Monday, May 9, 2011

The Beginning of the End

This year in the DC area has been wonderful. Ryan has thoroughly enjoyed this internship and as always the people is what it is really all about. The other 18 interns are all amazing people that we feel blessed to have gotten to know and Ryan would certainly call them all friends. I have become good friends with several of the spouses as well and will definitely miss them. Back in April one of the families had a big family party at their house as one last hurrah before we all start going our separate ways. We decided to turn it into a big sleepover since they live quite a ways from us and we wanted to be able to partake in the liquid festivities! This was the kids first friends sleepover and they had a blast! The hosts have 5 kids and the other family that spent the night has 4 so add in our 2 kids and that makes 11 kids!! Talk about fun!

There was a bouncy castle for the kids!
From Spring 2011
From Spring 2011
Did I mention the liquid fun??
From Spring 2011
From Spring 2011
The shots were called Diamond Backs because the host is going to be the commander of a squadron with that name.

Once we got all the kids in their PJs we let them watch a movie or play their games for awhile before we sent them off to bed. It was so cute to watch all the boys lined up with their DS's!
From Spring 2011
We managed to get all 11 kids to sleep in one room!
From Spring 2011
After the kids were in bed the guys played poker. And then they presented Ryan with a flight suit!
From Spring 2011
Ryan was so excited! He has loved getting to know a lot of the pilots this year since we normally only have contact with the support folks. Here he is sporting his new zipper suit with Vasco, an F-22 pilot.
From Spring 2011
Amazingly all the kids fell asleep, but our kids didn't make it the whole night and ended up in our bed later that night and Ryan ended up on the couch! Oh well, it sure was fun though. Thanks to Dan and Joy for an amazing party!!

Surprise!!

My Mom turned 60 this year and my sister Brooke and I wanted to do something special for her. After a lot of thought we decided that we would both fly in to Wisconsin and surprise her. And then we actually pulled it off!

Dad picked us up from the airport and after we dropped off everything at home we went and surprised her at work right before she was done for the day.
From Spring 2011
She was beyond shocked! And so happy to see Brooke's little baby bump in person!
From Spring 2011
We took her out to lunch and kicked Dad out of the house for the weekend so we could have a girls only weekend! It was wonderful; we shopped and cooked together and watched movies and generally just chatted and laughed until our faces hurt. Memories for a lifetime!
From Spring 2011
We love you Mom and I hope you had as much fun as we did. Happy Birthday!!!!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Birthday NYC Trip

When Alayna had her birthday in August she got to go spend a weekend with Auntie in New York City, so now that it was Calvin's birthday it was also his turn for an NYC trip. He was very excited about it,and Auntie Brooke and Uncle Macharia did an amazing job making it special for him.

We got there on Saturday and had pizza for lunch and then we went to Manhattan to the Intrepid Air Sea and Space Museum. It is actually a huge Navy Aircraft Carrier that has been turned into a museum and it is truly amazing!
From February 2010
There was so much for the kids to actually touch and see, and Calvin loved it!
From February 2010
It was also Kids Week so they had some special things going on. They had some clowns from Barnum & Bailey's Circus who performed and then had an area for the kids to learn some clown stuff afterwords.
From February 2010
He learned how to juggle and how to spin a plate!
This was by far his favorite part! And after a little practice he could even pop the plate up off the stick and catch it again! He loved it!

It was super cold and windy that day, but we did make it up to the flight deck to see some of the planes up there.
From February 2010
And what an amazing view of the city!

That night we of course had Tacos for dinner and then birthday cake!
From February 2010
From February 2010
The next day it was back into Manhattan and first on the list was ice skating at Rockefeller Center!
From February 2010
It was AMAZING!! Definitely Mommy's favorite part :)
From February 2010
We skated for probably an hour and it was so nice. Calvin tried so hard and never gave up!
From February 2010
And thankfully he was the only one to fall!

