An overdue update

I haven’t updated our blog in over six weeks. This is what we have been up to.

Mother’s Day weekend we took a four day weekend and visited James' family in North Carolina for a four day weekend. We had a great time especially with Nana and Papa Boyce (James’ grandparents). We bought a new family friendly vehicle, a small SUV, that still gets decent gas mileage. Making the road trip was very easy and comfortable, it is nice having four doors and A/C. Holding out and making our previous vehicles work for so long came at a great advantage, with the economy down, we got it at an incredibly low price. It "pays" to be good savers and frugal. We got the third row seat option just in case if there is a Steele baby #3 in the future, and when family and friends ride with us.

The third weekend of May we enjoyed the local Greek Festival in Norfolk. James and I were able to go there for a date, and we spent an entire afternoon eating yummy greek food, listening and watching the various Greek dancing groups, were able to attend a few Greek Orthodoxy workshops and were able to attend a guided tour/ speech by Father Constantine in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral. I love history and understanding different religions. (Note Greek is just the culture, from many Greek immigrants that settled in Norfolk/ Hampton Roads area. And Orthodox Christianity is the Eastern part from the division of east and west Catholic Christianity). The next day we took James and Gabriel and they enjoyed it. Son James even tried the gyros, calamari rings, and the Greek donuts called Loukoumades.

From mid-May through the first week of June we were busy concluding the auction at James' preschool/school and finishing up the end of his school year. James sang and played the triangle to "Old Mc Donald Had A Band". It was adorable, and I am still smiling reflecting on those moments that occurred weeks ago. The auction was a huge success. Towards the end, I was finished co-chairing it! James had a great time at his end of the school year party. We are all happy to have a break!

James' parent also came to visit us for a week the first part of June. We all had a wonderful time, and James and Gabriel loved hanging out with their Grandparents. We hung out, ate at a few restaurants in the area, they took the boys to the zoo for an entire morning/afternoon, we made a trip to the beach together and they even showed James how to observe/catch lightening bugs. Even I had tears rolling down my cheeks as they drove away the morning they left.

James is still enjoying swim lessons at the YMCA, we moved his instruction time to Tuesday and Thursday am. The previous round of swim lessons, I had him in an early evening time class. The time of the lessons started interfering with family dinner. In our house, family dinners are almost sacred, so I am glad we have been back on track the last few weeks.

Gabriel is still learning baby sign, he loves going outside, we play in our yard a lot, and we have a small push car to take him on walks through the neighborhood. He loves collecting the burrs that fall off the trees. James has even taken note of Gabriel's attention to burrs and found one outside on the play ground at his school and saved it for Gabriel. Very thoughtful!

Lately, and this has everything to do with our experiences over the last few years as a family, I've felt nothing but blessed at how well things have worked out with us as a family and our experiences in the Navy and the areas we have lived in. I would not change anything in the past, because it might possibly alter the amazing relationship James and I have and opportunities and future we have ahead of us as a couple and as a family. James has been on a "sea tour" for the last 20 months and the only "sea time" he has on the carrier that he is a nuclear engineer on is when the carrier was towed from the Norfolk base across the Chesapeake bay to the Newport News shipyard. In November, he'll be going to shore duty, and when I say he I mean we are going to shore duty. This has been a family and career commitment! We could not be more happy about his soon to be position, teaching at the Officers Navy Nuclear Power school in Charleston. The position is amazing and the hours are very low! Most off all we are excited about all the time we will be able to hang out as a family.

Besides the already described events, occurrences, and pending future events we have been enjoying our "summer" together. I like late spring in the mid-Atlantic here, however, I am not looking forward to the summer heat. We have been to the beach that is about a three-minute drive from us several times, the boys love it, and we all come home smelling like the Chesapeake Bay. Even Gabriel runs right into the water... and he is fast. Yesterday we went to Busch Gardens, about a 45-minute drive from our house. We spent the entire day at the park, Gabriel even took a mid-day nap in the stroller, and we all came home tired from a wonderful day. Right now I am reading Healthy Child, Whole Child. To any parent or educator I am recommending this book as an absolute must!

My future blogs won't be so long, or far and few between. We've been so busy doing, that I haven't taken the chance to sit down and blog.