Travis's parents stopped by on their way home from Florida. It was really great because usually they don't stay very long, but we convinced them to stay for two nights, which allowed us a lot of time to play bridge. Amazingly, the kids napped at the same time. The weather was nice, so we spent some time outside as usual.

Sheryl taught Xander how to make coffee. She directed him and he did everything, including counting out all the scoops, unsupervised. She told him the coffee was very good, so I guess he counted correctly!

Xander's beloved motorcycles stopped holding a charge. Even with new batteries, they didn't work. I took some pictures to post to an online forum for help from the experts. They suggested a new charger, and sure enough, that fixed the problem. I just didn't believe that both chargers would have gone bad at the same time. Better than the motorcycles themselves!

What happened? It was so warm and lovely out, hot even, and now it is cold. The kids were so accustomed to going outside that I couldn't say no to them, so we bundled up and headed out anyway. Kayli is so good at climbing into the play structure; she just clambers right up. Once she's up there, she likes to kiss me through the green mesh; you can see a picture of her waiting for a kiss. She loves riding the little car, and can propel herself now and turn when she needs to. She coasts down the driveway sometimes, which scares me, but she has always run into the grass, so far.

I pulled out our Easter stuff and found the little hood that my mom's coworker Laurie gave us when Xander was born. Amazingly, it fits Kayli, though it is a little snug. There is also a fantastic picture of the kids riding the indoor motorcycle together.

More pictures with the bunny hat and a bunny headband I got for Xander. We dyed eggs in preparation for the Easter Egg Hunt we're hosting on Friday.

Kayli and Xander helped me take pictures of all of our baby things that we are loaning to Holly. Kayli liked posing with the wool sleeping mat. She's recently really enjoyed snuggling under blankets; she likes to pull them up to her chest and get really warm. It must be this cold snap.

I'm organizing all of my baby stuff to loan to Holly for her new arrival in August. I wanted to get pictures of each item so I could remember it. I know, I'm a little crazy sentimental sometimes.

Easter was a quiet day at home, though not as quiet as Travis and I would have liked. Xander was up all night with croup (we think), so Travis didn't get any sleep, and Kayli was just restless and woke up for good at 5:30am, so I didn't get any sleep, so we were both miserable. We were glad that we didn't have anything planned for the day.

The Easter Bunny came! Xander had the brilliant idea to leave carrots out for him, so that he would have energy to get to all the other houses faster. He was thrilled to find that the bunny not only ate the carrots, but also left a note ("Thank you!"). The Easter baskets were hidden around the house, along with a whole bunch of plastic candy filled eggs. Xander loved that! He found the eggs as he searched for his basket, and had to eat a piece of candy from each "to give [him] energy while he searched". We had written a letter to the Easter Bunny a few days ago, asking for Play-Doh, bubbles, candy, and batteries (for his tape player). Unsurprisingly, that's what he found in his basket. There aren't many pictures of Xander on Easter morning because I was videotaping him instead.

Kayli is wearing a dress of mine that my mom saved all these years for my daughter to wear. I love it, and I love it that my mom saved it for her. That is so neat.

P.S. I'm sorry that I couldn't get my fill-in flash to work, Dad! I know I should have been using it.

Just as my mom saved some clothes from me for my children, I'm saving some of my favorite outfits for my kids to give to their kids. Or just because I'm sentimental. Whatever! These are three particularly cute outfits from her 9-12 month range.

The first (peach and off-white outfit with hat) is an outfit that Grams and Papa gave to Kayli for Easter last year. She wore it all summer, and one of her professional pictures was in this outfit.

The second (pink dress and hat) was an Easter gift from my aunt Teresa and aunt Rebecca. It has matching shoes, too, that didn't make it into the picture, but they are adorable. I have some great pictures of her wearing this outfit. Unfortunately, it got wet at some point and left a small gray stain on the skirt, but I had to save it anyway because I love it so much.

The third (pink with butterflies) is one of the first outfits that I bought after Kayli was born and I knew that she was a girl. I love this! It is adorable and cool, but unfortunately it needs to be ironed or laid flat to dry, so she didn't wear it as much as I would have liked.

Kayli didn't really like the baby swing when she WAS a baby, but when I pulled it out to show Holly, she wanted in it right away. She would sit there and play with the tray for a while, and reach up and grab the mobile. She could actually reach the mobile, too, unlike when she was a baby.

Xander has started taking gymnastics at a new place. He's the only child in the class, which he is ambivalent about. He's learning a lot about gymnastics, but he isn't learning anything about working with other kids. His cartwheels have gotten really really good (for an almost 4 year old), and he can do front dive rolls and regular back rolls. His teacher is named Miss Beth, and is just starting up the program. Hopefully there will be more kids soon.

