Memorial Day Weekend

Yesterday, we decided we were going to go down to Richmond, VA,. Our last minute plan was to leave on Sunday, stay overnight and come back on Monday. Even though it's not too long of a drive, we had decided to stay overnight so we wouldn't feel rushed. So this morning we packed up the car and headed out.

First stop of the day was to check out Pocahontas State Park because we saw they had a fun pool with sprinklers and water park type stuff (I am not sure what to call it). We had fun. As usual, Aubrey was a little hesitant, but Alex just went right in the pool and down the slide.

After being there a couple hours we realized that Alex wasn't feeling well, so we decided to hop in the car and drive around so he could sleep a little bit. We started driving around and during this time, Dave and I realized that maybe we should not stay at a hotel and just go home after we had finished what we wanted to see. We weren't sure we wanted to deal with a sick Alex at a hotel room, so we were able to cancel our hotel reservation. But we had one more stop to make (Alex wasn't terribly sick or we would have just headed right home).

The only other thing that we really wanted to do in Richmond was to check out Cold Harbor Battlefield National Park . We found it and enjoyed walking around. The weather had turned out to be beautiful, so it was nice to see what nature had provided. There was also a somber feeling to realize how many people may have died where we were standing. It felt very appropriate to go there on Memorial Day Weekend. We are going to try to do something like this on every future Memorial Day weekend. It puts a reason to having the day off. We need to remember what happened in the past got us to where we are today.

Only problem with the day is that we just didn't have it in us to take any pictures. Just wasn't a picture taking day. I wish I would have taken a couple, but I just wanted to see the day through my eyes and not through a cameras.

(BTW, we are thankful that we decided to come home because Alex isn't feeling well and it wouldn't have been fun in a hotel room.)

Dave's Birthday

Celebrating Dave's Birthday. The kids wanted all of us to wear birthday hats.

I just want to add that I made the carrot cake for Dave from scratch. Cream cheese frosting was made from scratch too. Aubrey did help quite a bit by stirring the ingredients for me. Can I also add that it was really good. At least I thought so.

Sharing

Sharing....yes, it does happen every once in a while.

Opening Presents from Aunt Kendra

My Mom brought Alex and Aubrey's birthday gift from Aunt Kendra. Alex and Aubrey love opening gifts....but who doesn't. : )

Odds and Ends

Here are are few other pictures of my Mom's visit.


Grammie, Bonnie, Dave, Aubrey, and Alex waiting for the Metro

Dave and his favorite Mother-in-law

There is always a puddle to play in. : )

Trip to FDR Memorial

During my Mom's visit, we went to the FDR Memorial. My Mom's friend, Bonnie, drove with my Mom from Florida to here and then she helped with the drive from here to Michigan. We are very glad that she could join us.

Aubrey and Grammie

(Alex didn't want his picture this week.)

Grammie in town

My Mom (Grammie) is in town and we are having a good time. Can't wait to share some pictures.

One Persons Junk is Anothers Treasure

Alright...the truth is out. We sometimes take stuff from the trash or from "Please take me" signs. Trust me though, that we don't do this very often and we are picky and only take things we need.

Here is a dresser that had a "Needs a new home" sign on it a couple years ago. We saw it when we were driving around one day. It did need a little work...new dresser handles, a little polish and some holes needed to be filled. But this has become my dresser and it works perfect and matches Dave's dresser and wardrobe. So it was FREE plus the cost of handles, polish and a little wood putty. Oh, and Dave's hard work to make it nice.



Here is a chair that we have in our backyard. When I lived in a townhouse with my sister, Andrea, and a friend...we saw that our neighbor put this in the trash. I think at the time, it was painted black. So we got the 2 chairs and my sister spray painted them blue (her favorite color). Since then, they have been green (my color of choice). Every couple years they need a new coat of paint, but I have to admit that they are very comfortable chairs and I still have them. Our neighbor had only put out 2 in the trash. Dave and I were doing a bike ride one day and saw another person put out 2 more in the trash that were exactly the same. So we rode back home and got the car and went back to pick them up. We tried to do it quickly because it is a little embarrasing. But now we have 4....all spray painted green. We love them. They just need a little spray paint every now and then. (I only regret that we didn't get the table that was in the trash too.)

It is kinda hard to see in this picture...but that blue that my sister used must have been some great spray paint because it sometimes shows up after the green paint gets chipped.

Our latest treasure find was this sandbox. A neighbor had it near the end of the road. So Dave asked if they were getting rid of it. Sure enough they were. Dave cleaned it up, added some play sand, and it has made a perfect addition to our back yard. Of course, it is a little faded. But I am sure if we had bought a new one (which we were going to do) it would have faded within a year too.

Birthday Gathering

On Saturday, we had a Birthday gathering with some friends of Alex and Aubrey's and their families.
Aubrey is fascinated with her birthday cake.


Getting ready to blow out their candles

Alex and Aubrey ready to play with the spiderman on his cake.

Having fun on the playset with our friends.

Aubrey and her friend Sarah.


The Alnoor family celebrated with us. We are so glad they could join us.



We rented and moonbounce for the day and everyone had a bunch of fun...even the big kids (aka adults).

Just a silly picture of the four of us before the moon bounce company came to pick up the moonbounce.