I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the newest member of the Greene clan! His name is Morpheus. He is just seven weeks old and isn't much bigger than our hands! But his Mama is sick of her babies, and he is litter boxed trained and eats 'real' cat food, so we brought him home tonight!

Welcome to our home Morpheus!!

The Greenes

As I promised in my last post, I will give you our opinion on the movie "Pirates Of The Carribbean, Dead Man's Chest". The special effects are wonderful! And it's pretty funny too. The only thing we would advise, if you haven't yet seen the first one, or forgot how it goes, rent it and watch it BEFORE you go to see this second installment! It would have made a world of difference if Mark and I had done that on Friday! hahaha.....but it was a great movie and nice to have a night out just the two of us!

Yesterday (Saturday) we all went fishing at Point No Point beach. Lots of bullheads were caught and the kids all had a blast catching and releasing fish. I DID happen to catch a flounder which we brought home and ate! It was small but yummy!

Today the weather is doing weird things. We WERE going to work outside and do some yard work, wash the van etc...but we've decided on movie and snack day! Mark is making his famous salsa as we speak and then we will sit down to watch some movies! Brats for dinner later! Yummers....

Hope all of you have enjoyed a fun weekend! Mark has two more days of leave! YAY!!

Hugs and much love,
Mark, Jaye and Gang

Great job on your blog. Your family is having a wonderful summer.
Wish I could be there too.
You deserve a gold star for your efforts and there it is!
We all look forward to your updates.
Congratulations Mark and Jaye on your 8th wedding anniversary yesterday, August 6, 2006.
Dad

We made it back safe and sound, and WHAT a week we had! Mark and I took the kids plus one (Sams' friend Daniel came with us) to Pacific Beach for a week of camping! I don't think we could have crammed any more activities into the week...ok..maybe we COULD have, but we'd have had to crawl home!

We left Bremerton on Thursday July 20...and headed to Pacific Beach. Interestingly this used to be a NAVFAC (Oceanographic facility for the Navy) but has since been turned into a resort for Active duty, retirees and Federal employees. It is a beautiful place, overlooking miles and miles and miles of sandy beaches in a series of communities collectively called Ocean Shores. While there is a hotel and RV spots, we did 'real' camping and set up our tents!

Friday was spent on the beach building castles and digging to China! Shelby started to dig a hole and Mark told her he'd give her five dollars if she dug until she hit water. Mark owes Shelby five dollars! hahaha. While the kids got tanned, Mark and I got sunburned. OUCH.

Saturday was spent exploring the nearby town....the kids rode their bikes all over the resort, and in the evening, we attended the annual Hawaiian Luau! What a great time we had. Shelby had never seen a whole roasted pig before, so THAT was an experience for her..and Ben couldn't take his eyes off the Hula dancers! In fact, when they asked for the kids to come up on stage to learn Hula, he was up there before they'd finished talking! And he did very well I might add! In talking to the 'Mama' of the dancers (it was a family owned business) we came to find out that my dad Joe Laa and HER mother were related! So now we are officially part of the dancers Ohana (Family in Hawaiian). Paige just thinks this is the greatest thing!

Saturday was also Daniels birthday, so we had made sure to pack a cake in our food stores and brought it out for him complete with candles! Happy Birthday Daniel! In less than a year, Daniel and Sam will be driving. I think I'll start taking the bus! ;)

The rest of the days were spent on the beach, riding bikes...flying kites (Mark and Ben just LOVE flying kites!)....going to the game room to be declared the universal champion ping pong player (that'd be ME!) and basically just relaxing and enjoying the family time. It's nice to get away from tv/phones/schedules for awhile and just be a family.

