New pool

When we lived in Mexico we got ourselves a little pool just big enough for Stokelie.  Well, it lasted us five years until the end of last summer.  I was really bummed because we spent a lot of time on our patio in the sun and I wasn't sure if we would replace the pool.  So, I decided that I needed to have a pool to get through the Michigan humidity one last summer, so I broke John down and we got one.  We have been in it as much as possible this summer.  I finally got some pictures of the kids playing in it.

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Stokelie has become quite the little fish.  She has been in swimming lessons for about a year now and she is doing awesome.  She can swim 50 meters on her front and back crawl, and she is diving, yes diving, into the deep end of the pool(8 feet).  It is so fun to watch her progress.  The pool however has the opposite effect on Caleb.  This is just after we got out.  Since we spend so much time outside now he is not getting as much down time and this is what we get, random sleep times.  Oh well, we are having a lot of family fun.

Home sweet home

Well, we are back from our trip to DC.  It was great to get away as a family for once.  Even though John still had meetings to attend we were able to see a lot of him.  We went and saw all the buildings and monuments that their are to see there.  We also went to Arlington cemetery.  I think that this is one of the neatest things there is to see there.  It is a very emotional place to see.  I just can't help but feel very grateful for my freedom.  And thankful to all the brave soldiers who fight for it.  We also went to about every museum there.  We went to the natural history museum and saw an IMAX movie.  We saw the prehistoric sea monster movie and by the end Caleb was huddled in Johns arms with his glasses off and Stokelie kept taking hers off at all the scary parts.  It was more fun to watch the kids than the movie.  The kids were troopers.  We did a lot of walking.  Toward the end of the trip I think that Stokelie could have made her way back to our hotel on the train by herself.  I wouldn't have tried, but she new what color train we needed and when.  The train station at our hotel was five stories under and we took the escalator down.  So one escalator took you down four of the stories.  It was so long and slow.  I am not a patient person as some of you know and it was hard for me to stand there and wait because I had Caleb in the stroller, so once I was on I couldn't move.  We had a lot of fun and can't wait for our next family vacation.  Even though it won't be quit as nice!! (camping).