Newest Burger Updates

We have been a rather busy family since our last posting. Our second (and possibly last) camping trip of the year occurred. We went out on a Tuesday, and the girls came home the next evening. Tuesday was 95 degrees, hot, sunny. Sarah and Emily spent about 2 hours at the play equipment and had a blast with the other kids in the evening. Around 930pm unfortunately the rain moved in and the temperature dropped. Wednesday it rained all day and was about 58 degrees for the high. Needless to say, I didn't expect 50 degree weather in June, so therefore we were all a little cold and miserable. Dan stayed out there til Sunday for his guys camping/fishing trip. The weather did improve for him.

It seems like June has been an incredibly long month. Maybe this is because I am now 8 months pregnant and feel like I am going to have this baby any day. We have kept very busy this month. Sarah, Emily, and I have spent a lot of time at the Beach Waterpark. I can't believe my little girls do the slides and tube rides in the kids area already. Their favorite thing to do, though, is get a cup of ice, eat it up, and play in the heated pool. I don't blame 'em, they have no meat on their bones and are pretty cold in the regular water.

Besides swimming at the waterpark, we spend a lot of time in the sprinkler and swimming pool at home. The main goal in this hot hot weather is to stay cool. Lots of water, lots of popsicles, lots of air conditioning for me.

We are now at 35 weeks, only 5 to go until the new little baby arrives. Can't wait to meet him or her. Sarah and Emily are thrilled, I know they can't wait either. More updates to come as more occurs!

Camping!

We went out camping for the first time this year at the end of April. Our goal is to try out some new camp sites so we went up to Ceaser's Creek. For a place with over 200 campsites I was rather dissapointed with the facilities. There were 3 big loops and supposedly 3 play grounds. Of course the play grounds were the exact same and less than stellar. They each had a swing set, teeter totter, and a little semi circle thing to climb on. And of course they each had sand. The girls rather liked the play equipment but I wasn't impressed.

We went out on a friday afternoon and came back Sunday. Friday involved mostly setting up the camper, making dinner, and going to the play ground. Getting to sleep was a little tough for the girls. Emily gave up around 10pm, but poor Sarah was up til after 11pm and I ended up having to sing to her to get her to sleep. Saturday we spent some time at the play area. Next we went to the Beach, but it was way too cold to do much there. In the afternoon I filled a little inflatable pool for them, but again, the water never warmed up too much. We did take a nice walk in the woods and found a neat view of the water.

The following discoveries were made by me on this camping trip:

1. Camping is always more fun the more people you have.

2. Bathrooms in Ohio State Parks are rather scary - it is sad when the best shower stall has water bugs crawling around it and there is a giant spider staring at you every time you try to wash your hands

3. Pregnant Trisha does not enjoy camping, especially when it is hot and sunny

4. Shade is your friend - too bad there were no leafs on the trees.

5. Always pick a camp site close to the bathrooms and near the play equipment when you bring a 2 and 3 year old camping.

So our next camping trip will be the first week in June. I really don't know how much I am looking forward to it. The girls and I are going out Tues - Thurs, while Dan will be out there all week. We are going back to Brookville in Indiana. Our friends are suppossed to be coming, but I have my doubts. I know Sarah and Emily are excited about going. I am starting to realize though, that camping is really just a lot of packing, cleaning, and repacking, etc. in order to spend the day outside. I much prefer the comforts of my own home. However, Dan loves the idea of reliving his childhood, so instead of luxury vacations, camping it will be. That's okay, maybe in 4 years or so I will take my kids with me on a "girls cruise" and send Dan off camping for the week. Who knows. Until next time...

Happy Easter!! (A little late)

So Easter turned out to be a lot of fun for the girls this year. Unfortunately I had to work the actual day, but we did all kinds of fun things leading up to that day and even afterwards. The girls practiced for weeks doing mini easter egg hunts. I think to them finding Easter eggs was more exciting than opening Christmas presents.

We actually attended two Easter egg hunts this past year. One was the annual Beach Waterpark Egg Hunt. This was the week before Easter. Each year more and more people attend. There were hundreds of kids there and it ended up being quite a let down. They had a section of eggs for kids 4 and under - you can only imagine how many kids were 4 and under. I brought two eggs from home and it is a good thing I did because in total Sarah and Emily found 3 eggs (including the 2 from home). It was so sad, Sarah kept saying, "Mommy, I didn't do very good."

The girls did like the animals there though, and also the inflatable jumping thing. The second egg hunt was at STM Church. Completely different story from the Beach. There were 300 eggs for the kids ages 3 and under. In total, there were maybe 15 kids in that age group. Sarah and Emily filled their baskets 3 times each and actually asked to stop before all the eggs were collected. Dan is still working on their candy.

They even won some prizes - one of which happens to be a large pink bunny rabbit bigger then either girl! Too fun. I think they will enjoy the holiday for many years to come.

Apologies!

So sorry there have been no new posts lately, time just gets away. I will have up some pics from easter and so on very shortly. And of course camping starts soon so I will have new posts from this in the near future!

