ParentProfiles.com

John was so cute this morning. He brought me a gift that he had picked out for me for Father's Day. He was very excited, and I was very grateful to have him for a son. John is planning on taking me for a bike ride this evening too:~)

After Church today, Lewis took John to the park to play. They also took their bikes with them, and went to another park that has a series of trails to bike on thru some beautiful forests. John did amazingly well because they biked for about 2 miles. It was a blast!

Tonight Kim got to go out with the girls, and John and Lewis did a boy's night out. When given a choice, John will choose bowling most of the time. He is getting pretty good at bowling for his age.

John loves books so much that we often find him like this in bed, sleeping with a book in his hands. We have tried to develop within him a love for books by reading to him each day.

It was great to see all the family at John's cousin's graduation today. This time we brought the Leapster to help keep John occupied during the ceremony:~) Afterward, we all enjoyed a meal and shakes at Steak -n- Shake. In the evening, we went to the park.

On the way back from our trip to NJ, we stopped by to see some friends in Charlotte. We decided to take the scenice route thru the mountains. It was great to see everyone at Charlotte.

Time to go visit family in NJ again. John has been really excited to go to his grandparents that live very far away as opposed to the ones that live close. One thing that added to the excitement level was getting to spend the night in a hotel on the way up. As you can see, it was not long after our departure that John fell asleep in the car.

This weekend, Lewis went on a Boy Scout camping trip. When he got back, he took John to the park to play football. It was John's choice of what to do. He is interested in just about all sports to some extent, and he is naturally gifted. It will be interesting to see what he ends up wanting to play or excelling at. Right now, he has told us that he want to play on a baseball team once he gets a "little bigger".

This evening we went to see a friend's graduation from college. John was a bit bored, so he started taking pictures with our camera phone. He was very proud of his pictures of us. Now the pizza parlor afterward was more John's pace.

We went to a birthday party for one of John's friends, and he had a blast sliding down the big slide and playing in the swimming pool. To top off a wonderful day, we went to a baseball game in the evening.

Awesome day because it was the long anticipated day of the first flower to open up in the flower garden. The picture is John beside his pride and joy, his first flower garden. It all started one Monday for a family home evening or a time that we spend together doing something as a family. John had mentioned how he had been wanting to plant some flowers. Rather than taking the easy way of pre-grown flowers, we elected to make it a learning experience for John that will serve as a good foundation for him with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He learned that if a seed is good seed, then it will begin to grow if you nourish it well with water and some sunshine. He has also learned that you need to continue to nourish the flowers if you want them to thrive.

Easter Sunday today. It was a very nice day. After breakfast, the moms took the boys down to the playground while the dads hid the baskets with a path of eggs for them to find that lead them to their basket. John was very surpised and happy when he found his basket hiding behind a big tree. In the afternoon, we all went fishing together.

While camping today, they had an Easter Egg hunt at the park. The funny thing was that when we took a walk beforehand on the trails through the woods, we ran into the park rangers and voluteers (I mean Easter Bunnies) hiding easter eggs in the forest. Of course it was a full time job to keep the boys from picking up the easter eggs before the start of the hunt. There were a ton of eggs, and we figured the boys would really clean up since we did not see comparitively as many kids camping. However, when we got to the area were they started off, we were all shocked at how many kids showed up that were not there at all to camp. When it started, the kids stormed through the forest like a bunch of wild locusts devouring every egg in their path.lol So the boys did not get that many since they were the youngest age of their group hunt, but it was all good because we brought some extra eggs and candy to hold an easter egg hunt back at camp for them.

We went camping for 5 days to Skidaway Island, which is in the Savannah, Georgia area. It is a really beautiful area, and the weather was great. Some of our friends came, which was good for John because he had a playmate that he does not get to see that often. During the 2nd day there, we went on a bus tour of the city to see the historic areas. Then we took a walk along the Savannah River. Definitely a great day for everyone!

John is pretty excited to have a watch. He got so tuckered out from the excitement that he fell asleep on the sofa. He looks like an angel:~)

It was another great day at the Science Center. John enjoyed the Curious George exhibit and digging dino bones.

The whole family went over to Aunt Teresa's house to meet Uncle Brian's fiance. It was the first time that most of us met her since it has been a long distance relationship. She seemed very nice, and they plan to get married in July. This means more cousins!

