Saturday, August 14, 2010

Happy 8th Birthday and 4th Month-aversary!!

We have had a big couple of weeks, so I have a lot of catching up to do!
On August 5th, Campbell turned 8!!  I can't believe my oldest baby is 8!!  Where did the time go?  He has grown so much this summer and the time is flying by.  We threaten him weekly that we will put him in a shrinking machine, but he is so grown up, that he now understands there is no such thing:-(  So, he opted not to have a party, but still wanted to have a "theme'.  So (like Thomas the Tank Engine way back when...) he wanted another Star Wars cake.  I thought that EVERYONE around here would make a Star Wars cake (chocolate with chocolate icing), but it turns out, not many bakery's do!  Of course then I felt silly, when I realized that I am capable of making such a thing...and one of his favorite cakes is a Texas Sheet Cake with fudge icing: part one covered.  Unfortunately, decorating a cake is NOT my strong point, but Jay said, "I can draw a Darth Vader on a cake."  So part two was covered, as well.  You can see from the pictures that the cake turned out great and Cam had a great day!  Thanks to all of you for sending exactly what he wanted!  Cam is such a special boy.  I love the young man he is turning out to be and love how his heart has grown to accept his new brother.  He wants to teach Cael all of his tricks (good and bad) and is very protective!
Later that week, on Saturday, we went out for marathon training.  Jay and I happened to look up and see Cam standing on his bike seat cruising down the path.  Now, this is not unusual for him as he is a quite a hot dog on wheels...but Cael was also standing on his bike seat cruising down the path.  With GREAT trepidation, I asked them to do it, again, so I could get their picture...so now we have two hot dogs on wheels.
Speaking of Cael: On August 12th, we celebrated his 4th month as a Ferland!  He is doing so well and his resiliency never ceases to amaze me.  I can't think of a thing that we say that he does not understand, and he communicates so well with us!  In fact, on today's run, he told me that he wanted to stay in Texas forever (I don't think he quite realizes that we are not living in Texas, anymore).  He said that he would build us a house and a Taco Bell and that Campbell and Tucker (the dog) could live there, too.  Now of course this is sweet on SOOO many levels.  First, we really don't go to Taco Bell very often, but he does love quesadillas and wants to be able to share them with us, anytime.  He also has heard us complain about the "smallness" of our house, and wants us to know that the house he will build, will hold all of us and our things.  He is a very sensitive boy and we are so blessed to have him in our family!
On Friday, Jay flew back to Texas to pick up our truck and the boat.  We are so anxious to cruise the Potomac!  His dad is meeting him there and will share the ride back to Washington, so Jay is looking forward to some one on one with his dad.  Meanwhile, I'll be bachin' with the boys.  After we dropped off Jay at the airport, we went to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport.  It is the companion facility to the Museum on the National Mall. but WAAAYYYY bigger.  We saw a SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest jet in the world;  the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay; the Concorde, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise.  Of all of those, Cam was most impressed by the Corsair hanging from the ceiling and the Enola Gay (he is really into WWII aviation).
Finally, on today's 14 mile training run, we looped back through the Washington Navy Yard and the boys wanted another picture on the USS Enterprise anchor from WWII.  There is also a picture of the boys underneath the T-28 that hangs at the entrance of our base.
I think that about catches you up on our end.  How are things in your neck of the woods?






























Sunday, August 1, 2010

Mt Vernon Trail

We are STILL training for the marathon and we had plans of running at Andrews Air Force Base after dropping our car off for some work EARLY (0645) Saturday morning.  As luck would have it, the parts that were supposed to be there were not...so we loaded up the kids bikes and headed for historic Old Town Alexandria and the Mt Vernon Trail.  It is over 18 miles long and goes from Georgetown (or there about) to Mt Vernon...the home of our nation's first president: George Washington.  We started at about mile 9 and ran almost all the way to Mt Vernon.  Our goal was to get 14 miles in, but we ended up doing 15!  The run was gorgeous!  It is a paved and shaded trail that runs along the Potomac river under a canopy of 100+ year old trees.   We had a break in the heat on Friday so the high was only about 86 degrees.  Even the boys said that it was one of the best rides they have had!   The one picture is of the boys in front of the Jones Point lighthouse...as Jay was falling backward down a hill.  After the run, we walked Cam's bike over to the bike shop in Alexandria for a tune up. Right across the way was an AWESOME restaurant that was still serving brunch, so we stopped in for pancakes, eggs, burritos and chicken strips...just to name a few of the items we scarfed down.  Still in the carb-recovery mode, we took the boys for ice cream...yum!
This afternoon was spent catching up. Kim started her LAST war college class and had a ton of reading about Carl von Clausewitz (ugh!) and the boys had a wrestling match...you'll note that Dad eventually won!
Cael is doing great with his transition to Washington and the English language.  I can't believe we have had him home for 3 months!  He has discovered the Indiana Jones and Toy Story series.  So his new favorite saying is: "To infinity and beyond!" and he says it perfectly!
We hope that you all are doing well...can't wait to take you all on the trails so make sure you bring your running shoes or your bikes!!