Charlotte's 4th Birthday!!

So Charlotte turned 4 last week, we can not believe how quickly time has gone by.  She couldn't make up her mind with regards to the theme for the party so we ended up with a "Cowgirl Princess" theme!! Anyway, she had a ball running around the house with her friends (it was raining all day), and I think the adults had a good time too, we did enjoy a few drinks :)

So here are the photos.....

These are some of Charlotte's friends (L to R) John, Hadley, Cate, Carys, Matilda, Grace and Charlotte.  All the kids got dressed up in their boots and hats or dresses, even some of the adults came in fancy dress!!

Singing Happy Birthday :)

The Princess Cowgirl Cake!! And of course some chocolate crackles in the background.

I think Victoria was a little upset that she finished her cupcake already!!

And after everybody had gone home, Victoria made her self at home!!! Took her clothes off and put Charlotte's hat on, with a dummy of course :)

And this is the Princess Cowgirl herself!!

Hope you enjoyed the pics!!

Jenn :)

Update

Just a quick post to let everyone know I will eventually update this blog again, I've been having issues with a laptop that is completely full! Hence I can't put any photos onto it :) I think we got it all transferred to the hard drive last night so hopefully I will be able to post some photos again soon :) This week is Charlotte's 4th birthday so standby for a lot of princess shots!
Also for those we have not spoken to we will be returning to Australia in late July to start back at work in early August. Can't believe how quickly 2 years has gone by!

Dad's Visit and the North East Trip (Oct 2011)

Wow!! It's been over 3 months since I posted anything, I'm very slack I know, but we were very busy enjoying some visitors over the Xmas break.  Lots has happened so lets see if I can do a quick catch up!!

Dad was here for some of October and we did a big trip up North, stopping at Philadelphia, Boston and New York City.  A few big days driving in the car (me squished in the back with the girls most of the time), but lots of fun.  For the first time we headed over (and under) the Chesapeake bay bridge tunnel, apparently it is the longest bridge tunnel in the world, such a great idea with all the aircraft carriers comming and going :)

First stop was Philadelphia where we did some American history.....we saw the Liberty Bell and the Independence Hall where the Constitution was signed, and of course had a Philly cheese steak for lunch, YUM!! Plus lots more.

Check out the line to get into the Liberty Bell, thankfully it didn't take too long :)

Next stop was Boston, what a great place!! Again a lot of American history, we did a walk through the city called the freedom trail, it took us a lot longer than they suggest (stopping to feed small children and change them etc takes time!!), but it was a great day.  We even managed to use the metro in and out of the city, the girls loved that :)  One of the first stops on the walk was Boston Common, and there was the best duck statue in the park, apparently the lady that made it wanted it to be fun for kids, I think Charlotte approved, she didn't want to leave at all :)

We also saw some real ducks and swans in the pond, check out how close I got for someone who is not a fan!!

And look they started fighting, told you birds are evil :)

Anyway, moving on we saw lots of stuff like the Boston State House and the Old State House, the site of the Boston Massacre, Quincy Markets and of course Old Ironsides (USS Constitution).  Can you believe they still take her to sea, glad I'm not posted there, I thought Navy ships these days were bad enough!!

And here is a shot of the girls having a play in the park after a big day walking (or being pushed in the stroller!!)

Day 2 in Boston we did a tour of Harvard University, so interesting.  The tour guide we had was pretty funny and had lots of interesting little stories for us, plus she didn't seem to mind the crazy kids in the group :)  After lunch we headed back into the city to the childrens museum, thought after all the history lessons we should let the girls play!!

So after Boston, we were off to New York City, and after an interesting drive, straight through the middle of Manhattan on 34th street we finally made it to our hotel in New Jersey.  We tried to see a few different things this time, and also braved the subway (it was actually ok, a little interesting with a stroller but ok).  So we got to Grand Central Station, the United Nations Building, did a ride in a horse and carriage through Central Park, walked down Wall st, saw the Brooklyn Bridge and lots more.  Ted an I also got a night off and had dinner child free while Dad looked after the sleeping girls, Thanks again Dad, it was a great night :)

So after a long drive home from NYC we were back in Virginia Beach.  All in all we added another 7 states to the list of "we have been there states", (plus we got to see a little more of New York State).  Maryland, Pennsylvina, Delaware, New Jersey, Massachuttes, Rhode Island and Connecticut all done!!

After Dad went home we had a few weeks before Mum arrived, but before that was Halloween, what an awesome party....check out the photos!!

