Kids at the beach

Stephanie took this great picture of our kids at the beach.  Can't wait for them to come home and see me!

Pink Cadillac

Ok, it isn’t a pink Cadillac, but it is as close as we get at Touch a Truck.

Safety First

When riding dirty (in the garbage truck), think safety first!

Who you gonna call?

A little bit of advertising, but still a great time.  This car has a working old school police siren AND they encourage the kids to turn it on.  It is very loud, even for me with my terrible hearing.

Bonnie and Clyde?

Bonnie and Clyde didn't get very far in the getaway car.

Our city puts on a very nice event for the local kids called “Touch a Truck”.  The city/county brings out all the emergency vehicles (not just trucks), and local businesses and residents bring out there vehicles for the kids to sit in and blow the horns, etc.  They blow the horns all day, so many horns… You would think the horns would be disabled, but they are not.

 Reilly tried on the real fireman's hat while standing on the ladder from the Fireman's ladder truck.

 Then he saw what it was like to ride in the back of an ambulance.

 Sat in the front seat of a big truck...

 All while Sullivan rode in the "stroller truck".

Hannah looked like a natural on the motor cycle.

As did Reilly.

Thanks to all the tolerant city employees for the use of their trucks.

Sullivan's first Happy Hour

Sullivan had his first Happy Hour, at least that is what Mommy called in on the invitation for the neighborhood friends.  Sullivan had lot of friends come over to hang out in the cul-de-sac and play for a while.  The adults had the Happy Hour drinks and the kids got bread and water.

 Before Sullivan got to eat another cupcake, Mommy had to clean out his mouth just a little bit.

 Now that he is good and mad, we put the cupcake really far away from him so he couldn't reach it.

 "I really want that cupcake."

 "Ok, you can have it, but only after I get that cancel out of it." -Mommy

Now everyone can help you eat it.

Helpful siblings

Sullivan loved his presents, and his brother and sister loved opening them for him.

Everyoe loves Cupcakes!

Hannah and Reilly loved the cupcakes too!

And he loved it...

When he did get into eating that cup-cake, he loved it.

Sullivan started out a little bit slow with his cupcake, but he eventually got into it.

So Sullivan’s hat was not quite the same as his brother’s and sister’s hats.  His hat had didn’t have a stretchy strap to hold it on his head.  It was a little bit tight, and apparently not comfortable to wear.  He didn’t like it at all, and refused to wear it for any period of time.  Plus, this was his first time wearing one, so he wasn’t used to it.

Sullivan's 1st Birthday

 Sullivan getting ready for his birthday cup-cake!

 Everything seems to be going well.

 Wait a minute, what is that on my hand?  I don't like that!  Get it off.

What is this torture device you are putting on me?  I don't do hats.

Oh wait, there is a cup-cake, I don't mind the hat so much anymore.

Mommy took Hannah, Reilly, and Sullivan to the beach this week, while Daddy stayed home to work.  Since we had just gotten back from Italy and a ten day vacation, there was a lot of work to get caught up on.  These pictures aren’t from that trip, but just a couple we took last time we were there.

ALL the cars in Italy are small.  It is like a whole country bought Smart Cars, except for the American tourists driving the 9 passenger van.  We didn’t stand out at all.  Because I don’t generally get in front of the camera, Brandon was nice enough to demonstrate how small these cars really are.

This red “car” is like a grown-up tri-cycle.  Numerous times we saw two grown men sitting in the front of this things. They literally spill out the side windows.

Local shopping

Shortly after we arrived, we hit the local store for some groceries.  This small store had all the staples, like wine, cheese, meat, and more wine.  Some locals started filtering in after we got there, and didn’t seem all that thrilled to wait for 6 American tourists to make up their minds (and to take pictures).

The Villa search...

We stayed in a small town in the Tuscany region of Italy called Manciano.  When we arrived we used the map the villa rental people gave us, but the map was incorrect.  We parked the van (big white one) and walked all over town to try to find the villa, only to later figure out we had parked right in front of it.

This is the view from our villa.  It overlooked a huge valley of farmland and green spaces.

Italy trip 2012

Stephanie and I went to Italy this year.  It is the first time we left the kids for any real period of time and we had a great time.  This was right after we landed in Rome, and before the 3 hours it took to get out of the airport due to a missing bag.  Delta didn’t realize everyone in our group wanted their luggage, so they were nice enough to leave one of the bags in Atlanta.