April

Oh wow, April is going to be a hard month to top...so many planned and unplanned memories and fun :)

Starting off, look at this cute cuddle of kittens.  Rose starts everyday with some snuggles from her pack.

This is our big guy, Socks, he is by far the largest in the group and he'll climb right up on your lap for some love :)

Turtle, the tortise, has the silkiest fur and loves to be pet. 

Our little gal, Donut, is here in the middle. While she is the tinist she is also the naughtiest ;)

Rose is still hard at work cooking up dinner several nights of the week. I've been having some pretty late nights at work, so coming home to dinner has been great!

We were determined to get back to Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware this year. This was our first camping trip as a family and although we have returned many years, we haven't camped the last few because it is really hard to get a weekend reservation. So we went in early April this year and it was great! Camping in the off season is a whole different calm vibe and I think we love it :)

Rose and I also got to join the Middle School Theater group on a trip to Broadway to see The Outsiders. Rose and I both read the book to be prepared and were totally awe-struck by the wonderful production.

Rose has also been working hard with the jazz ensemble and her trombone playing is becoming very strong. 

April is also birthday month for 2/3 of my family (just not me!).

Although her face doesn't show it, she was really happy :)

Another wonderful year with our favorite girl!!

We celebrated with eating out at her favorite spot

And then presents and cake with Nana and Pop :)

BUT the real surprise was a spontaneous trip to Tampa for some sunshine and fun!! Rose kept saying she wanted to fly somewhere so Justin found some tickets and took us south for birthday weekend.

We had visited the Tampa Zoo about 5 years ago and decided this was our year to revisit some zoos since last month we made it back to the St. Lious Zoo too. 

We booked a behind the scence tour on their manatee rescue. We learned how they take care of injured manatees and try to return them to the wild. There was this adorable mom and calf in care....also they eat a lot of lettuce :)

Rose said she loved the flamigos because they were cackling and sounded just like chickens

I really loved the elephants

And Justin was happy that the next stop was beer :)

Not to disappoint we made it back to Cigar City

Beer, Legos, games, and food make for a happy guy...even if he wasn't smiling here ;)

We ended the beautiful day with some time at the beach

We had a cute little bungelow for the night

With palm trees right outside...Rose loves palm trees and we love Rose :)

And then our trip was done and we were tired!!

And to get a little more out of the weekend we saw a movie

And had cake for Justin at Nana and Pop's!

Justin got an early birthday present and all month has been printing us things, it's actually pretty useful!

Happy Birthday to my favorites :)