Back to Reality

We are home again now. It was only about a 3hour 45 min drive so we got home early enough to actually unpack the car and suitcases. Meredith busted out the rest of her school work and since we were home in time and done with everything, we were off to soccer practices and to the store for the week's essentials. This might have been a bad choice as everyone was completely exhausted by the time the evening was over. It was nice to not wake up to the aftermath of a trip this morning. But I still have a lot to do to keep this house under control. The simplicity of vacation life where you only have a few possessions to pick up and tidy is wonderful. We really need to purge some junk over here. Here are a few pictures of our last day and morning there.
Sunday we had a talent show. Grace started it off with "I'm a little teapot" and a few other songs

The rest of the line up went as follows:
Mer: Jump roping and a couple of karaoke songs
Jack: Nursery Rhymes
Liz: French Braiding demo
Doug: Fung Shui by gnarles barkley
John: Card tricks
Sarah: juggling
Max: headstand and a recap of the belly flop, jack knife, and cannonball he did earlier in the pool.
Grandma: animal noises/calls
Grandpa: Recited "Casey at the Bat"

and the babes played.The next morning we packed up
took a few more pictures

Ate breakfast at Chick-fil-a

and hit the road

with a Chic-fil-a balloon filled car.

Rondesvous in St. Simons

We are on St Simon's Island this weekend with Doug's family. We have had a ton of fun swimming...

and playing at the beach.

The sand here is like mud and Luke was in heaven with a little splash pool to himself.
We went to the top of a lighthouse, the kids counted all 129 steps.
And watched the sunrise over extremely calm beaches full of horseshoe crabs.

We finally met our cousin George, who we have been dying to see in person, and have had fun hanging out with Aunt Lizzy, Uncle John, and silly, curly haired Grace.

It's been a great, relaxing, much needed vacation, and we're all coming back a little more tan than we were. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa. We will miss you Balena's. For a few more pictures check out "beingbalena"

School News

Last night was the annual talent show at school. This year Meredith decided to play the piano instead of sing. I forgot my camera so maybe I'll try to record her playing it at home tonight so you can hear her. She did great and pulled it off with confidence.
We went to school today to eat lunch with the kids and stayed around to watch Max's egg drop. He and his partner wrapped an egg up in recycled materials and the 1st grade held a contest to see who's egg would survive a 30 ft drop without cracking. Our friend the firefighter brought his fire engine and that is why Jack wanted to go, so he could see it. Mr. firefighter even let Jack sit in the driver's seat but Jack was scared and wanted to get down too quick for a pic. He raised the ladder up over 50 feet, and climbed up part way to do the drop.We watched him drop all of the packages. 3 out of about 20 survived. As you can see in the picture below, Max's was not one of them. This was his face after he saw the egg juice dripping out of his container. Priceless eh?


Luke enjoyed showing off how he can stand up everywhere now. Meredith's class was at recess behind us, so he got a lot of attention with all her friends fawning all over him. Here is a clip of him walking, I think it's from Monday. It is so cute to see him toddle around. He's getting so good now that he stands up in the middle of the room and just takes off. Mer counted 20 step with out falling this morning.

Oh, and Max came home this afternoon he was all smiles holding his egg trophy (an easter egg hotglued to the top of a mini m&m canister.) He took third place in his class for the egg drop. Even though his egg broke, only 1 egg in his class survived so they gave second and third place to the heaviest and the lightest package. Max's was the lightest.

This Easter Morn/Spring Break update

After a very busy Spring Break week of playing and playing and playing with friends, a trip to the zoo, learning about sharks at the river....

mischief in the car with the (we love the flip down seats)...

a day trip to Tampa Aquarium and beaches...

A father and son campout...

and a night of dying eggs...

It is finally Easter Morning!!! Happy Easter! The Easter bunny left some clues as to where the kids could find their baskets in these eggs. They followed the clues and found them in the oven (mer), on a plant shelf up high (max), and hanging on the Jacket hooks (jack).

Luke found his in his favorite danger zone, under the brown table.

They hunted eggs and found jelly bellies and fruit snacks inside, Luke gobbled up everything he could get his hands on. I think he has eaten more fruit snacks in the last 3 days than he has in his entire life....
He has become a pro at opening up eggs but I think he most enjoyed pulling the grass out of everyone's basket.
The plan is church next, and hopefully some pictures in the cute new Sunday clothes the kids got. Oh...Luke has been taking steps this week. Of course we haven't been able to catch a video yet. Earlier in the week he was taking 2 or 3 at a time, and yesterday he took 7 straight. It won't be long and we will finally have our little slowpoke walking.

Here they are...don't they look spiffy??

The Vermonster

It's spring break and I have a lot to report, but tonight I've got to write about our Vermonster party last Saturday. We are fans of Ben and Jerry's ice cream here, and the Vermonster is the ultimate B&J ice cream sunday, complete with 20 scoops of ice cream, 16 cookies, toppings, whipped cream, hot fudge and bananas. Well ever since the kids heard about the Vermonster from Doug, they have been dying to get one. So we did it. We invited a few families with us to share the fun.
It came in a bucket that was practically overflowing. Every body got a bowl what had turned into mystery ice cream, all melted together with surprise toppings floating within. Of course it was delicious and we devoured almost the entire thing.
As a funny side note: I guess at B&J's they take a picture of the group who eats the Vermonster with the scoopers who serve it, and then they post that picture on the wall in the store. Since Doug went and picked it up and brought it home to all of us, he said they took a picture with just him holding the enormous tub of ice cream. So he's going to be on the wall of fame at Ben and Jerry's holding the Vermonster by himself. We'll have to make a special trip to see it.

Karaoke anyone??

Friday we had a family karaoke night. Everyone had to participate including Doug and I which was pretty funny. The playlist went down like this;
Mer- Last Christmas, Taylor swift style
Max- You raise me up
Jack- cranked out some memorized nursery rhymes
Sarah- Starlight by Muse
Doug- Heartless by Kanye West
For the next round Doug chose a song for each of us
Mer-can't remember this one
Max- Be a Man from Mulan
Jack- another rendition of Be a Man
Sarah- Taking Chances by Celine Dion
Doug- Love Lock Down by Kanye West

We would have gone on longer if it wasn't way past bed time for Luke, who endured the shear loudness of it all like a champ.
The evening also included a tutorial on Disco and hip hop dancing. We all had a blast.