I took the kids to the Hands on Museum on Thursday, little knowing that it was spring break for Ann Arbor. Oops! It was packed there! They had special displays set up to handle the masses, including free candy, so it was fine. Julie stayed and chatted with us for quite a while while I chased the kids around.

It is time for me to clean out my room at my parents' house. These are some pictures of how it has looked for the past few years. There is a lot of junk there... things from high school, mostly. It was interesting to go through all of it. I threw out a lot, but kept a lot, too. I'll put it in a box that says, "Stuff that is interesting only to Jen. Throw it all out when she dies. Don't bother looking through it. It will be meaningless to you."

My dad's pictures.

We spent the day around the house, relaxing. Around 4:00, the Burts came over for dinner. I didn't get many pictures, but other people did, so I'll add those later. Alden and Xander got along wonderfully. Kayli was a pain at first, then fell asleep on my shoulder and stayed asleep the entire night. I mean the entire night. It was crazy!

My dad's pictures.

On Sunday, we had a birthday party for Xander, Sheryl, and me. It was very fun! Everyone except for Troy and Karen and kids were there. It was so nice to get nearly everyone together. Xander had a great time playing with Gino and Anthony. He left his own party when he saw that they were outside playing. We returned to Dayton after the party.

I went upstairs on Monday morning to take a shower, and left Kayli with Travis and Xander. Apparently she was so upset that she fell asleep on the floor while crawling around looking for me. She was too upset to walk. We had to take a picture, because our non-sleeping kids do not just fall asleep on the floor. Later in the day, Xander nearly fell asleep eating his second burrito.

We always throw a birthday party for the spring birthday kids: Xander, Isaiah, Rachel, Brantley, Connor, Emerson, and Kyle. There are a lot because I started the group with kids that were about his age; it isn't just a coincidence. First, the kids dyed eggs. Some of them had never done it before! Then, the Easter egg hunt (yes, we know Easter was a week ago). They loved that! Then we all played outside until people had to leave. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor party!

Xander has always loved the motorcycle, you know, and now Kayli can ride it with him. Sometimes she even holds on. He's very good about not going too fast while she's on the back. That night, Kayli fell asleep at around 5:30 while I was holding her and talking to some neighbors. I left sleeping Kayli with Travis while Xander and I went to get my hair cut. He woke her up because he didn't want her to take too much of a late nap, but she did NOT want to be awake, so she just walked around falling asleep on things, like the ottoman.

We went to Tot Town with the Raymers. Delia always knows the cool treasures to find because she does geocaching, so she led the kids to a nifty box of hidden treasures. They each got to choose one to keep. Usually you replace it with another equally exciting treasure (McDonald's toys work well), but we didn't have any with us, so we'll remember to take some next time. Delia also showed us a cool hidden amphitheatre that is pretty old and decrepit, which is probably why it is so cool.

For my birthday, we headed down to Hilton Head. OK, the timing was mostly coincidental, but I was still excited to go. The car ride was fantastic! I got to play with my computer for hours! Uninterrupted! Ahh... bliss. We did stop at a park so the kids could stretch their legs for a while. It was a beautiful park at a beautiful school in London, Kentucky.

I'd like to mention that it was not me who put socks on with Xander's sandals. Poor dorky kid. He doesn't know any better.

We drove all the way to a hotel, then spent the night. The hotel had a pool, and the kids were wide awake after a day with little activity, so they went swimming in the hotel pool at 9:30pm. Xander had so much fun with Grandpa, and Kayli paddled around with me a little. It was tough to get her to sleep afterwards, but Xander crashed right out.

One of the first things that happened after we got to Hilton Head was that Xander crashed through the screen door. He was running and I guess he didn't see that it was closed. It must be a stealthy screen door, because Adam did the same thing a few days later. My dad was tryin to fix the door after Xander knocked it off, and he had plenty of "help". Kayli really enjoyed kissing him through the screen and through the door. She was smiling and laughing. The rest of the day was spent at the beach.

The first thing Xander said to me when he woke up was, "Is it my birthday today?"

Another great day at Hilton Head. This morning, we got up late, around 8:00(!), and immediately put sunscreen on the kids. No more "Oh, i'll put it on at the beach". That's a very very dumb idea.

