DuPont Family

Madeleine's 5th Birthday!

2011-03-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

Our little girl is now 5 years old and she's proud to tell everyone about it! We celebrated her birthday with "Hello Kitty" party at home with her cousin and some of her friends. It was a beautiful day outside so we enjoyed an outdoor picnic under a tree, played "ring around the rosies", "Duck Duck Goose" (or duck, duck, kitty), hopscotch, and cake of course! It was a very fun and girly party! Jack had the good luck of being swept away with Rhett by some of our friends... as our friend overheard him say, "Ring around the Rosies is the dumbest game ever!" Well, the girls sure do love it! so funny...

We celebrated on the day of her actual birthday with cupcakes and presents after a sushi dinner,
as requested by the birthday girl.

more smiles... check out Jack's missing teeth!

Our little 5-year-old on her "Hello Kitty" party day!
This is the dress she got from Mom and Dad. :)

"Ring around the Rosies..."

a picnic lunch of fruit salad and finger sandwiches with friends

"Hello Kitty" ears on Robbin are funny.
(sorry I couldn't get this picture to rotate.)

a quick photo shoot of all the party girls

Girls just want to have fun!

Getting ready for "Pin the Bow on Hello Kitty"

No peeking!

Every girl had a different color bow to pin on...
Hello Kitty looked great at the end, and everyone won a prize!
A Hello Kitty t-shirt made by Classic Kids (aka Aunt Brandi!)

Fabulous Pink Strawberry Hello Kitty Cake!

Robbin yelled, "OH NO!!!!" when I announced
that it was time to cut into Hello Kitty's face.

And I thought that was so funny... :)

awww... Thanks to Aunt Brandi for taking all
of the pictures with her awesome new camera!

Jack's 8th Birthday

2011-03-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

We can't believe our little man is 8 years old now!!! He is starting to lose a lot of his teeth now, too. The tooth fairy has been busy! Rory managed to catch a picture of the tooth fairy in action as she was going to pick up one of Jack's teeth one night... luckily Rory scared her away just after she had left Jack's prize money! Sneaky Rory!
Jack celebrated his 8th birthday with 7 of his closest friends in town at a camping slumber party in our back yard! Rory planned the party to include a scavenger hunt after learning how to use a compass for the hunt, cooking their own dinner, a snipe hunt, ghost stories, smores, etc. They had a blast! Thanks to Aunt Brandi and Uncle Gary for lending us the huge tent! ... and our neighbors lent us their firepit!

searching the woods for clues to the hidden treasure...

a clue, a clue!!!

another clue for everyone! Rory did a really great job of planning the hunt.

The whole crew before Jack blew out his candles.
Jack's birthdays are not complete without the quintessential "oreo cake!"

everyone that wanted to had their turn at bb gun shooting practice...
Proper safety measures were very well stuck to and no one "shot their eye out!"

A little land navigation course with newly issued compasses.

the tent courtesy of the Zetrouers

The Cat Island Survivors!

using teamwork to find the treasure

more hunting... for treasure that is.

the campsite

Jan and Feb

2011-03-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

... here are some pictures of a few of our adventures that kicked off our 2011!

We went skiing at Beech Mountain, NC at the end of January and also ended up seeing the Biltmore estate near Asheville. It was beautiful! And talking about skiing, Jack and Maddie both learned to ski and went down the beginner hill with Rory on their second day! Maddie was unstoppable! Rhett enjoyed playing in the snow with Mommy while we watched Dad with Jack and Maddie. It was a great time!

A Wrap-up of 2010

2011-01-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

So I just realized the other day that it has been almost a whole year since my last family blog update. This can only mean one thing... I've got a lot to catch you all up on! Last year brought home our own hero, husband and father. He came home to us after a long eight months of deployment, and then another 2 months away shortly after. We have since had 4 months of time together to catch up with each other and our families. We've had time to fit in many visits and adventures with family and friends on the east coast and even made a trip to Colombia, South America to visit Carolina's family! Here are just a few pictures to wrap up 2010 on the blog and I will endeavor to keep the blog updated through 2011 with more pictures of all of our adventures to come! It promises to be an interesting year already as Jack is preparing for his First Holy Communion in May and we have another big move coming up this summer! So stay tuned!

