Happy Birthday Kirstin!

It's all about Kirstin this week--we feel she's worth celebrating! We convinced her to forgo a birthday party with friends in exchange for a family beach trip. She loved the idea because it stretched her birthday into a three day affair! On Tues. the 5th, we had her birthday dinner (chicken tortilla soup and quesadillas) with cake and she unwrapped her presents. Aidan got a kick out of singing the birthday song over and over again.
We were a little nervous about our trip, because we had this bad stomach virus go through the house and I still had it on the night before the trip. Thankfully by Wed. the 6th, I was feeling much better and we headed to Virginia Beach. We got there around 10AM (where I found out that my camera's battery had died because it had been left on--AARGH!) and the kids got to play in the ocean for a half hour before we started seeing lots of jellyfish.









We tried to play in the shallow water but there were so many jellyfish it got to the point where we couldn't avoid them, so that was a bit of a bummer.
We packed up, went swimming in our hotel pool for a while then went out to eat at Kirstin's favorite restaurant (Friendly's). While we were there, we noticed that Aidan was flushed and felt a little warm. He was so good and in such a great mood that we figured he had gotten too much sun. After dinner, we decided to hit the boardwalk. We came upon a carnival and let the kids go on a couple of rides. Aidan can't even handle the rides in the grocery store, but I convinced him to try out the little train. He was terrified at first but after a few seconds, he relaxed and hopped down off my lap. Rob took the other three over to the ferris wheel (Caleb calls it the cartwheel). They all sat in one seat together. It was fun to watch because Robbie was acting like a celebrity as he was "making his first public appearance"--Kirstin was hooting and hollering, and there was Caleb, sitting on the side with a green face holding on as tightly as he could. He vowed never to go on that ride again but felt better about the little roller coaster. Kirstin and Caleb wanted to do the fun slide (a very tall and long slide). When he got off of that, he proclaimed for all the world to hear how sweet and awesome it was!
We were glad to reach our hotel and the kids didn't need much persuasion to fall asleep. Around 2am Aidan woke up vomiting and continued to do so throughout much of the night. I felt so bad for him but he was incredibly good through it all. When he felt like he was going to throw up, he would say, "Bathroom, Mommy", then wait to get to the toilet before letting loose. He also asked for a bath a couple of times. He kept pretty quiet through it all so the kids were able to sleep through it.
The next morning we went out to the beach before we had to check out of the hotel. No jellyfish this time! We had a great time jumping in the waves.












Super Tissin!

















It's nice now that the kids are older that we don't feel like we have to worry so much about them running off or getting washed away.


























Aidan was feeling much better so he got in a little fun as well.












We finished off our day with doing a little bicycle riding (Mom nearly died on that one)
















and watching the Navy jets take off and land.













Kirstin finished off the day opening the jar of pickles that she canned. She couldn't wait to taste them. Hoowhee! Them thar are zippy pickles! She was quite pleased with the results.
We sure love our Kirstin. Her sweetness makes our home a better place. She's a tremendous help, wonderful playmate, has a natural talent for teaching and nurturing and is Daddy's little girl. I delight in her imagination and creativity. I love to hear her play the piano. She really enjoys playing and does so many times throughout the day. Her fingers are quite nimble! I couldn't imagine life without you, little roo. We love you!