It was another nice day down at the lake at the Father & Son campout.

This is one of John & Lewis' favorite times of the year. That is because it is finally the annual Father & Son campout with church. They have gone every year since John was born. This time they took along one of John's friends, and here they are enjoying some fishing!

Up until now, John always had his haircut done by a friend from church, but today was his second time getting a haircut at a barber shop. Honestly he was not to thrilled until it was all done and he got a sucker. Going to the barber shop with his dad is one of Lewis' early childhood memories.

Today we decided to take a longer bike ride around the neighborhood. Biking is quickly becoming one of our favorite family activities.

This was a day that any parent will always remember keenly. It was John's first day riding a bigger bike. Before now, he has always preferred the 3 wheel bike. He still has the training wheels, but we are sure he will be riding without them in no time. Of course, he wanted the Spiderman bike:~)

Today was a great day because Lewis was able to get off from work, and he went to the State Capitol with the Boy Scout trrop that he is involved with. He looks forward to doing things with John in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts one day.

One of our favorite places to eat is Firehouse Subs. John likes it for more than the good food because he gets a Fireman hat. Sometimes he talks about being a Fireman when he grows up.

We went to the Science Center today. John had a great time building damns. Here he is trying to decide where to put his next piece.

It was Lewis' birthday, and he wanted to take John some place that he would enjoy too. So we all went to the Orlando Science Center. John loved it, but the digging for Dino bones was his favorite thing. After that we went to have dinner and cake at his brother's house where John got to play with his 3 cousins.

We went bowling this evening. John has been before when he was younger, but he was really into it this time. He was able to go down the lane and throw the ball himself...for 3 games. After we were done he had fun riding in the toy car. Now we have gone bowling 3 time since because John keeps asking to do so.

You can tell that John was very excited to get his hair cut today...not.lol We were just impressed that he let a regular barber do it. Before now, it has been a friend from Church cutting his hair. She cuts hairly professionally too, but we thought John should try the father and son trip to the barber shop.

Lewis went on a business trip to TN, and it snowed 6" the first night he was there, which is more than this FL boy has seen in a long time.

We celebrated John's Birthday today. He was asking to go to the "M" for his birthday. So we took him to the best McDonalds playland we could find, and then we a chocolate cake and presents when we got home. We had the # 4 candle plus 4 individual trick candles. John was puzzled when he could not blow them out, but he thought it was funny when we told him Daddy played a joke on him. He has a great sense of humor, and he is starting to tell us jokes regularly.

Today we enjoyed walking the trails around Junniper Springs. It is a very beautiful spring.

Today we canoed down Alexander Springs run. There were turtles everywhere, which John thought was neat. However, the neatest thing we seen that day was a deer swimming across the river.

We went camping for 3 days to Junniper Springs, and we meet some friends there. One of our favorite things was hiking on the Florida trail.

Christmas Day was great this year. We knew he would be the first up, and the level of excitement was over the top. "Mommy, Daddy, Santa came, and he brought presents too."

As a family tradition, we love to go look at all the beautiful Christmas lights every Christmas Eve. This stop was particularly good.

John exchanged presents with his best friend again this year. This year he really got into the giving part of Christmas as we taught him about saving money and buying for others. He picked out the present for his friend and cousins.

We went to the Christmas parade today, and we caught John digging into his candy stash from the parade. We typically go to two parades each year. This year John got a stuffed animal from one of the floats just because he is so cute. Well, it doesn't hurt to know people in high places too.lol His aunt was in charge of one of the floats:~)

We were very surprised this year when John asked us about when we were getting a Christmas tree before it was even Thanksgiving. So we told him that we would the Monday after Thanksgiving. He was counting down the days, and he was very excited to decorate it when the day finally came. It was also fun marking off each day on the calendar as we approached Christmas Day. John was able to learn a lot about the days of the week and month this way, and it was fun to watch how excited he progressively grew as the big day neared.

We went camping to Manatee State Park, and this day was particular beautiful. So we took the opportunity to go out in a canoe to an island to do some fishing while wading in the water. The bite was not that great, but we all had a blast regardless.

John had a ball playing with a lot of his friends this evening. We like to get together with friends of ours that have kids his age so that he is able to play with them. Over the years, we have all become close friends.