Our last night in camp saw us down at the beach with a bonfire. We roasted weiners and made s'mores and enjoyed the ambiance of being on the beach and hearing the roar of the waves. That night, a power pole caught on fire about 1130. No body did anything about it...it seems that Greys Harbor didn't want to handle it...and everyone was passing the buck about who should deal with it. Well..about 330 the thing BLEW UP! Mark leaped out of bed, probably in drill mode from the boat and dashed out of the tent to 'fight the fire'. He was in his underwear! So while he is dashing across the camp to assess the situation, I am dashing after him with his pants! Turns out the fire was electrical and he couldn't do anything to fight it so he blocked traffic so no-one would drive over live wires (by this time, I am pleased to report, he had his pants on!). Anyways...we stumbled back to bed about 430 when the power company finally lost the rock/paper/scissors fight over who should show up! hahaha....

We packed up camp on Wednesday and drove home to sweltering heat here in Bremerton (Pacific Beach is very windy and temps hover around mid 60's low 70's).....it was in the high 80's which was making us melt after our week in the coolness of the beach! We unloaded the van and truck and headed to Wildcat lake to soak for the rest of the day! Do we know how to live or what?

And so that was our busy week! Mark has his new toy, the DR power mower (look for it online!) and is busy mowing Bremerton. I am doing a grocery shop today, and tonight, Mark and I are going out for 'Date Night'. We try to do this once a month or so, and so are going to see 'Pirates Of The Carribean' tonight. I'll let you know how it is!

Hugs and love to all
Mark,Jaye and Gang

I have some exciting news to post! As you all know, the kids have been taking another session of swim lessons. Today was their last lesson of the session and they all did AWESOME! Ben and Paige both passed from level 1 to level 2! YAY~~

And now.....drum roll please! da da da da da da da..............Shelby! Our SWIMMER!!! Shelby went from Level 5 to Level 6. Now. The totally AWESOME, AMAZING thing about this is..............she is the ONLY kid EVER to pass this level in ONE SESSION!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!! All the kids in her class this time have taken this level three or four times! WAY TO GO SHELBY!!! Daddy and I are soooooooooooo proud of you!!!!!!!!! You are such a wonderful kid.....we love you very very much! And proud! Boy oh Boy!! Are we proud of you! :)
Ok...bonus mom will step off her soap box now! hehehehe......

As a side note, Skip/Paul (Marks Dad) discovered that if you click on a picture in this blog, it will enlarge so you can see it better! Thanks Dad for the great tip! (He is also my proof reader and does a GREAT job of keeping me grammatically correct!)......

Hugs to you all,
Mark, Jaye and the super swimmer gang!!!!

What an absolutely amazing weekend we had! Mark and I took the kids up to Mount Rainier for the entire weekend! We did a three mile hike up the falls and into Reflection Lake the first day and all the kids did AWESOME (even Ben went all the way!). It was VERY bizarre to play in the snow in July!

We were unable to book a hotel in or around Mount Rainier as everything was all full, so we started looking a bit away from the mountain and found a little GEM in Eatonville! It was called the Mill Village Inn. Nice clean rooms, continental breakfast, GREAT restaurant right next door (Aarons Ark) and a grocery store across the street. If this sounds like everything was really handy, you'd be right as this is definately a ONE street town! But we will stay here whenever we want to spend a weekend or longer at Mt. Rainier. It was so peaceful and fun!

Sunday found us back at the mountain. Our first stop was a river right inside the park entrance. The kids had fun playing on the banks and seeing the various mountain views (you can see various views from the pictures that go with this blog)! We then hit the giftshop where each of us picked out a little something to take back home. We moved on to the museum and learned some neat facts about the founding of the park and saw various stuffed animals from the mountain (real animals...taxidermied!...is that a word? hehe). Our next stop was Cougar Rock for a picnic lunch.....it was so wonderful to sit in the shade of these HUGE trees while looking wayyyyyyyy up and seeing huge snow covered peaks! After lunch we headed up to Paradise and the information rotunda. While Ben and I stayed behind and played tic tac toe and had ice-cream (his little legs had had enough..he did AWESOME for being four!) , Mark took the girls on another hike up the mountain. After they came back, it was time to head home. We hit a restaurant right outside the park for dinner (WildBerry Restaurant) and it was nasty! ugh...but that's ok..live and learn! We won't go back there I can tell you! We were all happy to get home and SLEEP!

