1st Day of School

1st day of School -- 2010/2011 School year

Colton - 10, Carson - 8

Cheyanne - 6, Cassidy - 5

Cassidy's First day of Kindergarten!!

Boys are ready to go (not!)


Hornet Cheerleaders for Football
Cheyanne's 2nd year
Cassidy's 1 st year


Carson being the tough Dallas Cowboy player

Carson in action as quarterback!

I have to post the first day of school photos. Cassidy is finally starting Kindergarten and gets to go to school with the big kids. She couldn't wait until it started and she ended up with Miss Cardoza (Cheyanne had her last year) and is doing great. Each of the kids are happy with their new teachers and hope it remains that way for the rest of the year :)

Colton is in 5th grade and wasn't too happy to learn he might have 1.5 hours of homework each night. Carson is in 3rd grade now. Cheyanne is in 1st grade and has been managing well for going all day.

1 week down -- too many more to go!!!

I thought I'd put in a few cheerleading ones as well. We had our first football games and cheering this past weekend. Colton plays on Friday night and they won 19-13. Carson plays on Saturday mornings and they won 30-12 and then the girls cheer every morning at the 9:30 a.m. game. Luckily, next week Carson plays at the same time the girls cheer, so that will be nice. Living on base has so many advantages and we're very excited to have such a nice set-up with sports, bike riding to practices etc. Life is much simpler this way and I do not look forward to moving to a bigger city where I'll be running around more. The girls are part of the Hornets squad and having a lot of fun. We have practices of some sort M-Thurs. during the week. Having the boys bike to practices many times has certainly helped me out. Cassidy is also doing gymnastics one night a week (car pool off base) and then will do dance one day a week while the others are still in school. Cheyanne is going to do dance as well one night a week, so the hectic life begins :)

The good news is that I only have to drive a maximum of 10 min. for anything right now - YEA!

Tamara

Tamara

TJ's Home!

Family photo - August 2010

TJ's airplane

Trying on Daddy's helmet




Like my hat??



You're not going anywhere without me!

Glad you're home, Dad!

Waiting for TJ's arrival with my Dad

August 7, 2010

I wanted to put in pictures of TJ's homecoming from his 2-month RIMPAC exercise. We were all VERY glad to see his plane fly in and know the wait was finally over. My dad had never seen a fly-in, so that was fun for him. They didn't do any formations when they flew by, but he still got to see a lot of Superhornets land and see lots of happy families greeting their spouses.

On the way home, our car was full of "daddy this and daddy that" -- my dad & I didn't get to talk to TJ very much that first afternoon. The kids were thrilled to see him & so was I!! We just relaxed and had a nice weekend. He had a birthday the next day, so we helped celebrate turning 42 for him!! The kids had made special b-day cards and 'miss you' cards while in KC, so he got to open A LOT of cards.

Tamara

More summer trip pictures

Fisherman

Milking that cow!

Big fish, little fish

Everyone caught a fish!

Tamara & Colton (age 10)

Cutting up the worms

Baiting the hook

Uncle Tim & Cassidy

Reid & Cassidy

Goofing around with cousin Aaron

Celebrating G'ma's birthday

Aunt Laura & Cassidy

Riding the Rhino at the hotel

The Cosmosphere with G'ma & Papa Lennard

Hanging with Grandma

I decided to do this in two entries since we had so many photos.

Tamara

Summer Trip

Playing Nerts!

Reading with Grandpa Ratzlaff

Cuddling with Aaron on Sunday morning

Matching with Aaron

Crown Center fountains

Cheyanne, Aaron & Cassidy

Hanging with the Short family in Wichita, KS

Best friend growing up - Rhnae

Riding in the combine

Ready to farm!

The Baines Chicken Coop

Hot tub time with Ivy, Cheyanne & Cassidy

I-70 Rest area in Colorado

Property at the Baines homestead

Arches National Park, Moab, Utah

Arches National Park

Scenic overlook along I-70

Well, it's already the first week of school and I'm just now posting something about our BIG summer trip to Kansas. TJ got home 2 days after we arrived back and was only home for 2 weeks before he headed back out for another month. So, at least I have a good excuse why I haven't posted in the past 2 months.

The kids & I decided (well, I decided -I can't say the kids thought it was so great after a few days) to drive to Kansas. I looked at airline tickets back in April and for 5 tickets -- it was a little pricey. Driving let us visit old friends along the way and see more people than just flying into and out of KC. We took a week to get out there, two hotel rooms and great pools on the way. Visiting friends in Colorado Springs who live on a fabulous property that the kids want to go back to now! They had a chicken coop, new puppy, hot tub and 5 acres to explore. It was kid heaven! Lori & I managed to catch up as well -- they were our really close friends from San Antonio days and we've stayed in touch and tried to see each other for the past 10 years.

After Colorado, we headed to Kansas and I showed them my hometown, schools and met my favorite teacher from HS. Then, onto my best friend growing up, Rhnae's farm. They had a ball there as well -- climbing on combines, riding 4 wheelers, playing the Wii. Even though it was only one night, we managed to get a lot in. On to Minneola to see some adoptive friends (The Conrad's) , then to Wichita to see more adoptive friends (The Short family), TJ's aunt & uncle and TJ's parents. Yes, we crammed it all in and enjoyed another hotel and pool and the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson. Finally, we drove to KC (which was the shortest day of the trip) and stayed 8 days with my parents and saw my sister's family as well. It was humid this time of year there. You seem to forget HOW humid it can get and I will admit, I'll take triple digit temperatures in CA with that DRY heat anyday to that humidity that we felt. It just sucks the life right out of you!

Lots of fun in KC -- good tasting BBQ, swimming pool, crown center fountain playing, movies, petting zoo to name a few. Then, my dad helped me drive back which was really great. We did it in 3 days and saw two uncles & aunts in Boulder, CO on our first night. I believe that was the first time that they had met Cassidy, so that was fun. We were all glad to finally be home after our 3 week journey. I promised the kids we wouldn't be driving it again anytime soon (much to their relief), but it was an adventure and I think they had fun along the way.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

Tamara