Luke is 5 years old!

Little Luke is not little any more. We have a 5 year old in the house. Luke celebrated turning 5 with family and friends. Batman presided over the party and adorned the plates, napkins and decorations. We played games, did an obstacle course, opened presents and ate chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake. Luke loves weapons of any sort, super heros, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Power Rangers, Teeenage Muntant Ninja Turtles, building stuff, jumping on the trampoline, pretending to be a spy, sitting on mommy's lap, having his back scratched, Special K Rasberry Granola bars, macarroni and cheese. We are so blessed to have some "boy power" in the house to temper all the girly stuff that goes on. I have to admit that I don't always make the "right" noises when I am playing with Luke (and he lets me know). Now he says it is time for Karate classes!

OUR TRIP TO MARYLAND

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Jeff and Cindy's Wedding

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Ric's brother, Jeff was married to Cindy this weekend in Maryland.  We had the delight of attending the wedding and visiting with family and friends.  We did LOTS of driving and were able to spend two days in D.C. seeing the sites and an afternoon touring the Naval Academy!  The kids loved the Air and Space Museum.  We also spent a day trying to see how many monuments we could see.  We were able to see The Lincoln Memorial, The Vietnam Memorial, The WWII Memorial, The Korean Memorial,  and The Jefferson Memorial.  We even visited the National Archives building and saw the Bill of Rights, The Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence!!!  Pretty Cool!  The places were fun to visit, but the highlight of the trip was spending time with family and friends.  Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jeff, our new Aunt Cindy, Aunt Noelle, cousin Matthew, extended family and my good friend Jeannette Lee were gracious to share themselves with us.  Thank you all!  Enjoy the photos of our visit.

Hannah and Chocolate!

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We went on a cruise!

Just a few weeks ago, Papa and Sasha surprised us with the news that we were going on a Caribbean cruise with them!! We were so exited! We packed our bags and headed to Florida where we boarded the cruise boat. Because of Hurricane Ike we couldn't go to the Naussau like we had planned and we didn't feel to good with all of the big waves from the storm. After the first day, the sea calmed down and it was very pleasant. The boat had all sorts of things on it, a water slide, a pool, a gym, a spa, an arcade, some shops, a lot of restaurants, and even a little library. We went to the beaches and got some souvenirs at St. Thomas and St. Maartin. We had a lot of fun, but it is always nice to come back home!

By Rachel

Sarah is 8!

Sarah turned 8 on August 5th!  She had a "Safari" party at Papa and Sasha's house complete with swimming and ice cream cake.  Her favorite gift = Sock Monkey that she has named Simon.  It is hard to believe that our baby girl is growing up so fast.  She is smart, funny, loving and a joy to parent.  We pray that her heart will be filled with a passion to glorify God in all she does.  We count ourselves very blessed!