Zoe's 3rd Birthday!

Zoe turned three on January 11th! We had a couple celebrations - one at home on the official birthday and one on the weekend with her friends at Chuck E. Cheese! On her official birthday we had cupcakes at home and opened gifts we'd recieved. Saturday was Chuck E. Cheese, and we managed to wear out both girls from over three hours of playing! Zoe had a ball and really got into the whole birthday thing this year. If you tell her "Happy birthday!", she will happily wish you a "Happy birthday" right back, just like we did when we wished each other "Merry Christmas!" Zoe really enjoyed all the little things, like having party hats and her own birthday cake. She especially loved seeing all her friends and having a chance to run around together. It was a great birthday week!

Video of us singing happy birthday and blowing out the candles.

Tristan, Zoe, Jenna, and Natalie.


Zoe and Natalie; Zoe on a ride at Chuck E. Cheese.

The Girls

Here's some cute ones of the girls!


Zoe playing out back with daddy; Zoe and her new fairy costume, complete with magic wand!


Jenna 'talking' on the phone to Nonna; Jenna and Oopsy Bear watching TV.

Our England Visit

We had a great time visiting in England! We were blessed to spend the holidays with our good friends the Horines!

Here are a few of the highlights:



Zoe and me at the Arc de Triomphe.



Us at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
We went to Christmas Eve service at Ely Cathedral. It was what the British call a 'crib service', and all the kids (and me too!) got to sit up front and watch the kids put on a nativity play. It was neat to go to church in cathedral so rich with history. After the service, they opened the church up so we could explore. Very cool!


One of the neatest things we got to do was see the Queen to wish her a 'happy' Christmas. Zoe even got to go up and meet her and give her Christmas flowers and cards from us and the Horines! That's Zoe in the pink hat and the Queen with the clear umbrella.


We spent an hour at Stonehenge. That's about all it takes to really see it. There was a path around the stones, but you are unable to go up and touch them. Still, it was a visit very worth making.


This is outside of the Roman Baths in Bath, England. This was one of my favorite things to see. It is amazing to see all the engineering feats of a civilization so old.


Warwick Castle. One thing I really wanted to do while there was see a castle. Warwick was a great one! We got to climb up the highest turret - what a view! It was a big climb - over 500 stairs, most of them winding up a small, dark staircase.



Since all four of us are navigators, the Royal Observatory Greenwich seemed an appropriate place to visit. Here's Pete and Frank on either side of the Prime Meridian.




Us on the London Eye.



Pete and Frank by Big Ben, Parliament. Look, kids.



Zoe with her godparents Beth and Pete.