those crazy potters

Bobby's 1st Birthday

Bobby turned a whole one year old yesterday. We had a little celebration at home - some cake and the birthday song. Kid doesn't like cake, we've discovered. I'm sure that will change over time.

Pictures are here. He's one happy kiddo - that's for sure. :)

Virginia Beach - Part Two

The day started with breakfast at McDonalds and some much needed coffee for Mom and Dad. The 4 hour drive was fairly uneventful but certainly beautiful - spring is in full force and everything was flowering. We pulled into Virginia Beach around 11:30 and headed to the hotel.

Our room was great. A Jr. Executive Suite at the Cavalier is A Nice Thing. Well, if you can overlook the seemingly 80's hotel decor inside. We had a sitting/living room complete with pull out bed and dining table for 4. Head down the hallway and on either side is the bathroom (with Jacuzzi tub) and dressing room. And then the bedroom - My favorite feature had to be the king size bed. There was room for all of us, which meant I wouldn't find myself eating baby toes in the middle of the night. Even with the bed, there was plenty of room for bobby to crawl around in this room. Needless to say, the view was amazing.

Unfortuanately the afternoon weather was not so amazing. We had lunch and had just enough time to walk around the main drag before we headed back to the room to avoid the rain. When the weather finally cleared, the boys headed down to the beach for some kite flying. Dinner that night was room service.

Saturday started much better and after a quick breakfast at the hotel we drove ourselves to the Virginia Marine Science Museum. We saw sharks, sea turtles and Terran even got to touch a sting ray. His favorite sight at the museum? The turkey walking around the aviary.

After lunch, we opted for a rather chilly game of putt putt golf. Terran came really close to beating me, but I managed to pull out of it at the very end wtih a well timed hole-in-one. Bruce, of course, beat us all into the ground. Bobby was perhaps the warmest of us all - all bundled up in a beach towel. The rest of us were still a bit on the cold side so we piled back into the car and went in search of a starbucks.

2 coffees and a kid's hot chocolate later we were back at the hotel for a rest. Then back down to the beach where we got in a bit more kite flying before deciding to do the tourist thing and have dinner at Captain George's.

Easter morning was fun. Despite Terran's worries, the Easter Bunny came and did his thing all over the suite. Terran found all his eggs and both he and Bobby enjoyed their Easter baskets. Breakfast was at the hotel again and after a quick jaunt back down the beach it was time to hit the road.

But instead of going straight home, we took a detour across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, or the "over and under bridge" as Terran called it. We were headed for the Eastern Shore and Ocean City, MD.

The best thing we found in Ocean City was The Kite Loft, where Bruce finally got his first four line kite. This is one of the best kite stores we've ever seen. Besides being huge, they have kites of all types and we must have spent a few hours just looking around.

But it was time to head home and so we did. A stop for dinner in Annapolis and a night time drive through DC and we were back at the homestead around 10pm.

Pictures of our adventure can be found here. And now that you've read "Potter Family in Virginia Beach" the book, come back tomorrow and watch the movie version!

Virginia Beach - Part One

Last week was spring break for Terran. Bruce had scheduled Friday off so we could go out and have a family day. Original plans were to head into DC and hit the Nat'l Zoo and other DC offerings. However late Tuesday night we decided on a lark that we were going to head down to Virginia Beach. After calling 5 or 6 hotels - at 11pm at night mind you - we found a room at the Cavalier. We opted for a ocean front suite.

Wednesday left me busy doing laundry, cleaning house, and trying to find a place to board the dogs. Heh...lest we forget, this was Easter weekend and places were booked. Luckily I did find a place - only it was 40 minutes away. Oh well.

Thursday the kids and I took the dogs to the kennel and then came home and packed. Terran was pretty excited as his friend Raymond had left earlier in the week to visit the beach in Hawaii and, of course, Terran wanted to go to the beach as well. His only worry was that the Easter Bunny wouldn't be able to visit us because the "waves would knock him down." After many reassurances that the Easter Bunny could indeed walk on water if he needed to, Terran decided that Easter on the beach was going to be a pretty cool thing.

Early Friday morning we headed out....

Great Weekend

On Thursday Bobby got his first haircut. I don't have any pictures as it was an unplanned event. I took T in to get shorn and as luck would have it Bobby was asleep during our visit - so while the eyes stayed closed we trimmed him down too.

Friday seems a blur, but we did manage to have company for dinner. We've friends with twins Terran's age. The husband is out of town a lot (he's a pilot) but even more so this month due to training. We figured we'd give Mom a break and have her over for an evening.

Saturday we breakfasted, mowed, biked, lunched, shopped, kite flied, dined, and then on top of all that made a late night run to Target for diapers! Let's just say the kids slept extremely well. It was Terran's first time out (of the yard) on his bike this summer.

That brings us to Sunday. Even with all that activity yesterday Bruce and I found ourselves wide awake by 7am. So he hopped on his bike for an early morning ride. After mowing (the backyard this time) we went and ordered a new bike for T (that 12" just wasn't doing it anymore) and then opted for more kite flying. Even Bobby had fun. A quick lunch downtown and it was back home to catch the end of the Nascar race. Heidi is partcipating in a Fantasy League and so far she's on a 7 win streak!

So all in all a wonderful family type weekend. Those links are pics - so take a peek!

Gotta Love Lego

About a week ago Terran drew a picture of himself playing with his legos. He came up with the idea of sending it to the Lego company, so one envelope and a stamp later off it went.

And wouldn't you know - they wrote him back! They thanked him for the drawing and for being a "lego maniac." Once I get my computer and scanner talking again, I'll post a pic of the letter in this entry. Oh yes, they also sent him a little lego man keychain.

In other news, I added some more photos to the picture gallery. Robert's Arrival and Terran's Birthdays (only his 1st is up so far though). Enjoy!

Terran's First Lego Movie

Terran and I made a movie with our whiz-bang new DV camera and his imagination. He called it Finding Treasure in the Water. It was his first movie and my first editing experience, so things are a bit rough around the edges. You will need QuickTime to view the movie... and be warned, the movie is 3MB for those using a modem.

Washing Underwear?

Yesterday afternoon Terran was somewhat resisting his job of putting his clothes away. I told him that he had certain responsibilities and that one of them was to take his clean laundry up to his room. I also told him that if he decided not to do his chores, than I wouldn't do mine and that would mean he'd have to wash his own clothes.

Later that night we were walking around Home Depot when Terran asked, "Mommy? Do you wash underwear every day?"

Baby News

Congrats to our friends Amanda and Don Bailey. Their daughter was born this morning at 10:29 AM. 7 lbs 14 oz, 21 inches long. I believe they named her Rachel.

Happy News Indeed!

Ouch!

So I'm not exactly sure how he managed to scratch himself this way, but these are some pretty wicked looking marks!