Happy Birthday, Nana

Today was Nana's birthday! We started off the day baking a cake for her. Trevor had a baseball game this evening, so we didn't have much time for partying. After the game, we had dinner and ate some birthday cake (after singing Happy Birthday, of course!) James got to blow out the candle! Birthdays are always a fun celebration in our house!

James, the Photographer

James loves playing with my camera and taking pictures. This afternoon, I walked into the kitchen and he was snapping shots of Lilly.....and she was actually posing! They are so cute when they play together!!!

Lily's Birthday

We had yet another birthday party to go to this weekend. This time, it was a little girl name Lily who is in James preschool class. The party was at Everst Gym and the kids had a good time. They were able to play on the bouncy trampoline, swing on ropes, jump in blocks, and eat cake. They love going to birthday parties!

Kicking off the Season!

We kicked off the boating season with a trip to the lake today. Todd has been anxiously awaiting the moment that we could take the Malibu for a spin again. He brought the boat to the house last night and cleaned it real good, put in a new fuel filter, and made sure that it was ready to go. He ran out of work early this afternoon and we hit the lake as soon as he got home. James and Lilly were so excited that they even took naps in their swim suits while they were waiting on Todd to get home!

James and Todd were the only brave ones to go for a swim. They said that it wasn't too cold (yeah, right!). Todd made a few runs on his wake board while I drove the boat. The boys even managed to fish for a bit, though they didn't catch anything! After all of our excitement, we docked the boat at Midtown Sundries and ate dinner with some friends of ours (Eddie and his family) and Nana met us there. By the time we finished dinner, it was dark. Trevor and Lilly went back home with Nana in the car. Todd, James, and I rode back to Ramsey Creek where we had put the boat in. I love being on the lake, especially at night. The stars light the way and it is so peaceful! We all can't wait until we can hit the lake every few days!

Back from Camp

We picked Trevor up from school about 1:30 this afternoon. He had just gotten off of the bus from his visit to Camp Thunderbird.

He said that he had a great time and he was smiling from ear to ear. He told stories of canoeing, snake handling, pillow fighting, eating, making forts, campfires, and girls!!! Camp Thunderbird was an exciting opportunity for Trevor and he made the best of every moment there. They have a summer camp, as well. Trevor said that he wants to go back this summer and spend a week there. I am so glad that he had a good time. Trevor is such a fun and free spirit. He always has fun at what ever he is doing!

Camp Thunderbird

Trevor left this morning for 3 days at Camp Thunderbird. Camp Thunderbird is a YMCA camp that is located in South Carolina on the shores of Lake Wylie.

The 6th grade class at Bradley Middle School is going together for their class trip this year. Trevor is very excited about being able to attend Camp Thunderbird with his friends. He is looking forward to the taking advantage of being outdoors for a few days and out of the classroom.

I can't wait to see how his trip went and how much fun he had while he was there!

http://www.campthunderbird.org/index.cfm

James and the Baseball

James is playing Baseball! The Huntersville Department of Recreation has a program for 3 year olds that is called Smart Start Baseball. It's a pre t-ball program that aims to teach the children the basics of hitting, catching, and throwing. A parent plays with them during their instructional time and helps them learn and stay focused. Tonight was our first time attending and it was a ball! James had to go all out and wear his baseball pants and cleats. He is so funny. He thought that he was big stuff out there on the baseball field. Todd helped him for a little while, then Trevor stepped in and took over.

James is all about some baseball!

We're Home!

The Palace of Culture and Science

Warsaw, Poland

After a long week in Poland, we are finally back in the good ole' USA! We had a wonderful trip and it was such a great experience and learning opportunity visiting another country.

While we were there, we visited the Old Town, the Warsaw Uprising Museum, saw many monuments and churches, and walked the "Royal Route" to the Royal Castle. Todd had two days in meetings and while he was working I managed to get in a trip to the Spa for a well deserved massage and a trip to the largest mall in Central Europe, the Arkadia Mall (which was built by his company, Skanska!). The hotel that we stayed in was a deluxe, 5 star hotel with all the luxuries of the hotels we have here in the States. It was in the City Centre and we walked everywhere we went.

As for food, we went to fine dining almost every night and ate a variety of food including Polish, International, Mediterranean, American, and Japanese. We ate at a traditional Polish restaurant the first night that we were there. It was definitely my favorite because of the atmosphere and the environment. It was really cool to just see the Polish people in their country and enjoying life as they know it. The name of the restaurant was Folk Gospoda (http://www.folkgospoda.pl/witamy_e.html). It was very much authentic Polish cuisine and Polish culture at it's best! The Polish menus consist of a lot of pork, potatoes, and peirogies. Their food was all very heavy.

Todd and I had a wonderful time spending quality time together. It's so important to stay in tune with each other and spend some time alone every once in a while. By the end of the week, I was missing my babies so much. I couldn't wait until the moment that I could hold them in my arms again!

Odjazd do Polski

My jesteśmy od dla naszej wizyty do Polski! JA będę próbować (wypróbowywać) *blog* podczas gdy my jesteśmy nieobecni, ale JA nie jestem pewnien jeżeli JA będzie zdolny . Pozostawiamy to południe i lecący (lot) przez Monachium, Niemcy. To będzie brać (przedsiębrać) USA okolo 14 godzinach przybywać do Warszawy. JA jestem tak (więc) pobudzany o naszym *trip* do Wschodniej Europy. Życzą amerykańskiego szczęścia!!

