ETHAN turns 12

July is a busy month for birthdays but we were able to get away just me and the boys with Lisa and Austin to Sea World. They really enjoyed watching the show. ALL they wanted to do was seat in the splash zone. He are some pictures Ethan took from the front row...

On Sunday we had everybody over for cake and ice cream to celebrate the big day...

Swimming Awards

Swim team is finally over and the boys really enjoyed almost all of it. They missed the Championship because we went to sea world for Ethan's Birthday. Here they are getting "I swam on a team" trophy.

GOOD JOB BOYS... CAN'T WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR!!!!!

Alaska

From Ethan: On July 14, 2008 I went to Alaska with my dad, and grandpa Hand. We had to drive to Orlando to catch our plane. We flew on Alaskan Airlines. The plane stopped in Seattle Washington, then continued on to Anchorage, Alaska. After we got out luggage from the plain we drove about 4 hours to our campground on the Klutena River. The weather in Alaska was in the mid sixties during the day and down to the 40s at night. It was windy and did rain some but it was not too bad. My grandpa taught me how to tie a fishing knot so that I could change my hooks and lures by myself. We did not catch any red salmon on the Klutena River so we went to Valdies. When we got there we found a place were the Pink salmon were so thick in the water you could almost walk down and pick out the fish you wanted. We used lures call pixies. The fish did not really bite the lures we had to snag the fish with the hooks. The fish weighed between 3 and 5 pounds. They were a lot of fun to catch. Grandpa and me had a fishing contest to see who could catch the biggest fish. I won the first time. Grandpa says he won the second time but I think I really did. We ended up going to Valdies 4 times one of the times I caught a Pink Salmon that I entered in a fishing derby for kids and got a t-shirt as a prize. We got to see a lot of really big mountains, some glaciers and even a couple of dome volcanoes. I had a lot of fun and think I would like to live there some day.

DISNEY

While Bryan & Ethan were in Alaska I decided to take Mom, Riley & Emma to Disney for a couple of days. Sunday we went to MGM and Epcot. We had lunch with some Playhouse Disney characters. Riley was able to see the Indiana Jones show and ride the Star Wars ride.

At Epcot Riley and Grandma saved the earth while me and Emma ate nuts. The also got to talk to Crush and see some sea creatures...

Monday we spent the whole day at DISNEY. And what trip would be complete without some princess pictures, a meltdown and a nap...

We also ate dinner with Cinderella. It was the nicest place you could eat that had mice helping them and a fairy godmother to help your wishes come true......

And just to PROVE RILEY REALLY DID IT......

HE RODE SPLASH MOUNTAIN NOT ONCE BUT TWICE.

On Tuesday Devon and Erin came down and we spent some time at downtown Disney and eat lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.... they sang to the FOUR birthday people there.

It was too much for Emma

Devon's 30th Birthday Party

Devon turned 30 and decided she wanted to PARTY. The theme a

PIRATE MURDER MYSTERY.............

We had alot of fun if you every decide to throw a party the murder mystery is worth it. We had a time finding costumes as you can see. Here's a little secret NEAL made his costumes. He's a pretty good seamstress huh???

Here's a side note... Mom bought Nora a Belle barbie doll and with in five minutes had her completely undone. Erin will not let Nora play with it any more... However she plays with it and makes it talk to me.... Here's the barbie all dressed for the pirate party