John is already learning how to sleep like a man in the recliner. We caught him snoozing in Grandpa's recliner.lol

We are visiting grandma & pop pop (Lewis' parents) which we do monthly. John loves visiting them, and it was even better since 3 of his cousins were visiting here too. He had fun playing with them. We are all look forward to a nice Saturday tomorrow with them.

Not to be out done by mommy, John made sure he caught some ZZZ's of his own on the trip home. It was a long trip home, but we enjoyed it as we all sang together. To break it up we stopped half way in NC.

On the Road Again. I guess Kim couldn't wait to get on the road again so she could take a nap.lol A beautiful sleeping angel:~)

While in upstate NY, we visited some historic sites, like this rustic log cabin.

After spending time with family, we hit the road again. We took the long and scenic drive home. One of the most scenic places was Niagara Falls. While there we took a boat ride on the Maid of the Mist. They take you right up close to the falls, and it is absolutely amazing. When you are really close it is like a storm with wind and rain, which is why they even gave us raincoats. John loved the little souvenir boat he was able to bring home with him.

It was an enjoyable day at the NJ shore. We all had plenty of time with grandma, grandpa & uncle Kevin (Kim's parents and one of her brothers). One of John's favorite things was playing in the sand...no surprise there. lol

Another reason for making the trip to NJ when we did was to celebrate Kim's birthday back at home with her mom, dad, and brother. As you can see, she got a very nice cake (ice cream...even better). In addition, she was very surprised to get the gift of her dreams. An Amazon Kindle!!! She is still smiling:~)

A family vacation is always fun! Lewis had 10 days off, and we decided to take a road trip to NJ to visit our family up there. While we were up there we took John to this nice playground on July 4th.

Kim & John looked so good in their Sunday best that I had to snap a picture of them before we headed to Church.

Lewis went to a summer camp for the Scouts. He is involved with Scouts as a Troop Committee Chairman. He is looking forward to doing Scouting activities with John when he gets a little older.

We decided to go to the park, out to eat, and a movie this evening. A nice surprise for the evening was when one of John's friend from church was at the park. It was nice to watch them have a ball playing together. Lewis also got a work out chasing them around the park, which they both loved.

Today was a great day. We all went to Walt Disney World. It was John & Kim's first time, and they both loved it. John especially loved riding the race cars and train.

This weekend we went over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house. We do literally do this whenever we visit Grandma and Pa-pops (John's cute name for Grandpa). However, it is through the woods, and then over the river. It was a special occasion as we all celebrated Mother's Day together. We got to see siblings and cousins too.

Today we went to Epcot. Here you can see Kim and John in front of Spaceship Earth. John really enjoyed playing all the different games throughout Epcot. Since Lewis is just a big kid, he was also right at home. Kim really enjoyed all the interesting facts you can learn there, and she sucked up the cultural experiences.

One of the nice things about Lewis' office being close to home is that it allows us to meet at the park for lunch. It was a nice cool spring day, and John took full advantage by taking a ride on a snail through the park.

We decided it was time for another family camping trip. You can tell John is all boy. As soon as we got to the campsite, he immediately wanted to start a fire.lol After that it was all about cooking up some of his favorite foods, hot dogs & hamburgers. Since the campground is right by the beach, we got to enjoy the next day in the sun and surf. Before we left we had to squeeze in some fishing the next morning. The picture above is one of the beautiful sunsets we were able to enjoy as we were playing at the campground park one evening.

Before Church today John was searching for his Easter basket pretty hard. As you can see, he did find it, and he is now trying to decide what is the best candy in the basket.

Today was very fun. First we went to the park. As you can see, John and Lewis were playing soccer. We also played on the playground and hit the t-ball around. After that we went out to eat at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Finally we capped the evening off with a good movie. The Spy Next Door starring Jackie Chan.

Kim took John to his friend Tyler's birthday party today. It was a movie party! All the little buddies got to watch, "How to Train Your Dragon." (In 3D). They were all very into the movie, and Kim actually enjoyed the movie too.

