The Coast & a Birthday

We have not been up to much around here except getting over being sick.  The kids and I had upper respiratory infections.  It laid us flat for about 2 weeks, when all was said and done.  We're recovered now and feeling much better.  Ready to start a new week tomorrow.  

I do have some pictures to show you from other times, I just never got around to blogging about them yet. 

 We went to Rockaway Beach for Thanksgiving.

 It wasn't the best weather, but that wasn't the point of our trip.

This is the view from our hotel room!

 

 And this.

We hung out as a family and enjoyed the view.

 Logan loved how close the seagulls flew to our window.

 We also had a special birthday last month.  James turned 40 on 12.12.12!!!  It was finals week for him though.  He had a final on his birthday and then had to study for another one.  

It was Soup for Finals that day as well.  That's when the spouses of all the optometry students bring in soup and bread and the poor, overworked, stressed out students can have yummy, warm soup.  That makes it all better.  

A friend made this cool poster that says, Happy 40th James! with a bike going "over the hill."  In black of course.  We got the whole room full of optometry students to stop eating soup long enough to sing Happy Birthday to him.  I took a couple hundred cupcakes to Soup for Finals also. 

It was as fun as we could make it for being in the middle of Finals Week.  

 He also got a new handle bar for his bike.  It's what he wanted.

The kids left a trail of black streamers all over the house.  It started at the front door and went around footstools and chairs, under the dining room table and zig-zagged up the stairs.  It ended at the closet in Taylor's room.  James had to follow it to find their present for him.  When James got there, the kids jumped out and hugged him, of course, it looked more like a tackle than a hug.  That was the kids' gift for their daddy.  They came up with it all by themselves.  

He got another surprise too, an unexpected visit from his brother, who lives in Utah.  We met his parents and sister and her family for dinner and James saw someone who looked like his brother.  Then he took a second look.  It was his brother!  He'd flown in just for the weekend, just for James' birthday!  It was a great surprise. 

Then started James' 3 weeks off between semesters.  We had Christmas and New Year's and lots of family time.