Seth Eating Cereal first time

Family news....

Well, Seth had his 4 month check up this week. Everything looks great, and he is growing so fast! He weighed 17.4lbs. and his height was 26 inches! He is starting to protest if you take something away that he wants, like ice when I give it to him! Today, I gave him rice cereal. He did okay with it, but didn't eat too much of it. Maybe I will wait to give it to him again or at least give it to him when he is really hungry.

Joseph and Hannah started school this week. Joe is in high school now....9th grade! He likes it so far, but he said he is the only freshman in his math class. He is in Algebra 2, so not many freshman are in that high of a math class. Hannah is now an 8th grader. She seems to like her teachers so far. She cheered for her first football game this weekend. She looks so cute in her little cheer outfit! Nothing new happening with Anthony this week. He is looking forward to coming home for labor day. Sean bottled his beer this week. We should be ready to taste the first bottle around labor day weekend. He really likes this hobby and can't wait to make the next batch. As for me, nothing new really, my life is my kids right now, I love them.

Enjoy the photos!

Trip to Palm Springs

Well, we are back from our little road trip to Rancho Mirage ( a city near Palm Springs). Unfortunately Sean had to sit this one out, so it was just the kids and I as well as Sirena. We Started out on Thursday afternoon, later than expected. Seems like having an infant causes me to run behind a lot lately. =-) We traveled for about 6 hours on Thursday, stopping at a Best Western for the night. Joe went swimming for a little bit. The hotel was pretty nice, better than the Red Roof Inn we stayed at when we went to San Diego. =-) Day 2 was spent driving the rest of the way to pick up Anthony from 29 Palms. It was a little bit of a shorter drive than day one. We killed a little time at the Wal-Mart in Yucca Valley. Finally the time came to go on base. We had to check in at the gate and I couldn't find the current registration, luckily a second look in the car proved fruitful! =-) While driving up the road to the base we saw signs welcoming home Marines who have been gone. This was very moving. We were so excited to see Anthony. We got on base and thought the base could use a woman's touch. You know, some landscaping, flowers, and trees. The rock gardens really don't do anything for me! Anthony was waiting for us and we were off to the resort.

We stayed at Rancho Las Palmas in Rancho Mirage. Very nice resort. We got 2 lower floor rooms that backed to the golf course. The rooms were gorgeous. Bathrooms were clean so we were thrilled. By the time we got settled in, we were starving. We hadn't eaten since 1pm and it was past 9pm. We ended up walking to the Resort Restaurant, The Blue Ember. Nice place, but very, very expensive. We really couldn't enjoy it since we were tired and it was so late. Luckily the baby fell asleep during dinner. He was so good. Saturday we woke up to the sound of little feet running very loud upstairs. A little call to the front desk cured that. We went down to the pool and Splashtopia. We thought the pool opened later than it did, so by the time we got there, all the good poolside lounge chairs were taken. More importantly all the ones with shade were taken. I went and bought lunch for the kids and we sat and ate nachos, chicken strips, and sipped on lemonade. While we were sitting there, a lady walked by and told us that she left 4 chairs under the shade 3 rows back. We quickly went over and snatched up their chairs! What a blessing that was! There were 4 chairs under a very large umbrella near the bar, and by the building which had misters. Honestly, this spot was even better than the $165 cabanas! And it was free! The day was spent swimming. Seth really liked the big pool. He took a couple of naps on the lounge chairs for me. Joseph was quite the ladies man poolside. He met a couple of girls and hung out with them most of the day. The resort had 2 water slides and a lazy river where you could relax on inner tubes. The kids had so much fun. Sirena and Anthony got a little sunburned. We finished off Saturday night by ordering pizza back to our room and playing a game of Pictionary. Joe, Hannah and I played Sirena and Anthony. It looked like they were going to win, but in the end we came back and kicked their butts! We have a rematch planned for Labor day. Sunday was check out day. We went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Yum. Then we had some chocolate dipped strawberries and spent some time trying on hats at the Hat store. So fun. We then had to drop Anthony back off to his base. We said our goodbyes and were off, again, behind schedule. Seth cried and fussed for quite a while on the way back. We stayed the night near Magic Mountain at the Hilton Garden Inn. Very nice. The baby slept nicely, must have been all the crying. Poor guy.

We got home today about 4:30pm. Seth was really good in the car today. It was nice to come home and see Sean. Seth had a big smile on his face when he saw daddy. Sean had a touch of the stomach flu, so he had a really hard time trying not to kiss the baby. So that was our trip, the condensed version. Enjoy the photos!

Sean's Brew

Sean is starting a new hobby....Beer Making! He made his first batch Saturday with James Jensen. Sean made about 5 gallons of Porter. Yum! Right now it is fermenting, and making lots of bubbles! In about 5 weeks or so, we will be sipping Vacaville's finest! Cheers!

Eric & Jill's visit

Well, we just said good-bye to Eric, Jill, Griffith and Caius. We had a great visit with them over the past few days. We visited the Jelly-Belly factory in Fairfield and yesterday they went to San Francisco for the day. We are planning to visit them in the next couple of months in Oregon. Can't believe how fast they grow (the boys ;-)) Griffith is 6 3/4 and Caius is 3! Lots of boys in the Thomas family!

One More!

Joe Holding Seth...rare moment captured on film! (well memory card....=-))

Kids Photos

Here are some recent photos of the kiddos...... Hannah is pictured here in her first try on of her cheerleading outfit with her best friend Skye. Seth is now 4 months old! He is putting his hands together and holds things in them. The drooling is out of control at this point. Mommy has to change him several times a day. He really loves daddy and watches everything he does and smiles whenever daddy looks at him. So cute.