Christmas 2010 on Cat Island- we were the winners of our neighborhood Christmas lights contest! Wait until 2011! I LOVE Christmas lights! One day we hope to make it a Griswold style Christmas! Hee, hee!

Walt Disney World Camping Trip- we stayed at Fort Wilderness together sometime in April of 2010 and spent a couple of days having fun at the parks!

Rory and I at a COC dinner... he wore his brand new, custom made tux that he bought in Hong Kong... so 007!

The DuPont crew waiting for Daddy (Rory) to come home from deployment in March. Matching outfits thanks to Classic Kids!

Rory is flying the jet in the center of the formation!

Rhett was only 7 weeks old when Rory left for deployment.

Love this picture! Emotions were high!

Taking Daddy home!!! My favorite picture except for the fact that Rhett is missing in it... he was off to my left.

Maddie's 4th Birthday

2010-03-21T05:22:00.000-07:00

A "new" princess bike... that she wants her daddy to paint pink for her :), a pink Hello Kitty cake with a friend, pretty princess dolls... her day was great! She actually LOVES her bike that used to be Jack's!!!

Jack's 7th Birthday!

2010-03-13T18:58:00.000-08:00

Jack turned 7 today... I can't believe where the time has gone. He's such a great little man, too. We love him and are so proud of him!!! He had a fantastic day where he got to pick out his new bike at Wal-Mart, lunch at McD's (in Wal-Mart- why this is such a treat I just can't comprehend!), then off to pick daffodils with mom and Maddie- yes this was the girls' idea but we all had fun together(he told me he likes to pick the lonely ones- so telling of his personality, I think), and then home for some pizza, a movie, and cake and presents with 2 of his buddies. What a birthday!!! He said it's his lucky day... well, it was lucky #7!!! :)

March Madness

2010-03-13T18:45:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated this page in a long time... so here are some pictures of what we've been up to so far. We are keeping ourselves very busy anticipating Rory's return home in just one short week now!!! Whew!!! It's been such a long 8 months... we can't believe it's finally drawing to a close!!! What a relief! Look for some homecoming pictures soon! Until then, enjoy these of the kiddos enjoying dance, eating oysters (YUM!-few things make Carolina as happy! I take oyster eating very seriously and it shows in one of the pictures- haha!), a monster truck show, a visit from an old friend, and daffodil picking! March has been great so far and it will only get better!!!

Rhett at five months

2009-10-30T18:51:00.001-07:00

sunglasses!!! he's too cool, and too cute!!!!

October pictures

2009-10-16T18:12:00.001-07:00

Some pictures

2009-09-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

check out the huge gator that has just peeked back out again after hiding all summer... I think it's grown a foot or two! Pretty scary!

2009-09-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Life in Beaufort

2009-09-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are just about 2 months into Rory's deployment. Life without him here really stinks and it's been a difficult adjustment for all of us. I am trying to take life one day at a time and just keep ourselves busy to pass the time without Rory. Jack and Maddie are both playing soccer. Jack has become a very talented goal keeper and really likes that position. Maddie really loves her time spent on the field and says she has a "fireball kick!" She's pretty amusing as always. Rhett is just a ball of sunshine. He is quite a social bug always wanting to be around people and is always ready with a huge smile to whoever comes his way. He is quite a joy and really brightens our days around here.
Jack started 1st grade and seems to enjoy it. Maddie just started Pre-K every day for half the day and she really enjoys her classroom. She comes home very tired which is great for mommy! :) Mommy gets a couple of quiet hours to herself in the morning which is also very nice!

Baby Rhett

2009-06-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

At home with baby Rhett

2009-06-15T09:43:00.001-07:00

Baby Rhett Thomas

2009-06-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

Baby Rhett Thomas was born on Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 10:45am. He has proven to be quite mellow in temperament... quite an angel.

Mother's Day

2009-05-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice Mother's Day here. We went to church and then had a nice brunch at the local clubhouse in our neighborhood with Rory's sister and her family. Here are a few pictures of me (the big momma!!!) with the HUGE baby bump!

Maddie's Dollhouse bed

2009-05-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

Rory just finished building Maddie's bed and she loves it! It turned out very cute as you can see in the pictures. She now has her own room and Jack is happy to have a room of his own again, too. :) We are just waiting on the arrival of the 3rd little one... 2 weeks and counting!

