The Golden Champions

Abigail's soccer team is called the Golden Champions and she is the team captain! She has learned a lot about soccer already and has so much fun playing with her teammates. She scored her first goal when they played their second game. Here are some pictures from that game.

Just relaxing

We have spent a lot of time just relaxing since I got home. Good thing we were working on a lot of projects around the house when I was coming home for the weekends because we haven't done much with the house these past couple of weeks besides some work in the yard and more mulching!! Abby has had swim lessons on Mon-Thurs mornings the past two weeks and then her soccer or tae-kwon-do in the evenings so our weekdays have been super busy.

The girls love to play in the sprinkler! You can see Abby running back and forth and jumping right through the middle, while Adri prefers to hang out on the sides and feel the "rain." It hasn't been too hot yet this summer, but it sure helps us cool off to play in the water.




They also like the mist on the water hose and their pretty curls just glisten in the sun!!

Mommy's commuter car

I start back to work next week and am going to have to drive about 60 miles round-trip so we thought long and hard and decided it would be best to get a commuter car that was better on gas mileage and also so I wouldn't put a lot of wear and tear on the Enclave, because we love that car! We looked around and found a great deal on a Honda Civic. Quintin had a cute idea to get a white one so now all of our cars are white. We like white because it looks great, stays cool in the summer, and any dings or scratches are really hard to see. The girls like to sit in it and listen to the radio- who knows maybe it will be passed on to Abby as her first car...

Fun on a rainy day

Adrianna's first dentist appointment

She had her first trip to the dentist and did great! The glasses were a little big, but she didn't seem to mind. I'll work on posting a video later of her sitting in the chair as they reclined her- it is pretty cute. She let them put it all the way back and then said, "all-done!" If only going to the dentist was that easy!!

Last day of swim lessons

She did a great job in her swim lessons this summer. We found a great swim cap that kept her curls dry and chlorine free and she also liked wearing her goggles so she could swim with her face in the water.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg

We decided to take the girls to Busch Gardens since we weren't able to go to Sesame Place. They have a new section called Sesame Street Forest where all the characters are. There were a lot of rides in that section that even Adrianna could ride. Poor Quintin squeezed his legs into one of the kiddie rollercoasters with Abby and he was glad she didn't want to ride it again! We went to that section first so then Adrianna was able to have a nice long nap in her stroller.

There was also one that Abby didn't like at all. It was called the Big Bad Wolf, and it was a ride that hung from an overhead rail, and you were in cars that could swing side to side- it is in the second picture. Abby was tall enough to ride, but it was pretty shaky and the g-forces were too much for her little head and neck! She liked everything else she rode, especially the battering ram, which was just the big ship ride that goes back and forth.

We had lunch in Germany and the girls had some cute Elmo cupcakes. Adrianna really liked the icing on hers!! Abby got called up to dance in the show they put on! She has the best luck with that kind of stuff.

Planting Flowers

The fruit and vegetable garden that Abby and I planted soon after we bought the house hasn't grown anything, so we thought we would try our luck again but this time with flowers. Thankfully those have already started sprouting and we can't wait to see how pretty they become.

4th of July

We had a great 4th. We grilled, played outside, and had ice cream for dessert. Quintin was sad his wasn't the slow-melt kind like the girls' popsicles.



We could even see the fireworks from our house. Adrianna loves her big sister, but isn't always in the mood for hugs and kisses!

Finally home!!

I finally finished Department Head school on July 1st and headed home. We had planned for Q and the girls to fly to Philadelphia and I was going to drive down and pick them up so we could go to Sesame Place and then we could all make the rest i=of the trip home, but that didn't work out. When Quintin got to the airport they told him his flight had been cancelled and the earliest they could get to Philly would be 10:30 that night- which was too late because by that time I could have driven all the way to Virginia. So- that is what I did and I made it home just before 10 p.m. Here are some pictures from the "graduation" we had.

Virginia Zoo

The zoo here in the Hampton Roads area isn't bad. We were glad it wasn't too big because it was a pretty hot day. They had a lot of animals and the prairie dogs were so funny- they kept fighting over who was going to get to sit on the top of the bubbles- you can see the chubby one that looks like it is sitting on top of Quintin's head.

