Portuguese Air Show

Today at church we talked about an upcoming Youth Conf. They will be taking the Boat to Sao Miguel in August for a weekend. Steve and I planning on going with them if Steve can get it off for work. Working with the Youth is so much fun! When I was with the YW in Utah we had so much fun! Steve's going to help with the music for the Dance.

The Portuguese Air Show was on base today. We took a walk over with Mona, John, Peter and David our neighbors and our three boys. It was so HOT! We got to climb in and see several of their air planes/Jets. We had a good time. While watching the air show..I spotted Dr. Fernando the Dr. who delivered Quinn, I have not seen him since his birth. We walked over, and greeted him with the traditional kisses on both cheeks (Woman greet that way with both men and woman, Men still shake hands to men) He saw Quinn and he said Wow he's big! He's such a nice guy. He remember's everyone too, it's amazing. I saw a few of Orion's friends from his school, Orion recognized them too. It's kinda nice having a small community here. While we were down in Angra I saw a Nanny Friend too. You run into people you know every where here.

I made Lumpia for the first time for dinner...Yummy!

Angra Festival

Tis the season for festivals on the island! We had a blast together as a family last night into the wee hours of the morning. We went and watched our Hula friends dance at the Angra main square 9pm and watched a parade where they had floats from the villages showing how things were done in the olden days here on the island, they had fisherman selling fish out of there baskets and woman giving out bread wearing the old fashion clothing of the day, Blacksmiths, wagons etc. It was neat! The kids enjoyed playing on the Huge Jumping castles, I've never seen so many jumping castles in my life. It was so much fun! We got ice cream and just walked around. We saw a castle and when we walk through it's a hotel. We really explored last night and saw some things we have not seen yet here. Angra Festival is a week long celebration they party well into the morning 5am or so. And we'll do it again for Praia Fest in August. They have venders from all over come and sell goods and also concerts almost every night. It's just neat to go and take in all the culture here. We were happy the boys were good hikers we walked all over and the kids did really good considering how late it was. Kylor and Orion played on a little float that was "Shreks" House, they really liked that. When we left at about middnight they party had just begun...

Quinn down to one boob

YES! I pretty much have Quinn off breast milk, this is my last week breastfeeding! I'm so excited! He's 8 months now! I can't believe it!

HOW CAN I BE

Sunday

Felix

Seka We are now on a 2 hours block at church for the summer. It was a great service at church though numbers are low but quality high as far as people go. This is by far the smallest branch I've yet to see (3 families). We got home and we had a good Sunday dinner, then neighbors had a birthday party out back behind our house so we went and socialized with them, later our friends the Chis and Serap called we talked to them at the bowling alley, then invited them over and we ate salsa and played Phase 10, we've played games with them a few times and they are alot of fun, they are moving to FL in August..we will miss them alot!

We are probably going to give Seka our black and white cat away and keep Felix just cause it will be easier in the long run. They are funny together though. Just getting ready for this move.

Biscoitos Wine Museum tour

The ESC ladies went on a tour of this place, it was so neat. Steve and I have a plan to come in the fall and smash grapes for our anniversary they let you do that the 1st Saturday in Sept and have a good festival and feed you a traditional old fashion dinner, This winery has been around for 500 yrs and has been owned by 5 different generations of families, it's a neat place to see.

Later we went to a Birthday party again. It's Angra festival this week and next week we are hoping so make it down there next week so an Arena bull fight!

SQ picnic & Swimming & camping day!

Whee!

Ky and his silly hat! And Audrey with Jan a nice friend.I guess you can say it was a busy day! Yeah the SQ picnic was at 11, swimming at 1-4 with the Primary activity, then Steve took Ky and O to Father's and son's camp out! It will a busy day. We had a great time though. I stayed home that evening with Quinn and did clean up and de-junk to put in the pile for the flea market next month!

Orion "Aqui" Happy!

Orion is talking more portuguese at home. He says "Aqui" to everything when he talks to us. He was sharing chips and dip with me today and wanted to give me a chip and says..."Aqui" it was cute, I'm finding it so neat to watch him grow and grow comfortable with the language. I asked him also where he put his 4 cars that he took to school all in Portuguese and he understood all that I said! It was neat! He nodes his head or says yes or "si"
We've been busy talking about moving details, there are alot of details that go into moving and this one maybe a little more complicated than last time since we are choosing to move ourselves home, talk of the car? and our belongings and when and where are are going to sell it all etc. It's exciting! It does take of alot of our time though. Kylor is excited to go to Mcdonalds playland when we get to Utah he told me that today he specifically wants to go to the one in Riverdale, UT he remembers going there. (kids have such simple pleasures) I like to keep it that way, if they are happy it will make me happy too!
Audrey took the three boys to the pool yesterday while Steve was at work. Ky and Orion did very good, Quinn slept part of the time in his stoller, The boys had a blast though showing off how they go can underwater with their goggles, "Hey, mommy watch this!" they would say then go underwater..I put Quinn in the shallows and he was wanting to take a dive..He's going to be a water bug too, he loves the bath tube so much!
I'm excited about going to Utah, to be around family for a little while! This up coming year will be hard, but we are looking forward to when it will be over, and we will be together again in Germany. It's gotta be better than those stinky deployments since we can talk more and no 15 min phone call limit (man that is the worst)..I never thought there would come a day when Korea wouldn't sound that bad. 5 yrs ago, I would have freaked out! I guess the military has a way of helping you grow and develop in new ways, and still have a good marriage and family life. It has it's ups and downs, but it also offers great opportunity to make Awesome memories and great friends that will last a life time. We are so greatful we moved to the Azores! It's something that will stay with us forever!

