Matt's new ride

Happy 3rd Birthday Cooper!

I'm not sure why this picture turned--here is the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake we made for the birthday boy :) The plan was to play outside on the swingset and hang out on the patio, but mother nature had other rainy plans, so...we stayed in and let the kids play.

Niki & baby Natalie

Baby Gabriela enjoying the party.

Pizza picnic on the floor.

Avery, Logan, Carson & Isabel

Camden & Shay

Reagan

Katie, Avery & Isabel

Cooper had fun opening all of his gifts!

Here are a few photos of the aftermath... :)
Happy Birthday buddy!

Aunt Judy visits

Aunt Judy came to FL and got a fair share of sunny days I think...a few rainy ones thrown in...and myself and Cooper with strep throat! However, she avoided it and she and the kids and Matt and I had a nice visit. We spent a morning at the zoo... Here is Cooper in the new underwater viewing area for the penguins--obviously didn't catch any in the background!

Avery had a little stitching lesson...

Avery also had a first grade performance during the week. Each class sang a song about one of Aesop's fables. Avery is bottom center left in the red.

Visit from a Maine friend

Our friends, Dave, Ellen & Carley stopped by on their FL vacation. It was great to see them and Avery and Carley had fun playing together again.

Nana & Papa visit

We had a nice visit with Nana & Papa last weekend. It was busy! Matt ran the Gate River Run, a 15K and I ran the 5K. Nana & Papa enjoyed some time with the kiddos. After the race, we came back and all headed to the beach....

On Sunday, Matt's Uncle Al & Aunt Joan joined us for a cookout. They brought Cooper an early birthday present. Check out the awesome firetruck toy box that Al made for Coop! He loves it!!

Sunday was also Al's birthday, so we celebrated with some cake! Family friends, the Mendenhalls, were also able to join us for the afternoon.

Both sets of guests brought their 2 year old dogs, both named Charley. Here's Charley with Joan meeting Riley.

Quiet time with Papa.

Game time--notice the silly boy in the background!

Dining Out

We had Matt's squadron Dining Out last weekend--a traditional Navy formal dinner. We had fun getting dressed up and having a grown-up night out! Here we are with the XO, Rob and his wife Vicky. They live in the same neighborhood so we rode together to the dinner.
This is Matt's first (of many) trips to the Grog!

With our friend Chris (his wife was up in Maine)

One more from Monster Jam!

Thanks Julie! I didn't have a picture of the boys, but here they are in all their glory! I love this picture--so funny!

Monster Jam!

Cooper & Matt had so much fun at Monster Jam last weekend! They had pit passes, so they got to go early and see the trucks. Here's Cooper and Matt with his little Blue Thunder truck posing in front of the real thing. They didn't wait in line to meet the drivers, they were just happy to see the trucks up close. Although Cooper was hesitant to get TOO close! After, they got to hang out outside of the stadium and tailgate. There was a big sand pit for the kids to play in. One of the sponsers dropped a ton of little monster trucks in for the kids to play with. Cooper lost his Blue Thunder somewhere along the line, but came home with Grave Digger and Brutus.

Matt and Cooper went with Jim, Shay and Camden and another friend Todd and his son Wes. We didn't get a picture of all the boys together, but here is Cooper catching some rays...chillin with his trucks.

Here they are outside of the stadium. It turned into a really nice day! Started out cold and rainy, but as you can see cleared up.

I love it!

It's finally starting!

Here come the trucks!

Here are two of the 70,000 fans that came out for Monster Jam!

(Side note: Avery didn't let me take a picture of her this day. While the boys were having fun at Monster Jam, the girls had a fun afternoon of shopping and dinner. On the way home a quick stop at Target turned into an ER visit with Miss Avery who fell and cut her lip all the way through on a metal clothes rack. It was a traumatizing experience for both of us, but she recovered quickly...stitches came out on Thursday and she is back to herself :)