Christmas....

Christmas was very different this year. In the almost 12 years that Travis and I have been married this was the first year that we have had family at our house. It was great to share the day with others. We also invited our friends Brooke, Levi and there daughter Chloe over for dinner.

Dinner was great and the company we had was even better. I think the kids had a great time and enjoyed their bounty of gifts.

This will be our last Christmas here at Cape Cod. This was also the first Christmas since coming to the Cape that we did not have a white Christmas. Travi was very disappointed but he survived. We had to inform him that Sitka doesn't get much snow either.


Taylor had a holiday recital at school right before her holiday break started. She loved singing the songs...


Santa left quite a bounty of godies


Taylor with her new Cabbage Patch Doll


New jammies on Christmas Eve...Travi only wears his undies to bed so he always gets new undies!

Wreaths Across America...

Every year for the past 16 years a program called Wreaths Across America has sought to lay wreaths on all the grave markers of veterans who are buried across the country.

So every second Saturday in December they are looking for donations and volunteers to help adorn wreaths of the graves. This year our family went to the Bourne Nat. Cemetery to help lay wreaths on some 5000 graves.

There was a beautiful ceremony before the wreaths were to be places. The Patriot Guard was there surrounding the grounds with flags. As well there were speakers from the Gold Star Fathers and other local chapters of Veteran Groups. Wreaths were laid for each of the 5 services as well as the Merchant Marines and POW-MIA. It was a beautiful service.

Afterwards, we took the kids to one of the several locations throughout the cemetery to lay wreaths on the graves of the service members. In all I believe we laid roughly 10 wreaths and I hope we allowed the kids to understand once more the true meaning of service, honor and sacrifice.







Interesting facts that we learned that day were

-Bourne Nat. Cemetery is the second largest veterans cemetery preceded only my Arlington.
-There is an "Unknown" solider buried at Bourne Nat. Cemetery
-There is a revolutionary war veteran buried at Bourne Nat. Cemetery

-Lastly, of the 40,000 grave markers at Bourne Nat. Cemetery only 5000 would receive wreaths this year. That is just a little more then 10%. This is true for most of the cemeteries across the country. This program relies heavily on donations so keep that in mind next year when your looking for a good way to honor our veterans.

The Nutcracker....

This year Taylor has been participating in dance classes through the Sandwich Dance Academy. Every year the dance academy puts on a performance of the Nutcracker the first weekend in December.

This year Taylor was selected for two parts. She was a "Little Soilder" and an "Angel". She preformed two nights after almost 6 weeks of practice and rehearsals. The dance academy performed in the auditorium at the high school.

We were all very excited to see her dance in the big show. She was all smiles with all her little friends and afterwards, her daddy was waiting outside her dressing room with flowers and a nutcracker ornament for her.

She was beautiful....


During one of her dances


At the curtain call


Taylor with one of her favorite lead dancers


Daddy had flowers waiting for her after the show

Hail to our Chief....

On Dec. 1st Travis was promoted to Chief.

They had a small ceremony at the hanger where his citation was read promoting him to the rank of Chief. His mom was able to be here for it and as well the kids were able to pin his new collar devices.

It was a great day and I was very proud of him. He has worked very hard to get to this point. We celebrated with dinner at his favorite sushi place here on Cape.

Looking forward to many more years of witnessing you serve babe!

Turkey Day Pies...

So I didn't get many pictures of Thanksgiving Day this year. I basically spent 2 days in the kitchen preparing the dinner. We invited 4 airmen over as well as 3 of our friends so I had a full house and wanted to deliver a good meal.

The first thing that Taylor and I did to kick off our dinner was make the pies. She loves helping me bake and I love the help. We made Pumpkin, Pecan and Mema's Chocolate Pies this year. All were delicious and it seemed that everyone had a favorite after dinner on Thursday.



I loved having a full house but was exhausted when all was said and done! We have much to be thankful for this year and in the upcoming year.

Just cause....

Because she loved her face paint to so much and wanted me to include it!

Turkey Shoot

A couple of weeks ago Travi participated in a Turkey Shoot with is cub scout den. Basically it was a BB gun/bow and arrow shoot that scouts from all over the Cape gathered to do.

As most know, Travi loves shooting his own BB gun and bows so he was pretty excited about it.


BB Gun Range


Bow and Arrow Range

Halloween 2011

Halloween was great this year. The kids choose their costumes and Trav and I did our best to creat them. Taylor wanted to be a pretty, purple spider witch and Travi was an Alaskan Crab Fisherman.

As well, Trav participated in the costume contest at work. He was the Karate Kid/Shower circa 1986!

