Virginia Pictures

John and I at the spot where Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address. After four hours of touring, we both gained a better understanding of the battle. This was my one nerdy history day, so thanks John for taking me!

Well, it was a fun trip. As you can see, Jack had quite a bit of fun with his cousins Katie and Karen. The constant interaction has really accelerated Jack's crawling. This morning he was crawling all over the place whereas before the trip he only got in the crawling position.

Despite a 7 hour plane ride, Jack did really well and managed to charm half the plane. Must have worn him out though as he crashed hard after we got home. Of course, all of us were up at 5:30am this morning because of the time change. It'll be a few days before we are back to normal. Marla set a record by being to work by 7:00 am this morning. This may mean none of us will make it past 7:00 pm tonight!

VA vacation

Uhm, I'm HOT.  No, not the vain kind.  The "stick an Alaskan in 90 degree heat" kind.

We're enjoying our vacation visiting family here in VA.  Sorry I don't have pics to post....will do that when we return.  We took a Hood family pic, along with some of Jack that I just can't wait to show everyone.  Yea - kinda in love w/ this little "fuzzhead", as some are calling him.

Jack loves his cousins, aunt, uncle and gma/gpa....especially giving his eskimo kisses.  And pulling off the glasses of his cousins.  And his Aunt Sandra did a GREAT job of getting toys for him - like a kid in a candy store!!!

Toodlin' around

I love my daddy

....and daddy loves me!

Forget crawling!

Jack, being a small child (hahaha), still doesn't "crawl". He scoots, rolls, and kind of gets around, but doesn't crawl. He has, however decided to start standing, pulling himself up and walking with help. I think he'll just decide to skip the whole crawling stage. He's pretty proud of himself too.

And, the first picture posted...well, he's started scrunching up his face this last week, so that's the best I could capture it.

Jack's had the crud these last few wks. Last week we had a bad night of staying up with a screaming child. Then this last Thurs., Tom called me at work w/ Jack inconsolable. We decided to take him to the ER (first trip!). He doesn't have any full-blown ear infections or anything, but we have him on antibiotics just in case it's bacterial. Two weeks of waiting for it to go away was enough for all of us. It was an all day affair just to calm him down, but he ended up sleeping a lot. Plus, we get on a plane next week and I don't want to find out on the way up to 30,000 ft that his ears are bothering him...no thank you. I just want my non-fussy child back!! Slowly he's showing us his ol' self these last couple of days.

Biking

Jack now has a bike helmet for the chariot bike rides. We took him out on Sat. and he lasted about 20 min. before he started complaining. Tried to take the helmet off then. I knew it'd take some time, so we headed home after that. But it was fun to get out as a family :)

I'm a Hood, I read

The nightly ritual of reading books - aren't some of the classics the best?
"This is a good book Dad!"
"What do you think?"
"How about this one next?"

We'll be travelling to see Tom's family soon. If there's one guarantee, everyone will have a book to read. At least the Hood boys will all be reading. Jack will fit right in.

Everyday personality

Tom and I haven't been too exciting lately. So will continue to "thrill" you with pics Kat took while she and Keith were up here.

I love my grandpa

Someone loves to share eskimo kisses with his grandpa.

Happy 2nd Birthday Abby!

Can't believe how big you're getting! We love you sweetie!!!

Give a hand

Sometimes in a marriage, you need to give your partner a little "push".

Random pics from Kat

Aaah

Kat just sent me this pic that she took while up here. She played with the coloring some. I just had to post it. Will get some others up from their time here :)