I'm way behind!

Hope you have some time on your hands because this is the beginning of a small chapter book.

Chapter 1 Virginia

On the Tuesday after Easter, my mom and dad flew in for a week. We picked them up in Philly for a what was supposed to be a few fun days relaxing at the beach at Ft. Story, VA. The weather was cold and rainy so instead of hanging at the beach we spent Wednesday at Colonial Williamsburg. It was a dreary day, we had to wait in lines for everything, and it was quite the disappointment for everyone. The highlight was our lunch in the basement of a tavern.


We toured the Governor's Mansion where there are beautiful gardens in the back complete with a maze. The kids spent time running through it.

To top the day off as we were heading back to the Visitor's Center it began to pour. Everyone was cramming onto the shuttles and there wasn't any space left for us. We were pretty soggy by time we made it to the van.

We slept well after a few spirited games of Rook!

Thursday morning we toured Ft. Story. There is an old light house and a new modern light house. You can climb to the top of the old one - so we did.

There were close to a hundred steps to get to the top. Mom was a trooper!

The view from the top was beautiful and we all made it! This point on the beach is where the first Virginian settlers landed in 1607. They eventually traveled up the Chesapeake Bay and settled Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. You can see the new lighthouse behind everyone.

After that we made our way back to New Jersey. We traveled across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which is considered one of the seven engineering wonders of the modern world. There are a couple of tunnels where you actually drive under the water of the bay where the shipping channels are located. One side of the bridge is in Virginia the other side is in Maryland. I think with bridges and tunnels it is about 17 miles long.

Obviously I didn't take this picture. If you would like to read more about this amazing bridge you can google it. It is fansinating.

Chapter 2 New Jersey - Birthdays

While Grandpa and Grandma were here we celebrated birthdays. Maddie's birthday was on the 17th and she turned 12 and Nick's was on the 27th and he turned 13. (I know - I am far too young to have a teenager! Thank you very much!)

We lit the candles, sang to Maddie, she blew them out.

We added one more candle, sang to Nick and he blew them out.

We also spent a day at Dad and Nadine's and celebrated Papa Causey's birthday and Nick and Maddie's birthdays there as well. The extra wonderful bonus was that Charles' brother, Uncle Nathanael was able to join us. I think I used my Mom's camera that night so when she emails me the pictures - I'll post them.

Chapter 3 New Jersey - Other

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of all the Rook that was played. Isaiah is becoming quite a card shark. He plays Rook with the big dogs. I think the first hand he was dealt he shot the moon and made it!

Dad took Nick and Isaiah fishing to a pond near our house that is supposedly stocked but they never came home with anything to prove it. While they were fishing...

I had Mom busy making curtains for the living room...



dining room...

kitchen...
and Hannah's room.

These are my absolute favorite! Everything turned out awesome as you can see.

We watched Hannah play a ballgame on Saturday. Her team tied 16 - 16. We played a few ballgames at our house as well. We had a fabulous time with Grandpa and Grandma here. We took them back to Philly on Tuesday.

Chapter 3 Sports

I have a few pictures of Nick at a meet last week. Every meet he continues to improve his times. Here he is at the start of the mile.

This always makes my heart start to pound, my hands sweat, and gives me the urge to go to the bathroom. You would think I would be over the adrenaline surge by now - and it's not even my race!

And finishing the mile...

He had a meet today as well. He finished the mile with a time of 5:39 and placed 3rd! He also runs the half mile. Today his time was 2:41. He usually places about third or fourth in that event as well.

Isaiah started baseball. His team is the Dodgers. I need to take some pictures - he looks so cute! He just got his shirt and hat today.

Charles and I are playing on a co-ed team. Our practices have been at 7:00am! That is sick and wrong. I have played a lot of ball and never before have I had practice at 7:00am! The grass is soaking wet. I come home with wet shoes, wet socks, wet feet, yuck! Not sure if any pictures of those games will grace these pages!

The end!

Confession

We didn't go to church last weekend...we went camping...on Easter. We went up to the Delaware Water Gap in Northern New Jersey along the Delaware River which borders Pennsylvania.

Very scenic area of the state.
It was very cold however and our campground didn't have electrical hook-ups - a detail we found out a little too late. We nearly froze our bunzels off! We made the best of a cold, drizzly weekend.
A little hiking,

a lot of wood gathering, some reading and relaxing.




The most exciting part was the skunk in our campground during the night the first night. We stayed quiet and it went on its way.
We had our own little church service Sunday morning then roasted our Easter hot dog meal and packed up and headed home.

Grandpa and Grandma flew in on Tuesday and they are here for a week to enjoy our spring break and celebrate birthdays. We will post more soon!

Wouldn't Ya Know!

Hannah had her first game tonight - and they won 13-3! Hannah made several great plays throwing girls out at first and third. Her first time up to bat the first baseman bobbled the ball and then tagged Hannah rather than stepping on the base and wouldn't ya know - she tagged her right on the nose! Tears followed, along with an icepack but the next inning Hannah was right back out there making more of her stellar fielding plays. She was down right tough in the infield!

Isn't she an Angel?!

Just an Update

Well, Hannah-babe is doing fine. She turned a little greenish-yellow across the top of her nose but nothing too spectacular as far as color goes. Her nose is still very tender but it looks great. She was back at ball practice tonight and is ready for her first game of the season on Thursday.

Nick had his first track meet today. He placed 4th in the mile with a time of 5:43. Three guys from his own team beat him - all 8th graders. Very respectable. About 10 minutes after the mile he ran the half. He placed sixth with a time of 2:43. He also threw shot put but I don't think he placed in that one. I couldn't stay until the end of the meet because I needed to help at Hannah's practice tonight too. The weather is chilly - a very cold wind today. I donned my cuddle-duds before the meet and was very glad. I know - compared to some places in this country - I really can't complain.

Speaking of some of those "other" places, I hope Settlers was played tonight with all respect and good sportsmanship. The rest of us don't think it is too nice that you all are having fun without us as Charles gets to spend a few days in MN for "work." Please let me know who the champion was tonight!

Our first Break

Yes we have finally arrived. We have had our first big break...Hannah broke her nose last night. She was playing catch with her Dad and he threw the softball as high and as hard as he could saying, "This is the last one!" That started a tussle between Hannah and Isaiah as to who was going to catch it. Isaiah bumped Hannah and she caught it - with her nose. I could tell that it was more than just a bump. I had Charles take her to the Dr. After an X-Ray, the Dr. confirmed that it was broken. She is staying home today taking Tylenol and I'm trying to get her to keep an ice pack on her face. The color isn't very impressive yet but I will post more pictures if it improves.

The only thing she has now is some swelling.