Kaitlyn's 4th Birthday

Today is Kaitlyn's 4th birthday. She had her birthday party at the playplace at the McDonald's in Colchester. Me and Austin stayed at home so we could put together her Barbie Jeep. It was supposed to be a surprise, so it has been in our bedroom for the last few days.

This is Bradley. He belongs to a guy that I used to work with.

This is Andrew, his older brother. They are good people.

This is Andrew again. Morgan was taking the pictures, so there are a lot of him.

This is Megan. Her sister and Morgan go to Girl Scouts together, so Kaitlyn gets to see Megan and Timmy then.

Kaitlyn got to sit in the "It's my birthday" chair, for obvious reasons.

She opened her cards and presents....

...and then it was time for cake. Then the battery on the camera died.

This is what I was doing most of the time they were gone. The box said 60 minutes. I don't think that was very accurate. It was closer to 2 hours. An hour to put the body together, and an hour for someone as meticulous as me to put all the stickers on...STRAIGHT.

I left the "windshield" and "roll bar" detached so I could get it out the back door. (One of my good ideas for this year.) I put it in her room until they got home, and then she went to her room to give the me batteries for the radio. I figured she would see it when see opened the door, but she almost ran into it trying to get to me. It took her a minute to realize what it was.

After we got it outside and fully assembled, she got in and rode it for about 5 feet. Then she got out and said she didn't want to ride it anymore. She just needed to warm up to it. After a while she started giving Austin and Sadie rides around the back yard.

I made board!!!

Ok, I know it is a little early to start celebrating, but it is a big step anyway. I took the Chief's exam back in January, and I found out today that I made board. So now I have to look at my record and make sure that everything is accurate so that when the board convenes in May, that when that look and my package it has everything that is supposed to be there. That being said, I'm not going to get my hopes up to high since it is my first time up. But, what that does mean, is that I can also put in my LDO package in October this year. As much as I would like to make Chief, my ultimate goal is to make LDO. It would open up a lot more ports that I could be stationed at, and the pay isn't bad either.

10 Years

So me and Carintha have been married for 10 years now. We didn't do much on our actual anniversary on Friday because she has a real job and had to work until 6 or so. We, I, made reservations at the Craftsteak restaurant at Foxwoods MGM Grand for Saturday. It was a little expensive, but work the extra money. We had a great time, and probably won't do it again for another 10 years. No pictures though. She got me the drum set for Guitar Hero though. I played it at Momo's house when I was on my "vacation." I don't have any pictures of me, but I did get a couple of Katilyn "playing." Morgan has started playing too. She's actually not bad.

Alabama

After we left Grandma's house last Wednesday, we went to see my people in Alabama. Kaitlyn watched movies on my PSP while Austin took a nap. She doesn't know what "be quiet" means, so I had to distract her with something until he was asleep.

We went over the Kenny and Pam's house for wings one night. Angie and Michael came with their kids. Austin and Anna Beth became instant "friends." Michael said that Anna Beth probably thought he was a big baby doll for her to play with. She fed him from the table.

And she tried to put his socks on him, and later Kaitlyn's pink boots.

Then she tried to give him a pacifier. Austin has never taken a pacifier. He usually just spits it out.

But boys will do anything to impress a girl I guess.

Then all the girls got him down on the floor and started tickling him. Hopefully he doesn't loose his charm as he gets older:)