We took the kids to the Spooktacular at the school. They both had a blast. I know they will be missing the Spooktacular next year when they are at a different school. We also took the kids trick or treating. Travi was dead set on finding his teacher, Ms. Hill's house and was willing to barter with Taylor in order to not go to our favorite spot on Anchor Dr. So in the end we found Ms. Hill's house at the cost to Travi of having to camp out on the futon in the basement with his sister for two nights.

We then walked around our block so the kids could score some more candy which was inevitably donated to the troops.

Catching up....

Ok so the past few months I have not been very good at blogging. Between the kids busy schedule and devoting any blogging time I may have had to homework I have been a slacker. So I will be catching up quickly as I plan to print our blog into books at the end of the year and don't want to miss anything that's been going on. So I am doing some serious back tracking in order to get caught up.

Clearing my head...

Today after all the festivities of Thanksgiving and the fact that I ate pie for breakfast Friday and Saturday I needed a run. Running is such a great time to clear your head and have thoughts that are uninterrupted by daily life. While running today, I was enjoying the brisk fall air, the even sun setting and the smell of burning fireplaces. It really was so peaceful!! It gave me a chance to once again count my blessings. Uninterrupted by life and clearing my mind I had the chance to think about all the upcoming changes in our life. Trav will pin on Chief in less then a week, we are PCSing in 6 months, I graduate school in 2 weeks, Trav graduates school in 3 months, the kids are growing from babies into well full blown kids. At times I wish life would slow down so I could hug my babies and relish in the moments with Trav. With all this change though, I can't help but ponder and think about the true constants in my life. My husband, my kids and my life.

I am so truly lucky to live this life. We live such an adventure and the four of us have such a love for one another.

I loved my run today and I caught myself smiling throughout it. It felt good to sweat and breath hard. Even more if felt good to think about my blessings and my constants!

Christmas~A New Tradition

Travis and I just discussed this idea the other night. Christmas should not about the quantity of money you spend on each gift or feeling like you have fulfilled an obligation. but more about making memories. Think outside the box this year on your gifts. Put a little more thought into what you will get for each person rather then just making a list and heading to KMART, WALMART or the mall. Honestly, don't you want your gifts to be remembered. This is our goal this year.


As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high
gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods --
Merchandise that has been produced at the expense of American labor. This
year will be different. This year Americans will give the gift of genuine
concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift
giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands. Yes
there is!

It's time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in
a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper?
Everyone -- yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificates
from your local American hair salon or barber?

Gym membership? It's appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some
health improvement.

Who wouldn't appreciate getting their car detailed? Small, American owned
detail shops and car washes would love to sell you a gift certificate or a
book of gift certificates.

Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plonking down
the Benjamines on a Chinese made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift
receiver would like his driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or
driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local golf course.

There are a bazillion owner-run restaurants -- all offering gift
certificates. And, if your intended isn't the fancy eatery sort, what about
a half dozen breakfasts at the local breakfast joint. Remember, folks this
isn't about big National chains -- this is about supporting your home town
Americans with their financial lives on the line to keep their doors open.

How many people couldn't use an oil change for their car, truck or
motorcycle, done at a shop run by the American working guy?

Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a
local cleaning lady for a day.

My computer could use a tune-up, and I KNOW I can find some young guy who is
struggling to get his repair business up and running.

OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin
their own wool and knit them into scarves. They make jewelry, and pottery
and beautiful wooden boxes.

Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave
your server a nice tip. And, how about going out to see a play or ballet at
your hometown theatre.

Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.

Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand Chinese
lights for the house? When you buy a five dollar string of light, about
fifty cents stays in the community. If you have those kinds of bucks to
burn, leave the mailman, trash guy or babysitter a nice BIG tip.

You see, Christmas is no longer about draining American pockets so that
China can build another glittering city. Christmas is now about caring about
US, encouraging American small businesses to keep plugging away to follow
their dreams. And, when we care about other Americans, we care about our
communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn't imagine.

Harpoon...

Since moving to the Cape 3 1/2 years ago Travis has consumed lets just say, mass quantities of Harpoon Beer. He loves their IPA! We have always talked about touring their brewery some day and as our time here on the Cape is winding down, we decided it was time. So we headed up to Boston while Trav's brother Alex was in town for the weekend. He joined us for the tour. It was awesome! We all left slightly intoxicated, and I don't even like Harpoon beer. On the tour, you start consuming beer from the very beginning. You still consume beer during the entire tour and the climax of the tour leads you to the tasting room where you can taste and consume as much beer as possible for 30-40 minutes. Trav wore a smile the entire time. He checked something off his bucket list that day and I aquired the first beer buzz I have had since high school. Good times.....

