Celebrating today ...

Wishing a very happy birthday to my daddy today!  We love you so much!

And thankful for all those who have and do serve our country, and the families who love, support, and sacrifice for them.  Thank you, to Papa, Grandpa, and our many friends and family who have served.  And a special thank you to Uncle Cameron and the men who serve with him in the Marine Corps around the world, to Nana and Grandpa and Uncle John and Aunt Linde who loved and supported him through deployment and war, and to Aunt Amanda who loves him enough to marry into the service and sacrifice of being a Marine wife.

Graduation day

Well, it was a big day. Four years of the Academy, a year of the prep school before that, and a couple of years enlisted in the Marine Corps before that ... We were all pretty proud of him. He graduated "with merit" (even Cameron isn't sure what that means, specifically) and was commissioned as an officer in the Marine Corps. I am just so happy for him that he doesn't have to wear that awful, polyester, white Navy uniform anymore. =)

At the last minute (the night before), it occurred to us (well, to Linde, who is pretty smart) that maybe a big, long morning of sitting in the sun and listening to boring speeches would be perfectly horrible for the kiddos, and we went back and forth about taking them or not. In the end, it was way too late to get a babysitter, and neither Patrick or I wanted the other one to have to stay home and miss it, so we took them. They did surprisingly well, once I got them some water and a pretzel and popcorn. Patrick zipped them right back to the house as soon as Cameron walked, which was just in time to get back for lunch and naps. So it all worked out.

My beautiful little family.
(Look at those kids. Cute? Yep. Handful? Yes, sir.)

We were way, way up there, but we could see everything.

The Blue Angels did a fly over, and the speaker was VP Joe Biden, so there were helicopters and all that jazz as well. I have no comment about him, and I missed his entire speech anyway because I was walking with Molly outside. I did manage to keep her in long enough to witness the Marine officers oath and commissioning, and to see Cameron get his diploma, which was all that I really needed to see anyway. Molly got excited as soon as they started reading names, and clapped and yelled, "Yay Cam-wen!" for each graduate as they walked ... for a while. She gave up on it ever actually being Cameron before they got to him. I'm sure all the honors graduates who went first appreciated the extra applause. They asked the family and friends of each graduate to stand when their (not midshipman anymore) was called so that the support of everyone's family and friends was acknowledged as well. We stood and yelled our best, but we were pretty high up there - I doubt Cam could hear us. Oh, and I did get to see the famous hat toss at the end (after the kids left) as well.

Cameron, about to get his diploma. His roommate, teammate, good friend, and one of his groomsmen, Mike, is behind him. The graduates in black (about 200 out of the 1,025 graduates) are going into the Marines, those wearing white are Navy.

Happy, proud, DONE!

I don't know if there was another family in the crowd there that was honestly a little surprised that their kid graduated from high school at all, let alone got into college, let alone graduated with merit from one of the more demanding colleges in the country. Probably not. If we were any more proud of him, we would have exploded. Awesome. Here's John's post, with a link to some more pictures.

Commissioning week

We just got home from a long and crazy trip up and down the east coast. I'll have to post about it all in sections, so more photos and video coming soon!

First we headed south to Annapolis, Maryland (after a quick, fun overnight with Patrick's sister, Diane & family - thanks guys!). My brother, Cameron, just finished his four years at the U.S. Naval Academy and we got to join lots of friends and family there to celebrate Commissioning Week - a whole week of events leading up to graduation. My parents rented a house for the week and we had a great time enjoying some of the events, and also just hanging out together. The kids especially enjoyed playing with their cousins. The grown-ups attended the Garden Party, got to meet classmates and mentors, and got a private Cameron-lead tour of campus. We all got to walk around campus a few times, and I think we managed to see most of it. It's very pretty, and there are lots of monuments and such to see. We also got to see my cousins, Andy and Diane, and their kids one evening for a long-overdue reunion, but I forgot to take any pictures (duh). I also forgot to take pictures at Cameron's graduation party. You can see some from that night (including a very sweaty family picture of us!) and more over on my brother John's blog (including posts here, here, here, and here.)

Reading with Uncle Cam

Taking a break on Grandpa's shoulders

Pipes and drums

Patrick and Elijah got to go to the Blue Angels show - it was amazing!

Lots more photos of the little girls' birthday party and graduation, and maybe even some videos coming soon!

One last Navy football post

Check out this great photo from the Washington Post when Navy won their bowl game!

The Army-Navy Game!

Patrick and I got to go to the Army-Navy game this year. This is my brother Cameron's senior year at the Naval Academy and his last football season, so we made sure to go to a great game! The game is played in Philadelphia, which makes things easy for us - we stayed with Patrick's parents and Barb babysat for us while we went to the game. Jim came to the game with us. We went out for cheesesteaks at Pat's and Geno's and cannolis at Termini's before the game.