Mark had duty on Monday (his last duty day before going on leave!) and so the kids and I spent the day recovering from the weekend and doing laundry (ok, I did laundry while the kids played! hehe). Swim lessons Monday evening...the kids do so awesome!

Yesterday and today we did various errands and lots of shopping in preparation for our weeklong camping trip to Pacific Beach. We LOVE it there and are looking forward to a week of playing in the sun and sand! Of course we'll have some awesome pics of THAT trip as well.

On a side note, I am sure you all remember me talking about Ben having to be tested as his b'day is two weeks after the cut off for Kindergarden entrance. Well, we have the test results back! Mr. Smarty pants tested in all four areas in the 99/98/97/99 percentiles respectively! WOW!! We are so proud of Ben the Brain!!! Way to go little Buddy!!

Hugs to you all!
Mark, Jaye and Gang

The week flies by when you are busy I am finding out! Another week has zipped by and I don't know where the time has gone!

The kids had swimming lessons on Monday as usual. We stayed afterwards for open swim so that Mark could teach the kids how to dive. And let me tell you! Shelby is AWESOME! She dives off the edge of the pool, through a hoola hoop and doesn't even touch it with her body! WOW! (You have to remember, when she first came here, she couldn't dive at all!). Paige and Ben both are learning to dive as well..in fact, Ben is becoming quite the little fish! Swimming lessons are such a great thing for kids to have when they are smaller..they learn to let go of their fear of water and it becomes second nature to them! Ok..off my soap box! haha....To celebrate, we went to Red Robin for dinner (actually, it was so I didn't have to cook, but who is telling?! hehe). I also forgot to add that while Mark was teaching the kids to dive, I spent a leisurly evening at Barnes and Noble book shopping for various birthday gifts and having a nice Mocha at Starbucks! YAY for me time!

Swim lessons again on Wednesday and THIS time, Shelby jumped off the HIGH DIVE! WOW!!!! The kids are all doing so well with this swimming thing...we are so proud of them all! After swimming we met our very good friends Kevin and Melissa and family at Olive Garden for a good bye dinner. Kevin is retiring from the Navy in a few months and Melissa and the kids are moving to Idaho and getting settled into their new home. It won't be long and WE will be settling into our post Navy life! wheeeeeeeeee.....

Today we met Melissa and kids at McD's for lunch prior to attending John Michaels Baptism! I was asked to be a witness and how special was that!! I had never been to a childs' baptism before and so it was quite the new experience! My favorite part was during the ceremony when John Michael decided to smack his head with the palm of his hand as if to say 'mamma mia'! hahaha..It was SOOOO hard to keep a straight face! Kids...go figure!

My next post will have some AWESOME pictures I am sure as we are taking the whole weekend and heading to Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens! The kids are so excited and we can't wait to show them the sights! Mom, hide your eyes at this next part! Are they hidden? You aren't reading anymore? ok...I just wanted to say that Mark and I are getting a sitter in a few weeks and taking the weekend to hike to the brim of Mount St. Helens!!!!!!!! They've opened it up for hiking again and we are so thrilled to be able to do this! YAY! Ok Mom, open your eyes now!

Ok..have a wonderful weekend all of you!

Hugs and much love,
Mark, Jaye and Gang

What a crazy busy week we have had!! We started out the week with Mark re-enlisting in the Navy for his final four years! One of our very dearest friends in the world, Gordon, who happens to be a retired officer, stepped up to the plate and was the officiant at the small ceremony that we had! Thanks Gordon! Mark re-enlisted at a park right by the Hood Canal Bridge. We have a love/hate relationship with the bridge.....we hate it when the sub goes out to sea and LOVE it when the sub is coming home! We though it would be a very appropriate place for Mark to re-enlist! Speaking for myself, our family and friends, we would all just like to say how PROUD we are of Mark and all that he has done for this Country...it takes a really special person to step up and give up so much of what life has to offer in order to do what they feel is the 'right thing to do'!! After his ceremony, everyone went to the Olive Garden for a celebratory lunch. After the kids had their swimming lessons in the late afternoon, we moved the celebration to Azteca (Thanks Mom!!).....boy, did we eat ALOT while Mom and Terri were here! (What else is new?!?)

