Thank you for the pigs.....

Funny Story (that has nothing to do with this picture, I just thought is was a cool set of Kaliese doing her flips off the bar!).


Last night I made grilled porkchops for dinner. As we were setting the food on the table and getting ready to eat, Kaliese made the comment that all meat comes from pigs. I told her that some does and some comes from cows and some from chicken. She wasn't sure how that worked. But she volunteered to pray for dinner, "Thank you God for this food and thank you for pigs and cows and chicken. In Jesus name, AMEN!" Later as we were eating, she asked about the skin of the animals. Did we cook that? She asked about more details of just how this meat related to pigs. I kindly asked her to wait until after we had finished eating to have that discussion. Something about eating porkchops and talking about pig skin just doesn't digest well!!!


Anyway, about the picture. The kids had a wonderful time playing outside and Kaliese used the swingset as a obstacle course - trying to get from one end to the other without touching the ground. The picture is of her fantastic dismount!! They played tee-ball for awhile and barked at the dogs on either side of the yard. They were filthy, but a good filthy!!

The Beras are Back in Town!!!

(A scenic picture of the Beautiful Napa Valley)

After a few days home from our wonderful vacation to California, I think we've finally adapted back to the Georgia routine. We woke up at a fairly normal time this morning, grocery shopping has been done to refill our fridge and pantry, and pictures have been edited and put together in this wonderful album for you to browse at your leisure. Admittedly there are quite a few pictures (but not nearly all), however we were gone 10 days - did you really expect less??

We had a wonderful, relaxing vacation. The kids did really well on the flights. We spent a good amount of time at the pool and what time was left over was spent at the park, playing with cousins, relaxing and enjoying the company of family.

Kaliese was very sad to leave, as were we all. Every year we wish we could stay a few days more. The kids truly enjoy Emily and Natalie and have such fun playing with them! We enjoy spending time with Al, Mary, Jeff and Anne as well as other family and friends we get to see. It is always a very treasured time for us.....not to mention a wonderful break from our everyday lives!

Another Post from the West Coast...

It's been a few days since my last post, but nothing much has changed. Basically we swim most of the day and make s'mores at night. The kids are still having as much fun as ever.

Saturday morning we went to the park to play and feed the ducks, pigeions, geese, etc.

On the way home, Uncle Jeff picked up some birdhouse projects and some aprons from Home Depot. The kids had much fun putting them together and painting them.

Yesterday we took the kids to see WALL-E. They were all very good and the movie was mucho cute!!! Pixar just doesn't do its movies justice with their trailers. There have been several Pixar movie trailers where I was left with a less than enthusiastic feel about the movie. I have always been pleasantly surprised that the movie was tons better than the trailer let on. WALL-E was one of those times.

I'm not sure what we are doing today, but I'm sure it will be fun.

Sorry the pictures are not up to par, but the editing is taking soooooo long trying to do it online. So you just get the raw pictures.....except for the one of them feeding the ducks of course!!!

S'more Family Fun

Yesterday was spent mostly swimming. The kids would swim, get out and rest, eat snacks, swim again, etc. The adults did the same, the cycle just went at a slower pace!

Kaliese found she likes swimming under water. She would push off from the ledge and swim face down for about 5-7 seconds.

Jeff barbecued some ribs that were way yummy and the kids ate hotdogs. It got too cool to swim about 6:00pm, so we gathered round the fire pit to roast marshmallows and make s'mores.

This was Braedyn's and Kaliese's first experience with these, so they were very excited. They each ate most of theirs, but afterward Braedyn was mostly interested in eating just the chocolate and Kaliese wanted to roast marshmallows for everyone else. Well, at least they can say they tried it!

More fun later!!!

Happy Fourth!!!

Happy Fourth of July to all!!

Yesterday afternoon we went swimming for a few hours! The kids played hard. Kaliese is still trying to swim on her own and Braedyn let us take him around the pool (he usually insists on sitting on the shallow ledge!).

After dinner we went to a golf course to watch fireworks. The kids played until it got dark, constantly asking when they were going to see the fireworks. Kaliese wasn't feeling well and laid down on the blankets -- she was asleep before the show started and didn't wake up until we were putting her in the car. As for Braedyn, he kept his face in Brian's chest the entire time. So much for their excitement to see the fireworks!!!

Today is another cloudless day which hopefully will be in the mid-80s. We are going swimming and having a cookout so it should be a fun and relaxing day!

Greetings from CA....

Well we made it safely to California! The trip was relatively uneventful except for the one hour delay. The kids were actually very good.

Kaliese and Braedyn have loved playing with their cousins daily. They have been swimming in the hot tub 'cause the pool is a little cold (the highs here have been between 79-82!). They went to a really nice park yesterday morning. Braedyn even went down a slide all by himself!!

The extended family came down for dinner last night, so there were two more cousins to play with.

Auntie Gay brought fun presents for all the kids. Kaliese got some cute notebooks and Braedyn got a fun hackey sack which his dad tried unsuccessfully to show him how that's done.

The children actually braved the cooler temperatures last night and jumped into the big pool. They insisted it wasn't cold.

Braedyn decided he wasn't going to risk it and stayed where it was toasty warm.

However, lured by the excited jumping and splashing of the older kids, he found his way over and stood on the steps. After about five minutes I asked him if he was cold. It was more a rhetorical question because he was violently shaking. He did admit to freezing and quickly jumped back into the hot tub.

For the most part they have slept well. They slept 'til 7:15am today which is an hour later than they slept yesterday!!!

Its supposed to be a little warmer today, so maybe we will go swimming.

I will keep you posted!!