Bill really does exist

I didn't have a picture of Bill when I blogged that him and Mary Jo were officially engaged. Mary Jo sent me this picture, so I took the hint I was suppose to show him off:)

Cherry Blossoms

Yes we were five of the million people expected to see the cherry blossoms. Gram called last night and asked if we wanted to go. Of course I said YES. The kids were less thrilled but I believe they had a good time. We also saw the Jefferson Memorial, FDR and the WWII memorial. It was also the KITE Festival. Lots and Lots of people, but we had no trouble with traffic, metro or crowds. The blossoms are beautiful and everyone should see them at least once in their lifetime. I think it had been 18 years since I had seen them. I was with Sarah, mother and Ann when Ann had first moved to DC. I had forgotten to put my memory card back in my camera so I didn't get but one or two pics.

Niagara Falls!

Letchworth State Park, New York

Easter with the Devos

Ellie and Nicolas
2 girls and 2 boys
Isn't he the Cutest!
Super Dad on Nicolas first hike!
How much farther????

NJ aquaruim

Philly!

MARY JO GOT A RING!

Bill gave Mary Jo a ring last night! Very Exciting! Congratulations to both of them.

Happy Birthday to Brock and Andrew who both had birthdays this week!

Happy Birthday Ray

BACK IN VA

We drove our 10 hours home today. Everyone is still alive with little bruising from the car ride. That is a long time to be with one's siblings or offspring for that matter.

We had a wonderful time. On Monday we left for Canada. In true Uncle John fashion we took a little tour of New York State. We discovered a gem of a state park called Letchworth. It is called the Grand Canyon of the East Coast. It was beautiful. It had a couple of amazing waterfalls(pics later) the biggest we had ever seen. We arrived in Canada with no problems and really saw the biggest waterfalls we had ever seen! Our hotel room overlooked the Horseshoe Falls. The kids were so excited between the FANCIEST Hotel we had ever stayed in and the view of the falls. Donavan said "I COULD GET USE TO THIS LIFE, REALLY FAST!" We were in the off season, it is still WINTER there. We not only saw snow we got to feel it coming down on us. Yesterday afternoon it was 32 degrees snowing/icing. (We came home today to 75 and trees blooming. ) The kids enjoyed playing on ice and in the snow. We made a trip up to Niagara on the Lake and saw Lake Ontario up close and hit a couple of wineries. We also took a trip behind the Falls and a trip up high to see the falls. The kids were already trying to plan a summer trip, but our summer is already filled with MONTANA. We do hope to be able to explore more of Canada in the future once we all get passports! I will try and have lots of pics up by tomorrow.

Happy Easter

We are in NJ with the Devos family. Yesterday, we stopped in Philly and did a bit of sight seeing. The day was very educational and fun. We saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. The tour of Independence Hall was wonderful. The park ranger did an excellent job making it interesting. The room were they signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution gave you the shivers. How important those two documents are to our history and how we have evolved as a nation. We also went to the Fireman's Museum. That was very interesting and Ray was thrilled with seeing all the old stuff. We also made it to the NJ Aquarium. It was a fanstatic aquarium, lots of things to see and do. Tomorrow we are off to Niagara Falls.

Nicolas has grown so big in the last month. Donavan is quite taken with him. He reads and dances for him.

Spring Celebration

Donavan's main "girlfriend"

Donavan and Kendrick counting jelly beans!
Conlan making a pet rock on 70's day!

Swim meet, concert, birthdays, and ST.PATRICKS DAY

Happy Birthday to Papa and Aunt Sandy who both had a birthday the last couple of days. Good news from my buddy Tina, her biopsy was negative. YEAH!

This week was full of activities. Friday Colleen had the first day of the state swim meet. She added 5 hundredths of a second. Their 200 medly relay placed 4TH IN THE STATE. That was very exciting, Colleen had a great split in her 50 fly. After they swam the relay Colleen and Alexa were off to the Jonas Brothers concert. Alexa's mom and I had ear plugs in for all the thousands of high pitch screams. Colleen thought it was the best night of her life. I do have to say I was impressed with the brothers.

Colleen was tired on Saturday and did not swim her best in the 100 breaststroke, but she came back strong in the 400 Medly relay and had an outstanding 100 fly and their team placed 8th. Colleen was worn out by Sunday and added 3 tenths in her 50 fly. She came home and rested, but was still looking sluggish this morning.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Jonas Brothers

Soccer Season

Soccer season is here! The boys are playing with the parks and rec program. Colleen after teasing us with her decision not to play, decided to play with a new league with a bunch of girls. We met Colleen's team and coach yesterday. I do think she is going to like it. The boys first practice is tonight. We aged up both boys so they will be playing with kids a little older. I am sure they will still be the tallest:)
My dad continues to get better. Tomorrow he goes back to the surgeon so pray he gets good news. My friend Tina had a breast biopsy yesterday. Her surgeon thought the outside tissue looked great so there is high hopes she will come up negative. There has been lots of jokes on Tina's behalf, since she is very petite. Yesterday she exclaimed how her ribcage was actually larger than her breast. We continue to pray that she has keeps having good news.

Good News

As I am typing my dad is being released from the hospital. YIPPEEE! Yesterday the bone doctor pinpointed what he thought was wrong with him and the meds to this treatment have worked miracles. They are thinking he has a rare bacteria infection in his colon that causes some kind of reactive inflammatory arthritis. This was the cause of his joints being so swollen and he being in so much muscular pain. He has been shot up with lots of steriods and pain killers, so he said he felt better than he had in a week. Pray that this will be able to be cured and he can go back to his active lifestyle.
Conlan who has had a sore throat for a couple of days went to the doctor today. He has strep throat. Lets pray that he keeps his own germs and does not make it a family affair.

NBA Madness

The Beaver family went to their first NBA game. The Wizards were playing the Orlando Magic. Conlan who is the NBA expert had already informed us that the Wizards were going to get beat. He just didn't know it was going to be so bad. They lost by 31 points. The poor guys couldn't make any shots. Conlan is already planning his next game his only request is to find a team that the Wizards can beat! As the norm for our family we were in the nosebleed section but the kids all got towels and hats for free so they were happy. Donavan is now the official METRO guy. He was all about reading maps and instructions.
MY dad is still in the hospital and his white blood count is still rising. They are doing all kinds of test. Hopefully we will have some kind of answer in the next day.

Check out my Slide Show!

Happy Birthday Sam

Today is Sam's 4 year old birthday. He is growing up way too fast.
Keep my dad in your prayers, yesterday his bloodcount was up and Sarah and my mom both said he looked awful. He was just laying in bed with his eyes close. They won't let hm go home until his blood count is normal and he has had a BM. This has to be extrememly hard for him not only because he is sick, but he also is not use to being told what to do! Hopefully today will be a better day for him.

Other things over the weekend

The weekend was beautiful so the kids were out and about enjoying the warmer weather.

Our computer got a hijacker virus and it was going to cost over $600 to fix it so we opted for a new improve version.

The shocker of the weekend was that my dad was admitted in the hospital and had emergency

surgery. They thought it was his appendix but it turns out it is something to do with his colon. He has an infection but they are not sure what is causing it. He will be hospitalize for a few more days. This is his first trip to the hospital in 72 years. He is not too happy about the whole thing.

new computer and pre-owned kayak

I am playing with my new computer to see how I get pics to download. Okay as you see I figured it out. Ray went and purchased himself his birthday present. He is all excited about his Loon Old Town green kayak. The guy also offered him a job for the summer, it is a shame he can't get paid the big bucks for playing on the river all day!