Spring in the Azores brought these very cool looking flowers on the
plant in front of our house. They look like a bottle brush to me. The
only problem is the bees like them too.
We went to a carnival on base and the kids got their faces painted. Garrett got spiderman, Maelie, a bunny.
To stop the fighting among siblings, we did a lesson on serving others. It worked! They spent all their energy serving each other they forgot to fight :). This is our service tree. Each time they did a service, they got to put a leaf on the tree with the service they performed. Then we decided to make a garden of flowers once the tree was full.
Colson fell asleep in the garage aka toy room. Maelie participated in
'take your child to work day' and got to go to the dental clinic.
(Garrett's grade was too young) They made hand casts out of dental
stone. She had fun.
A store we like to go to for odds and ends on the island. It's not a
grocery store, more like a very, very mini Target or Walmart.
Baseball season has begun! The kids have fun at practices and Saturday games.
The field with an ocean view. Not too shabby.
Garrett is in t-ball and Maelie in coach pitch.
Sterling was dancing to the music that was playing near the bleachers. He also looks for bugs while at the games.
Our lefty...
A few nights ago we had a MAJOR storm. Lots of damage was done to roads
and flooding in homes. It rained all night, lightning struck all night
and thunder. NOTE: WE WERE LUCKY TO GET TO HEAR THUNDER AND SEE
LIGHTNING WHILE WE LIVE HERE FOR 2 YEARS BECAUSE IT NEVER HAPPENS.
MAYBE ONCE EVERY 4 YEARS AND ONLY ONE BOLT AND ONE THUNDER ROLL. I
asked Carla (a Portuguese lady that works in the dental clinic who has
lived here her whole life) when the last time was that they had a storm
like this and she said she's never been in a storm like this one. There
are a lot of pictures on facebook of the damage done and the mudslides,
but I can't figure out how to get them. All of the 9 islands got hit
really hard, some worse than others. Our side of the island wasn't as
badly hit as the other side, but there was still flooding in some base
buildings and base housing. There were a group of 19 cows that huddled
together to wait out the storm and they got struck by lightning and all
were killed in Biscoitos, a town near ours. It was a crazy storm. It
kept us up a lot of the night because it was so long and so
persistent. It reminded me of storms in IL when the tornado sirens
would go off. It was dark when the worst part of the storm hit, but I
bet the waves outside were crazy big. Wishing I had pictures.
Maelie was in a spelling bee. Each grade chose 6 kids to be in the
bee. They had competitions in their classrooms and the last ones
standing got a chance to be in the bee. Maelie was chosen and she was
so NERVOUS. She told me later that she prayed the night before and
morning of because she was so scared.
She won the bee for her class level-grade 3! I got nervous watching
her, but she didn't mess up. The woman reading the words for her grade
to spell was Portuguese and she pronounced 'libraries' - 'libaries'. I
was worried she would spell it the way she heard it, but she spelled it
correctly. Phew.
She got 2 certificates, a blue ribbon, and a medal to wear. She was
also interviewed by the local military channel. ha ha. It's a very
small base.
Because I plan to be away for Maelie's birthday, we decided to celebrate in on May 4th instead of June 4th. We'll celebrate Garrett's on his actual day because I will still be in town. I'm 'storknesting' to England to have the baby.
Here is her cake:
For her birthday dinner she chose fettucine, corn on the cob, garlic bread, salad, and steamed zucchini.
Maelie and her cake.
The maker of the cake. I look tired because I was! It was exhausting
making all the fondant and decorating her cake. It's a good thing
birthdays only come once a year.
9 blazing candles! I can't believe it.
We sent her on a scavenger hunt to find her presents per her request.
Her first gift was this Portuguese license plate with her name on it and her birthday 06-04.
A new dress...
A baby doll that makes sucking sounds when the binky is in her mouth.
And a 'it's not here yet, but it's been ordered and on its way' gift of new black Sunday shoes with a little heel.
She had a good day!
XXII Meia Maratona Dos Bravos at Sao Mateus.
Denver ran the Azorian half marathon. They have it on May 1st every year.