Good times in Beaufort

2009-04-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

These are just some cute photos of the kids...be sure to scroll down to see our Easter and other pics, too!

Charleston Children's Museum with our friends

2009-04-17T08:27:00.000-07:00

Jack has been on spring break for two weeks. Yesterday we took a trip to the Charleston Children's Museum with my friend Kate and her 3 kids. We made a stop on the way to Krispy Kreme where Kate treated us to some hot and fresh donuts and we even got to watch how the donuts are made! The kids were wonderful and had a wonderful time! It's a really great children's museum complete with a shrimping boat, a castle, arts&crafts, water play and a grocery store to play in!

The Princess and the Prince

2009-04-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

So I think Maddie officially believes she is a princess... here is a picture of the princess asleep with tiara and all! She does these things all on her own!

Easter

2009-04-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

Easter turned out to be very eventful here. We started out the day by waking up to the baskets left by the Easter Bunny and then off to an egg hunt at our neighbor's house, the Armand's. The Easter Bunny thought it would be fun to join up the two households and it was! The kids loved it! Then off we went to church (for the true meaning of Easter!). We topped off the day with a fantastic party at Aunt Brandi's house... the kids took home a lot of loot!!! They even got to meet the Easter Bunny there!

Maddie and her "Princess Scooter"

2009-03-21T07:23:00.001-07:00

Birthday pictures

2009-03-21T07:13:00.001-07:00

Maddie's birthday... opening presents and Hello Kitty cupcakes!

Birthday pictures

2009-03-21T06:56:00.001-07:00

Jack's birthday... he got several fun presents! Jack is backing away from his delicious oreo ice cream cake because of the "sparkler candles" on it... apparently he was afraid of them! Oops!

Jack is 6!

2009-03-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

Maddie is 3!

2009-03-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

Jack and his art

2009-03-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

We went an Art Show at Jack's school tonight where they were displaying a lot of the children's artwork. We quickly found his and then paid a premium to bring it home framed with us! He can officially say he has sold his first work of art now... too bad he didn't get the proceeds! We had a nice time, though... it was like an open house because later we went to his classroom for a presentation.
The other picture is a shot of the sunset this afternoon as we were driving home from Jack's school... beautiful!

Jack the Fighter Pilot

2009-03-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

This is a look at what Jack loves to do... he got an early birthday present from Mom and Dad- a fighter pilot Wii game... he loves it of course!

March is here!

2009-03-09T07:07:00.001-07:00

March is here and what a great month that is for us! Jack's 6th birthday is coming up on Friday and Madeleine's 3rd birthday follows his on Sunday. It looks like Spring is finally here, although we don't know for how long yet! :) Hopefully it's here to stay!
We went to a nearby daffodil field yesterday for daffodil picking... the day was just beautiful and the kids had fun! Jack took a couple of the pictures for me.
Rory is away, unfortunately- he has begun full work-ups (which means he'll be coming and going a lot before he actually deploys for about 6-7 months!). That's the Navy life!
Enjoy the pictures! We are loving everything our new home and town have to offer!

The Magic Kingdom

2009-02-12T18:06:00.001-08:00

Madeleine's highlight of the day at the Magic Kingdom was definitely the castle and "It's a Small World", while Jack got some sword fight instruction from Captain Jack Sparrow next to the Pirates of the Carribbean ride. He loved that!

Disney's Hollywood Studios

2009-02-12T14:15:00.000-08:00

We went to the Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM studios) on the second day. Jack got to go in the Jedi Training Course... they pick children out of the audience to learn to fight like a Jedi... this was like a dream come true for him! At the end , they surprise the kids by bringing out Darth Vader and they had to fight him to the end. The looks on the kids faces when Darth Vader came out was PRICELESS!!! A combination of awe and shear fear... so funny! We got some priceless video footage! Maddie loved seeing the Little Mermaid here and she got to meet Minnie Mouse, too!

Disney World

2009-02-12T14:04:00.001-08:00

This is us on the Animal Kingdom Safari ride... Maddie loves her new Minnie Mouse sunglasses!

Jack on two wheels!!!

