Zoo Pictures & Artwork

Carson's Western artwork

Zoo Clan

(Colton, Jake, TJ, Carson, Cheyanne & Cassidy)

Pink Elephant Girl


Petting area



Our turn!

Camel Girls

Jake & Carson

Zoo Treat Time!!

I'm posting some pictures of our zoo trip during spring break. We had a great time and then ended up eating at Chevy's as well since neither my friend or I wanted to get home and cook. The Freeman family have been very special to us while on our tour here. Jake is great friends with Carson and Colton. They are moving at the end of June to Norfolk and we'll be VERY sad to see them go. Always a bummer in the navy to make friends and then know you have to say goodbye eventually.

I'm also posting a picture of Carson's latest artwork. He's taking an art class for the next 5 weeks after school and really enjoying it. The latest was western art with silhouettes.

TJ's folks and brother-in-law just left today as well. We enjoyed a relaxing weekend with them and having TJ's folks here for the past two weeks was great. Lots of Qwirkle games, basketball, computer games and other things used up our time with them. They were also great laundry fairies for me and kept the wash going for me.

Hope you enjoy the photos. Back to the old grind this week and not looking forward to it!

Tamara

Easter Weekend

Easter 2010

Mommy & the kids

Colton - 10, Carson - 8

Cheyanne - 6, Cassidy - 5

Easter Bunny Fun!


Hangin' out with Mom



Look at my loot!

I got one, see???

Decorating easter eggs - a tradition

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. The weather was a little chilly, but at least it didn't rain and ruin the egg hunts. The kids started early with many egg hunts on Friday after school. They had some friends over and all enjoyed hiding and searching for each other. TJ's parents arrived on Friday and we enjoyed hanging out with them. We went to church on Sunday and then to the Officer's club for a wonderful brunch. The kids saw an Easter bunny and did an egg hunt. The best part was that we didn't have to cook or clean up, so that made this day extra special!

More egg hunts and baskets after getting home and changing finished off the day. All in all, it was quite relaxing and just what we needed. The girls both had medical procedures this past week. Cheyanne's annual heart cath on Tuesday and Cassidy had corrective eye surgery on Friday. Both went very well and no problems afterwards. I was very thankful to have TJ's parents here to help with the rest of the kids and house stuff. Needless to say, we're taking it easy again this weekend while everyone recuperates. Maybe we'll get a little more ambitinous next week and venture out.

Hope you enjoy the photos!

Tamara

Camping at Rancho Oso - March 26, 2010

Our pretty waterfall hike

TJ & Colton

Don't push me!






Almost there!

Beautiful view of the mountains

Rancho Oso view

I'm going to get you, Dad!

You're the best Dad, but don't dunk us!

Every boy for himself!

Pretty girl in blue!

Best buddies!

Tamara & TJ - 18 1/2 yrs and counting

Love this tire swing!

Tamara & Cheyanne

Ice cream social

We went camping for the first weekend of spring break at a fun place called Rancho Oso down near Santa Barbara and Solvang. We had a great time and this place had lots to do! That's important with 4 kids who were complaining that none of their friends would be joining us for this camping trip! We heard about this through some friends in Coronado and glad we did. For those of you who want to try it out and enjoy a little more than tent camping -- they have covered wagons you can sleep in, little cabins as well as permanent trailers there as well. Here is their website: http://www.rancho-oso.com/

Anyway, we arrived there on Saturday and started having fun right away. The place had rocks to climb, trails to explore, minature golf to play, playground equipment to climb on for starters! On the weekends, they really try and do a big family fun thing. We made it to the ice cream social and chose our flavors, toppings etc. Then, the kids talked us into the heated swimming pool for fun. Luckily, I forgot my swimsuit and had to watch from the sidelines. TJ had to get in with them. It's heated, but heated for adults vs. heated for kids' body temps. are two different things. The kids found a rattlesnake (dead, thankfully), but we did manage to bring back the 'rattler' part to show off at show'n tell for school. They had ping pong as well which Carson & I managed to do pretty well at. On Sunday, we ventured out on a hike that rewarded us with a wonderful waterfall at the end. It was only about a 1/2 mile hike and included lots of creek crossings which everyone had fun with. More swimming that day and a short trip into town for gas and BBQ dinner and exploring a nearby lake rounded out the day. On Monday, another hike down to the river and other fun things rounded out our camping trip and we headed for home.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!!!

Tamara

Colton's 10th Birthday

Colton - 9 months old

Colton turns 10

Outdoor Cake

The guys are ready to go!

Colton & Mom

Colton turns 10 this year - WOW! Hard to believe we were in Lemoore for our first duty station 10 years ago waiting for this little guy to be born. We didn't know if he'd be a boy or girl, but we did know he was a stubborn one (still is today!). His due date was scheduled for March 16th, but he decided to wait and test our patience until March 22nd. I had even gone in twice to the hospital for false contractions and been sent home to my dismay :) Colton's G'pa Ratzlaff (my dad) had come out for his school's spring break as well in hopes of catching a glimpse of his new grandson. Luckily, Colton came the day before it was time for G'pa to leave. The hospital Colton was born in was just torn down a few months ago. It was old and I still remember the green delivery room! They had built a new hospital and we had high hopes of getting in there, but it opened a month after we delivered Colton. Oh well!

I thought it would be fun to list some things about Colton for you. Colton continues to look like me (at least that's what everyone tells me) and I'm happy to hear it. He's a picky eater like his mother and can be strong-willed in certain things that drive his parents crazy! However, he is also the one that is the most nurturing to his siblings and always wants to help take care of them or me when we're sick. He LOVES sports and seems to excel at those. We loved watching him play basketball this year. He's quite the dribbler (G'pa Ratzlaff would be impressed) and just seems to have the 'court awareness' about him and I felt he did a great job leading his team to 3rd place this year. Other things about Colton -- he does not like school unless they're doing math or science. We are happy to see him take a little more interest in reading this year, but he could leave writing and grammar behind. He loves being in the school choir this year. He finally won out on quitting piano after 3 years (GRRRR!) -- and I will say it's much more peaceful around the house these days because the battle between him and myself each afternoon over practicing is done. All is not lost, however, because we did make him choose another instrument (guitar or drums) and he chose drums (much to his Dad's delight) and is having fun learning to play and Dad is having fun getting out his drumsticks and drums to "help" him along. Yes, we still have TJ's entire drum set from his days in high school and college. He kept waiting for the right time, right house and child to bring them out and now he's got his wish!

Other fun things about Colton -- his giggling is hilarious! When he watches something on t.v. and gets tickled - you can't stop his giggling and then he's rolling around the floor over it. He is 1/2 inch away from wearing the same size shoe as his mother and for those of you who don't know -- I have BIG feet. I wear a 9.5 in women's which makes him come in at size 7 in men. He's only in 4th grade!!!!! This came to my attention last month when he put on one of my camping shoes and I told him those would be way too big and he said "no, they're not -- look at this" and I did and my jaw dropped! I'd better re-think what year he'll be bypassing me in height.

Turning 10 is a big deal when you're in a military family because that's the magic age that you get your military i.d. He has been talking about it for a month now. So, TJ will take him in the next week for that.

For his b-day, he wanted to go mountain biking with his Dad and some friends. That sounded great to us (& cheap), so we had no problem planning that outing! He opened presents and had cake and then headed up to Fresno and they had a great time with lots of cool trails. He had his friends, Jake, Derek & Carter along with his brother, Carson join him for an afternoon of fun.

Hope you enjoy the pictures! Happy Birthday, Colton -- you are truly a blessing to our family!