Happy Birthday to Me :)

Following our Gatlinburg vacation we stopped  by “home” for a visit over Labor Day weekend.                This visit happened to fall on my birthday, my           thirty-*ahemthirdahem* birthday :). 

Gabe and the kids surprised me, well kinda surprised me, with an awesome bracelet that I requested but they designed. I mentioned it here in an earlier post. And this is it!!!

I love it! I chose the style of bracelet and Gabe and the kids chose the beads and charm. Trinity picked out the green beads and the turtle charm and Keenan choose (with help from Daddy) the blue :).

My mother-in-law was gracious enough to host a surprise birthday dinner for me! It truly was a surprise, with my whole family there. It was nice because I didn’t know if I would get to see everyone while we were down! Thanks for keeping the secret everyone! It was a wonderful surprise :)! In all the excitement I didn’t take any pictures :(, next time I will have to prepare better for my surprise party ;).

My mother in law makes adorable bags which she let me choose from. I picked this fall colored one and she is making me another pink, brown and blue themed one :).                                            Isn’t it adorable!!

Besides the fact that I had a really bad cold it was a wonderful birthday weekend!! I can’t wait to go on a fall shopping spree, thanks Mom, Dad and Grandma :)!

Family and Fun

Part 3 of our July trip back home

We stayed at my sister and brother-in-law’s house for our visit. They were gracious enough to let us take over their basement for the week! We had a great time visiting with them and celebrated my sister’s 30th birthday while we were there.

The kids enjoyed a game of “Mouse Trap”. I remember loving that game as a kid!! It is neat to see my kids enjoying the same games I did as a kid :).

We sang “Happy Birthday” to my sister, part of the cake is already gone because we had to keep the little kids occupied while we played the game and the cake worked like a charm :).

We were trying to find a good place to take a picture of all the kids and this was one of the test shots. It turned out better than the real ones as you will see later in this post.

We always go see Carrie when we are back home to get our hair cut and she styled Keenan’s this time. How stinkin’ cute is that!!

Ainsley wanted her picture taken also. Look at those cute, cute cheeks!

Trinity got an early birthday present from MaMa and PaPa. Tap shoes and Ballet shoes for her upcoming dance class.

My Dad and Ainsley enjoying a snack

My Mom trying to get Ainsley to smile :)

We had grand plans to get a picture of all 5 of the kids. We even found matching out fits (plaid shorts and solid color tops). These were the best ones that we got after many, many shots.

   When they are all grown up we wont care that they are not perfect pictures we will just be glad that we “went to all the trouble” to take them :).

We also went to the airport to pick up my in-laws. They were returning from their 3 week tour of Taiwan. My youngest brother-in-law, Derek, got married there and then he and his wife, Phoebe, took them on a tour of the country. They brought back some great stories and insist that Gabe and I must go visit Phoebe and Derek some time. They even offered to keep the kids so that we can go, I think we might have to find a way to take them up on that :)!!!! Even if it takes a few years to save the money to make the trip! They also brought the kids some great souvenirs (even if they are all noisy!) and an adorable outfit for Trinity.  I 

I can’t wait until Labor Day weekend when we get to see everyone again!!!

The Louisville Zoo

Part 2 of our July trip back home Here is a link to Part 1

The Louisville Zoo recently re-opened their sea lion exhibit and they also have a dinosaur exhibit that is leaving in August so it was on our must-do list when we were back home. Of course the middle of the summer in the Ohio valley is not usually a very comfortable place to be. The heat and humidity is horrible, to say the least! But when your only in town for a few days you go no matter what the weather and enjoy it as much as you can!

Keenan enjoyed the Gorillas

He also drank LOTS of juice to keep cool

The lion was thirsty too!

After he got a drink he wandered over and started ROARING right in front of us! The kids thought this was great!!!!

Trinity got to see her Dinosaurs, she liked these babies that were just hatching.

That is one big dinosaur!!!

Then we had a much needed ice cream break!! We had a great day at the zoo!