2009-01-04T10:06:00.000-08:00

Rory taught Jack how to ride his bicycle without his training wheels last weekend! He is a pro! Of course Madeleine was on her tricycle and learned to pedal it all by herself, too! It was really exciting to see Jack take off on his first try- we got it on video! he loves riding his bike faster now!

Holidays in Beaufort

2009-01-04T10:02:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas

2009-01-04T09:48:00.000-08:00

About two weeks before Christmas Maddie managed to knock out another tooth- this time one of her front teeth- while Daddy was away! She is fine and the tooth came clean out. She likes to talk about it often and says, "My toof fell out! The toof faiwy took my teef!" She keeps us on our toes! These pictures were taken at the playground off Bay Street- it overlooks the intracoastal which the children love and so does Mom!!! We love it here!

Christmas

2009-01-04T09:40:00.001-08:00

These are some pictures from Christmas morning. Santa brought Madeleine a Snow White dress that she is modelling along with a new baby doll that goes potty! Jack got a new Gators jersey with a football, and more LEGO's from Santa, of course!

Cross Country Travel...

2008-11-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of the very impressive Grand Canyon... awesome place!

Our House in Beaufort!!!

2008-10-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

Here it is for all to see! The debut of our new rental home in Beaufort. We are packing up this week, the moving trucks come to pack us out next week and then we'll be on the road!!! We're looking forward to seeing our friends and family out there! And to our dear friends in California... please visit us!

Kids in costume...

2008-10-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

A few pictures from Avery's birthday party at the carousel the other day. It was a costume party. Jack went as a ninja and Maddie was a "Ballerina Tinkerbell."

Hornet Ball

2008-10-29T05:33:00.001-07:00

Rory and I got to go out for a night with some friends to Fresno to the Hornet Ball. Rory's current squadron is called the "Outlaws"- hence the toy pistols. All the tables are usually decorated in themes according to each squadron and ours had bandanas and toy cap pistols at it... yes, which we actually fired off at different points of the dinner! How old are we again? hee, hee! This community is really funny when you look at it from the outside... Check out the ice sculptures!!! Definitely the best we've seen in the 5 years we've been to Hornet Ball!!!

Jack gets his orange belt!

2008-10-29T05:28:00.001-07:00

Jack was promoted to an orange belt last week in Karate. The funny thing is that at this age it doesn't so much have to do with skill as it does with encouraging the kids to keep up with the karate by promoting them. Jack is getting better, though... he's even better at showing off his karate skills when he's not in class.

Tinkerbell

2008-10-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

Some funny pictures of Jack and Maddie... they sure do keep us entertained around here!
The last picture is currently my favorite picture of our little Maddie. It sums her up completely. She loves Tinkerbell these days and she went through a stage for about a week where she was wearing these sunglasses all day long inside the house. She cracks us up!

Crab for dinner and Goofing around...

2008-10-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

Jack and Madeleine conquered a whole Dungeness crab- here are the pictures to prove it. Maddie had to inspect the crab first... and Jack ended up wearing the crab's conquered skull as a helmet! Pretty funny... Later we went back to Alex and Tricia's apartment where Jack showed off his karate skills- he is performing his "praying mantis" stance here, and Maddie helped feed baby Emily.

Emily's Baptism in Berkeley

2008-10-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

The weekend of my birthday was also the weekend of my niece, and now God daughter, Emily's baptism! It was a nice ceremony and we celebrated afterward with a nice brunch. Later, we spent the rest of the day in San Francisco. We caught bits and pieces of the Blue Angels airshow and we had a really great meal on Fisherman's Wharf. Jack and Maddie ate a whole crab between the two of them! It was a great weekend! Thank you Alex and Tricia... it was fun!

The Reno Air Races

2008-09-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

After camping, we headed back up to Reno for the Air Races. We stayed in Fernley with our good friends, the Blairs- thank you for letting us invade your home once again! We also joined up with the McQueens at the Air Races. It was a fun way to end our trip.

More camping pictures

2008-09-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Okay so after 5 days and 4 nights of camping in this beautiful place, we have way too many pictures to show for it... here are some more...

