Update on Kevin and Caroline; The weekend in Pictures

Update on Kevin
We have officially hit the half way point for Kevin's training! Kevin is still enjoying training and is doing very well. He had his second Legal exam this morning. He made a 90 on his first Legal test and a 100 on his first Cyber test, the only two tests so far. He ranked first in his class for driving and, please don't laugh, he had the fastest time in handcuffing a non-compliant person. (Who knew?!) Kevin is still enjoying the firearms training and is top in his class for that too. Sorry to brag but you have asked how he is doing and he is doing great!

Update on Caroline
Caroline is still very much a 3.5 year old. Here are some things she's been up to:

• She has had lots of trouble sleeping since Kevin left so I'm anxious for her to start sleeping through the night again.
• She loves playing in dirt and collecting bugs, especially rolly pollies.
• She is still very girly and loves wearing dresses. (She is always wearing a dress when playing in the dirt and collecting bugs.)
• I've started teaching her how to play volleyball. Specifically we are working on her "bumping". If she gets my height genes, she will need to know how to play back row defense in volleyball like I did.
• She likes to say "actually". For example, my mom said they were walking down the street and Caroline said "Actually, we were walking on the sidewalk."
• She can burp on command. I'm not proud and can honestly say she did not get that "talent" from me.
• Caroline has her first freckles! Despite the fact that she is the sunscreen princess (I'm the sunscreen queen), our little baby has two freckles on her nose and two on her shoulder.
  
• She is in to talking silly and calling everyone "tooter pants." I'm working on correcting that one as well.
• Caroline's favorite tv shows are Word World and Team Umizoomi. It appears that Dora has temporarily taken a backseat to these shows.
• She wants her hair to be straight, not curly. Its heart breaking but I suppose I'm not one to talk.
  
• She likes to say "Quantico" and tells everyone we see, even random people on the street or at the store that "Daddy is in training."
  
• She climbs up in her car seat on her own now and can buckle the top part of her seat belt which is nice.
  
• She's loving the warm weather and playing bubbles outside. This kid can play with bubbles for hours!
• She continues to make her own oatmeal in the morning and is proficient at using the microwave.
  
• Yesterday she used the remote to turn on Word World because I suppose I wasn't responding fast enough. So apparently, she can use the "tamote" (remote) by herself.
  

They just had their class pictures taken and this is the cutest class picture I've ever seen! Note, her "boyfriend" Max is sitting next to her in the green. She was excited that they matched that day. :)

On Friday we went to Pump It Up with Kalli, Mackay, and Zack.

It wasn't long before the girls roped Papa into holding them as they went down the slides.





After Pump It Up and nap time, Caroline played in the sprinkler. She went to put on her "babing soup" (bathing suit) and wanted to know where her "piece babing soup" (2-piece bathing suit) was. Well, it was left over from last year and was too small for her so I helped it find its way into the trash can. So she wants a two-piece bathing suit and we are trying to figure out how to tell her no. Then she finds her two piece with a shirt for a top (the kind with SPF built into it) and is really excited to have a "piece babing soup" again. Ha - victory!

Side note: She likes to wear a fresh flower in her hair every day. The problem is that we are almost completely out of flowers in the yard because she's picked them all. Its pretty cute though.

Saturday was Ella's 1st birthday party. Caroline loved playing with the baby toys and later asked me if she and Ella could switch toys. Ella was so sweet and timid with her cake.

Note the flower in her hair on this day was smooshed in the car because she fell asleep and crunched it in the car seat. But she wouldn't take it out. :)
Caroline and Sydney in the hammock.

Caroline hugging (or smothering) Sydney before they left.

On Saturday, Caroline finished her first 1k race. It was the annual "Run the Highlands" race through Lake Highlands. Caroline loved crossing the finish line and they gave her a medal too. She's really proud!

DC, Quantico, and swimming

This past weekend we went to DC to visit Kevin with Kim, Chad, and Madison.

On Friday evening, we drove to Quantico to pick Kevin up. I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the land around the Academy is - with lots of really tall trees. Its connected to the Quantico Marine Base so we went through a couple security stops before we actually arrived at the Academy. The facilities were really neat with everything connected - the dorms, classrooms, etc. Kevin took all of us to Hogan's Alley which is the pretend town set up to teach new Agents how to clear rooms, perform surveillance, etc. You would never know that it wasn't a fully operational town. The campus and training facilities are impressive but Kevin's classmates were the most impressive. I didn't know what I expected when I met them but they were as kind as can be and were genuinely interested in getting to know Kevin's family. What a high class group of individuals!

We took a double-decker bus tour around all of DC on Saturday.

The bus was great except we had to duck a lot because of all the low-hanging trees.
FBI Headquarters Building in DC.


Yes, Caroline will be thoroughly embarrassed of this picture one day. But for now...its funny.
Kevin and Caroline saying the letters "FBI".

Kevin holding a sleepy Caroline in front of Ford's Theatre where Lincoln was shot. Inside of Ford's Theatre they had the Brooks Brother coat Lincoln was wearing the night of his assassination on display. It was amazingly ornate and detailed!


Friday night dinner at Don Pablo's. Yes, we ate Mexican food in DC and it was great.

We celebrated Chad's birthday a week early at dinner.



Cousins playing at the base of the Washington Monument.

I love this picture of them looking up at the Washington Monument.


World War II Memorial

POW/MIA flag flying with the American flag at the WWII Memorial

Walking up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

View of the Washington Monument and WWII Memorial from the Lincoln Memorial.



The six of us...

I've been to the Vietnam Memorial multiple times but the feeling you get when you see all the names of deceased soldiers on the wall never changes. Kevin and I talked to Caroline at the war memorials about how lucky we are to be free to dance in our front yard and to run down the street and sing songs and play and that the people who's names are on this wall helped make sure we have those freedoms. We talked to her at the Vietnam Memorial about how Papa fought in that war for our country so that we can be free today. I know she's only 3.5 but it is so important to us that she understands that we truly live in the "land of the free because of the brave." She enjoyed "reading" the soldiers names and spelling them out and asked us to read some of them to her. It was neat to see her interest in it, in her little three year old way.


Eating popsicles in front of the Department of the Interior. It was so cold and windy and Caroline was shivering but refused to give up her popsicle.

The Department of the Interior steps are meant to be a playground, right? :)

Sunday night, I had to take Kevin back to Quantico. You can't take pictures on the Academy campus but here is a picture of the entrance sign.


Caroline with the Obamas at the airport when we left DC on Monday morning. She was irritated and kept saying "Michelle isn't looking at the camera, Mommy." But she did think Michelle was beautiful and really liked her dress.

I haven't taken pictures at swimming class in a while so here are some from Tuesday, 4/20. Caroline still loves to swim more than anything else and she seems to really like her teacher, Mr. Jose. Here she is sitting patiently with her friend, Sydney.
I like this picture because you can see her swimming underwater.


They are working on their dives and the "I" float where they glide underwater.

I forgot Caroline's goggles so she had to borrow some that turned out to leak water into her eyes. She's kind of high maintenance when it comes to goggles anyway - Mr. Jose is always adjusting her goggles because they aren't quite tight enough or they are just a little too tight.
Caroline doing her back float. They keep their hand in the water but she is floating on her own. When they tell her to "roll" she takes a breath, rolls onto her stomach, and swims to the edge of the pool. Apparently, this is how they teach kids to take a roll over breath.

Our little swimmer!

After all of that, I'm exhausted and I vow that we will not travel for a while!! :)