Ragnar Relay- Washington D.C.

24th through the 25th of September I ran the Ragnar Relay from Cumberland Maryland to Washington D.C. with ten of my teamates from North Carolina, Virgina, and Maryland. Our 201 mile journey took us through beautiful country starting in the Applachians and through cvil war towns, and ending up along the Potomic river in Washington DC.
The Relay consisted of 236 teams we began at 8am Friday and finished at approximately 4pm on Saturday. Out of 236 teams we placed 93rd at around 32hours for our time. It was a challenging experience. Alot of running and almost no sleep in those two days. With that said I'm ready to do another relay. It was a challenging fun experience, and a great way to meet new people.

Soccer, soccer, soccer!!

Today Isaiah had his first soccer game. He was pretty aggressive out on the field and scored the first goal. By the end of the game Isaiah kept walking off the field telling me that the kids keep taking the ball away from him (his own teammates). He said that soccer is a very hard game to play. But we had a blast watching him go for it. We think his coach was very impressed too. Braxton also had a game at the same time so mom and dad had to alternate who got to watch who. Braxton played goalie at first and it took mom a while to figure out where he was. When he finally got to get out of the goal box, he rocked things up a little. His coach came up to me after words and told me that a few times he told her that he was ready to sit on the bench and then after a few minutes of resting was ready to get out there and beat the field up. Way to go boys! We are so proud of you! You both ROCK!!!

Happy Birthday Brandon

Brandon's birthday was today, however we celebrated it on Monday. It was about the only time this week that we didn't have fifty million things to do. We grilled hamburgers and watched a movie. The boys had a blast making pictures to give Brandon to show him how much they love him. We love you Brandon!!

Preschool Time is Here!

Isaiah started his first official day of preschool this morning. Wow, is he already old enough to start to go to school on his own? He attends school at a local Baptist church, and his teacher's name is Miss Alison who is from New Zealand. He had so much fun! He said that he didn't make any new friends today but next time he will make some. I was also informed that my snacks aren't as good as the snacks that they have there (cookies, pretzels and apple juice). He feels so grown up and feels just like Braxton because his school also has a recess and in good weather they get to go out to the playground. And the good news is that he stayed on green today with his behavior. I am feeling a little giddy getting to have three hours three days a week to myself. What will I do with all of my time?

Outer Banks

We took the boys to the outer banks for a few days. And what kind of a trip would it be if Mom didn't give any history lesson along the way? We had to visit the Wright Brother's memorial and learned about the two brothers experience with the airplane. I love those guys. Air travel is great!


We wanted to take the boys to a fun sand dune area called Jockey Ridge State Park where there is a lot of hang gliding and sand surfing and with what Isaiah called a kite festival. Next time we will let the boys stay there for a lot longer than we had and let them get pretty dirty. It was rainy and we had already traveled four and a half hours to get there not to mention that we hadn't eaten dinner and it was starting to rain. We were amazed that there could be a place where the sand is still there because of the opposite winds that keep the sand in place.




We can now claim to be expert crabbers! We wanted to try something new with the boys and we'll just say that we are going to be doing this again. On the eastern coast they are known for their blue crabs. And so we went to a sea food restaurant to try some and after the experience we decided to catch and release. All you have to do is get a piece of string, frozen chicken neck and a long net. Attach the neck to the string, drop into water and wait about two minutes. Watch as you carefully pull on line and reach under crab with net. We were able to catch about 15-20 crabs in the hour and a half that we were there. The boys weren't ready to go when it was time. But we had a lot to do while we were there. Danna and Braxton did some ghost crabbing along the beach at night. They were out for about two hours with flashlights finding crabs that come out along the shore. Braxton had himself set up with his night vision binoculars and walkie talkies so that he could let Dad know exactly what was going on while he was out. We chased quite a lot of crabs with flashlights until finally they had had enough and buried themselves under the sand. What a blast!




We spent the day at Kitty Hawk beach and had a blast. Braxton in the past had complained about the waves not being big enough, but he wasn't complaining here. He kept telling us that we shouldn't let Isaiah get into the water because it was too rough. It took Braxton a little while to warm up to the boogie boards. But closer to the shore he did a fabulous job.



On our way home, we decided that we had a little bit of time to go to the Lost Colonies and tour the Elizabethan II ship how interesting! The boys even got to try on some armor.

Happy Adoption Day Braxton!

Every year we celebrate with the boys their official adoption day, and today was Braxton's 7 year celebration. I can't believe that it's been seven years already. He is so special to us and are so greatful to our Heavenly Father for placing him in our home. He was worth the wait! We love this little guy so much! We took the boys to Chuck E Cheese and came home to enjoy cake and ice cream. What a fun day!

Raven Rock

After the boys big camp out we decided to take the boys to a State Park that is about 10-15 minutes from our home. We hiked for about two hours and loved it. We found minnows in the streams and crawdads. What are we to do with so much excitement in our lives?