We went to Disney's Hollywood Studios today. It was very enjoyable to spend time together as a family. Two highlights of the day were the Jedi training & Stunt Car show. John really loved watching the Jedi training. He wanted to go back several times. He was not old enough to be one of the little Jedi's in training, but he is already honing his skills for next year. I have no doubt that Darth Vader will be in for a rude awakening next year when he finds out how strong the force is with Jedi John. The Stunt Car show was also very impressive as they burned rubber, raced around the set, and exploded stuff.

When we first told John about going to the Monster Truck Rally today he thought it sounded neat, but then a few minutes later he was saying, "John no want to go to Monster Truck, John scared." He thought there was actually going to be real monsters there. So we had to show him the Monster Truck pictures on the internet, and then he was excited again. He loves trucks, and he got 3 monster trucks for Christmas. When we got there he recognized his favorite from his Grave Digger toy truck. It was also neat to watch the motorcycles jump during the intermission.

It was a fun weekend as we celebrated Lewis' birthday by going camping. While John does enjoy the tent part, we are convinced it is the campfire that keeps him excited. The first thing he wanted to do when we got there was start the fire...all boy that is for sure.lol Next he wanted to cook the hot dogs over the campfire. The next day we got to go fishing too!

It was a beautiful day today to go to Disney's Animal Kingdom. There were so many fun things to do that it was a full day. John got to dig up dinosaur bones, play on a playground, see all kinds or animals, and go on a safari. Now he has just about all of the animals down pat.

John was helping daddy put together mommy's elliptical machine, but we think he was better at making snow.

We woke up to a surprise...snow in FL! It has been a very cold winter, and we are looking forward to spring.

After Lewis got home from work we took John to celebrate his 3rd birthday at The Olive Garden. Later in the week, he also got a 2nd dose of birthday cake when he celebrated again with his little buddy, Kyler, who was born the same week as him.

Yippee! Another 4 day weekend for our family. To celebrate we went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks (The Squeakuel). John loves to sing and dance with them. Afterwords we stopped by to get some shakes at Checkers.

John is all tuckered out after a wonderful Christmas. He was playing with some of his favorite toys that he just got. One is the cute little Triceratops and the other his Leapster 2 educational hand held game system. He loves the Star Wars game, which is teaching him about math. The game says it is for 5-8 years old, but John is already learning how to add and subtract before he is even 3.

It looks like somebody was very good this year. Santa was very generous to John. Well deserved, John is such a good boy. 3 years ago John was the best gift either us had received for Christmas. We found out right before Christmas, and soon after Christmas we brought him home. Ever since then we have all been a very loving and happy family. The only thing that would make our family better at this point is a baby brother or sister for John.

John is at the center of attention at Grandma & Grandpa's house as the family joins together to celebrate Christmas.

As we prepare for Christmas, it reminds us of all that we have to be grateful for. One thing is for sure, and that is that we are eternally grateful for the birth parents that gave us the wonderful opportunity to be parents too. As a token of our appreciation we always try our best to keep the birth parents well informed about the progress of John as he continues to wow us in so many ways. That is why we just sent a big package of pictures along with a Christmas card to them.

This is the 3rd Sesame Street show that John has been to. He loves Elmo the best:~) This particular show was about teaching Abbie all about Christmas.

A visit to the Shamu Adventure park at Sea World was a fitting way to finish off a wonderful family vacation. It was wonderful and relaxing for all, but best of all was the time we were able to spend with each other.

John insisted that we take a ride on the Flamingo paddle boats, and we were happy to oblige. John did a really good job steering the boat.

John loves building real sand castles even more than the ones he likes to build on the computer. It was a fun day at the beach. We built sand castles, kicked the ball around, threw the Frisbee, and ran in the water.

John was absolutely excited to be fishing. He was able to cast the pole pretty good for his first time fishing. He even knows how to tell fish stories because according to him he caught a Gator.lol

We have all been on many camp outs, but this was the 1st one with the whole family. We all love to camp!

John wanted to be Superman again, even though we bought him a new Thomas the Train suit to wear. As long as he is happy that is all that matters. I think he just likes to fly, plus he knows he is strong!

We all had fun at the fall carnival again this year. It has become a family tradition.

We are very excited that we just activated our profile tonight, and we hope to hear from you soon.

We have been working towards adopting a second child for some time now, and we are getting very excited that we are almost done with our Parents Profile website page(s):~)