Korea to ?

Found out today that after Steve's Korea 1 yr tour we'll be moving to Germany! Pretty exciting! We just have a long year ahead of us. We hope it goes by quickly!

Hinder Comes to Lajes!

Today we had a free concert on the base! Hinder came and played for us, it's not everyday we have something like this happen in our little world over here. We took the kids over and Kylor liked the drummer. Audrey stood in line and got to shake all the members of the bands hands, and got a free autographed CD..sweet!

Big Beach Day!

Steve had today off, it was a family day...(Sorry no pictures for this day) Steve and I went to the beach and snorkeled, the day was nice. Our friends were also having a BBQ on the beach, so we hung out with them too...friends who do the Hula dancing. The water was not bad once you got used to it. Kylor went to Bible study week that's going only for this week from 8am-1130, he's happy he can get bible buddy toys, Orion had school, he has thru next week to finish,we took all three kids to the sitter's house for the day, Steve saw an octopus that changed color from white to dark once it got scared, yuk! I was not lucky enough to see that.. around dinner time we picked up Ky and Orion and took them down and they swam too, They were all over the water. Kylor made up a dolphin swimming game and wanted to race like dolphins do. Quinn stayed back with the sitter, we had a good beach day! The kids were wiped out when we got home, we were so full of sand so we rinsed them off with the hose outside, Our Van is full of sand, it's hard too keep it clean in the summer months here. I missed Quinn from not seeing him all day, but one good thing, it's helping slow down my milk production...I'm on the push for stopping breastfeeding. It's hard to believe that Quinn is growing so fast, and that he doesn't need me everyone moment anymore. He'll be 8 months on the 23rd, next week!

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Father's Day! Bom dia do Pae! Daddy got little crafts that the kids made, they were little bears that I helped the kids put together it had the saying "You are Beary Special Dad" on them. They are fridge magnets, I gave Steve a tie and knife set. Father's day is great to show Dad we love and care for them.
Today after church we had our Portuguese friends over..Gena and her daughter and mom & dad came over. We had Soft Taco's and they had fun learning how to fold them up. It was a new idea for them. I made mini cherry cheese cakes for dessert, We had a good time, they loved our cats and watched the kids play and go nuts around the house, the boys always get really excited when we have friends come over. Gena's Dad looked at our cucumbers and told us a little about them, he's an experienced gardener, they have two gardens, one at each house. He actually got stung by a jelly fish under his arm this week when he was swimming, ouch! When the day was done, I just thought, how fun it is to have friends over for dinner. We have been given so much and blessed with so much, it's nice we can share all that we have with people we know and love. "Where much is given, much is expected" not only with our time and talents but sharing all that have with those around us. I took over some extra desserts to our nice neighbors...I just feel so good when we are helping people, it makes my heart smile!
It was a beautiful day today! The sun was nice and warm, a nice day to be outside. We are planning on going to the beach tommarrow, hopefully the weather will be just as nice!

Ky's 6th Birthday party!!!

Matthew,Ky, Kadin, Ashley, Zachary, David, Kyler, Peter, Orion

He's 6! He's 6!! and he's so excited to be 6! Kylor talked about his party all week and the blessed day came finally. We had the party at the bowling place and had a few friends come, mostly

kids from his school class. We let him open more gifts once we got home. He had a good day!

Kylor Made it! Kindergarten is over...

The tee Shirts..

Hunting for treasure!

Bingo!

snacks!

Playing musical towels

Today was Ky's last day of school today, they had an indoor beach party the weather was overcast so that was a bummer! Kylor's hawaiian name is: Kileli we found out, they played the Limbo and listened to the Lilo and Stitch sound track, and had some snacks, and hunted for a treasure box. One of the mom's made tee shirts for the kids with the class pic on it..Kylor was excited! it's over, I'm so impressed with his K class, the kids are all such good friends and having this small community here made that possible. I think he's even more excited since he turns 6 tomorrow and he's been talking about that all day. We are having his party at the bowling place on base. It's kinda bitter sweet ending the school year. Kylor did really good and I will miss picking up the kids each day and hearing about their days, I've become pretty good friends with other kinderg's Mom's too and we would chat while waiting for the class to get out. I can't believe Ky's going to be a 1st grader this fall! How exciting this that?

Orion is progressing in school too, he'll be in until the 26th, he's going to be going for the time we are here this fall too. He'll speak some portuguese in the car..he was saying um mias, (one more) the other day in the car, it's cute! He's learning so much and he's so independent too, it helps..

Quinn just today started to really crawl, and he's fast, he's even pulled up a few times and he's really trying to get around, he's growing so fast, it's so nice to watch the kids grow and learn.

Steve helped Kylor in class today and took those pictures, he had a good time. He's a good Daddy!

I've been doing the usual thing, I've been trying to cook new dishes at home and it's been good. The kids like them so that's the best part of it all. The Ants have been under control this week. We keep finding winged ones around the house. We have cucumber plants growing outside, our little starter garden growing.