Brandon's Hunting Adventure

Brandon wins Battleship

Papa and Brandon on a mountian in Colorado

What a beautiful view... see any deer Brandon?

Freezing in the tent perhaps??

Brandon had his first hunting trip with papa and uncle Mike at the end of October, and dad sent along a few great pictures from their time in the mountians of Colorado... and Brandon sent me a short story of thier time together! Enjoy -

From Brandon...

"Well we set up camp on Friday, October 31st. The first day was just relax and kick back before waking up early in the morning for the first day of hunting. Me and my uncle Mike played football to help pass time. One day we played football for about an hour and wouldn't stop till one of us got a behind the back catch, I was the first to do it of course. Battleship was another thing I had to upset Mike and Papa in. I tried not to make 'em cry. Our house (i.e. tent) was pretty warm and comfortable until the third night in. It started to rain but it didn't bother me at first, but where I was sleeping the rain would bother me. I was sleeping under the stove vent which happened to be a little open. I was woken up by a splash of water right on my face, it was the rain pouring in through the vent. So me and papa had to shift my cot to the middle of the tent, then move a bucket under the dripping water and I was suppose to sleep next to that. But all in all I had fun and already ready for next year."

Election 2008 - a Family Event

What a memorable and historic time we've just experienced! While I can appreciate the impact of this election, I have to be honest in saying that Chad and refrained from talking politics in the home. However, the kids really got into the election this year - and we had a blast supporting their curiosity and excitement around the event!

It was very cool to see what Kenny and Ty were being exposed to at school and how their teachers were taking advantage of getting the kids to learn about American government using the election as a real example.

• Tylar is in student council this year, and as a part of his duties for his class he helped with the school-wide mock election. At first Ty was a McCain supporter, but switched a few weeks before the election to support Obama. I think the boy goes with the popular vote :)!


• Kenny didn't have too much going on structurally at school with the election, but had no problem engaging in conversation with Ty about who he was supporting. Kenny was Obama all the way - and if you ask him why, he'll tell you it was because "He told me to vote for him in his commercial". Kenny has always been good at following specific directions! Another funny story about Kenny... as you'll see from the pictures, the kids all had a blank map of the US that they used to fill in with the red and blue states as the election results came in. They weren't up late enough to see all the results come in, so when Kenny woke up this morning his map was about 1/2 way filled in. He asked me right away "WHO WON MOM??"... and I shared the news that Obama was going to be our next president. He was quite confused because he then brought me his half filled in map and insisted they were "tied"... OH KENNY???!!!


• Caitlynn followed her big brothers lead in all these events, and if nothing else really enjoyed saying BARACK OBAMA :). She also enjoyed the coloring in of the states, although after a few red and blue states, she decided to switch to pink. Oh well!

In any event, it was a fun thing to experience with the kids at the age they are now... these are times I am sure that they will also remember - or at least I hope!

Take a look at all the pics...http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=bqyul5jc.7jl3cfb0&x=0&y=-q85d8t&localeid=en_US

Halloween 2008

Ty the rockstar, Caitlynn the fairy, Kenny the doc

Caitlynn and her funny face pumpkin

Ty getting his hands dirty with pumpkin guts

Picking the perfect pumpkins

We had a pretty drizzly Halloween this year, but in place of snow... we'll take it!! We started our Halloween festivities this year by going to a local pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect pumpkins for carving! Each of the kids picked out their own pumpkin, knowing they were going to have to be an "active" part of the carving process... none of the kids too much like the digging out of the insides! They did great though, especially Ty who really got into it! He did his whole pumpkin including a really cool carving of wolves howling at the moon. Caitlynn chose to do a funny face, and Kenny chose to do a spider with a web, which Chad ended up finishing because it was so intricate. He did a great job with it though, all three turned out great and were all very different!

For trick-or-treating festivities we headed to the Schmidt neighborhood. Kenny was a cardiology doctor, Ty was a rock star and Caitlynn was a fairy ("because Monica LOVES fairies")!! They collected a ton of candy and had a blast going door to door.