Thats about all I have time for tonight, next up will be Mum's visit!! :)

Victoria's 1st Birthday

Ok, so I'm going to jump ahead a bit from our trip to Victoria's Birthday.  We had a busy week last week, with Dad arriving and lots of cooking and baking to do before the party on Saturday.  Friday was her actual birthday but we had a pretty quite day, just a few presents from us and Nanna & Poppy Shocker, Nana & Pop and Uncle Mike. 

Blowing out the candles (or shall I say spitting on the candles!!)

Gifts from Mummy, Daddy & Charlotte, and a Table & chairs from the "Shockers"

Cheeky smiles :)

The party turned out great, we had lots of people here, a mix of Aussie and American friends.  We decided to make the party as Aussie as we could and made Koala and Wombat cupcakes, plus a massive cupcake with a Koala jumping out the top!!  Sausage rolls were also a hit, but can you believe we forgot to make the fairy bread!!!  Anyway we all had a great time!!  Here are some photos :)

The BIG cupcake!!

 and again.

The Wombat Army.

Koala cupcakes.

Victoria loving the attention!!

Yum, cake!!

NO!! Don't give him any, just because his my boyfriend, doesn't mean I have to share :)

Yeah, these don't taste as good as the cake :(

 Just like my sister, I'm good at posing!!

Interesting games with the balloons :)

And yes, my eyes are still BLUE, hopefully they stay that way :)

Just to top off the weekend we took the girls to see Disney on Ice on Sunday. OMG, I have never seen Charlotte sit still and quite for so long :)  It was amazing!!

The West Coast Trip, finally!!

So finally I am going to blog the trip we did back in June/July to the West.  It's taken me a while because I don't really know where to start, there is so much to tell!!!  I guess I should start at the beginning :)

We flew from Norfolk to Portland and picked up the RV and a Suburban (the biggest SUV on the road) there.  From there we drove out to Yellowstone National Park, then back to the coast to catch a ferry across to Vancouver Island, then back down to Portland via Seattle.  Check out this map if you want to see how far it was, but basically it was about 2500 miles, or just over 4000 km!!  The girls and Jayden were in the Suburban and the boys took the RV :) 

The first 2 days were lots of driving, but very pretty driving along the Columbia river to start and then some very dramatic changes in landscape as we moved from Oregon to Idaho.  Our 1st night we arrived very late in La Grande, OR,  after a big shopping trip to walmart and then a huge drive.  We were very glad to get into bed :) The second night we arrived a little earlier at the RV park in Pocatello, ID, although still tired from the driving, but so excited to get to Yellowstone. 

Charlotte relaxing in the back seat of the SUV!!

The Babies in the RV at Pocatello, stretching their legs.

 Our Vehicles for the next 3 weeks and 2500 miles.

Day 3 we took off into Grand Teton National Park and then Yellowstone, I don't really know what to say other than Amazing!!!  It was funny because we were so blown away by everything and this is what the kids were doing.......

Somewhere along the drive we stopped for Lunch, the benefit of following an RV is that all the food and facilities are there :)  For most of us this isn't a big deal, but when travelling with a 3 year old having a bathroom in front of you at all times is Great!!!  When we stopped there was a cute little waterfall across the road that Charlotte wanted to see, it was so tiny compared to some we saw in Yellowstone :)

When Katie was driving and I was not, I was frantically trying to get photos of all the mountains and snow and great stuff we were seeing.  Some how I managed to get a photo of the one and only bike rider in Wyoming!!!

Here are some of the others I got :)

So that and the next 3 nights we stayed at West Yellowstone.  The RV park was pretty good here, a play area for Charlotte to play, indoor heated pool and some snow, in JUNE :)  It was freezing, one day it got down to almost 0C!!  The first day here Ted and JT went fishing in Yellowstone and Katie and I stayed put at the RV park, the kids needed a day out of the car, and we needed to do some washing.....what good house wives we are :)

The next 2 days we spent driving around the National Park, we saw so many things, but to see it all you need about a month I think!!  We saw geysers, fountains, paint pots, bison, a bald eagle, both a grizzly and black bear and elk, No Moose :(  Here are some photos, the bison were everywhere!!

 

This was at the Old Faithful Inn.

And this was Old Faithful going off!!

Ok, I'm going to leave it there for tonight, it's late and I have a big day at the Children's Museum with the girls tomorrow!!  Stay tuned for the rest of the trip, plus some photos from Katie, I promise I will do it real soon :)