The kids not in school went to cheer him on. We brought lots of snacks to keep them happy. About 8 people in our branch ran it so there were others there to cheer on the runners too.
The man that came in first place was Portuguese. I think he won it last year too.
There comes Denver!
Crossing the finish line 1:36:38 later. He did a great job and was faster than I expected.
At the race there were these Portuguese dressed in cultural apparel that sang and danced a cultural dance. Where are you ever going to get that at a half marathon. I thought it was pretty cool.
The runners from the branch getting together for a picture.
Our fellow branch members: from left to right Rika Cotton, Mike
Bingham, Rob Carlson, Brandon Morgan, Monique Fees, Jonathon Strom, Kim
Davis, and Denver Palmer. The guy to the far right isn't in his branch
and I don't know his name, sorry. There were about 58 American runners
from the base and 43 Portuguese runners. They did a great job!
We've changed our eating habits a lot lately. We've lessened our
portion sizes and are always thinking about healthy foods. Denver has
already lost 13 pounds (he's exercising too). I've stayed the same
(can't really lose because I'm pregnant) but I haven't gained any and
we've been doing this for about 3 weeks now, maybe a little more. I,
too, have been running a couple miles a day, 3 times a week. We have so
much more energy and feel so good. Our kids are seeing this and
constantly asking if what they are eating is a healthy choice. I'm glad
they are getting mindful of health at such a young age. We've made
this a lifesyle change and don't ever plan on going back to our old
ways. It feels great!
Update on baby: I'm 34 weeks now. 6 short weeks to go. I'm leaving to go to England to have the baby. It's been stressful, but we're grateful to be able to invite a new one into our home. He's a mover. It seems like all night he's moving and kicking. Not so much during the day because I'm always moving around, rocking the baby to sleep. We might have some problems when he's born if he keeps his schedule. Hopefully somewhat soon I'll be posting pictures on our new one-except our camera broke and there is not a whole lot of selection here on this small island. The base in England has a bigger BX so maybe I'll look there. We're in the process of finding our old digital camera and using that until we can get a new one. We WILL have a camera when the baby is born.
That's about all for now.
To stop the fighting among siblings, we did a lesson on serving others. It worked! They spent all their energy serving each other they forgot to fight :). This is our service tree. Each time they did a service, they got to put a leaf on the tree with the service they performed. Then we decided to make a garden of flowers once the tree was full.
Baseball season has begun! The kids have fun at practices and Saturday games.
Our lefty...
Because I plan to be away for Maelie's birthday, we decided to celebrate in on May 4th instead of June 4th. We'll celebrate Garrett's on his actual day because I will still be in town. I'm 'storknesting' to England to have the baby.
Here is her cake:
Maelie and her cake.
9 blazing candles! I can't believe it.
We sent her on a scavenger hunt to find her presents per her request.
A new dress...
She had a good day!
XXII Meia Maratona Dos Bravos at Sao Mateus.
Denver ran the Azorian half marathon. They have it on May 1st every year.
The kids not in school went to cheer him on. We brought lots of snacks to keep them happy. About 8 people in our branch ran it so there were others there to cheer on the runners too.
Crossing the finish line 1:36:38 later. He did a great job and was faster than I expected.
At the race there were these Portuguese dressed in cultural apparel that sang and danced a cultural dance. Where are you ever going to get that at a half marathon. I thought it was pretty cool.
The runners from the branch getting together for a picture.
Update on baby: I'm 34 weeks now. 6 short weeks to go. I'm leaving to go to England to have the baby. It's been stressful, but we're grateful to be able to invite a new one into our home. He's a mover. It seems like all night he's moving and kicking. Not so much during the day because I'm always moving around, rocking the baby to sleep. We might have some problems when he's born if he keeps his schedule. Hopefully somewhat soon I'll be posting pictures on our new one-except our camera broke and there is not a whole lot of selection here on this small island. The base in England has a bigger BX so maybe I'll look there. We're in the process of finding our old digital camera and using that until we can get a new one. We WILL have a camera when the baby is born.
That's about all for now.
