The twins are 40!

We recently went on a cruise to celebrate my twin sisters' 40th birthday. Their birthday was officially April 10th, but we'll take a cruise whenever we can get one. All four White siblings were able to go and it was a treat! Lots of gambling, lots of sunning, some eating and drinking, and we were happy campers. The cruise line, MSC, was not the greatest, but it was inexpensive enough to lure us. As Dave commented, we had true European service - very minimal with attitude. We stopped in Key West and Nassau, Bahamas. It was my first time to see the Atlantis resort. Pretty, but it was raining outside, so the crowds were in the Atlantis. Cruise ships equal crowds, so that was a bit of a downside.

Of course, when going down to Kim's, something always has to happen with the kids. Zach was throwing up the night before we flew out, but luckily recovered just in time. Olivia and Zach had a great time hanging out at the beach in Delray. We visited the turtle sanctuary and I'm not sure who was more impressed....me or the kids! When I arrived to get them after the cruise, Zach became quiet. I thought he said "I don't want you to leave me", but no. He actually said, "I don't want to leave here". You know what, buddy, I didn't want to leave either. We had perfect weather and it was so relaxing. Delray Beach rocks!

Our first day back, on the way to school, Zach decides we need to move to south Florida. "We just need to sell our house. Then we need to buy a new house in Florida. Oh, and we need to bring our big screen t.v........and our couch." True guy for you - don't forget the t.v. Olivia got in on the dream as well. They convinced themselves we should move to Florida (and skip school for the day).

Notables from the day....

Trading with my friend, Amy: Jewelry for soccer balls.

I needed jewelry for the White House Correspondence Dinner this Saturday in Washington D.C. She is planning a huge extravaganza May Day Festival Saturday and needed soccer balls. Friends.....it's good to have them.

Coming home from Zach's soccer practice to find 3 naked 6-year olds running around my backyard squealing in delight. Looking further, I saw 3 naked 6-year girls, a naked 3-year old girl, a naked 3-year old boy and Molly the dog. All were begging Molly to chase them! Sorry, it would be wrong to take or post photos, but it was classic. :-)

Everyone has that look in their eyes....school is almost out!

Spring Break Part 2 and Flying....

For the second part of our Spring Break, we headed back to Smyrna in hopes of flying. With weather restrictions and limited plane times, we had to wait until later in the week. Never fear, we had plenty of things to do. Dave and Zach spent quality 'daddy & Zach time' building a huge racetrack table for his new birthday present. This thing is BIG. Meanwhile, Olivia and I had our nails manicured and went to lunch. Olivia is very proud of her pretty blue nails with flowers. I have to say, they did a great job on her nails because they are still looking good almost a week later. The boys needed a break from their back breaking work, so we headed to the Polo Fields and flew Zach's new Air Hog plane and played with his rocket. Both were so much fun and the Polo Fields were a great place to fly them. Well, we knew we couldn't get the toys close to the horses, but we had plenty of space.

We headed back to the lake for another day and played with our neighbors on one of the local islands. It was a perfect day to be on the lake. The rain had washed the pollen away...well, washed it into the lake and it was streaming through parts of the lake. Yuck! The weather and plane finally worked in our favor, so Saturday, we headed to Peachtree City and flew out to Destin, FL on our first flight with Dave as our pilot. It was exciting, to say the least. The kids acted like it was no big deal, looked around and then fell asleep! The pilot was busy, while the co-pilot watched in awe... This was pretty wild. In 2 hours, we landed in Destin, pulled up to the local airport, and were whisked away to our hotel. We spent most of the day on the beautiful white sand beaches and the kids had plenty to do in the kids club and pool at the hotel. We picked a very kid friendly hotel. Food was great, and the sleep was even better. Olivia got a little souvenir to take home (a glass dolphin) and we had to convince Zach to wait.... and he would get something he liked as well. We knew he didn't want a glass figurine. We took him to the local race track and rode two different race car tracks. Ah, fun stuff! On the flight back, when we finally turned the kids microphones on - he he he - we heard Zach's sweet voice say "Daddy, is Spring Break over?" and then "Daddy, does this plane shoot?" No, Zach, this plane does not have guns. Boys! We squeezed every minute out of our Spring Break, arriving home around 9 pm Sunday, but it was all worth it. We decided a family photo was in order to complete the trip. Spring Break 2010 was a complete success.

Don't forget the Easter Bunny...

While we had a quiet Easter at the lake, we did not miss seeing the Easter Bunny altogether.  Luckily, we visited him the weekend before and to my surprise, Olivia and Zach were not hesitant to hug him.  They typically shy away from characters, but not this time.  The Bunny received hugs this time around.

Zach and Gage also went to the PDK airport for a Porsche/aircraft event.  Even though it was freezing and windy, the boys still helped themselves to hop on board a few private jets (still on the ground).  You should have seen these two strutting around, hopping on planes and wishing to take part in the Porsche autocross in the Panamera.  Sorry, you have to be older for that, but soon, my dear boys.  At the end of the event, both boys told me which private jet we should buy.  Hmm, the $1.5 million jet is nice.

Spring Break Part 1

Having Good Friday off, we left early for the lake.  After being in Germany and New York for six long days, Dave was ready for his Spring Break and some family time.  With spring weather finally arriving this week, we watched the leaves unfold before our eyes.  The pollen, however, almost made us want to keep our eyes closed.  Poor Olivia is breaking out in hives from the oak pollen.  Hopefully it will soon wash away.
Number 5 tooth popped out on Olivia the day before Easter while she was eating an apple.  It really surprised her that the apple ripped the not-so-loose tooth out.  The tooth fairy has now visited Olivia at the lake, a hotel close to Disney, a condo in Daytona and now the lake again.  Maybe one day she'll visit Smyrna :-)  Olivia is really a snaggle tooth now; Dave and I cannot help but smile when she smiles at us.  She barely has any teeth left!  Poor girl and her teeth... she visited the dentist last Tuesday to replace a filling that popped out while I flossed.  It was not an easy visit to the dentist because she remembers the fillings going in a few months ago.  We were finally able to coerce her with a little help from Molly, her zebra.

Zach has been ecstatic since Dave brought home his slot car track that he purchased with his birthday money.  It really is an amazing track and the boys are planning to build a table for it this afternoon.  Dave and I loved racing with Zach, but while we are at the lake, we want to go out on the boat too.  Well, Zach doesn't want any part of that....he wants to race!  You can only imagine.   We were at the Montgomery Zoo Friday and Zach was worried about when we would get back to put the track together.  Patience was discussed many times over Friday.  Maybe we should invent a 'Patience Fairy" to visit Zach...hmm.

Easter was a beautiful, peaceful day at the lake.  I decided we needed to go "old school" with our eggs this year and we actually boiled and decorated our eggs.  Yes, years past we have gone the plastic route, with a little egg dyeing here and there.  Plus, who needs the candy? I hid the eggs along the lake and they giggled and ran to find them.  Zach and Olivia then took turns hiding and I would help find them.  After we finished, one of the kids said "ok, now let's do the real eggs."  Meaning the plastic ones with candy inside.  He he he.  It was a blast and Olivia went on to hunt for lizards (typical).

Happy Easter to everyone and I hope our Spring Break Part 2 is just as much fun.