Tailhook and camping

2008-09-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

We just got back on Sunday from a week and a half long trip to Reno, camping, and back to Reno. It was a good trip overall, but we all came back with a nasty cold. So, needless to say, we are all nursing ourselves back to health now. Plenty of rest is in the cards for us! I am including some fun pictures of the trip. We started out at Tailhook, which is a big convention of sorts for the Navy aviator community. The kids had a lot of fun looking at all the airplane paraphernelia and playing with displays.

AFter Tailhook we went to the Twin Lakes near Brasington, CA and camped at the upper Twin Lake. It could not have been any more beautiful there! There was wildlife all around us... the deer kept walking up to us and around us. There were bears too... luckily we never encountered one but we heard them at night going through the garbage. We camped right next to a stream that was full of salmon that were spawning... the kids had a lot of fun trying to catch the fish. Rory took Jack fishing at the lake, and we even took a couple of short hikes. Here are a couple of pics...

Che-Puh!!

2008-09-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

What is better known to the world as Ketchup, Maddie calls Che-puh. We think it's pretty cute. Well, she absolutely loves che-puh... so much so that she usually ends up dipping everything on her plate in it. And this day, she finished her hot dog and started dipping her apple in it. OOOhhhh... I can't imagine. She was pretty pleased with the flavors going on though... that's what matters. :)

Alcatraz, Trolleys, and Berkeley

2008-08-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our day and a half in San Fran. We just got back from what was probably our last trip to San Francisco for a while. Carolina's appointment went really well. The MRI showed no traces of the tumor- excellent news!
We took a tour of Alcatraz while we were there ... that explains all of the jail cell pictures. It was kind of creepy touring Alcatraz, but I guess we checked that one off of our list of things to see. :) We also got to see my brother, Alex, his fiancee, Tricia, and our sweet little niece, Emily. She is so adorable. Check out her huge brown eyes! They are living in Berkeley while Alex attends Law School. We're very proud of Uncle Alex! Enjoy the pictures!

Karate Kids

2008-08-22T22:45:00.001-07:00

Keee-yah! Jack and his little sidekick pose for the camera with their best Karate moves. Maddie loves going to Jack's Karate classes and usually does a lot of the class on the sidelines... it's pretty funny. They gave her an honorary white belt for her to wear. She really gets upset if she misses a class. Jack just got promoted to yellow belt last Monday and he is so excited!!! We don't have a picture with him and his yellow belt yet...

Where's the rain?

2008-08-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

Jack and Maddie were just watching their morning cartoons. Rory and I looked in on them and saw this cute scene... well, we had to take a picture... too stinkin' cute!

Service fit for a Queen!

2008-08-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

This is how good I had it... well, I was also recovering from surgery and could hardly move around, but still- look how good I had it! Rory took care of me for just over two weeks and every morning I was greeted with a breakfast like this one... he's very creative with food! :) I had it good, I tell you! And then all of the meals we had brough to us... thank you to everyone! Thanks to all of this I am more ready than ever to start hitting the gym again as all the eating has really taken a toll! Oh well, it was good!
I'm doing much better... I'm into my daily routine with the kids and I've survived Jack's first week of school, too! I still get tired, but what mom doesn't? I'm feeling really good in general, though. Next week I go back to the doctor for another MRI and some lab work. It should all go well.

Kindergarten!

2008-08-19T20:29:00.001-07:00

Where does the time go? Our little boy started Kindergarten today. I thought Rory was being the more sappy one about it all until I finally cracked today during lunch with Rory. Rory took Jack to school this morning and I stayed behind since Maddie was still sleeping. Well, at lunch I totally lost it crying because "I missed his first day!" The emotion of it all got to me, I guess! :) He is our first, after all.

Jack had a blast! We all went together to pick him up from school and got to see him walking out with his class to the benches where all the children wait to be picked up by their parents. We walked up to Jack all excited to see him and he just waved hello to us and informed us that he was riding the bus. "No, Jack... it's time to go home. Are you ready? Let's go, buddy!" said his father and I. "No, Mom and Dad! I'm waiting for the bus. I want to ride the bus!" "No, Jack... you are coming home with us. Maybe you can ride the bus another time, " said Mom and Dad again. Well, this did not go over well. Jack was determined that he would ride the bus home, I guess. Rory had to pick Jack up and take him to the car as Jack proceeded to kick and scream all the way into the car. At this point, Maddie also decided that she wanted to ride the bus and so she also started kicking and screaming... yeah! School is fun!!! :) Rory finally got Jack to calm down (after he took the incriminating pictures, of course!). I love the picture where Jack is throwing a fit because if you look closely, you can see the school bus in the background- the foot kicking in the foreground... good picture, Rory! hee, hee! Good times!