The game has a great atmosphere and is full of fanfare. It was also very cold! We bundled up and stayed warm, though! My parents, my Aunt Louise, and Cameron's fiancee, Amanda, were all there too. The game was great - and Navy won!

Navy wins - 8 years in a row!

Cameron, #48 - the seniors all got a lot of hugs at this game
I was sad not to get a picture of him leading the team out, carrying the flag.

After the game we got to go out to dinner and spend some time with Cameron and my family. What a fun day!

Touchdown!

Here's a little video from earlier this fall when we were teaching Molly "touchdown."

Go Navy, Beat Army!

Last Saturday was the Army/Navy game. We enjoyed watching the game (Navy won, of course!) and catching a few glimpses of Uncle Cameron on TV. My parents got to go to the game, and had a great time. Here are the kiddos, dressed to cheer:

Navy game

On our way down to Virginia, Patrick, Molly and I got to go to Annapolis to visit my brother Cameron at the U.S. Naval Academy and go to a Navy football game. (Elijah stayed in PA with Bobbi and Papa for the day and he had a great time there. As much as he would have loved to see Uncle Cam, I think the game would have been fun for him for about two minutes and then we would all have been miserable.) We had a great time even though Navy lost the game. Molly was pretty happy for most of the game, and we managed to stay warm enough even after it got dark. We especially enjoyed having dinner with Cameron and meeting his girlfriend, Amanda - it was an evening of good food and good conversation.

Cameron (#48) on the sidelines

Molly in her Navy gear ...

at her first football game!

She spent a lot of the game in the bjorn.

Flashback to October 2006 - Elijah at his first football game
Navy vs. Air Force, Colorado Springs, CO

In the news

Here's an article from a Denver newspaper about my brother Cameron. Navy played Air Force in Colorado on Saturday and a bunch of family & friends got to go see the game. Navy won - Go Navy! Patrick and I are looking forward to going to a game in Annapolis in a couple of weeks. How fun!

Labor Day weekend

We have been enjoying a (mostly) relaxing long weekend - Patrick was off Friday to make it a four-day weekend. After more than a month of long days and no weekends, we are all excited to have him home for a few days. Elijah came down with a cold on Wednesday night, and Molly caught it yesterday, so it has really been nice to have Patrick here to help. We have mostly been at home this weekend (going to the beach or playground or church is not such a good plan with sick, germy kids!) but we've had a really nice time. I got to go out and shop/run some errands all by myself, the bathroom is clean, the laundry and the diapers are done - does life get any better? We even got to watch some football - we watched the Navy game online and were excited to see my brother Cameron playing, and then last night we were shocked to find the Rocky Mountain Showdown (Colorado vs. Colorado State) on TV! Who knew we would get to see CU football in Rhode Island!? Go Navy! Go CU! Hooray for football season!

Last night we had a great end-of-summer dinner of steak (in Patrick's special marinade), corn on the cob and salad. It was yummy! Elijah loves corn on the cob. Too bad we didn't have any Colorado peaches this year for dessert. This is my favorite time of year for produce. =)

Here are some pictures of our homebody holiday weekend.

More of Elijah's tunnels & bridges - yes, he had help building these big ones.

Cutie pie!

Can Elijah fit through the tunnel?

Happy girl

Go Navy!

Is it football season yet?

OK, maybe it's a little early, but the kids will be all ready to cheer on our favorite team (and our favorite player) when the season starts - thanks Grandpa!

Lil' Navy Fan

Go Middies!

(By the way, does this picture remind you of these? Hah!)

And Elijah is all ready with his cheers:



(Sorry about the weirdness - I am dumb and originally took the video sideways. Note to self: rotated video = poor picture quality and larger file size. Duh.)

Hey!

Check out the USNA football homepage - a familiar face is advertising a Navy football autograph session! Yep, that's my handsome "little" brother. (I don't know how long the picture will be up, but fun, huh?)

On a less exciting note: we've been without internet access for a couple of days, so I'll blame that for our long silence. I'll try to put more up after I've had a nap. Whew, it's been hot here!

108th Army Navy game

Go Navy! Beat Army!
The game started at 10 am MST. We're watching for Cameron - let me know if you see him. My brother John and his wife Linde are in Baltimore at the game - how fun!

Here's an article from Military Times about the game where they interviewed Cameron (they call him Richard) and other prior enlisted players.

Update: Navy won and Cameron did dress for the game - and even got to play for a while. Hooray!
Navy 38 - Army 3

Update #2: Check out some more Thanksgiving pictures and video.