New Hampshire...part 1

Columbus weekend is traditionally our last camping trip of the season. After that weekend, most campgrounds close up until the following May. This year our Columbus weekend camping trip would be our last in New England. We decided to head back to the same campground that we camped at for the very first time in our trailer in New England. We were off to the lakes region of New Hampshire. An added bonus to this area is that a short 40 miles north puts us in the White Mtns. which is some of the best fall foliage viewing in the country.

Anyone who know me knows I love "leaf peeping" in the fall. Its one of my favorite things to do during the year. This year I was not disappointed and I can whole-heartedly say that the White Mtns have the most spectacular foliage I have ever seen. I have viewed fall colors up and down the West Coast, in Alaska, in the Rocky Mtns and in numerous places in New England and this was by far the best.

I think I said "Holy Shit" to Trav at least 100 times during the weekend. I really could not find the words to describe the colors and the gorgeous landscape up there. Here are some of the landscape shots I took while on our trip...










New Hampshire is known as the Granite State and you can see why from a couple of the pictures. Living on the Cape we miss the mountains and pine trees tremedously. I have also added a new little town to places I could live forever. It is Conway N.H. and that is saying alot about this little town because I honestly have no desire to live forever on the East coast but this town and its surrounding areas were awesome. If you ever get the chance to visit New England in mid-October, don't miss out on this area. You won't be disappointed!

Fairies....

When you are 6 years old fairies are easy to believe in...how can you not believe. So in Taylors 1st grade class last week they made fairy houses to hopefully entice them to visit. Trav and I went into class and helped the kids put them together. All the kids brought in things from nature, as you know fairies love nature.

Trav got extremely creative with his group which included Taylor. Those kids had beds, sinks and even a TV for the fairies to use. Quite the accommodations. Taylor even and a sunk in pine cone footed tub.

Taylor spent several hours, yes hours making sure that everything was perfect on the back deck in case a fairy arrived at our house.






To our surprise the next morning a fairy had in fact been to Taylors house. We know it because we could see magic fairy dust inside the house and the fairy had also sprinkled flower petals inside the fairy house around the outside of it. Taylor was beaming with excitement. Unfortunately we were not able to place the house outside again the next night as it has been rather rainy on the Cape.

We could not agree on which part of the house was the fairys favorite. It was clear she had used the pinecone footed tub and sink as well as laid in the leaf bed. I assume she loved all of it. How could she not....it was amazing!

SCS Wahoo Swimming

Travi loves to swim. The kids could stay in the water constantly if we let him. He seems immune to cold water temps. I have told him for years he is part fish. So when we heard that our town had a competitive swim team we knew it was perfect.

So he started Wahoos about a month ago. They teach the kids all of the basic swim strokes ie: freestyle, breast stroke, back stroke and butterfly and then help them refine their techniques. Travi gets four house of instruction a week and will have his first meet later this month over on Nantucket.

He is doing great. The exercise he gets is awesome and his lung capacity has improved great too.

He got his official team swim cap last week and the team swim shorts. He was a little freaked out that he was going to have to wear a "banana hammock", so he was relieved to see the shorts. I will be posting more pictures of him in the pool later but here he is in his practice getup and then some pictures of the pool he swims at weekly.

Egg Free No More!

Almost 4 years ago Taylor had a gamete of allergy testing done. She had been sick for a while and so finally after 2 years we figured out that she was allergic to tons of enviromental allergens but the one that was causing her the most discomfort was an egg allergy.

So we immediately removed egg from her life. She was 3 years old. Here are a list of things she has not been able to eat:

donuts
cupcakes
brownies
cookies
breads
ice cream
milkshakes
twinkies
cakes
shortcake
pasta
fried foods, chicken nuggets/tenders,
commercial french fries
pancakes
french toast
waffles
pies
chicken noodle soup
candy bars

This list could go on and on. When you are 3, 4, 5 and 6 years old and you are told no to food constantly it gets a bit disappointing. So we as a family removed almost all of these items from our house. We were able to find substitution recipes and pasta without egg but for the most part we stopped eating what she could not have. A food revolution happened in our house. Once I started to make changes I changed our entire diet. We became clean eaters. If I can't make it we don't eat it. Plus, we cut out fast food cold turkey. My kids haven't seen a Taco Bell taco or McDonalds burger in years. I am proud of that. Once you are forced to acknowledge what you are putting in your body it because an eye opening experience.

So when we had her retested a few weeks ago I knew in my gut she had outgrown the allergy. When she finally got word from the doctor she squealed and jumped up and down. I promised her some gourmet cupcakes. I had to deliver. Honestly though, not much has changed in our diets. We are accustomed to a certain type of foods and I plan to keep it that way. I am however making lots of pancakes and waffles and desserts with egg now.

~Gourment Cupcakes

~Her last food allergy testing

~CHEERS

~Yummy