Hurricane Irene!

Nothing really exciting here!

We were pumped and ready for an amazing Hurricane, and while it was quite rainy and windy... nothing really happened!

Im not sure if it was the general gloominess of the day or what, but I was not motivated to do a thing! I was able to can some tomatoes, but only because if I didn't they would have gone bad. I just prayed that the power stayed on the whole time... I would have been real bummed if we lost power in the middle! Luckily we only lost power for about 2 minutes and the tomatoes were successfully made into sauce and canned and are now on a shelf! Whoo hoo!
  After I was done canning, I went back to doing nothing!

The boys loved to watch out the window and yell everytime the wind blew really hard!

The most exciting thing was that our crab apple tree in the back yard broke in half! But it was a sickly tree that was only about 20 feet tall. We might just plant another one there... only this time a real apple tree!

We are glad that nobody was hurt and that we are safe and with electricity... but we really expected a little more excitement from a Hurricane.. especially when it is just days after an earthquake!

Maybe I'm just weird though... maybe.

Peace!
Nikki

Another Trip to Belle Isle and Lewis Ginter

Bastian's Birthday and Party-ness

Bastian was sick sick sick on his birthday! Actually he was sick the day before and 4 days afterward! The poor guy had a headache, body aches, super high fever and he was vomiting! He was pretty pathetic and he made it even worse by asking me "Does everyone get sick when they turn 4?" He thought this was a normal part of the aging process!

Once he was finally feeling a little better we had some friends over for pizza and cake. I dont have any photos of that.. Sorry!

On Saturday we were finally able to celebrate his birthday! We have been wanting to go canoeing for quite some time so we finally went! It was so much fun!

Tony manned the back of the canoe and Bastian held down the middle!

Even though he almost fell in a few times, Gabriel had fun too! As long as he had a stick!

The best way to entertain kiddos in a canoe is to give them a stick and then let them play in the sludge!

Bastian kept pulling the stick out to check out the slime! This was not the cleanest water ever!

Whatta MAN!

The state park that we canoed at had an AWESOME water park! So we played there after canoeing, it was a great idea! We had so much fun!

Sweet baby Gman! I had a hard time getting photos of him, he never stopped moving!

Bastian enjoyed getting to hit people with water!

About 3 minutes into our drive home, this is what our back seat looked like! They were exhausted!

Team Whitehead Goes Bowling!

We signed up for a summer bowling pass at some lanes near our house and it has been awesome!

Tony loves to bowl and I am pretty sure that he would go every day if he had someone to go with... and that I wouldn't be upset that he was never home... maybe.

We were pretty pumped to see that the boys like it too!

The boys with their bowling balls! I think that bowling shoes in size 7( G-man's size) are the cutest ever!

 (The marks on Bastian's face are from his first case of Poison Ivy this year... )

Gabriel's balls took forever to get down the lane! Tony insists that our kids learn to bowl properly and not to use the slide thing...  Gabriel doesn't seem to mind much!

Bastian was excited from beginning to end! We did have to battle some grumpiness because he had a hard time waiting for his turn... but he recovered quickly!

I am sure that we will be bowling again in the near future, so there will likely be more photos!

Peace,

Nikki

Steve and Kristina Come to visit!

Soon after Grandma Beth and Jane left we welcomed more house guests! Seriously.. it was less than 48 hours!

We had a blast, and now we know what it would be like with 8 people living in our home! AWESOME!

Steve is a friend from high school (Actually we didn't like each other in high school at all! But after high school we reconnected at a mutual friends wedding and discovered that neither of us are jerks anymore! Now he and his wife are some of our closests friends!)

They stayed with us for 4 crazy fun filled days.

We were able to check out;

 VA Beach- Where a huge storm caused us to run and carry (yes carry!) strollers into a nearby hotel because 70 mph winds and sand do not make for a very kid friendly afternoon! It was really scary, but after about 30 minutes in the lobby of a beach front hotel all was calm and we decided to head home!

National Zoo- Again! good thing we bought a pass this year! It is such a fun zoo! And we get free zoo cookies every time we go!

The National Mall & Smithsonian- Bastian got to see dinosaurs and a bunch of dead animals right after we left the zoo. Awesome, right?

Here are some photos !

My favorite beach photo of Bastian!

Bastian and Joshua

Kristina braving the waters with Joshua and Bastian!

Bastian checking out the amazonian fish at the national zoo!

My men in a South American Rain Forest, looking for monkeys!

I think that G-man and Tony look a lot alike here!

Th McGraths! Steve with Joshua and Kristina with Connor!

Gabriel- who is having an awesome hair moment!

Team McGrath at the Zoo!

We picked the parking lot with the giant steps all the way to the zoo! Don't park in Parking lot C if you have a stroller!

Kristina her way down the steps with another sleeping baby!

The big boys rode with the daddies and the little boys rode with the mommies... Bastian and Joshua were lucky enough to watch movies during each road trip! He is still talking about Wall-E!

We can't wait to see them again!

Peace,

Nikki

Grandma Beth and Janey Poo come to visit!

We recently had my mom and her friend Jane come for a few days!

The boys love "Grandma Beth" no matter what... but since she met Jane she has become quite a bit cooler!
Jane loves reptiles, lizards and all things creepy crawly! So now Grandma Beth loves them and owns a TON of them! When we skype Bastian justs asks to see the lizards and snakes! It is like a virtual trip to the zoo!

During the visit Bastian had lots of questions for both of them and loved to ask questions and try to impress them with his knowledge of all things gross!

While they were here we were able to see:
 Maymont... Where I had to take Jane down a horrifying flight of windy cobblestone steps in her wheel chair and I thought we were both going to die the whole time!

The National Zoo - Where Bastian, my mom and Jane all talked about lizards and had a blast!

and an amazing restaurant on the southside called Benny's BBQ. If you like BBQ- you have to check it out!

Here are some photos!

Under an awesome tree at Maymont!

Playing on a hill at Maymont.

Gman and Me in a Butterfly house at the National Zoo.

The Big Male Lion at the zoo. He currently has 7 babies with him and they are super cute!

Bastian checking out Lizard innerds!

Gman and Daddy making Crazy Faces!

Bastian, Jane and Grandma Beth checking out a snake.

Checking out the meerkats. They freak out over my mom's service dog Echo!

Grandma Beth, Jane and Bastian again.

Bastian and Gabriel looking at some tiny mammal.. I can't remember what it is called...

We had a blast and can't wait for them to come back!

Peace,

Nikki