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For those of us who don't speak Polish, such as myself. The entry reads:

Leaving for Poland

We're off for our trip to Poland. I'll try to blog while we are gone, but I'm not sure if I will be able to. We are leaving this afternoon and flying through Munich, Germany. It will take us about 14 hours to arrive in Warsaw. I'm so excited about our trip to Eastern Europe. Wish us luck!!

Good-bye, Jake

We had to say good-bye to Jake this morning. Todd took him to meet Jason so that he could get back home and get ready for school on Monday morning. We had a great time the entire week and really enjoyed having him with us. Trevor enjoys his company, James likes having another "brother", and Lilly likes for him to pick on her. We can't wait until the summer when he can come back for another visit!

Campus Beautification

Today was Campus Beautification Day at our Montessori School. I took the whole gang with me this morning and we set out with our project in mind. Lilly's class has a little yard area where they can roam and play. It has a few flower beds and a tree in the area. Our job today was to weed out the beds and plant new, fresh flowers. Mission accomplished!

Discovery Place

Trevor and Jake create a Tornado

Lilly plays in the water table

Today we visited Discovery Place in Charlotte. Discovery Place is an interactive, hands on educational center for science and technology. There is an indoor tropical rain forest (yes, it's real!), space station, Ocean Touch Pool (you can actually touch live star fish, sea urchins, sting rays, etc) and Omnimax theater. They even have rat basketball where rats actually play basketball and compete with each other!! We did not see a movie, however, we did experience almost everything else that Discovery Place has to offer. For our lunch break, we hit the streets of Charlotte and found a nice cafe. It was a beautiful day outside and it was nice and refreshing to take a short walk in the city. Charlotte is quite a bustling little city! We had a great day and we will keep Discovery Place on our "To Do Again" list.

Monkey Joe's

We went to another one of the kids "Hot Spots" today. We went to Monkey Joe's. They had a great time running around and bouncing all over the place. Monkey Joe's is such a great place for them to release some energy and just go crazy! Trevor actually ended up with a busted nose before it was over....compliments of Jake! :)

Lazy 5 Ranch

Having our Picnic

Feeding the animals

We visited the Lazy 5 Ranch today and the kids had a blast. The Lazy 5 Ranch is a drive through safari that is 31/2 miles long and features over 700 animals from 6 continents. Animals featured include giraffe, buffalo, zebras, cattle, sheep, goats, water buffalo, rams, pigs, lemurs, tropical birds, domestic fowl......and that's just to name a few! We bought buckets full of animal feed and we rolled the windows down and the animals came right up to our car and ate out of the buckets. On our second trip through, the kids let up the back door window and fed the animals out of the back. There is also a huge playground and picnic tables. We took our lunch and had a picnic after we drove through the safari.

Hotel in Warsaw

Intercontinental Hotel

Warsaw, Poland

Here is the hotel that we will be staying in when we get to Poland. It looks nice!

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ic/1/en/hotel/wrsha

Addison's Birthday

Addison and Lilly

Our friend, Addison, had her 1st birthday party today. Her party was at Gymboree Gym and the kids had a great time. They sang songs, danced, ran around, and ate cake. What could be better????

What a weekend!

Most of the Gann clan at the pool

(Jason, Emily, and Jay are missing)

Jason and his family were up for the weekend. It rained all day Saturday (of course!), so my house was a sight after housing 7 kids all day! Finally that afternoon, we decided to take them swimming to let them get some energy out. The kids all had a great time playing with each other and it was nice to visit with them and catch up!

Visit from the family

Todd's brother, Jason, and his family are coming to visit us this weekend. Jason has 4 kids now and his oldest son, Jake, is coming to stay with us next week. He and Trevor have always been close and enjoy each other's company. Before we moved away, Jake was always at our house and we were able to spend a lot time with him. Since we've moved, he's visited us regularly, but not as much as we'd like. It just worked out this year that Trevor and Jake have the same week for Spring Break. We're not sure yet what all we will do, but I'm sure that we will find something to keep us busy!

They hatched

Our eggs that are in the nest on the front door have hatched. They aren't too cute now, but I can't wait until they get bigger. I love hearing the birds in the morning when I wake up. The more, the merrier!

Trip to Europe

Old Town

Warsaw, Poland

I have some exciting news! Todd has a business meeting in Warsaw, Poland and he has invited me along for the trip. His meeting is only 2 days and it is way too far to travel for a short stay. We decided that we'll be staying for 7 days and making it a vacation. All of the pieces came together and it worked out that Rick and Wanda are going to come up and stay with the kids for the week. I am very excited about traveling to Eastern Europe and absolutely can not wait. I have traveled a lot in the past and traveling is one of my greatest pleasures. However, I have not ever been to Europe. I have been doing a lot of research and bought several books, so I hope to be ready when I get there. I am dreading the long (and I mean 12 hours long) plane ride. I know that it will be worth it, though. I am very anxious about leaving the kids and traveling that far from home without them. I have the utmost confidence in Rick and Wanda and their ability to take care of the kids. It's just the fact that I will be thousands of miles away that is very scary! I'll update as the trip nears...... We will be gone from April 13-20.