If you live in St Louis and want to have a great photographer take great pictures of your family, you NEED to meet Michelle Ross. She owns Under Grace Photo and is incredible.

www.undergracephoto.com

Here are a few snaps from Grand Cayman. We stayed at the Ritz and it lived up to the name. Even when Tropical Storm Dolly was keeping most in, it was fun. Of course my philosophy is that you are wet at the beach rain or shine. Benny and I had a blast at the beach and hottub when the storm was passing us by.

Having the Iguana Man come to a dinner party was a hit with the kids. We had a great time hanging out at the pool and the beach. We have water-loving babies. It was nice to reconnect with the Espy's and Prince's from CO and WY. Benny especially loved Brooklyn and Delaney Prince. We had an unexpected day in Miami on the way back and really enjoyed sight seeing.

We do our fair share of travelling, but there is no feeling like hitting the tarmac and driving back home.

I'll be posting more pictures, etc... For now there is laundry to do, and lot's of it!

Grand Cayman

If St Louis Grandpa can have his 70, Benny certainly can have his 3 things to do. First on the list is to pet the stingrays at Stingray City. This is where we were yesterday.

Ten years ago, I believe we spent July 4th outside of Buena Vista, CO. Five years ago, we spent it in Highlands Ranch, CO, marveling the Denver fireworks. One year ago, we spent it in Ballwin...reliving the "boom boom fireworks" many nights over and over, thanks to Benny's obsession with not liking fireworks. Each of those nights are special in our memories. The same with this 4th. We spent it with friends old and new...even with friends from Romania. We really enjoyed catching with the Leopolds, chatting about the old days in CO, and loved spending time with the Martins. Highlights of this year include watching the kids chase rabbits through 3 yards, playing washers (man of the house is still undefeated), helping the kids catch fireflys, eating great food, watching the stellar fireworks put on by Kirkwood, and being able to eat outside with virtually no oppressive heat, bugs and humidity. We lit a cintronella candle, but I also sprayed (what I though was) very copious amounts of mosquito spray. Still not mastering the small things in life, I accidentally grabbed the ant and roach spray. Oh, it stunk...but hey, no critters of any kind after that. Ain't life great!

What a great milestone. Today Benny is officially a US Citizen. After taking him downtown for the final instructions and swearing in, I took this picture of him strolling out of the Federal Building with not one, but two flags in hand. Benny definitely has a magnetic personality. The lady in charge of the proceedings took a liking to him, and gave him an extra flag. She even wanted the doodle paper he was occupying his time with. She mentioned putting it on her desk. What can I say... Guatemala's loss is our gain.

I opted to stay in the room to see the other people (mostly kids from 14-18 years old) recite their oath to seal their citizenship. What a great experience to witness kids with the presence of mind to renounce all ties to their homeland, and to state they would defend the US if called upon by their military obligations or through civilian protocol.

I would venture there are plenty of illegal workers who would cherish the thought to be able to take this oath. Maybe we'll elect a President that has compassion for these silent voices living among us. I certainly would, but I don't see a viable candidate with my viewpoints either. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Life with 4 is good. We started the weekend off early by going to a concert at downtown Kirkwood. We picked up some pizza and spread a blanket on the concrete plaza...hanging out. For Benny the thrill was the trains that kept coming through town (20 yards behind the band). Friday we went to Pueblo Solis. This is the 2nd best Mexican food in the Central Time Zone. First being Teds in OKC. Today we went to the Arch, where we strolled down the treed paths, went down to the museum area to get a snack. We got a thrill seeing the F15's fly over the arch. This evening we went to the Kirkwood Pool.

One Candle

I first want to make a disclaimer to the Shin Family in Korea. We are planning to have professional pictures taken of Everlie and Benny in the (traditional birthday) Korean outfits you got them.

It's hard to believe our little doll is 1 year old. We simply marvel at how wonderfully pleasant and beautiful she is. Everlie was born prematurely on June 11, 2007 in Seoul. She was in the hospital until July 3rd. This is when the Shin family wrapped their loving arms around her. I picked her up forever on February 14th. This was the best Valentines Day present a Dad could hope for. She met her Mama and Benny on February 15th (along with our other family in STL...the Robinsons).

This has been a week of celebration...that is until Dr John gets hold of her tomorrow for her immunization shots. Very frequently I catch myself hoping the Shin family can come visit, to see how wonderful Everlie still is.

OK, It's not the greatest quality photo, but I love having a camera on my phone.

The kids are finally getting over being sick, and Everlie is on antibiotics. Everlie is trying so hard to walk..she is a girl of great determination. We like to hold her hands, then walk her around the kitchen, living room, driveway...pretty much anywhere we can. One thing I love about her demeaner is her constant smile and laughs. That is, unless Benny is playing rough with her. He is quite familiar with getting in trouble these days. My philosophy now is to run him hard at any chance we get. He has major pent-up boy energy. Despite his orneryness, he is still sweet. Mama was sick this morning, so he propped up his Lightning McQueen lunchbox on the bed. He then carefully extracted Lightning McQueen and set it by Geri's head. He told her this would make her feel better.

This weekend Geri's sister/family came up for a visit. We hit the zoo and went to a great Korean BBQ place (KoBa) in Chesterfield.

Here is a random video on a typical day at the house. Nothing special, except the 2 wonderful kids. This is for the benefit of Mr Shin and Mrs Go in Korea, so they can hear Everlie talk.