In light of Marks re-enlistment AND the fourth of July, we had a big party on the fourth. Of course Mark and Gordon and Terri went a little fireworks happy!! In fact, for the first time ever, we actually had too many fireworks and have some left over!! Perhaps New Years Eve?? Shelby is very sound sensitive (always has been, right from birth) but even SHE fell asleep during the very long fireworks show!! hahaha....

Wednesday saw us cleaning up from our bash...then the kids had swimming lessons in the afternoon. We came home and had.......yup.......you guessed it........leftovers! :)

Mark got off duty a little early on Thursday so that we could all get new ID cards, due to the fact that they had all expired on the 4th of July and PSD was closed until after the holiday! So now, Shelby and Mark and I all have nice new updated pictures. Shelbys' is the one with the most change of course as she was 7 when her last one was done and is now 12! What a cutie pie she is turning out to be!!

Thursday night obviously wasn't exciting enough for Terri and she decided to give us one heck of a scare! Her heart started racing out of control and she wasn't feeling very well. Mark had to convince her to go to the hospital and after much fuss and bother, she finally agreed to go...about halfway there, Terri decided that an ambulance would be a better idea!! Thankfully she and Mark were at the firehall when she decided that this was needed and so an ambulance was only a few minutes away! She spent the night in the hospital and after much testing and more testing, the Doc's decided she could actually fly home! As they (Mom and Terri) had missed their mid day flight on Friday, a new flight was secured for EARLY this morning (Saturday)! We went out for one last dinner (Olive Garden!) and then came home so that the gals could pack! I drove them to the airport last night in order to avoid having to get all the kids up and on the road at 3 this morning!

Mark is on duty today....and so the kids and I did a bunch of catching up! I took them to see the movie "Hoot" which is a really cute family show! Shelby had already seen it (She and her mother see ALOT of movies together so it's hard to find one that Shelby hasn't already seen!) but was more than happy to see it again! Then we went grocery shopping and THEN.........I got the call that we had only a half hour left of my girlfriends b'day party left!!!!!!!!! I felt soooooooooo bad that this had slipped through the cracks of my schedule! I am always soooo organized and yet somehow, with all the goings on of the past few days, this had just not made it onto my day planner! I am sooooo sorry Melissa!!! Happy Birthday Isabelle!!!!

It is hot here again! The girls are outside having a water fight, while the boys and I sit by the fans and watch movies! The weather man says that it should cool off by tomorrow, which will be nice for going to Church......not sure what the rest of the day will bring but I am sure it will be funfilled!

Hugs to you all,

Mark,Jaye and Gang

What a busy weekend we have had! So much fun, and always 'one' more thing to do! :)

On Saturday, we took Mom and Terri to Seattle! We took the Bainbridge Island ferry across to Seattle which is always a fun adventure no matter the weather! Saturday was a bit windy crossing the sound, but still so warm! you can see Shelby and Paige standing on the front of the boat looking at the Seattle skyline....and yes, they are wearing matching outfits....they are two peas in a pod those two-exact same colour hair, same colour eyes, same skin tone.....the common denominator being Mark, I guess they both take after their FATHERS side of the family (so much for us moms who did the hard work of carrying them for nine months!).

Once on the Seattle side, we made our first adventure the Pike Place Market! What a cocophony of smells and sights to take in! Our senses were on overload as we drank in the aromas of flowers and baked goods, the colours of a wide variety of fruits and veggies and the various oddities of seafood and people that we had not seen before! What a wonderful place! Of course, our first stop was the doughnut stall! I am sure all of youl can remember the miniature doughnuts hot from the fry pot and rolled in cinnamon sugar commonly found at state fairs and such! What a wonderful way to munch your way down the aisles of the market! Yummers!

