7 down, 2 to go

Wednesday night we had Chuck's graduation reception. It's hard to believe that this day has finally come. After seven years Chuck has graduated from his general surgery residency!! Yes, general surgery is a five year residency but Chuck had to do two years of research in order to get a pediatric surgery fellowship. Chuck's hard work didn't go unnoticed. He won the outstanding chief resident award and we couldn't be more proud of him.

Chuck & I
I'm so proud of the hard work he has put into the last seven years. Each graduating resident gave a speech and Chuck did a wonderful job. We are both looking forward to starting fellowship and getting that much closer to the end of his training.

Chuck & I with his parents
They drove from VA the day before to be there for the reception.

The eight graduating surgery residents
Chuck has truly enjoyed working with such a great group of people

The four that took the long road of seven years due to the fellowships they are going into
Chuck, Ching-Wei, Stephen & Harrison

Throughout the year Harrison took pictures of all the chiefs operating. They all kept harassing him to e-mail the pictures and that night they finally got them. He framed a picture for each of them. What a thoughtful gift! Thanks to Harrison for putting the time and effort into this or we wouldn't have a single picture of Chuck operating as a resident. He is going to put all the pictures on a cd for us so I'll post a better pic once we get it.

Blue Harbor

We took the kids to Blue Harbor's Breaker Bay indoor water park Friday afternoon. They had a blast and Carter didn't want to leave. Here are just a few of the many pictures I took that afternoon.

There is a boat that dumps 1,000 gallons of water every couple of minutes creating a huge waterfall. I love the look on Carter's face when he saw it happen the first time. Even Audrey learned that the bell means it's going to dump. When she would hear it she would say, "Uh, oh" and then, "wow" as it dumped.

Audrey enjoyed splashing in the little water spouts. They were the perfect size for her.

If you ask Carter what his favorite thing was he'll tell you the water slide. He loved going down the slide as long as Tita Angela was at the bottom waiting to catch him.

Audrey splashing away

They had this snake, a sea turtle, sting ray, etc floating in the pool. They were so cute and Carter had to sit on a couple of them

This was Carter's other favorite attraction. I couldn't count how many times Carter dumped water on himself. He got a kick out of it every time.

My monkeys love the water!

Sprinkler fun

We finally had a day without plans to be anywhere. It was a hot day so we decided to get the sprinkler and pool out. The kids loved the sprinkler! They eventually got into the pool despite the freezing water that was in it.

Carter trying to run under it before the water gets him

Audrey was amazed

She is so proud of herself for running through it

Carter made Tita Angela run through it with him :)

Carter & Audrey took turns filling the toy up with water and trying to drink out of it. They thought it was hilarious. Oh, the simple pleasures in life.

Manitowoc Zoo

The next day my mom had to work so Ang, the kids & I met Mel, Amelia & Maelle at the Manitowoc Zoo. Mel brought happy meals for the kids and salads for Ang, herself & I. We ate by the jungle gym and swings. After we ate and let the kids play we walked around the zoo. It's a little zoo but nice for it being free.

Maelle & Audrey enjoying the swings

Carter kept holding Audrey's hand so she wouldn't run away. He's such a good big brother.Amelia & Carter posing in front of what I think was the bear cageThe kids had a blast playing with the lion bubbler. I think we spent at least 15 minutes at it until we finally said it's time to go.After the zoo we went to Mel's house. The kids played on the swing set, fed the fish and played with all the toys inside. By the time we said good bye they were worn out. I'm just glad we were able to get a second visit in with Mel & the girls.

The Great's house

After Monkey Joe's we went to Great Grandpa & Grandma's house for dinner. Grandpa was there too so Carter was excited to see him. We weren't there long before the two of them were in the pool. We had a good time visiting with everyone. Audrey even got to have her first taste of Leon's frozen custard. Of course she loved it!

It was return of the red raft. I have pictures of them on this same raft from last summer. Carter likes to ride on it telling Grandpa which way to go. Such a little boss man.

Audrey had to have a turn on the raft too. As soon as Carter saw Audrey on it he had to jump back on.

Great Grandpa with all six of his boys.

More Aprahamian men

I zoomed in to get a shot of just Carter, Grandpa & Great Grandpa

Farwell Gang

We managed to fit in a Farwell reunion at Monkey Joes in Waukesha. It was a great place for all the kiddos to run around. It was a bigger facility than we thought it would be so it came in handy that 3 of the daddys were along. Mel surprised us with the adorable Farwell Gang shirts she made. On the front are all the kids in order and the back has what number they are. Hillary had shirts made with our group picture from last summer but we didn't manage to take a picture of them. Maybe next time.

Carter and Audrey loved this area. Audrey spent most of the time here. Carter moved on to bigger and better things. He said his favorite was the big slide.

The three boys (Gabe, Carter & Drew) in the bounce house. The three of them are so close in age and really enjoyed playing together.

Our gang has grown to eight! Here they are sitting in order: Amelia (5 yrs old), Gabe (4), Carter (4), Drew (4 in Sept), Claire (2), Maelle (2), Audrey (1) and Emmerson (10 wks). We mentioned how we will have to get a group picture at our old house on Farwell Ave one day.

Another shot of the kiddos

We had to take a picture of the numbers on their backs

The mammas :) Mel, Me, Amy and Hillary
We are all wearing the necklaces Amy had made for us for Mother's Day. Mine & Amy's have a bird on top and Mel & Hillary's have a heart imprinted on top. On the inside are our children's names imprinted in them. We all love them and I've gotten so many compliments on it. I'm so grateful for my friendship with these women and glad it has stood the test of time and distance. They are my once in a lifetime friends. :)

Surprise!!!

My mom's friend and future sister-in-law hosted a surprise wedding shower. We even kept it a surpise that I was coming. Mom wasn't expecting me home until Monday. Mike got her to the shower by telling her they had to go to a retirement meeting. She had no idea what was really going on.

Mom with the hostesses, Pat & Terri (and Terri's granddaughter)

Mom was so surprised when she got there she didn't notice Audrey and I were there right away. I think this picture shows how happy she was too see Audrey.

Me, Mom, Angela & Audrey

While the girls were at the shower, Carter and Uncle Brett were hanging out with the boys at Steve & Pat's house. Carter didn't miss us at all. He had a blast with the water fight. He's trying to get Ryan in this picture.

We had dinner at Great Grandma Edna's house. Aaron, Curt, Tracie and Carter built this foam house. That's Natalie and Carter peaking through the "windows." At one point Aaron even squeezed inside.

WI trip

I'm finally getting all the pictures from our trip to WI on the computer. I took a lot of pictures so I'll post updates as I go. Here's the first one.

This was Audrey's idea of helping me pack for the trip. She eventually got out and threw the piles of clothes into the suitcase. As soon as I would rearrange them neatly she would take them out and throw them back in. I ended up packing after she went to sleep :)

The day we arrived in Milwaukee we spent the afternoon visiting with Great Grandpa and Grandma Aprahamian. I didn't do a good job of taking pictures. Audrey kept climbing on the fireplace so I took a picture of both my monkeys sitting on it. Unfortunately, it's the only one I took that afternoon.

That night we had dinner with Tita Angela & Uncle Brett. We went to Stone Fire (kind of like a Chuck e Cheese) and sat in the movie room. After eating, Carter earned enough tickets playing games to get a new squirt gun.

We spent the night at Tita Angela & Uncle Brett's house. The kids got to run around with the dogs before going to bed. They even got a kick out of playing in the dog's kennels.