Easter Beach Trip

This year we decided to take a spring break and head to the Outer Banks for some beach fun minus the beach weather and crowds. We stayed in Corolla in a house right on the beach and big enough for everyone. From the front...

And from the back...

Posing with Grammy...

The main living room...

And the kitchen/dining room. We all loved the table which seated 12 comfortably and had an awesome view of the ocean.

Tony's favorite room in the house. We nearly had to pry him out of it, and I think I saw a tear in his eye when we left it for good.

We did lots of fun things with Simone, and her and her cousin Madalyn were inseperable the whole week. Blowing bubbles on the balcony...

A bubble bath...

And matching pjs...

The puzzle gang was persistent...

The masterpiece.

Tony's typical position, when he wasn't in the theater room. We think he's trying to see how many pieces of electronics he can use at one time.
Lots of time for crafts. Here the girls are decorating Easter egg trees with Grammy.

And they decorated Easter eggs.

And of course, there was LOTS of beach time.

Simone's favorite pastime on the beach was collecting sea shells and then burying them in sand. We must have buried hundreds of shells that week.

For the most part, we had the entire beach to ourselves. It was amazing.

You can really tell how many blonde highlights Simone is getting. We wonder how blonde she will get this summer out in the sun.

Silly songs on the porch...

Of course we took advantage of the blustery beach to fly our kites.

We also got in a little biking.

And chalk drawing on the driveway.

The last Friday of our week was mommy's birthday and the girls made us delicious cupcakes.

Then daddy took mommy out for some very rare grown up time. Simone went to dinner with Grammy and Pop pop that evening and asked why she couldn't go with mommy and daddy. Grammy told her that she was too little and it was only for big people. She replied, "Oh, I wish I could fit in that restaurant with mommy and daddy." We missed her every minute, but had a wonderful dinner, right on the water with a table right be the window and a stunning view of the sunset.

Mommy's attempt at creative photography. Like it?

We got home on Saturday and then had Easter in Virginia. After church we had Easter brunch at Tuscarora Mill and for the first Easter ever, Simone was actually awake to eat with us.

Snowpocalypse 2010!!

Well, we survived the blizzard of 2010. Our official snowfall for Sterling was 32.6 inches; but some of the drifts are much much higher. The storm was part exciting, part scary, and part boring. Simone has cabin fever already and we will have a HUGE mess to contend with for the next week or more, especially if we get the next storm they forecast for Tuesday. The government closed early on Friday and we are hoping it will be closed for Monday. Loudoun county schools are closed Mon and Tues and rumor is starting they will shut down for the whole week.


Tony spent all of Sunday morning shovelling and chipping away the 4 inches of ice under the snow. But the sun is shining bright today which is helping melt the snow fast.
Here's Simone's first snow angel. She's a pro at making them now....

The backyard. These are the tops of the small trees next to the bushes.

Our gas grill is on the left, almost 3/4 buried.

You can barely make it out, but these are our side hedges and the neighors driveway under a drift. Their car is in there somewhere.

Tony shovelled several times during the blizzard, so our car was easy to find when it was all over.

And this morning Simone too ventured out to have some winter fun.

Simone called this her snowball.

Alot of the wind blew off the roof, but even still it covers 1/4 of the window.

Good luck delivering our mail US postal service!

Stuck in the snowbank.

This is pitiful. Simone didn't have a sleigh, so she scooted herself all the way down the hill. Yes, we're bad parents...

This tree didn't make it. I suspect many more will fall over the next few days. We just keep praying we don't loose electricity. So far, so good.

And no snow storm would be complete without hot coco after playing in the snow.

Christmas 2009

Yes, a little late, but I finally got a chance to post our Christmas pics. Here's the three of us on xmas eve. This year Simone was old enough to understand the holidays and burst with all the excitement little kids do at this time of year.



This year, she was also able to help mommy set the table for Holy Night Supper. Before...

After...

Then, a sword fight with daddy...

Dressed for Mass on Christmas Eve, but no smiles...

Simone was fascinated by the manger scene at church. And after Mass she went up for a good, close look a the baby Jesus.

After dinner, we got in the spirit for the gift exchange with her cousins....

Christmas morning, Simone found LOTS of presents from Santa. She was a very good girl this year and gave up her pacifiers. We're still working on the whining and potty training.

Simone's FAVORITE present was her dress up princess shoes.

Too much excitement for one little girl. This occasion marks the only time in Simone's whole life that she actually fell asleep on her own, watching cartoons.

The day after Christmas, we went with Madalyn and her parents to see Disney on Ice. It was Simone's first show and she did pretty well. She's growing up fast.