March

March was a blur - it felt like we spent more nights away from home than not and travel always seems to make the weeks go by more quickly than normal.

After years of talking about taking a "beach" vacation, BJ and I finally booked our tickets and headed to Jamaica for a few days.  The beach and resort were great but we joked that we spent more hours getting to and from Jamaica than we did actually at a resort.  The kids divided their time between Nana Jan/Papa Steve and Aunt Molly's house. Not surprisingly, the kids had an awesome time and we seemed to miss them way more than they missed us.

We spent a few hours at the Coral Ridge Mall before the official kid switch with Nana Jan/Papa Steve.  The carousel and children's museum were both big hits!   l

Charlie's been practicing different smiles when he brushes his teeth and it's always interesting to know which "look" he'll sport for pictures.  We have pictures at our day care this week and it's 50/50 if he'll be pained/forced smile Charlie or smug/squinty eye Charlie.

The pained/forced smile that he's perfected.

The smug/squinty eye Charlie.  Actually, Lucy's also squinty eye here so she may be evolving her look as well.  

Proof that we were on a beach.  We used what I thought was strong enough sunscreen but we both ended up like crispy lobsters and BJ guarantees that his feet hurt as much as you would have thought based on this picture.

I finally found a recipe that Charlie and Lucy want to help with - puppy chow.  These two can shake the powdered sugared bags like nobody's business.

We were able to celebrate my nieces' tenth birthday and had a great time at their party.

Between trips to Iowa City, Dubuque and back home, we all had a new appreciation for the portable DVD player.

On one of our first nice days, we met some friends at the zoo and had a great time saying hello to the animals after our winter hiatus!

The animals were cool (as always) but go figure that the kids had the best time playing in the playground, 

Conquering the rope bridge,

telling secrets to friends,

and playing the drums.

My favorite memory of the day was seeing a llama spit in the face of a guy who a few minutes earlier had teased the llama with the promise of food, only to show the llama that his hand was empty. Justice was sweet that day.

Lucy's become quite attached to her Cabbage Patch baby.  Excluding an unfortunate incident that involved Lucy taking a blue marker to the doll's face, she's pretty maternal.  Most days the doll's name is "Joanie, Joanie."  Never one "Joanie," always two.  Other days she goes by the oldy but goody, "My Baby."

We headed to the mall to see the Easter Bunny and check out the little train.  Lucy talked a big game while she was in line but when I went to snap a picture of the kids with EB, I noticed that there was a singular kid in shot.  I looked down, saw Lucy's eyes as wide as saucers and heard her whisper "hold me."  I don't blame her, he does look a little creepy.  

All was right with the world on the train.

BJ was gone for a Wartburg event one weekend so I let the kids have a pizza party picnic while we watched some terrible show.  You would have thought that I surprised them with a trip around the world, they were thrilled.  Which is great because I continue to find dried pizza sauce throughout the living room.

Charlie was excited for BJ to return from his "meetings" in Waverly and he was so proud of the breakfast that he prepared.  BJ was a good sport, but I think that he was hoping for something a little more substantive following his night in Waverly.

 Finally, we've been enjoying our visits back at our neighborhood park.  BJ sent me the picture below while I was running an errand and while I appreciated the confirmation that the kids were alive and well, the photo also serves as a good reminder that I need to put Lucy's hair back before I leave.  If not, BJ will grab whatever barrettes he can find and the result is less than stellar.  But with rosy cheeks and smiles like those, who's looking at their hair, right?