section :)

Sooooo coooool......I need me one of these :)

Jack

I love this funny kid :D

I recently overheard a conversation taking place in the backseat of the car where Jack referred to Boromir as "...the dude from Gondor...."

Also overheard was a conversation between Calvin and Tom regarding what time Calvin needed to be somewhere...Tom's reply was "I'll get you there whenever I feel like getting you there..." Jacks response: "No Dad, he needs to be there ON TIME."

James

Typing on my computer...thank goodness it's locked!

Enjoying some frozen yogurt with Mom...he really likes the mango and taro flavors

His new favorite toy is cards

He lines them up....

And moves them around....

He picks them up, looks at them....

And starts lining them up again

Crime And Punishment

The same day we went into DC to see the cherry blossoms, we hit the Crime and Punishment museum. It was very interesting, and we got some hilarious shots of the kids :)  They loved the medieval torture exhibits and the pirate stuff, but their favorite part was the simulation driving and shooting area. Tom aced it of course, but the kids had fun trying to match Dad. I enjoyed reading the histories of all the old prisons and their occupants and wardens. We took the kids to Cafe Mozart for yummy German food afterwards. I was so proud of them, they all tried new things and were happy with their choices. They even swapped bites with each other :)

The kids were fascinated by these on the way in....

Rayzel's Birthday

Rayzel turned 12 last month. Her birthday party was a quiet affair, since it was sandwiched in between Calvin and Nana's graduation, and our first trip of the season, to Assateague. We just had the usual family over, and we celebrated the actual day with cake on the road 4 days later :)  She pretty much just got camp stuff, since she was headed off to girls camp for the first time in a few weeks.The highlights are as follows:

Amazon giftcard- what did she get with it? Her own copy of Twilight to read,, a dvd of 'Gnomeo and Juliet', and a huge jar of Jelly Belly jelly beans.....

New camera AND a new watch. YAY!

"Show me how to close this thing!" (It's her pocket knife)

First picture with her new camera- her feet

Cherry Blossoms

Just now getting around to posting pics of our trip to see the cherry blossoms. I had never been before, and I'm glad we went! It was beautiful :)

We picnicked in fairyland :)

Making faces....

We got a parking ticket, but Tom got us out of it cuz it was totally bogus

Friends And Fireworks

We did early fireworks with some friends on the 3rd, since Tom was working the 4th this year. The kids had a blast with the sparklers. It was so much fun, and I think we should do that every year :)

Rayzel enjoyed the unlimited soda

Tom enjoyed talking to Jim

The kids made pyramids with the sparklers....

James kept trying to light his on the pyramid....he is not as afraid of fire as he should be

Jack enjoyed the soda too...

James is naked cuz he was enjoying the baby pool

 It was really cool watching them all burn at once

Some adult supervision

The next day, we did our usual trek up to UMD for really big fireworks.....