Our Random Adventures: April 2006

April 2, 2006

The Shaws in our Sunday's best. This was taken at VCLM church in Virginia.

April 7, 2006

Giovanni, his dad, and Tyree. This was taken at Giovanni's 5th birthday party on base. He was Tyree's best buddy in preschool. When I went to pick him up after school, they were always together.

Tyree has this picture hanging on his wall at our new house. They take really cute pictures.

See, they're so funny.

The kids playing musical chairs.

Giovanni and his momma.

One last buddies picture. We had to leave the party before it was over because we were trying to squeeze in time to say good-bye to everyone before we left Fort Lee, and it got kind of hectic at the end. I felt so bad telling Tyree we had to leave, but people were waiting for us.

We met Sarah and Tyree's preschool teachers at Ruby Tuesdays for a late dinner. Here's Mrs. Vidia, Tyree and Mrs. Hoy. Missing is Miss Keisha. I can honestly say that our children loved and enjoyed all three of their teachers. I'm glad we were at Fort Lee long enough to have both of them in the same program.

Mrs. Vidia, Sarah and Mrs. Hoy. Sorry, Mrs. Vidia, I always seem to click the camera right when you blink your eyes.

April 8, 2006

On this morning the kids were saying good-bye to our next door neighbor, Nadia. Nadia and her dad were leaving for a roadtrip to Florida, and they wouldn't have been back before we moved.

April 9, 2006

This was our last day at VCLM. This is the Shaw Family with Pastor Downing.

The church sent us off with some goodies, their prayers and well wishes.

April 11, 2006

The Joseph family were our hosts once we were cleared from housing. This is Mrs. Joseph, Little Keith, Sarah, Tyree and Malika at Busch Gardens. We had to use our free military entrance pass in Virginia because there's no Busch Gardens in St. Louis (which by the way, makes no sense, since Anheuser-Busch is based there).

Daddy and Tyree with an old time telephone booth. Grift likes it because it reminded him of the T.A.R.D.I.S., from Soctor Who.

April 12, 2006
This was another busy day of good-byes.

Sarah, Nikki, Victoria and Tyree. They used to live in our buliding, but they had recently moved to the neighborhood across the street. Victoria reminds me of a female version of my Tyree - with all the climbing, running away, and lovable rascal tendencies.

This is Nikki and Victoria's mom Jenny, and brother Jacob.

That day, the Unit had a going away lunch for Grift at CiCi's. They presented him with a appreciation plaque.

Sarah, Kyli, Tyree and Hayden. They used to live next to us too. The girls are trying to be cute and I guess the boys are some sort of ninja fighters.

Sarah, Miss Dana, Tyree and Kyli.

While we were visiting, Sarah tried riding Kyli's bicycle on the basketball court behind their house. This is the first time she did it on her own. And I got it on Camera! This was a great day.

April 13, 2006

One more quick visit to eat ice cream at Nikki's house.

That night we met up for farewells with the Leguillo Family, Rawlings and Saunders.

The Leguillo's.

The fellas.

One last "Feel it to appreciate it" aikido move on Leguillo.

This is what always happened every time Grift would try to hold Julia. She would go from smiling to this.

April 14, 2006
This is the day that we finally took off for the midwest.

Grift and Worsely. Nikki and Worsely always had their door open to our family. They're good people, as Grift would put it.

Miss Sarah and Mr. Worsely.

The kids posing with Little Keith before we loaded into our vehicles for our long drive.

We stopped in Kentucky for a pit stop. Sarah's silhouette ricocheted off the Kentucky welcome sign.

Tyree snoozing.

April 15, 2006
We stayed with Grift's brother and his family for a few nights when we got to St. Louis. Having family there was a real advantage so we didn't have to pay for lodging when we were figuring out our housing arrangements.

The kids were happy to see their cousins again. Tyree poses with Jada and Sarah in their front yard.

April 16, 2006

This is the fountain across tthe street from Union Station. The wind was harsh on this day so the kids got plenty wet.

We ended up getting very nice housing on Scott AFB. The biggest playground area happens to be right in our back yard, so it's just perfect for Srah and Tyree.

April 18, 2006