The Monkeys

There is a park near our home that we call the Monkey Park. Why?
2 reasons:
There are Monkeys
My kids act like Monkey when we go there.

The Monkeys keep the little ones under control by grabbing tails.

Sydney laughs at this over and over and everytime we go to the park she comes home reliving each tail grabbing scene.

You can get pretty close to these monkeys, but monkeys can be very mean so we make sure to keep our distance. There is a mean monkey that lives in our neighborhood and has terrorized our friends.

The kids love playing on the ropes.

Sydney calls herself a Monkey and I would have to say that it is pretty accurate. She is a climber.

Jordan ever the entertainer of Sydney. She is such a good sister.

Spencer makes sure Adam makes it to the top. This was taken before Adam got really comfortable on the ropes.

Ethan showing incredible strength.

Preston showing that he has the same incredible strength.

Adam loves to hang up side down and climb around the ropes.

"The Great Flood"

On one of the first days in our new house, Adam comes running downstairs and tells us that there is a bunch of water in his room. Immediately the rest of the family (except Christopher who was at work) ran up stairs to discover "the great flood". Outside the balcony door, the drain had plugged. Since it was absolutely pouring outside, a plugged drain was a problem.
Ethan and Jordan ran to find towels and mops, Spencer and Preston went into action trying to unclog the drain outside the balcony door. Adam and Sydney were cheering everyone on. After giving a little direction, I went for the camera. Thanks so much to everyone for the quick action. Spencer and Preston made sure that eveything returned to normal and DRY!

You can see the of the bottom of the balcony which was completely full of water and then had flooded into the bedroom. Spencer and Preston started by kicking and scooping all the water out off the balcony.

Christopher,Spencer and Preston's Trip into Outer Space

We thought the kids would enjoy "a trip into space". Spencer and Preston turned out to be the only ones big enough to go on the ride. Ethan really wanted to go, but wasn't quite big enough. We are hoping he grows enough in the next year to be able to go. Spencer and Preston both laughed so hard, I thought they were going to pass out. Christopher has been on this ride before and offered to go again with the boys. Okay, he didn't offer, what really happened is that there had to be three riders to go, and I said I wasn't going.

Spencer, Preston and Christopher preparing for blast off.

A view from the video screen as they were way up in the air.

The Big Adventure

We left for our Big Adventure on February 15th.  We were a little nervous about how the kids would do. Everyone did absolutely wonderfully! Thanks to the whole family for being such good sports. It was around 23 hours in total travel time. After an intial seating problems with Singapore Air, (8 aisle seats) we had a nice, uneventful trip.

Sydney and Jordan

Adam

Ethan

The Boys

After 22 hours of traveling everyone was in pretty good spirits. We arrived a 1:35am to hot and muggy weather.  We quickly ditched the sweatshirts and were grateful for air conditioning in our Vans.

Gymnastics

Jordan and Ethan had an abbreviated Gymnastics season this year. This was Jordan's first year of competitive gymnastics and she did a great job. She was sick for her final meet, but learned alot in her first two.

Adam turns 4!

Adam is 4. He could hardly wait for his birthday. His good friend had a birthday in December and Adam began the long count down until his in February. He kept asking for Manny Destruction. On the day of his birthday he asked again if we had gotten it. I told him I wasn't sure. He looked at me and told me, "Just a minute Mom."

After a few minutes he came back with a delighted smile on his face and told me that I had indeed gotten the right present. The cute little boy had seen his presents in our closet and had gone to check it out for himself.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!

Guess what happens when you turn your head for a second...

I had to run a quick errand. Preston was watching Sydney for a few minutes. When I got home we were both surprised to see what Sydney had been up to. Hey, what else is a permanent marker good for.