Vacation!!

We thought it would be fun to go on a cruise with the family, and we were right. We went on a 6 day cruise out of port everglades, left on Sunday the 25th and just got back on Saturday the 31st. I think it may have been one day too long for most of us, but we really had a great time.

We sailed with Carnival, on the Carnival Freedom. It was a 12 story boat, our room of course was on level 2, Main deck. Each time the elevator opened the girls would announce which floor we were on. It was too cute. Our rooms were rather small, Dan, myself, Sarah and Emily shared one room while my parents and Matt shared another. As you can see from the pictures, the rooms are pretty much meant for sleeping and showering, not for spending too much time. Each night we had a new towel animal left on the bed, I think my favorite was the turtle.

On Monday we were docked at Key West. Can I just tell you what a beuatiful place that is. It was hard to believe it was actully January when you were there, the weather was great. 78 degrees, sunny. We walked to a local beach. The water itself was a little cold, but the sand was great for digging. Emily even got a little sun burn on her face while we were at the beach. I found some nice homes I think I could spend the winter living in down there, too bad they probably cost approx 1 mill dollars or more. And the yards there aren't much to speak of.

Tuesday was a day at sea. These were not the most enjoyable days for Sarah and Emily. The boat had a program called camp carnival, which was basically like daycare for your kids. We took Sarah and Emily there because they had all kinds of toys. It was like our play room at home, only 10 times the size of it with a ton more toys. When we got there the counselers gave me a phone and explained in front of the kids how I would leave and come back later. Of course this did not sit well with Sarah, and after that there were no more visits to camp carnival. It's kind of a shame, I think the girls would have had so much more fun playing with the toys, but alas, they had a great time playing with me.

Wenesday we were in Grand Cayman. This meant another trip to the beach. The water was at least warm enough to swim in. The girls weren't in the mood for the water this time because of the waves. They did like the sand though, and just a little ways down the beach was a play area with swings and slides. The weater was great, mostly sunny, about 82 degrees, and of course it was my birthday. Never thought I would get to say I speant my birthday on a beach in a bathing suit in January. That night my parents took the girls to the buffet for dinner and Dan, Matt and I went to the fancy dining room. Afterwards we went to the Havana bar and smoked cigars and then headed to the casino. It was a nice evening out, I even won $100 playing 3 card poker.

Thurday we were in Jamacia. My parents took the girls to a beach while Dan, Matt and I went river tubing. Dan and I went river tubing once in Belize and I have to say this was ten times better. There were actual rapids with this one. Dan and Matt both flipped out of their tubes at one point. Too fun!! The ride up to the river and back, though, was none too fun. There were pot holes everywhere and the twists and turns were enough to make even the best of us nauseated. Which brings us back to the ship. Although every day was a rough ride, that night was the worst. The boat was really moving. I stayed in with the girls that night, while Dan went to the casino with everyone else and managed to win the $500 black jack tournament. I think we probably donated all that money back to the casino over the course of the trip. Dan also won a gold ship on a stick, a tshirt, a bracelet, a hat, and a wallet. And of course he now takes over the title from my mom as black jack champion.

Friday we sailed home, nothing too evenetful. Played some games we found in the library, played some cards, ate some food. I have to say the food was pretty good. I was content eating hamburgers most days.

We flew home on Saturday, the girls did great on the plane both down and back. It was kind of funny to leave 70 degree weather and fly in to see snow on the ground. Glad we missed the snow/ice storm that week.

Unfortunately it is off to work tomorrow, back to reality. I haven't caught up on my lack of sleep yet, and the ground still feels like it is moving beneath me. Dan says he will never go on a cruise again, but he said that last time, I think when everyone is older we will do it again. Us girls can talk him into anything!

Christmas

Allright, so I know it is a little late, but I am finally posting our pictures from Chrsitmas. Everything was wonderful. On Christmas Eve we went to the Rensing family's get together. There were lots of gifts, including tons of dress up clothes. After that we came home, the girls went to bed, and just like magic, Santa came, ate some cookies and left presents for everyone.

Sarah woke up the next morning and watched cartoons until Emily woke up. She had actually forgot about the presents. When we went to get Emily up, Sarah all of a sudden rememberd the presents, and she ran into the living room. She turned around and had a look on her face I will never forget. Then she said, "Mommy!!!! Santa came!!!" I have never seen her so excited.

After opening presents we went to the Burger family. We actually got there at like 9:30 in the morning because Dan was in such a hurry, he likes Chrsitmas more than any of us. The girls got a great doll house amongst a number of other presents. Every year just gets better and better.

Bowling

Dan had a week of vacation recently and we tried to make the most of his time off. We had a number of days of eating out, Chick - Fi - La was a favorite spot merely because Emily is tall enough to do the play stuff. Another fun thing we did was go bowling. The girls had a tough time lifting the balls on their own but they pushed the ball down the lane. Sarah was concerned about knocking over the pins, while Emily's biggest concern was that the ball came back. Can't wait to do it again!