Father's Day in Newport

Quintin and the girls came up for their last trip to Newport for a while. I finish class next Wednesday and will finally be home with them in Virginia!! We had a pretty fun weekend, although the weather wasn't the greatest up here. Saturday we drove up to Boston to go to the children's museum and the girls had a lot of fun. Adrianna was able to do more now that she is older and they had some new exhibits that we hadn't seen before.



One of Abby's favorites was a new section they had about children with disabilities, and they had a kid-sized wheelchair that the she could try to maneuver around in as well as a section with eye masks and walking sticks so you could see what is is like to be blind and try to get around. While we were in Boston we drove through Harvard Square and saw tons of kids waiting in lines for summer school admissions. It really is a beautiful campus there in the heart of Boston. I think it would be nice if the girls wanted to go to Harvard- hopefully on some sort of scholarship though because their tuition is outrageous!!
For Father's Day we took Quintin to a fabulous barbeque lunch at the Officer's Club. The food was great and the deserts were even better! We then were able to get into a sneak peek of Ice Age 3 in 3D! The movie was pretty cute. Adrianna slept through almost the whole thing, which was good I guess because she didn't want to leave her 3D glasses on and it might have hurt her eyes to try to watch the whole movie without them on.

This morning they were off to Virginia and made it home by lunch time. Abby also starts soccer tonight and is really excited so I will be posting some more about that soon. Quintin said the weather is really nice, so that should be great for her. This weekend we got all of her gear- some cute shorts, cleats and soccer socks. We had already gotten her some pink shin guards a few weeks ago, so now she is all set.

Here is a picture of the girls playing in the back when they got home. We are happy that our grass is starting to look pretty green. Guess all of that fertilizer does work after all!

Oh, sorry about the grainy photos, we didn't have our nice camera with us this trip and used our iPhones.

Mourning the loss of a friend

We are so sad- our little turtle friend must have been hit by a car while trying to cross the street!! We think it had to have happened at night and they didn't see him. We told Abby he is in turtle heaven and she said she thinks he must be happy now with all of his other turtle friends! We'll miss him.



Quintin stopped and took this picture because I didn't believe that a turtle would have been so flat...

What a great gift

For our anniversary Quintin made me the most precious gift!! He made some scrapbook pages of us. He borrowed some "tools" from his sister, and he and the girls picked out all of the decorations and pages and stuff. He did such a great job. I have wanted to scrapbook, but haven't had that much time and he said he wanted to do something special for me and also help get me started!! Here are a couple of the pages he made- these are of our graduations.

Twelve fabulous years!!

Quintin and I have been married for 12 years!! Isn't that wonderful? We almost can't believe it ourselves because the time has gone by so quickly. Most people are surprised because we are only 30, and we don't have a 12-year old kid, so it wasn't like it was a "shot-gun" wedding! :) He is the most caring, loving, patient, funny, smart, honest person that I have ever met and I am so glad that he is mine! Not only is he a great husband and my best friend, but he is also the most dedicated father. One day we would like to take a "beachy" vacation and renew our vows- just us and the girls. Maybe for our 15th- we'll see. Regardless, we are looking forward to many, many more years to come!

Tae Kwon Do

Abby had to shift over from karate to tae kwon do since we moved to Virginia. She really likes it though. In this class they get to spar on Thursdays. Abby is pretty tall for her age, so she usually gets paired up with kids that are older. She often spars with the little girl in the pink helmet (Quintin told me she is ten years old!!) in the video - Abby is in the red helmet.

When she first started Abby was getting pushed around a lot. The other little girl has quite a weight advantage over Abby, and she was using that to help her. Abby has been practicing and can hold her own now!! They tend to do a lot of pushing, almost like sumo wrestlers, but she does get in a couple of kicks, punches, and some pretty good blocks.

The other night Quintin said they ran some drills where they started sitting down with their backs touching. Then they had to jump up and push the other one down. Abby beat her 3 out of the 5 times and was so proud of herself!!

Riding around

The girls like to go cruising the culdesac! Abby seems to like to make left turns a lot, but Adrianna doesn't mind. She is just happy to ride around with her big sister!!

Baby frogs

This weekend we went for a walk and found a bunch of baby frogs! We saw at least five or six of them and Quintin was able to grab one so we could get a picture. Abby didn't want to touch it, but when she hopped back on her bike and rode down the sidewalk a little bit she passed another one and said, "Oh, there's another one! I didn't run over it, did I?" She hadn't of course, but I thought that even if she did I don't think I could have told her.