Later, when we asked Jack what he learned on his first day of school, he told us: "Well, my teacher told us that the boys should not peek into the girls' bathroom and the girls should not peek into the boys' bathroom." Okay... that's very important, but really? Is that all you can remember for us little man? I guess that was the most important lesson of the day to him!!! You just gotta love it!!! :) So cute! Here are a couple of pictures from his big day. Did you like Kindergarten, Jack? " I LOVE IT!!!"

Beaufort, here we come!!!

2008-08-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

As Rory's Dad wrote to us already...Wagons East!!! It is official! We are moving to Beaufort, South Carolinal! We are so thrilled we can't even express it completely! We are ready to move closer to family and where the air will be much cleaner for Maddie! This is definitely an answered prayer for us. Of course we have also made some amazing friends out here in California that we will be sad to leave- but you will always have a place to stay with us!!! Please visit often and whenever you want!!!

So... stay tuned as I'm sure the following months will be filled with many last minute California adventures before we bid farewell to this state.

Yosemite, Mono Lake, Fallon, Tahoe, and Sacramento

2008-07-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

We left for Fallon, NV on Wed. the 16th of July. Rory had some work to do there, and we figured we'd turn it into one big trip that would end with my surgery in San Francisco. Rory mapped out a great scenic drive (California and Nevada have plenty of those!) through BEAUTIFUL Yosemite and Tioga Pass. We stopped at a little lake there where Jack and Rory got to explore and came across some snow (in July!). We also stopped at Mono Lake (which isn't as scenic as it is interesting) where Rory took a dip in the lake to test his buoyancy. Mono Lake has a very high salt content.

We ended up in Fallon where we stayed through the weekend to celebrate Braeden McQueen's first birthday. It was fun to catch up with the McQueen family!

Then, off we went to Sacramento to drop off our kids at the Steens' house in Roseville. But we couldn't do that without stopping first in South Lake Tahoe... absolutely beautiful scenery again!!!

Mattie was very kind to take in our kids for almost 4 days! Thank you, Mattie! They had a blast!

We are home and recovering now. Enjoy the pictures.

My surgery

2008-07-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

My surgery went really well last Tuesday. Thank you to everyone for all of your prayers, well wishes, and help. I am very blessed to be surrounded by really great friends while being so far from our family!

For those of you just hearing about this, last Tuesday, the 22nd of July, I had a pituitary tumor removed transphenoidally (through the nose). It was something that had been diagnosed last year and after having tried to treat through 2 different types of medications, it was decided that it was better to just remove the darned thing! It was a little daunting to think about, but I am so lucky to have been referred to the best doctor in the country for this! The whole experience truly could not have been better (excpet for one anesthesiology resident who "couldn't find" my vein to put in my I.V. at first)... aside from that, I love anesthesia! :) I think I love Dr. Kunwar even more, (not more than Rory, of course!) he was amazing! I haven't had any pain at all. So, I am in recovery at home now and Rory is doing an excellent job of keeping me from doing any sort of work. I am supposed to just rest for 2 weeks- that is easy since any little task is really draining. The full recovery period is a total of 4-6 weeks after which we go back to San Fran. for another MRI, some lab work and a doctor's follow-up visit. We'll keep you posted.

more 4th of July

2008-07-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures of our camping trip. Rory cooking ribs at the grill by the camper, skiing, etc. In case you are wondering, the thing under Maddie's nose is a scab as she fell in the dirt (yes, she does this often!) and scraped her upper lip. UGH!!! She likes to try to keep up with the older kids but can't.

4th of July at Lake Nacimiento

2008-07-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

We went for a 5 day camping trip for the 4th! It was a lot of fun! Some friends of our rented a pontoon boat that actually had the capability to pull a skiier behind it, so we spent the days on the lake skiing and tubing. We were able to convince Jack to go tubing with Rory, and Maddie actually went before Jack did! My (Carolina's) favorite part was skiing... I could do that almost all day! Here are the pictures.

