Birthday Fun

It was a fun-filled day of Mexican food, birthday cake, and great fellowship!

The July Birthday Gang

Anna and PaPa enjoying a moment together

Lydia digging in

Cake time!

Miscellaneous

Hanging out with friends Devon & Lauren











Jon's 40th Birthday

Kid's Day at "Super Suppers", where Anna and her friends made a Ratatouille-shaped pizza.























Enjoying Columbus's fireworks show, "Red, White, & Boom" with our friends, Brian, Julie, & Brandon.

Catching Up

We're back! We're going to attempt to get caught up again, beginning with our annual beach trip to Ocean City, MD. Below are some fun pictures of our time with the Souzis/Negron families. Stay tuned for more posts as we get you caught up on our lives!

Spring Break Road Trip

We had a pretty packed Spring Break!

From Columbus....to Bluffton...

...to Chicago...We had lunch at the famous Chicago-style pizza place: Giordano's.
We walked along Michigan Avenue: a little shopping, a pose by the Chicago River, (we actually walked right by Jesse Jackson), and a stop at the Hershey's store!

We ended our trip downtown with a visit to the Field Museum.

(There were some pretty frightening bugs there!)

We also enjoyed some great cousin time.

We went to lunch at Portillo's for some more Chicago-style food, to Chuck E. Cheese, and enjoyed watching one of our favorite shows--"American Idol"--together.

And you've heard of "tennis elbow"? Uncle Scott and Uncle Jon played so many games of pool that I think they are being treated for "billiard elbow".

Now onto Indiana....

for some more great cousin fun!

Aunt Brittany gave Abby some personal volleyball lessons, Uncle "E" took us all to the gym to shoot some hoops and run on the track, and most of all we just enjoyed hanging out. We were also thrilled to have some time with our friends Jeff & Lisa and their family.

So...it was a packed trip, but a blast to spend time with family.

Thanks to everyone who hosted us! We love you!

A Domestic Day

It was so nice to have a day where we had NOTHING we had to do. So, what better way to spend it than doing a little sewing & cooking? Abby & Anna both did some sewing, and Abby made us a delicious dinner of chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice, and cheesy biscuits. Yum!

Spring??

April 6th or January 6th? It's amazing, but we had periods of blizzard-like conditions today....our first day of Spring Break! Ha! Oh, well...we're just glad to not have any homework to do.

Making up for lost time

Okay, okay....I know I've been negligent in blogging, but we have been keeping quite a schedule. Here are a few highlights:

I helped Anna's class make candles the old-fashioned way!

One of Abby's birthday presents...from Aunt Brittany and Uncle E--how appropriate!

Abby celebrated her 13th for what seemed like forever! As you saw in a previous blog, she enjoyed a limo ride and ice skating with her friends. Great Aunt Linda surprised Abby and showed up at her last period class 3 days before her birthday and took her shopping and out to dinner. We had a cake for her while at the Champs swim meet at Ohio University, then on her actual birthday Mama and Papa came down and took her to lunch and a movie. And to top it off....her family and friends sent her wonderful letters of love and encouragement. What a memorable 13th birthday!

Abby on the court in her first club volleyball tournament. She started and played every game. Go Abby! She has her second tournament tomorrow.

The Great Lakes Zones Meet at Ohio State University

Anna qualified for the Zones meet in swimming, where she had to qualify with a time. She had the privilege of swimming in 2 relays, and was one second away from qualifying in breaststroke. It was a wonderful experience for her as she swam in the beautiful facility at OSU and swam against some very good swimmers from a 5-state region.

The first relay took place on Saturday the 17th. Anna was the lead-off swimmer for the Free Relay. Unfortunately, because she just "flinched" at the start, they disqualified her team. They still swam their best time together. The second relay was on Sunday. This was the Medley Relay, and she swam last as the freestyler. Their team placed 17th out of 3o. Not too bad for a group of 10-year-olds! We were so proud of her!