Jacob's 5th birthday party. ..here are some pictures from his 5th birthday party in Ardmore before we left town. I have more pictures but this was all that was on my digital camera. The guests were John, me, Julia, Barrett, Patrick, Kristin, Gramma and Big Daddy, and Dixie, Zack and Zayne. We had the party at Dizzy's One Stop Fun Place.

Had first trip to laundromat last night by myself. It was amazing. Not the same experience as college. You have cards instead of coins, 4 different size washing machines and you pay depending of what size machine you use and the wash cycle only takes 21 minutes. Then the dryer is the hugest dryer I have ever seen. My regular clothes only took 24 minutes, my towels 32 minutes. I had all my wash done and folded and was home in less than 2 hours. And if I chose, I could have walked down the block for a beer and done some grocery shopping. It is AMAZING!

Pic's of the kids at the beach...

First Play Date in NY...
Had our friends, Jayme and Griffin out to the "island" to play from Manhattan. Didn't have a lot of time but had a lot of fun...chatting, going to the park, going to lunch, and a trip to Target! You should have seen the boys. They were going 90 miles an hour the whole time. Julia was pretty calm and just seemed to be taking it all in and having fun. Jacob is already calling Griffin his "best" friend. Ha! It was nice for Jayme and I to catch up and also see someone from "home".

Outing on the beach...we had our first outing on the beach with the kids. It was a beautiful day in the 70's so we took our sandtools to the beach and built sand castles with our neighbors, John and Brona. We even had a slice of pizza pie on the beach. Did you know they will deliver pizza on the beach? Who ever heard of such a thing!?!? Had a big time! Going by our neighbors house tonight. They are bbq-ing a turkey on their grill. Fun!

Mailboxes for flags...
Did you know that NY has mailboxes to put your old, worn U.S. flags in and they will dispose of it properly? It looks just like a regular corner mailbox but it is white with stars on it. It was right by the park I took the kids to. I have never heard of such a thing. They must be REALLY patriotic around here to have a mailbox solely for the purpose of disposing flags. WOW!

Well, we have now officially moved to Long Beach, NY. It was a long journey and a few bumps along the way but we LOVE our apt, our neighbors, neighborhood, the town, etc. We are 80-90% unpacked and just enjoying being in our new space. For the first time ever, I am taking my laundry to a chinese laundry to be done for me. The one we found is a little too expensive so we are trying to find a cheaper one not so close to the beach. It is so fun to be able to walk to so many places with the kids. Several mornings, the kids and I have walked to the corner for bagels. It has been great. And being able to walk down and get bread, milk, etc. at my corner grocery is great! We have been experiencing a lot of take-out so far and it has all been great! But we are ready to start eating homecooking. Tonight is meatloaf night. I am cooking with a gas stove and I haven't done that in a while. Since to stove is brand new, I have already set off the smoke alarm! Ha!