We're Back!

Sorry about my absence from blogging. Things have been busy here...Easter, Art Masterpiece, 6th grade science camp, soccer, basketball, clogging practice, 6th grade Greek Olympics, more basketball, clogging practice, Dad and Mom Isco visiting, Art Walk, Maggie's First Communion and Confirmation, Girl Scouts, more basketball, and a Band Concert. Phew! We can't wait until school is out!!! Or at least I can't...then I'll just have to worry about getting the kids to the pool for swim team practice...and they can ride their bikes there. I'll try to sum things up with some pictures to make things interesting.



Easter is not Easter without coloring hard-boiled eggs. Hung out outside on Good Friday and colored eggs.



The kids Easter morning hunting for their baskets.



Easter Egg Hunt at the club. TJ, Bradley, Andrew, Trent, Taylor, Maggie and Alex. Everyone gathered for the early egg hunt. We had our day of Easter meals and some swimming at the club. Then we gathered in the evening for deserts and let the kids ride bikes and play...it would have been so nice if we would have had Monday off. But it was back to school for the kiddos on the day after Easter.





Some pictures of eggs in our yards for our backyard hunt. We found a bird's nest in the lemon tree Easter morning.

Isco's

The kids were excited for our next round of visitors...Angelina and Isabelle! And, of course, Uncle Bill. They got here Friday night and were excited to play with the kids.


Saturday, they got a taste of our usual routine...basketball game, soccer game, soccer game...we did get lucky that they were here on the only weekend that Maggie and Andrew were playing at the same time-less time at the fields for us.

The kids swam for a while and then hung out with some of our friends. Of course, Maggie had them at the end of the street climbing in the trees. Angelina said she couldn't climb the tree, but Bill got a picture to prove that she was off the ground. The kids played, ate, and swam until they all conked out.

Sunday night we went to a neat outdoor place to eat...complete with a singing "cowboy". Once it gets dark they have these fire pits everywhere for warmth and roasting marshmallows! The kids were all tired and hungry when we got there, but all was good once we got our food.



Monday, all the Orr kids had school, but we headed to the club pool once the girls got home from school. Tuesday, we headed up to the zoo without Christine and Maggie. It was a hot day, but the kids cooled off in the new water splash zone. Isabelle was a little leery about getting wet early in the day, but after she got hot enough she was willing to get her clothes wet. I asked Angelina and Isabelle what their favorite animals were, but now I forget...I think one of them liked the spider monkeys. I know Andrew's favorite is always the iguanas. He starts asking to see the "lizards" as soon as we walk into the zoo.

Their last night here we hung out at home...the kids got in the hot tub and the pool. They had fun hanging out with their cousins. We were sad to see them go, but we'll get to visit in July!

I couldn't post all of my pictures...so there are a ton more on the photo website.

Air Tran

I just checked to make sure I hadn't already written about this...and I haven't. I don't think we've ever flown Air Tran, but it was our least expensive option to get back to Ohio this summer. It is Air Tran policy that if you want to pick your seat you have to pay extra. I'm not talking about aisle and window seats. I'm talking about if I want to sit next to my children I have to pay extra for each ticket.

Now at first, I figured we'd just go with the luck of the draw. I wasn't going to pay extra to sit next to Andrew. Can you imagine? I would drop him off next to some nice businessman thinking he was going to get to work on his laptop the whole trip. After 10 minutes of Andrew talking to him, he would be paying ME to switch seats with him. I could make some money by not having us sit together.

But then I thought of the girls having to sit next to some weirdo. Maggie is not thrilled about flying anyway. So, I got back on the computer and paid to have us all close to each other on the flight to Ohio and the flight back. Separate fees for each direction-what a rip off. I will be next to Andrew...so no reading or sleeping for me on the plane.

Happy Birthday to You!

Steve just happens to share his birthday with Bradley, Kim and Bob's son. And Bob's birthday is the next day. Kim came up with the idea to have a birthday dinner for all of them together. It was quite a good time for all. Jennia got glasses for the "Birthday Boys".

The pictures show some of our crew. I think Taylor had already left for dance...and somehow Bradley wasn't in the pic with the kids. This must have been when they were blowing out the candles on the cake! Steve had quite a birthday week!

More Fun Stuff

Saturday, I rested my eyes and the rest of the crew headed out to a spring training baseball game. Indians vs. the Dodgers-the only sell-out of the year. Sorry to say, the final score was not in favor of the Tribe. Not that it matters, because it was only spring training. The pics are the gang before they left-all in Indians apparel, Maggie watching the game with the sold-out crowd, and Andrew in the train with Rick-AKA "Ricky Bobby".


Everybody at the game, Christine and Andrew hanging out, and the kids running the bases. After the game, they let kids run the bases. Christine got a ball signed by Bob Feller and Maggie got an official game ball. Andrew played on all the kids' stuff all day.


Sunday, even though it wasn't Steve's birthday quite yet, we headed out to lunch to celebrate. I don't think we've ever been at the Roadhouse for a birthday before-if we have, we didn't notice what they did. They had Steve sit on a saddle when they did the birthday chant. He was a good sport and it was entertaining. Thanks to the Orrs for a great day!

And this is our monkey children with the Gokeys. Hanging out in the trees has become one of their favorite past times. Grandma and Grandpa walked down to the end of the street to take a picture of them-I'm hoping if I don't go down there, no one will realize they're my children! I don't think I got a picture of the kids playing war and Clue with Grandma and Grandpa. They had so much fun-even Taylor is missing playing cards with Grandma!

Grandpa and Grandma Orr

The kids were excited for our second week of break because Grandma and Grandpa Orr were coming to visit! They arrived pretty tired after their three day drive, but the kids still kept them up for a few hours. It was so nice to have them here for the week.

Tuesday, Steve and the kids took Grandma and Grandpa (or as Andrew says "grandpa and grandpa") for a walk up to the club. When they got back they were hot enough to jump into our freezing pool. They warmed up in the hot tub for a while. Then we all got the privilege of watching a show put on by our two dancing queens, Christine and Maggie, in the evening...Andrew just watched the show, but got in for the picture.

Wednesday Tom and Donna got to meet everybody around our neighborhood. We headed to the park in the morning and then went up to the pool in the afternoon. I should rephrase that...before we let Tom head to the park we had him busy in the kitchen making us an apple pie...it was yummy.


Thursday, we headed out to Goldfield Ghost Town. It's right by Superstition Mountain-the most photographed spot in Arizona after the Grand Canyon...I was listening to our conductor on the train ride. We rode the train this time. We had never done that before.

Okay...time for eye drops...more later.