Jack's Preschool Graduation

2008-06-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

Jack graduated! ... from Preschool in early May... I just forgot to post these pictures until now. he was really cute and felt extra important because Miss Shirley (his teacher) had him carry in the colors (the flag) for the entrance and during the Pledge of Allegiance. Afterwards, we celebrated with a reception of juice boxes, cupcakes and cookies. We are very proud of our Jack!!!

Zeum at Yerba Buena Gardens

2008-06-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to Zeum. It's a children's museum with different activities for the kids. Maddie was a little young for it, but she still had fun. It has a huge carousel at the entrance, which is Maddie's absolute favorite thing to ride. She loves "ho-sies" and they usually have to be "peek", meaning pink. If there is a horse with the slightest bit of pink on it, Maddie is on it.
The museum had a place to make and record your own music, perform and record your own music video (which Jack and Maddie did singin "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"), produce your own clay-mation cartoon, and Jack performed a puppet show for us. That's Jack with the mask over his head singing into the mike, btw... he made that mask with Dad at the mask station. A lot of creativity in one day!!!

Riding the Muni

2008-06-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

This picture has a funny story. We stayed out at the Wharf until about 8pm and had to find a way back to our hotel in Union Square. We got to the Wharf on a double decker bus that Jack wanted to ride, but those stopped running at 6 pm, so we found out we could take the Muni (municipal cable car/bus for you amateurs out there) for a bargain price. Jack was excited about riding a cable car, too. So we see a ramp and since we have the double stroller we figured, "great! we won't have to fold up the stroller this time... we can just hop on and hop off!" so Rory sets up this picture as the cable car finaly pulls up after we've been waiting about 30 minutes... everyone below us is getting on and the car isn't pulling up to the ramp. I suggest that we go down, and as I am wondering if we should do so, the driver gets on his microphone and says, "you guys on the ramp have to get down and fold up the stroller to load the bus." Rory and I hurry down... laughing that we just got told over a loudspeaker. So we hurry down, gather up all the belongings we've accumulated and the kids, and search for exact change- which we didn't have.... ugh! The driver was really nice and just had us get on anyway as we were holding up the whole car...It was a colorful experience ! It really is the best way to see the city, though.

Exploring San Fran.

2008-06-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed dinner our last at night Fisherman's Wharf, saw some bread being made at the Boudin Bread Factory (home of the San Francisco sourdough) and then the kids had fun looking around the Rain Forest Cafe where they got to pick out a new friend to bring home. Jack selected a snake which he named "Thunder" (again, all on his own) and Maddie selected a monkey which velcro's around her... she loves the fact that the monkey hangs on to her and she calls it her baby. They are too much!

The Pampanito

2008-06-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

Jack and Rory went on board the USS Pampanito submarine in the Fisherman's Wharf harbor. Jack loves exploring old boats... maybe one day Uncle Diego will take him for a ride on his boat?? :)

San Francisco

2008-06-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

We took another trip to San Francisco on the 26th of June. Another Dr.'s appointment for me, but a lot of fun for the whole family. We have really had a chance to get to know this great city. There is a lot to do with the kids here... they love visiting. Here we have a picture of Rory with the kids in front of one of the 4 painted heart sculptures in Union Square. Next, a picture of Maddie on a mechanical horse at the 'Musee Mecanique' on Fisherman's Wharf. It was a great arcade full of really old arcade games as well as video games.

Fun with Paint

2008-06-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

I decided to let the kids try their hand at some creative painting one morning. They really love it. Jack is more of a speed painter and finishes his works of art in less than 10 minutes. Maddie, on the other hand, loves to explore with color and loves the feel of the paint in between her fingers. She really turns it into a full experience. That day it entertained her for about and hour! Jack named his work of art "The Great Wall of China" (in green)- he came up with that all on his own!!! And Maddie also came up with her own name for her painting of "Chocolate" as hers ended up being brown by the time she was done with it. They are so funny!

Brad Paisley concert

2008-06-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

All right, I know... Brad Paisley is not in our family and most of you may not care, but part of Rory's Father's Day present was a pair of tickets to go see him in concert. Brad Paisley put on a great show, and yes, we were this close!!! It was a fun night... although I have to be honest, I think I knew his music more than Rory did... he was singing along to the ones he did know.