Check out the link for some more pics...http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=bqyul5jc.2np8eymk&x=0&y=5oy5bj&localeid=en_US

The only thing missing this year was not having our Brando here to come along! He is spending his Halloween with Papa and Mike hunting for the first time in the mountains of Colorado. I am sure he is having a good time... and hopefully I'll get some pictures and a story to post in the near future about that new adventure!

Orlando Trip with the Sandovals!

Caitylnn & Marina as minnie brides

Kenny, Issac, Tylar with Buzz Lightyear

All the kiddos at lunch

Last weekend we loaded the family into the van and headed to Orlando to spend time with Danny, Vycci, Issac and Marina before they started their Disney week vacation. We had such a great time with each other, and the kids had a blast getting to know and play with their Colorado cousins!

On our first day, Saturday, we met up at Bahama Breeze for lunch. It was a beautiful day, and we got to eat lunch on the outside patio. Then we all headed to the hotel to check in and get settled before going to the movie theater to see High School Musical III. The kiddos LOVED it, and the adults (for the most part... CHAD) enjoyed it also. That evening we took the kids to the pool and ordered pizza for dinner.

Sunday morning we all got up and had a yummy Village Inn breakfast, and spent the rest of the day in Downtown Disney. I had no idea that there were so many things to do, so many shops, so many restaurants!! The highlights, for me, were the Once Upon a Toy toy store and the prehistoric times themed restaurant where we had lunch. The toy store was set up so that the kids could assemble some of the most popular toys; light sabers, Mr. Potato Head, princess jewelry boxes, and so on. Lunch was very fun - the restaurant was set up to have sections that were themed around prehistoric times... including a huge ice glacier in the middle of the restraint. A suprise for us was that they did a meteor shower show about every 20 minutes... and if you know our Kenny - he doesn't do too well with flashing lights and darkness. When the first show happened he shot over to my lap so quick, and Caitlynn hid under the table! Once they both realized it was all just a show, they were fine for the rest of the time.

After our late lunch we had to get on the road to head back to Jacksonville, and Danny, Vycci and the kids had to head to their Disney hotel to meet up with Danny's folks. We had such a wonderful time with them, and only wish we could have spent more time together!

Check out the link to more pictures...http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=bqyul5jc.9qvmghwk&x=0&y=-quosz0&localeid=en_US

Caitlynn's Pre-K Pics (4 yr old)

Take a look at the fun pics of our 4 yr old Caitlynn

Martin Fam Updates!

So, I've been behind the ball in getting some family updates posted... and decided to try to put them all up at once!!

Dance, Dance, Dance
Our BUG is in dance class! She is registered in pre-K ballet at her school, and has class every Tuesday morning. She absolutely loves it, and is absolutely adorable in her little pink leotard and tights :). Her lessons the past few weeks have been on the basic feet positions in ballet. My favorite to watch her do is "happy feet" (or first position)! Check out the pic -



Tylar, Chad & Football
Chad and Ty had the opportunity to go to a Jacksonville Jags game a few weeks ago, and had a blast! Tylar enjoyed his special time with his dad, and has now become a true Jags fan - against all of our best advice to stay true to his home town Broncos! Oh well, I guess we all choose our own way... and boy is he commiteed - he even cheered AGAINST the Broncos last weekend when they played the Jags. I seriously thought Chad was going to kick him out of the house for the night :)!! Check out the pics from the game -




Visiting Brando
In Chad's recent trip to Colorado he was able to spend some time with our Brandon! It was just in time for his 17th (yes... 17!) birthday, so shopping was also involved. Chad and Brandon had dinner at his Grandparents house in Westminister with his mom, Marisa & Marcus (and all thier kiddies), and Clayton. Caitlynn, the boys and I were all very jelous that Chad got to spend time with Brandon and the family, but were very happy that everyone seemed to have had a good time! Chad got a great shot of Brandon and Lilli -