After the Market, we made our way over to the Space Needle! While the sane ones in our group (Mom and I!) kept our feet firmly planted on solid ground, the rest of the nuts took the glass elevator up the side of the Space Needle! (seen with the sun bouncing off of it!).....Mark said that all the kids (and Terri!) loved the views...and enjoyed looking through the binoculars at all the sights below! Notice the Seattle Skyline in the background of the picture of Shelby and Terri! How beautiful a city is this??!!......

As we had started our day a little later (11:30 ferry over to Seattle), we headed home once everyone regrouped from the Space Needle (Mom and I did a little retail therapy while they were high up in the air!). Once home, we enjoyed a calm evening out on the patio with the tiki torches lit! Still loving this little piece of paradise! Yay!

This morning, being a Sunday, we headed out to Church. Mom and Terri LOVED the service and voiced the same sentiment that Shelby did today- they all wish they could have a Church like ours in Madison. Shelby said that her and her mother have been looking for a church the past few years, but haven't found one that they liked....and that She would LOVE to have one like ours in Stoughton! Maybe we can get one started there! :)

After Church, we had to run to Wal-Mart for a few things, then came home and Mark,Terri and the kids headed to the lake! It is Shelby's goal to swim across the lake! With her being in level 5 swimming, I am sure this is something she will be able to master! Once her and her Dad get the "diving off the diving board" down pat, Shelby will be the MOST AWESOME swimmer ever!

Tomorrow is a VERY special day! Mark will re-enlist for the last time in the Navy! Only four more years to go and he retires!! wow!! Where DID the time go!?!

Well, I am off to watch Mark and Gordon light a few 'pre 4th of July' fireworks!!

Hugs and much love,
Mark, Jaye and Gang

You can tell we've been busy busy when I haven't 'blogged' for a few days! We picked Mom and Terri up from the airport on Wednesday....raced back home in time to get the three younger ones to swim lessons and then out for Chinese food! Yummers!

On Thursday, Terri and I and Shelby went grocery shopping and ran errands...we met up with Mark on base, and then headed home for Brats! Another Yummers!

On Friday, Mark and Terri picked up a load of dirt for my garden (am I spoiled rotten or what?!), while Ben and I went to his kindergarden testing session. Ben misses the Kindergarden cut off date by two weeks! Ugh...so he has to be tested to see if he is 'ready' for Kindergarden. Because he misses the deadline, he now has to be that much more capable than other kids, in fact, he has to test in the 80th percentile. Well, our smart boy passed with FLYING colours! Way to go Kindergarden Ben! After testing, Ben and I went to Costco to pick up all the food for Marks re-enlistment party/4th of July party.....I was pleasantly surprised to whip in and out in less then 40 minutes...it will be a zoo in there this weekend I am sure! Once home, Mark and Terri took all the kids to Wildcat Lake while Mom and I caught up on laundry etc (ok, we had a cocktail too!). Once all the 'kids' came home, we went to our all time family favourite restaurant, Aroy Dy! It is in the city of Poulsbo, and has the most AWESOME Thai food! The kids all LOVE it! In fact, Shelby has her meal for NEXT time we go all picked out! hehehe. You can see her and Paige in the picture at the top showing wonderful smiles after such a good meal! They have so much fun together! After dinner was done, we went to super wal-mart (always a great place to take company! haha) and the girls conned Mom into buying them matching outfits, which they are both wearing today when we head into Seattle! They have such a strong bond, always laughing and giggling...it is so heartwarming to see!

So today, we are headed into Seattle like I said. While Mom and I sit somewhere having a coffee, the rest of the tribe is headed up to the Space Needle (I've done it once, that was enough for my lifetime!). Then we are headed to Pike Place Market and whatever other things catch our fancy! I will definately have pictures to post tomorrow!!

Hugs and Love,
Mark,Jaye and Gang