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After breakfast, we headed out to a dolphin cruise. It was awesome! The boat was just a little motorboat, so we were close to the water, and we were the only ones on it. Excellent! Captain Shawn was wonderful. Very personable and friendly, and had kids exactly a year younger than each of mine, so knew how to talk to Xander. Also, we saw many many dolphins! So much better than last year. Xander was vaguely interested in the dolphins, but Melissa was VERY excited about them. So nice to see her enthusiastic about something. She's been talking about the cruise all day, saying how great it was. And it was! We ALSO got to see the boat forklift put a boat into the water and take a boat out of the water. Guess which exciting thing Xander has talked about more! Kayli slept for THE ENTIRE boat ride, which made it very relaxing for me. I couldn't believe that she slept, considering that I forced her to wear a life jacket.

After the amazing boat ride, we came back to the condo for a quick lunch before hitting the beach. My parents purchased a beach umbrella, and that made all the difference to me. It was fantastic to sit out on the beach in the shade. The temperature was perfect, and the kids were happy. Xander was playing around shirtless (I sprayed him with the great Coppertone sunscreen spray - that stuff rocks) and was so cute. He found another kid to dig with, and they had a good time. Kayli sat in the shade with Grandma and dug holes in the sand. She's not sure about the sand--it clings to her fingers and she always wants us to brush it off. It became very windy later on, and she didn't like the sand blowing in her face at all. Who would?

My aunt Teresa and my uncle Jack showed up around 3:00 and came down to the beach. They live in Florida now, so we never see them, and it was so great that they could come up to visit. We all sat on the beach and chatted for a while, then Xander rode his bike and we tried to gently suggest that he remove the training wheels (enticing him with the use of the wrench) but he wasn't interested. We aren't pushing it, but we want to. Heh. Seriously, we're taking it very easy, and want it to be his idea. Unfortunately, it was his idea earlier today, when Grandpa (with the wrench in his pocket) was up at the condo, and he had lost interest by the time Grandpa got back.

We came back to the condo to get cleaned up, then had dinner. I made my usual chicken and wild rice casserole, because everyone likes it (except Travis, who isn't here), and it is easy and quick. It was delicious and everyone was well fed, except Xander, who refused to eat it. He won't starve.

After dinner, we made ice cream cones and took them down to the beach for a walk. No, we didn't take the ice cream cones for a walk. We went on a walk WITH the ice cream cones. It was lovely. We all chatted and Xander ran his little legs off. A woman was feeding seagulls, so he went and stood under the cloud of seagulls. She gave him some of the bagel she had and he threw them in the air for the gulls. He loved it! After she ran out of food, we continued our walk. A ways down the beach, Xander put down his ice cream cone (sans ice cream, now), and a sea gull instantly snatched it up. Xander insisted on running back (a long ways!) to tell the seagull-feeding lady that next time she should bring empty ice cream cones because the birds love them. I thought it was so cute that he wanted to share his new knowledge with her!

We came back to the condo eventually and put Kayli to bed (she had fallen asleep on the walk). Xander lay down on the bed and watched a video while we all played Oh Hell. It was a good game, and I almost beat my dad. Well, ok, not almost. But I might have. He's good! Xander helped with the second round, which did not make it any easier for me. I should have just put him to bed (he was napless, anyway), but he was being good (still distracting), so I let him sit on my lap and throw the cards in for me. Often I'd just tell him to follow suit, and he could. The boy is smart.

The boy is also very very sturdy. Just watching him run up and down the beach, I'm shocked by how strong he is. His legs are solid muscle. Watching him play without his shirt on reminded me how lithe and powerful his four year old body is. He is going to be a physical powerhouse if he wants to be. If he has my family's height and Travis's family's width, he's going to be huge. And yet he is such a sweetheart. I do love my little four year old boy.

After cards, I put him to bed. I snuggled him and wrote on his back. For the first time, I started writing letters on his back like my dad always did for me. I think it is one of the reasons that I'm a good speller these days. Frequently, he'd put me to bed and write words on my back. I loved it. I love doing it to Xander because I remember that I loved it so much. One more way to work on his letters and reading. He also read The Greedy Python to me. I really love listening to him read.

I left him to go to sleep (which probably took only seconds) and went back out to chat with Teresa and Jack. They left shortly afterwards for their hotel, and I uploaded these photos! Now, bedtime!

Yesterday, we went on a bike ride, and Xander pedaled his little legs like pistons for over two hours. We went miles and miles. I was so impressed with him! He never once said that he was tired, and when we finally stopped, he wanted to go more! He was very sad we were going to quit, so my dad and I took him on another short ride for 20 minutes or so, and let him lead. He loved that.

