Mechanics

While Chase was away at Nami & Popi's house, Justin helped Roger change the oil in the Jeep. If you thought Justin was starting auto mechanics early, take a look at Carly! As soon she's walking, I'm sure they'll have her rolling under the Jeep on the creeper :)

Way to Go Dan!!!

Our friend Dan Sams, who has been bravely fighting brain cancer since mid-July of this year, just completed Disney's innaugural Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 6.5K race last Saturday. As you can see below, lots of family & friends joined him in the race and were inspired by his strength. They even stayed at MGM Studios for the after-party until 1 am the next morning!!!

Although Roger & I weren't able to join him in the race, we did get a chance to wish him luck earlier that afternoon and snap this photo....

Please continue to keep Dan & his family in your thoughts & prayers.

Night Swimming

The Arce's invited us to go night swimming a few weeks ago. We trekked the two blocks to their house in our bathing suits and had a great time. Their pool was perfect for the big kids, but a little chilly for Carly, so she & I stayed in the 93 degree spa. Very relaxing!!! Isn't Carly's bathing suit (compliments of the Sams family) cute?

Blackmail

Here are a couple blackmail photos of Carly & Justin that we can use when they are teenagers to get them to do what we want. I have yet to get one of Chase, but I don't think he'll care what pictures we have when he is in his teens anyway. Go figure! :)

Justin's Experiment

After school today, Justin & I finally got out the Chemo-Electro kit that Melissa & Owen gave to Justin LAST YEAR for his birthday (mom's bad!) and worked on one of the experiments. Here is Justin holding the experiment... he made a closed circuit using jumpers with alligator clips, a 9-volt battery, an LED light and a half of a potato sprinkled with salt!

Reptile Discovery

Both the boys were invited to a birthday party for one of Chase's classmates (Justin's classmate last year) at Montessori named Sam. We were told that his mom, Barbara, throws a good party. She hired a guy named Bruce Shwedick who runs Reptile Discovery out of Plant City, FL to come do a "show and tell" with various reptiles -- and boy was it cool! The kids & adults both enjoyed the presentation and then dinner, cake and beautiful weather in the backyard.

A Chinese Alligator

Chase feeding an African Monitor Lizard

Justin with a 16 foot Albino Rock Python from Asia

Good old Bruce really stressed the hand sanitizer after I had Carly pet "Banana Boy" who is 18 years old

Scott's Corn Maze

Justin's Cub Scout Pack organized an outing to Scott's Corn Maze up in Zellwood, Florida (45 minute drive) this past weekend to celebrate fall. It didn't quite feel like fall yet with temps in the upper 80s, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. They say the big corn maze can take about 45 minutes to over 2 hours to complete, but the boys were hot & too tired from Justin's birthday party sleepover the night before to complete more than 20 minutes or so. After we came out of the big maze, we realized they had a mini maze as well, but didn't bother trying that one. They also had a big 60-foot slide, huge tractor tires to play on, a playground, a tower so you can see the maze from above, hay rides, a market and a corn packaging plant. Now that we know what to expect, we'll plan better and go again next year!

Justin Turns 7

Justin turned 7 last Wednesday, October 10th!!! It seems like yesterday that he was toddling around the house in his little one-piece rompers and now he is in first grade, getting taller, smarter, more sassy, etc. We celebrated the occasion a few times -- snacks in his classroom, a family dinner and then a "video game" party / sleepover with friends.

Here is Justin with Chase, his classmates & teacher Mrs. Hill

Tyler, Justin, Chase & Katie

Tyler, Justin & Owen playing their Nintendo DS's while Roger plays XBox

Roger took the boys fishing the next morning with Justin & Owen's new Rocket Fishing Rods

Carly Barley

Wow, time flies! Carly is a little over 4 months old and it seems like she's doing so much! She now rolls from her back to her belly and then back again. She loves being on her belly... when we lay her down on her back, she immediately rolls over and even scoots a little bit with those powerful legs. Maybe she will be a mountain biker like Roger hopes! She's also getting use out of her ultrasaucer and we just bought one of these doorway jumpers to use in the kitchen. She's laughing and squealing a lot and gets a kick out of the boys. She must be teething too, because her fingers, hands and anything else she can get a hold of go directly into her mouth to chomp on. Oh, and I also gave her a little bit of rice cereal (hee, hee, I started early instead of waiting until 6 months old!) which she promptly gobbled up and looked at me with an open mouth for more. She's such a cutie!!!

Vero Beach

We were very fortunate to be able to stay at Disney's Vero Beach Resort this past Sunday night --thanks to Rob & Terri's timeshare points!!! We woke up at 6 am on Sunday, finished packing the car and got on the road a little before 7 am so we had all day Sunday and half the day on Monday (the kids played hookey from school). Even though we had tropical storm winds of 30 mph, the kids still had fun in the pool, the shore, the hotel room and participating in resort activities - mini golf, a scavenger hunt, making beaded jewelry, doing the limbo, and watching Peter Pan. Terri & I even got to play two full games of scrabble!!! We also got to see some filming of the show "Extreme Home Makeover" for a divorced mom of four living in Seattle, WA which will be aired in January. Terri was bummed though because we didn't get to see Ty Pennington! Thanks again to Rob & Terri for a relaxing weekend!!!!

We Made It!!!

Yeah, Roger & I made it to our 10 year anniversary!!! They said it would never last... just kidding! Sometimes it seems like longer than 10 years (it really is since we started dating in February of 1994) and sometimes it seems shorter. Depends on who & when you ask!!! Anyhow, we are both thrilled to have found such a wonderful spouse and we look forward to raising our kids, experiencing new adventures, overcoming obstacles, and growing old together.

We didn't celebrate on our actual anniversary (September 27) because Justin had a baseball game (go Nationals!), but we went out to dinner with friends at a new place called The Grape and had a nice time. We are not only blessed to have each other, but to have a great group of friends... :)

Justin Joins the Cub Scouts!

Like father, like son. Justin is officially a cub scout now! He joined last week and is part of Pack 125 and Den 15. He is very excited about the uniform which Popi bought him and can't wait to do archery! Not sure exactly when that activity will pop up, but he is scheduled to visit a corn maze later this month and camp at Camp La No Che (where Roger camped as a young boy scout) later in the year. You can check out the Pack 125 website for more information. Justin has a den meeting on Thursday, so we'll post again with any exciting details!

No Way!!!

Last week, Roger said his chin was itching and he thought he had a bug bite or something. After a couple days of scratching it, he felt something pokey sticking out. He grabbed it and out came one of the stitches he had in his chin when he was 18 years old -- over 20 years ago!!! At first he thought it was a hair, but after examination under Justin's microscope, Roger determined that it was indeed a stitch from long ago! We were going to take a picture, but Chase insisted on looking in the microscope too and ended up blowing it off the slide, never to be found again. Bummer!