Long Beach Island, NJ 6-29-11

Today we went on a spur of the moment adventure to LBI. It's our second week of summer vacation already and I was crazy for an adventure. The kids would have been happy hanging out with friends (again) but I needed a change of scenery so we got in the car and made a day of it. We are lucky to have the shore only about an hour drive away. We were able to visit the Barnegat Lighthouse, enjoy an ice cream treat, play at the arcade, do a little shopping and compete in a round of mini golf. We each chose an activity and the day was awesome!

Kelsey and I made it up all 217 stairs in the lighthouse and Nick made it most of the way before his fear of heights kicked in. This was my activity to see something historical. We found a Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop near the golf course so we stopped for a treat. Then as we were headed to Nick's choice of golfing we passed the arcade. We stopped in for just a few minutes and before long Kelsey was winning all of the tickets and had decided that this would be the activity she claimed as her choice. By the time we turned in the tickets, Nick had 305 and Kelsey a whopping 2,620! It was her lucky day! Then it was on to the mini golf course. Nick tried to talk us into 36 holes but we just couldn't imagine it in the hot sun. It was a great course filled with water traps and water falls. We had so much fun we didn't even add up the score card until tonight.

Thanks to Kelsey & Nick who are such incredible kids! I loved spending the day with you two. It was a fun filled day that was missing only one thing....Rob being with us. Maybe another time he can join us for an adventure day!

Black Belt Portraits

We are so proud of Kelsey's accomplishments with Karate. Since I love harassing the kids with photos I figured this was a perfect time for portraits. The Photographer at Picture People warned us she knew nothing about Karate so Kelsey would just have to do some poses and she would do her best to capture the moments on film (ok digital media). The photos turned out awesome. I can't wait to hang them up in the family room!

The Bathroom is Finished!

The master bathroom renovation is finally complete. It seemed to take forever, actually we were out of there for about 3 months. Just last week we think we got the leak of the new doors resolved. It has been a frustrating experience but we are happy with the finished room.

Nick's Early Birthday Celebration

Nick celebrated his birthday a few weeks early this year. His friend Adi is in India for the summer visiting family and Nick was bummed he wouldn't be here for his birthday. So with Kelsey at a friends for a sleepover we decided to have a guys night here for his birthday on the last night of school. He had a few of his close friends sleepover and a bunch of the neighbors join us for s'mores on the grill and some football in the backyard. I can't believe my baby is going to be double digits this year!

Sensei Kelsey

Kelsey received her black belt today. We are so proud of her for all of her hard work. I have some pictures and video. Of course the camera didn't focus too well in the dark from far away and the video is sideways, but other than that it's all good. If anyone knows how to rotate the video to the right way, let me know.
Kelsey is on the left side of the stage. She is on the left end of the line while performing and in a similar position with all of the students on stage. The after pictures are of her and the other candidates from the school as well as one with her and two of her instructors.

Sensei Kelsey's routine

I hope this video upload works. Sorry it is sideways.

another video

More videos

The first video was short. It looks like it uploaded ok. I am going to try to do a few more from today and one from the studio when they first were practicing the routine. I hope they work so you can see how well she is doing. Kelsey is always on the left end for the performances.

Relay for Life June 3rd

Kelsey and I participated in the Delran Relay for Life Event. It is a fundraiser to help raise money to search for a cure. It is part of the American Cancer Society. Kelsey's girls group (formerly her girl scout troop) went as a team and named themselves Heroes vs Cancer and dressed in tshirts they made and purple capes. (Purple is the relay official color).