Drivers Safety Course

This weekend I got to take a drivers safety course that is offered here. They say it's good training, but I really think it's just a good excuse to go tear up some tires and have a little fun! Throughout the course they teach about emergency braking, how to quickly avoid an object in the road and generally get you a little more comfortable behind the wheel. Without a doubt the most exciting part of the class is the "SkidMonster"! This is a vehicle that has been specially modified to give the driver a feeling of a loss of traction in the rear wheels. You'll notice the rear wheels on this truck are not typical!



Warning!!! You must be at least this tall to ride this ride! Warning!!!

-Jeremy

Community Helpers

Yesterday Jace got to go visit some community helpers at his school. It was really neat. A firetruck loaded with firemen, an ambulance with EMTs. and supercool Police Charger with a super nice policeman all came to visit the kids. It wasn't a school day for Jace, but I thought he would have fun seeing the big trucks, so we went. I was right, he loved the great big trucks and the men and women in uniform. (Wherever does he get that from?? hehe)


I don't ever want to see this again!


He got a big kick out of riding up and down on the gurney.


Yet another thing I never want to see again!

Unfortunately right as our group was ready for the firetruck, an emergency call came in that they had to respond to. I suppose that is why they are community helpers after all. The kids were excited to see the firemen throw their gear on and rush away with lights and sirens, but alas no pictures with the firetruck. Oh well.

After we were all done the kiddoes got to go in for snack. Here is Jace and Marco enjoying theirs. I just get a kick out of Jace's long skinny legs hanging out the bottom of the table.

It's a twister.....No, it's a dust storm!

The weather here has been unseasonably cool lately. And by cool, I mean high 90's to low 100's. However, the one thing you can always count on around here is a good ol' fashioned dust storm!

Tumbles, Giggles, and Friends Oh My!

This morning we were invited to join some of our friends for a play date at The Little Gym. This place is the cutest! The kiddos get to learn some gymnastics, play with lots of neat things, and most importantly get out all of that toddlerific energy! Jace was in his glory. It's a shame that this place is all the way on the other side of town. I could certainly get used to 3 hour naps on Saturdays!

Clapping to the rockin music...

Flipping over the bars with my friend Veronica's husband, Mariano...

Twirling over the high bars (By the way, I clearly have no knowledge of what these things are ACTUALLY called.)

I think he liked it...

Swinging on the rings with Mariano and Gabriel...

At the beginning and end of class the kiddos get to sing a song in circle time. Jace apparently thought all of the singing and clapping was for him. He ran right into the the circle and clapped and danced. This is one of his signature dance moves...

Melissa and Marco (With his SUPER cute new haircut)

Veronica and Gabriel
Fun Fun Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy belated to Mother's Day to all the awesome mommies that I know and love! We spent Mother's Day at the lake and had a great time! There was BBQing, boating, jet skiing, and lots of swimming. I had so much fun that I really didn't get many pictures. It's rare that I put down the camera long enough to really enjoy myself so I am glad that I did. I hope that everyone enjoyed their Mother's Day as much as I did!

Jace trying out his new big boy chair. He is looking more like a big boy every day! Nonna holding sweet baby Leah. She is looking more like Christopher every day!

Christopher wrangling Jace, who was LOVING running down the grass hill.

Sadly, there were no pictures of me with my little guy OR with my mom. What's up with that??

Breakfast with Daddy

Jace got to have breakfast with Daddy this morning via webcam. I'm pretty sure that he thinks Daddy lives in mommy's laptop, but he doesn't seem to mind. Most mornings when he gets up he walks over to the laptop, knocks on it, and asks for Daddy. It is pretty cute. Mornings are when we usually are able to webcam with Daddy and Jace looks forward to it so much. He hears the webcam ringing and his whole face just lights up. Then he gets to chat daddy's ear off in "Jaceanese." We are SO blessed that we get to webcam as much as we do. It helps all three of us stay sane.

Jace Saying Good Morning to Dadda....

Peek-A-Boo with Daddy...

And how could I not post this. Little Miss Leah all cute and ready for our morning walk...

Happy 34th Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Greetings from the other side of the world......

Well, I've been here for almost a full month now. I can't say that much has changed since the last time I was here. The weather is pretty mild still....only about a 100 degrees at most. It's been pretty windy and that really sucks because it's almost always blowing sand in your face. I'd forgotten how it felt to always feel gritty and dirty!

The pace has started to slow down for us a little. When I first arrived we were moving pretty fast getting things set up. I actually took my first full day off yesterday! There's not much to do so I tried to make the best of it by doing laundry and watching a few movies on the laptop. I haven't taken many pictures yet....been too busy to stop long enough! However, there was one day last week that we had a "hail & fairwell" BBQ with the outgoing unit. We had a good time playing softball that afternoon. Here's one photo from that day.

I'll try to post more as it happens over here, but it's pretty boring most of the time. Thank you all for the well wishes and I look forward to seeing you all again when I get home next year!