Naval Postgraduate School Graduation

This is a back post since the took place in June but I want it down in my memories! Graduation day was a day I had looked forward to since the day we moved to Monterey! I was so excited to attend the festivities! The kids were happy Daddy was graduating and Gabriel, Annalina, and I were excited to watch him cross the stage and graduate. Grandpa J took Ross and Carson to the child room where there was a BIG screen up to watch the ceremony and those 3 had fun too. Babe was wearing my favorite Navy uniform, his dress whites. LOVE HIM IN THEM! :-) Unfortunately, they didn't have the graduates wear their hats. Anyway we had a GREAT time and it made it all the more special that my Dad came to help us celebrate. The kids had been waiting and waiting for Daddy to be done with the thesis and it was great to see the culmination of all the hard work and craziness! We're so proud of you Babe! This was a dream come true for him. He was called by someone to continue advanced education but NO WAY not right now maybe down the road but we had our fill of academics for awhile. I had new respect for my mom who made it through 4 masters degrees and 2 doctorates with my dad! Mom you are super woman!

Saturday Hike

Before we moved here we decided that it was going to be our routine as much as is possible to go for a hike every Saturday just as it is our routine to get doughnuts on Saturday morning. We've missed a couple of Saturday's but we're doing pretty well. We had a super time today and the scenery was so beautiful! We went to a place called Garden of the Gods open area so it is not part of the park. The hike started off at about 93 degrees and ended at about 80 degrees which was PERFECT!! Gabriel was enjoying using his compass and keeping track of our direction. Annalina enjoyed journeling what we saw. Ross I was very impressed with how well he kept up for having short legs! And Carson ended up falling asleep on my back. We all enjoyed the scenery and the adventure of it all. A lizard was out and a bunny rabbit and we even made it to the van before getting caught in an afternoon storm! And if that wasn't enough activity the kids came back and played for hours with the neighbor kids and had a ball. Babe and I painted in Annalina's room which was something we'd had on our To-Do list for awhile. It was a good Saturday.

Tucked Away in My Heart

Ross and Carson playing King. I could not help but laugh inside myself that this would end up the Divided Kingdom! They love each other dearly but at some point Ross is going to push the wrong button! :-)

My Ross Story: Last night I was sitting in the boys room waiting for Carson to go to sleep and Ross was talking to me a fair amount. At one point he said "Your the best lady I love in all the world. I'm a jokester but I am not joking about that" . . . "Do you know what I love about you?" I said something to the effect of "No, what is it". I was quite curious what he was going to say. he replied "That your caring."

My Carson Story: Carson is just not a talker but slowly, slowly I see his progress. Babe calls him a "gear head" sometimes because his interests are in things with motors and wheels! He LOVED going to the car lot with Daddy and looking at cars and even picked one particular car and would say "mine". Anyway, lately, he has started bowing his head before he eats and praying. He babbles unintelligible words but every so often he'll say "Baby" which is what he calls himself. Then when he is done praying he says "A" for Amen. I LOVE watching this. I looked forward to the day he chooses Jesus.

My Annalina Story: Carson was crawling around growling the other day and Annalina walked up and put his cheeks in her hands and sweetly said "Hi, Tiger!" Needless to say he loves his sissy. The other day while we had visitors Annalina walked up from time in the basement playing and he ran and gave her a big bear hug.