It was pretty cold, so we took a taxi to Rockefeller Center and Calvin thought that was pretty cool. Once we were done skating the wind had died down so we walked to our next stop.....FAO Schwartz!
From February 2010
Calvin wasn't nearly as outwardly excited about this as Alayna was, but by the end of the day he said it was one of his favorite parts. He ended up with a cool Nerf basketball hoop as his gift from Auntie and Uncle Macharia.

After that Calvin really wanted a Hot Dog from one of the street vendors.
From February 2010
He thought that was so cool! We ate and walked to our next stop....Dylan's Candy Bar.

They have 2 floors of nothing but candy! And they also had a chocolate fondue fountain so we got Calvin a chocolate covered Rice Krispie Treat for dessert!
From February 2010
What a mess! But it was so good it was worth it!

That afternoon Macharia and Calvin played some football right along the water outside of their apartment.
From February 2010
From February 2010
It was such a great weekend! Before we went home we asked Calvin what his favorite part of the weekend was, and he thought about it for a minute and then just said "All of it"! How awesome is that?

Thanks again Auntie and Uncle Macharia for giving Calvin such an amazing weekend! You guys are the best and my kids are so very lucky to have you in their lives.

Ballerina

From February 2010
Alayna has finally started Ballet!!! She has been wanting to start for over a year, but with the move to VA and getting settled we told her she had to wait till after Christmas.

Well her time has finally come!

February 5th was her first class, and she was soooooooo excited! And then all the following week she kept asking me when she could go back. It was so sweet. She just loves it and has been dancing around the house even more than normal now. We even had to turn down a birthday party invitation to go to class one Saturday and she didn't even mind! We are so thankful that there are ballet lessons in Korea, so she should be able to continue when we get there.

Birthday Boy

I can't believe it, but my baby boy turned 7 in February!
From February 2010
Where does the time go?

We had a quite family birthday at home this year since he had a huge party last year. He is completely obsessed with football at the moment and since his birthday is the same week as the Super Bowl we had a football theme.
From February 2010
He requested Tacos for dinner so that is what we had. Then it was cake time! We started a new tradition this year on Alayna's birthday that I make a homemade Chocolate Angel Food cake for birthdays. My Granny used to make it for us growing up, and I decided to start it again with our family. To make it extra special it is only baked for birthdays so they only get it a few times a year. And since no one has had a birthday since Alayna in August, Calvin was very excited about it!
From February 2010
And one of those moments you treasure.....
From February 2010
He was so happy!
After cake we opened some presents that people had sent.
From February 2010
And please don't even ask why Alayna is wearing that hat.....I have NO idea! She wore it all the time for about a week.
From February 2010
He loved all his presents, especially the new games he got for his DS. Overall I think he had a great birthday.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Korea or Bust!

From 2011-01-23

Yup, you read that right. Ryan has been selected to be the Squadron Commander at Osan AB, Korea and we will be moving there as a family this summer. Overall we are very excited about this. Of course it takes us far away from family and friends again, but it is a fantastic opportunity for Ryan and another 2 years of keeping our family of 4 together. Just another adventure for the Bak4More clan!

To celebrate Ryan's selection for this job I surprised him with a night out.
From 2011-01-23
Special thanks to Calvin for taking the picture!

It was so nice to have a night out to talk about this new job and the move without having to stop and play referee with the kids! After dinner I had a couple more surprises up my sleeve....dessert and champagne!
From 2011-01-23
It was a so much fun to surprise him and to do something special. We really don't do it enough. But being selected to be a Squadron Commander is a big deal, and I just couldn't let it go without a little celebration.

Congratulations Honey!!! You are going to be the best Squadron Commander the Air Force has ever seen!! I Love you and I am so very proud of you!

It's a New Dawn....

a new day, a new life, and I'm feeling GOOD!!! That's my theme song right now!
From 2011-01-23
After 5 months on Weight Watchers I have lost over 25 lbs and 3 jean sizes, and I am not done yet! I am healthier now than I have ever been in my life; I am running 2.5 miles 3 to 4 times a week and actually enjoying it!

In case you have forgotten what I even looked like before check this out!
From December 2010
It is my new year's resolution to NEVER gain that weight back!

Cause it's a NEW DAWN!!!!