I always think of bike riding as something that requires very little effort. I don't think of it as aerobic or even as exercise at all. This probably stems from riding in Michigan, which is generally flat. I rode across Michigan, from lake to lake, over the course of a week, and didn't find that to be much of a chore, even with no training at all. I wasn't even doing martial arts or running then, so I was just a lazy college slug. Anyway, I had a tough bike ride yesterday! We discovered that we couldn't easily fit our rented bikes into the minivan, so my dad and I offered to ride them up the beach to get to the place where my mom, aunt, and uncle would be renting bikes so we could ride on bike paths. Oh my! Riding on the beach was so hard on the way there. The wind was very strong and against us. It was a 27 minute ride and I was miserable for 25 of them. It started out all right. We rode them back on the beach, too, but luckily the wind was with us, so it was effortless and took only 18 minutes. Phew. In between, we rode the two hours on bike trails with Xander. The trails were flat and very easy. Our rented bikes don't even have gears, the riding here is so easy.

We headed to Harbour Town, and spent some time there wandering, and we got some ice cream to sustain us on our ride back. My dad, Xander, and I all climbed up to the top of the lighthouse. Xander had no trouble with the 114 steps, nor with the height. He got on Grandpa's shoulders, actually, once we were at the top, so he could see better.

In the middle of our bike ride, we stopped at a stable that had a pair of twin horses born about 6 weeks ago. Twins is very uncommon in horses! They were adorable, of course, all brown and fuzzy. The stable also had a petting zoo, so we went in to check that out, and then, of course, Xander got to ride a pony! That was very exciting. He wants to ride a horse now, and I told him he can do that at Camp. Kayli was asleep when we got to the petting farm, but woke up in time to pet the burros and the goats, and giggle her head off when the burro shook his fur when she touched it. So cute!

Naptime followed lunch, I'm happy to say. I talked Xander into lying down for 10 minutes, and that's all it took. He was tuckered out!

His nap also gave me time to get cleaned up for dinner. Hilton Head is filled with expensive and delicious restaurants. We've been very frugal this week and have eaten at home every night, but we wanted to go out once, ostensibly to celebrate my birthday. We chose "The Quarterdeck" because it had shrimp scampi on its early bird menu. I'm a huge early bird menu fan. Our table had the most spectacular view! It was on the corner of the restaurant, with huge windows overlooking the 18-th green of the golf course and the water on the other side. Fantastic! Our meal was good, too, but the real treat was having a quiet dinner with adults. My mom was playing with the kids at the Gregg Russell park the entire time.

We headed home, the kids went to bed, and we played cards again with Teresa and Jack until Xander drove me crazy by still being awake at 10:30 and I had to beg out of the game, which ended it.

Today was great! Big surprise, right? We had an entire day at the beach. We went down there first thing in the morning, and set up a huge camp with most of the things that we own, including the bikes. Xander took his training wheels off his rented bike so he could try riding without them. I can't say that it was a success, but we gave him lots of positive reinforcement and encouragement, so hopefully he'll try it again tomorrow. Or sometime soon. He didn't like it very much. I ran next to him and held the back of his seat, and sometimes the handlebars, but usually not. He wanted to go so fast that I couldn't keep up very well, and had to ask him to stop. Humpf. I said to him tonight, "You did so well riding your bike without training wheels!" and he said, "Yeah, I know!" in a matter of fact sort of way, so I guess he's pretty happy with himself.

It was just us for a while. The kids played happily around (Kayli has gotten used to the sand and doesn't hate it on her anymore), then my aunt Kathi, uncle Mel, and their grandkids (my cousin's kids, whatever they are), ages 7 and 9, came to visit from Georgia. My aunt Teresa and uncle Jack arrived at the same time. We all gathered at our camp, and the kids immediately headed for the ocean. They jumped and swam in the waves for hours. Then they went and swam in the pool. Then they came back and swam in the waves. Then back to the pool. They had a great time.

The coolest thing for me was that Xander loved playing with them. He actually went in the ocean because they did, and had a great time jumping over the waves and playing in there with me and Grandpa. He didn't actually swim, because he can't really yet anyway, and certainly not in crashing waves, but he did get all the way wet. My dad had a great time with him in there.

Xander and the other kids (Kirsten and Adam) had a wonderful time in the pool. He was grabbing the noodle and swimming all by himself, which is something I've encouraged him to do, but today he just did it naturally because he wanted to be out in the center of the pool with the other kids. Yay for building confidence in the water! Kayli got in, too, with me. The water was very warm and the air was hot (85), so it was a good day to swim.

My parents ordered bulk pulled pork for us, along with bulk cole slaw, etc, so dinner was easy and tasty. We all ate on the back porch, so it was another picnic! Xander was thrilled.