Maddie's haircut

2008-06-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

We took Maddie to get her hair trimmed... it's a cute little bob again. It was getting a little too long. Don't worry, her curls aren't gone. She was born with her Daddy's curls and they aren't going anywhere... it just takes more humid weather than what we get out here to really bring them out. :)

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Father's Day with a big scavenger hunt for Daddy's gifts around the house followed by a BBQ with some of our friends. Rory got to use his new charcoal grill to finish off some ribs that Carolina made for the BBQ. It was a great day. The second picture shows Rory with Eric and Todd (and the lunch spread!). The kids had fun getting messy with the ribs.

Karate Kid and Soccer

2008-06-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

Jack started Karate lessons about a month ago now. He goes 3 times a week and he really enjoys it. It's really fun to watch him as he is one of the smallest in the class. His favorite part is when he gets to wear the sparring gear (in the second picture) and go one on one to practice his moves.
Jack has also started playing soccer. We think he may have been born to play soccer... he just seems to be a natural at it. That ball seems like it is glued to his feet when he plays! He really enjoys it, which is the important part. Thank you, Uncle Gary and Aunt Brandi, for the really nice soccer cleats!

Zoobilation!

2008-06-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

Being members of the Fresno Zoo now, we were invited to their annual Zoobilation event. They invite all of the members to come and visit the animals after hours which is really cool because they allow us to go behind the scenes to see the animals even closer than usual sometimes. We met our friends the Morgans there- Maddie and Jack love hanging out with Parker and Avery. The kids got to feed the elephants up close, visit the animal hospital, and see many reptiles up close- too close for Mommy!

Our first camping trip with our trailer

2008-06-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Yep... we bought a trailer. Rory and I are excited about getting the kids outdoors this summer. There are so many amazing places to see in California and the surrounding area... here we go!

Our first trip was two weeks ago to Sequoia. Not five minutes into the trip, Maddie managed to knock out a whole tooth! UGH! We have nicknamed her "Danger" because of her adventurous nature... it's enough to stress us all out! We only stayed one night, but we already have many more trips in the making. Here are a couple of pictures.

May 2008

2008-06-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

May brought Grandpa Ed to our side of the country. He got to watch Jack practice T-ball and we discovered the Bear Diner with him.
Grandpurger and Maddie.

Jack at his first t-ball game. Maddie trying to go pottie. She likes to accesorize with Hello Kitty ("kitty") band-aids.

March pictures

2008-06-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

March brought my Mom around to visit. We took her to see the giant Sequoias at Sequoia National Park along with our good friends the Calkins. This is all of us inside one of the trees, surrounded by snow and fog.
While it was still snowing in the mountains, the valley was covered in spring blossoms... Almond blossoms here. The perfect backdrop for a family picture day.

Madeleine answering the front door...

More updates

2008-06-12T21:09:00.000-07:00

Tricia with Baby Emily Victoria.
Carolina with Mom in San Diego.
Ita with new granddaughter.
Alex, the new Daddy.

2008-06-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

Visiting the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

Sunset on Waikiki Beach... rough, I know.

Rory with Jack, Maddie, and a little crab friend.

Our first blog

2008-06-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

The DuPonts have finally joined the blogging world! Welcome to our blog. You can check back here often to see what we have been up to... we keep pretty busy these days. We plan on doing a lot of camping this summer, so we'll post the pictures as we get them.

In the meantime, here are some of our favorites from earlier this year. In Feb. we went to Hawaii to meet Rory out there for almost 2 weeks (yes... it was paradise... and Carolina actually came home feeling rested!!!- letting your kids run around on the beach will do that!) We've taken a few trips to San Diego, several to San Francisco, and seen family in between. It's actually been a really great beginning to the year... we'll see what the next 6 months have in store for us! Enjoy! This is Maddie wheeling her "Kitty" suitcase into the hotel on Honolulu in Feb.

Maddie with her "Pink Do-ah" sunglasses.

Jack at Pipeline on the North Shore. Doesn't he look like a model here? Not posed, I promise!

Maddie with Sam Vernallis... it was fun to travel with good friends!

Jack and Daddy on a Corsair at Kaneohe Bay.