Wow, what a trip! We spent a week over Christmas in Austin, TX with my family and then another week in Johnstown, PA with Andy's family. We all had so much fun and the kids were
incredible for all the flights (6 of them total) and while visiting with everyone. Other than a few minor cold/coughs, everything went smoothly for this vacation. We didn't even have to pay for our luggage with Continental (a ridiculous policy in my book) because we had military leave orders. Our parents did have to ship a few boxes full of gifts home for us, but that just makes Christmas for the kids all over again when they get to open them.
Cousins having lunch around kitchen table at Nina & Grandpa J's.
It's Steelers mania in my house now with this past weekend's win against the Chargers. Joshua is wearing out all his Steeler jerseys (yes he got 3 of them for Christmas, including the Polamalu one from Santa) and new football helmet. The days have been filled with him singing the "Here We Go Steelers" song while throwing a football all over the house and backyard. If I have to yell, "Don't tackle your sister!!!" one more time, I'm going to lose it. We (and I do mean we) are very excited about the upcoming game against the Ravens, since a win would put them in the Super Bowl. I even decided to give our family blog Steelers colors to cheer them on :)
Joshua...I mean..."Big Ben" getting ready for the game.
(Pictures taken by his very talented cousin, Emma Stremmel)
Ever have one of those trips when everything just seemed to fall into place? This happened for us on our trip to San Diego this past Labor Day weekend. The first hotel we booked at a Navy base in Coronado didn't allow children under 12 and there was no way to sneak in three very loud youngsters. So they called a hotel on another base at just the right time when a room became available (on Labor Day Weekend!!!). This new hotel was right on the beach and in close driving distance to all the great restaurants and attractions we wanted to see. What a blessing! We had a wonderful time on the beach, at San Diego Zoo, and at SeaWorld.
Ella didn't want the waves to "get her" so she preferred to stay on dry ground and dig for seashells with Brooke and Mommy.
Joshua and Daddy enjoyed playing football on the beach and playing in the waves.
The coolest part of the zoo was getting to be face to face (with glass in between of course) with this sleeping lion. This picture doesn't do justice to the incredible size of this amazing creature. One paw was about the size of their heads.
This had to be the best part of SeaWorld. We got to watch Shamu play in her tank right after the park opened. Again, the picture doesn't do justice to the size of this killer whale.
Giddy with excitement!
