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We spent Spring Break in Duck with cousins and Nana and Pa.  The sea looked better than ever!!

The area was even more empty than usual.  There were times that we could look at both sides of where we were on the beach and not see anyone else.  Once, we were out at the beach and it was about 75 and sunny and we had the entire beach to ourselves.  This is about 4 miles one way and 2 another way so it was pretty cool.  

The girls.

The siblings.

The big kids.

The boys. 

I put just a squirt of shower gel in Anna's whirlpool bath and this is what happened!  She was very excited about it.  

The Smithsonian National Zoo

On the way to the Outer Banks, we stopped in Washington DC for a night.  We planned to spend the whole day at the zoo because there are pandas there!!  Unfortunately, Lukey was feeling car sick.  We thought he'd get over it once we got there after he puked in the car and the parking garage.  However, his stomach continued to hurt at the zoo and our trip got cut short.  We did get to see the Giant Pandas, Red Pandas, Sand Cat and Fishing Cat.  And others, but those were the highlights.  After the zoo, we found Lukey's puke in the parking garage to know what level we parked at, got in the car and drove around to look at the sights of DC.  The kids rested for awhile then we went to dinner at Dogfish Head in Falls Church, where our hotel was.  It was really good.  Then we went to the hotel pool and in the morning had a really good breakfast at the hotel.  It was nice getting to Duck the next day after just a short drive from DC. 

Its amazing that these animals are even real!  Pandas are quite wonderful and always look happy!

Red Pandas are pretty cute too.  

We watched this guy chomping on bamboo for a long time.  So cute!!

Happy Birthday to Kent!

Kent wanted to celebrate his birthday in the Plymouth-Canton area and eat Coney Island food.  We loved the idea!  They brought food over to our house and had the party here.  We had a lot of fun!  

Happy Birthday, Anna!

Yesterday we celebrated Anna's 5th birthday.  She had an Aristocats theme.  There is a dearth of Aristocats paraphernalia out there but we did manage to get these figurines of O'Malley and Duchess.  So, we decided that they would get hitched and the cake would be their wedding cake.  We also had somewhat of a French theme because the cats from Aristocats live in Paris.

After taking a smiling picture, Anna wanted a silly face. 

She also wanted her favorite, a frowning face picture.

The kids wanted to dress up.  Lukey's knight costume is getting a little short on him these days but he doesn't mind.  There is no need for Anna to go to princess camp again this year.  :)
The kids have enough fun dressing up at home. 

Anna got some really great gifts.  Thanks everyone!  She was especially excited about all the dollars she got and told me this morning that was her favorite part.  

All the cousins and friends in one shot!  And Anna's future cousin is even in the picture via Auntie Beth.

Happy Birthday to Anna!  She's a pretty good kid. Her favorite things right now are cats, legos, playing piano, drawing, taking spelling tests and eating a lot of noodles.  She also loves school. This week I tried to keep her home one day because she seemed a little under the weather.  She threw a fit and started crying and telling me it was the worst day ever and she did not want to stay home.  I gave her a few Tylenol and told her if she wanted to go to school she could and her mood turned around immediately and was happy.  Hopefully her enthusiasm will keep up next year in kindergarten!

Millions of cats..

Last week Anna made a cat circle. I think its safe to say that she has enough cats...she likes them all though and most, if not all of them have names.  Lately she's been playing with Stone, her FurReal cat a lot.  Anna talks to her a lot and likes that she talks back.  She's the only cat that has gotten the honor of being dressed in build-a-bear cat clothes other than the build-a-bear cats.
Oliver liked sitting in the cat circle too.

Happy Birthday to Jacob!

Yesterday we went to Jacob's 2nd birthday party.  It was a Cars theme.  The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins and Paige and Jacob's other cousins.  Paige had fun opening Jacob's gifts.  Jacob wasn't interested in opening gifts at all but seemed to have a lot of fun running around with all the kids.  

Jacob while we were singing to him and Brooklyn picking her nose.

Too bad Paige was on the other side of table and didn't make it in this picture with the other Z cousins.

New Years!

To celebrate New Years Eve, we sat at home and all wore matching pajamas and drank champagne. The kids drank their fake champagne out of real glasses.  When we were at Kroger picking it out, Anna wanted grape and Lukey wanted apple.  We wanted them to share just one bottle so we were in a quandary.  Then, on the shelf around the corner there was grape-apple kid champagne!  It was meant to be!  Tim and I also had fondue and bread.  The kids had bread dipped in melted butter and garlic salt.
We also went through our resolutions.  Anna wants to get better at piano.  Luke wants to be stronger and better at everything.  We let the kids pick our resolutions and they said that at dinner we sometimes talk too much to each other and they want us to always include them in conversations. Fair enough, we'll work on it.  I also told them to be nicer to each other.  They get along great most of the time but still need to work on how to resolve their problems with each other better instead of fighting.  Hopefully we'll have a great 2017!