Tonight, Xander went to bed easily, but Kayli was not interested. I tried nursing her to sleep, then I tried walking her to sleep. I walked her all the way out to low tide and back, and she was still awake. So I invited Adam and Kirsten out to check out the beach at night, which was cool. It is always fun to walk on the beach at night. Then we went swimming! Meanwhile, the adults were playing Texas Hold'em. After I finally got Kayli to sleep, I joined them briefly, but lost very quickly, so it was good that the game was over.

Teresa and Jack are leaving tomorrow morning, so we won't see again them until July. I wish they still lived in Michigan! Darn that Florida--stealing my relatives.

Teresa and Jack left early from their hotel this morning, so we didn't see them at all. We went down to the beach and played until Kathi, Mel, and the kids showed up. Then there was more playing on the beach, jumping in the surf, and swimming in the pool. While the kids were all entertained, Kathi and I went to thrift stores. She is the queen of thrift store values, you see. I found two shirts from Express that I had looked at in the real store, so I was pleased to buy those. That was the limit of our success, though.

The kids had lunch at the beach again, and loved it. Kathi, Mel, and the kids left around 3:00, and I made Xander lie down for a few minutes. He ended up sleeping until 7:30pm. Ugh! Bad idea!

It was a nice evening, though, even if it did extend until 11:00pm. We went to the beach and played with construction vehicles in the moonlight. That was very neat, because his construction vehicles from Teresa, Jack, and Becky all had lights on them, so they could work in the dark. Kayli was awake, too, having had a second nap. After working with the vehicles until it was very dark, we went in, and decided to go swimming! Great idea, but Xander didn't even get in the water.

We had planned to play family euchre, but it was just too late by the time the kids were asleep. We all crashed out.

Xander was very interested in taking another bike ride, so my dad and I rode down the beach again to Sea Pines and met my mom and the kids, who had already rented their bike. The timing works out great for that. The ride there was a little easier, I think, or maybe I was expecting how difficult it would be, so it didn't seem as hard.

The ride in Sea Pines was great! Xander is such a good bike rider! We went about seven miles, and he never complained once. We rode all the way to South Beach so we could have ice cream and shop at the Salty Dog cafe. The kids ate hot dogs to sustain them on the way back. I had Birthday Cake ice cream, which is by far the best ice cream flavor I've ever had. I'm going to seek that out as soon as I get home. YUM! And appropriate for the week. I bought t-shirts for the kids. Xander picked his out from a poster outside; he wanted a tie dyed one. He loves it! I got Kayli a little pink shirt.

The ride back from South Beach was similarly easy. Kayli fell asleep in the bike seat, and stayed asleep for the rest of the ride. She never cried once in the bike seat, either trip. She loves it. I'll need to get a bike rack for my car so we can go to the bike path at home. Once she was asleep, we reached Baynard Ruins, which was so interesting!

After the long ride (Xander said he was done, this time), we went home and Xander rested in his room, but didn't sleep. It gave my dad and me a chance to have a quiet lunch while my mom and Mel went to Coligny. After rest time, it was beach time again!

My dad brought pizza home for us, and we had an excellent pizza dinner before heading to "The Ice Cream Cone" for ice cream. No Birthday Cake flavor, though, I'm sad to say.

Bedtime was early, then the adults packed. We even got to play cards for a while! It was a good game.

After the car was packed, we went down to the beach for one last look at the beach. This is a Hilton Head tradition for us. I took just a few pictures of the area. It is very cool to me that we have been coming here since I was little. I imagine that the place must have changed, but I haven't noticed it.

Today we'll have a very long car ride, all the way back to my house. My parents and Melissa may spend the night, or they may continue on home. My dad is driving again (he drove all the way here), so I get to play with my computer in the dark minivan. What a great way to spend the day!

It was a great trip. The weather was fantastic all week--very warm and sunny, but just a bit windy. We got to see Teresa and Jack, and Kathi, Mel, Kirsten, and Adam. The sad part of the trip is that Becky couldn't be here with us. We missed her every day and thought about her often. Hopefully she'll be with us next year, when we're planning a big reunion. That would be so much fun!

For lunch, we stopped at my dad's childhood friend Don Tucker's house. It was absolutely gorgeous. I think I live in a nice house until I see a house like that! Everything was custom and beautiful, and the view off the mountain was spectacular. I didn't know them very well before, but they were so nice and friendly that now I feel like I've known them forever (as I technically have).

I bought a Nikon D40 on my dad's recommendation. He said it was a good professional camera that was in the price range for a non-photographer, and he was right! I'm happy with the pictures that it takes, though I think my skill needs to catch up a little bit. Anyway, here are the first batch of pictures I've taken, before changing any settings on the camera or reading the manual or anything.