The Beach!

We found out recently that we live less than an hour from Sandy Point State Park near Annapolis.  There is a free (to military) "beach" with a view of the Bay Bridge and we've made 2 trips in the last month to meet our friends, the Schuchards, for a Saturday play date.  The kids love playing together in any location, but here they especially had a blast in the sand and water.  We collected many, many rocks and shells.  These trips were a great alternative to a beach vacation because we could leave and go home whenever we were tired :)  Here are some pictures from our two "beach trips".

Proud of her shell "collection"

John and Jack taking a quick rest in the sand

Me, Claire (32 weeks), and Sarah

Elise and John love playing together

Jack running away from the waves

John swimming

Jack and Lila (we are hoping that at least one set of our kids get married!)

Me, Claire (30 weeks), and Mike

Hunting for shells with Daddy

Trip to West Point

At the end of August, Mike and I took Elise to West Point to visit our friends, the Reclas!  Thank you, Mimi and Pop, for staying behind with our little potty-trainer.  We got to scope out the houses, parks, places to hike, and see the school where she will go for kindergarten next year.  We're not quite ready to leave Baltimore yet but we are excited to head to West Point in mid to late May.  Thanks to Ben, Kami, Austin, and Lauren for letting us camp out in their new house :)  Before we left, Elise told Jack, "Jack, I have to go to New York with Mommy and Daddy.  But don't worry, I'll be back after one night.  I love you!"

Mike and his 3 girls

On a bridge that crosses the Hudson River

Lauren (2.5), Austin (3.5), Elise (4.5)

Me and Kami

The kids love climbing on the monuments and cannons at West Point... not sure if this is good or not :)

Proof that school buses exist (Jack's favorite!)

Hugging baby Claire at Trophy Point (31 weeks)

West Point Elementary School

Elementary school playground

Delefield Pond (hard to tell but there is a "beach" and water slides)

A few of the neighborhood parks... it was raining off and on so we didn't get to try them all out.  This one has a paved jogging/bike trail that Elise is excited about.

"Jack's Preschool"

Neighborhood where we will likely live

The Reclas' House

First Day of Pre-K

Elise was SO excited to start Pre-K this week!  Jack and I got to visit her class with her and meet her teachers on Wednesday and then she had full mornings on Thursday and Friday.  She has several friends in the class that she knows from church or school last year (Kate G., Kate H., Katelyn, and Chelsea).  She will go on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9-12, which is perfect for us.  I hope that she is always this excited about school!

Silly face

New (size 13!!!) shoes :)

28+ weeks

Ha, this post was started for 26 weeks and now that I'm almost 29 weeks, I might as well finish and post it :)  I can't believe that my due date is about 2 1/2 months away!  We did the big "home makeover" last week and moved 3 bedrooms around and now baby Claire has a room of her own, crib (thank you, craigslist!), and dresser.  I'm still feeling good most of the time.  It has just now started getting uncomfortable to run so I'm pretty much done jogging.  I never would have guessed that I'd still be happily running at 28 weeks since I know I stopped earlier than that with the other kiddos.  Running or walking in the mornings makes a huge difference to loosen up my back and I'm much less stiff throughout the day.  I also try to do a short video (The 30 Day Shred, alternating levels 1 and 2 with a few modifications or a few segments of the 10 Minute Solution:  Prenatal Pilates DVD) several times a week and that is also going well.  At 26 weeks, I had gained about 10 lbs but now it is more like 12ish.  I had an appointment yesterday and my fundal height is measuring pretty close to right on at 27 weeks.    

23 weeks

24 weeks

26 weeks

28 weeks

Her first new item (thankful that she's getting just about everything else from Elise!)