Adoption Finalized!

I just posted on our Adoption Blog, that our adoption of Caleb has been finalized.  On Saturday, April 24th, we received the final adoption paperwork for the Court stating that the adoption was finalized on Thursday, April 22nd.  Mike and I are so thrilled to be Caleb's parents and to know that he will always be a part of our family.  Parenthood is treating us well and we are having so much fun.  I love being a Stay-At-Home-Mom and working as an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.  Mike enjoys his full-time career at Talecris.  We also enjoy living so close to Talecris so Mike can easily and quickly come home for lunch or go to Drs. appointments for Caleb.

Caleb really does have a very sweet disposition and is now 7 months old!  It is so fun to see him grow and make new discoveries each day.  He loves to giggle and smile.  Each day his personality shines through more and more.  We are blessed that he is a very laid back, relaxed baby.  He doesn't cry very often unless he is in discomfort which lately involves teething - poor little guy has had bloody gums as he is teething.  We are taking Caleb to physical therapy to deal with a mild case of Tortocollis (shortened neck muscle on one side) as well as helping him with some of his gross motor skills.  The Physical Therapy is once a week and we will probably go as long as our insurance covers the appointments which means we have around 30 appointments available.

Caleb at 7 months...

This summer Caleb and I will be visiting Minnesota arriving on Thursday, June 24th.  We will be in Minnesota for 3 weeks leaving on Monday, July 12th.  Plans are being made to go up to the lake near Nevis, MN on Friday, June 25th and probably stay through Tuesday or Wed. of the following week then we will be back in the Twin Cities.  Randy, Lori and the girls will be arriving around July 1st dropping the girls of for an extended visit with Grandma & Grandpa Schmidt.  Then Daddy will have Caleb all by himself for a week while Mommy goes to Salt Lake City, Utah for the Stampin' Up! Convention.

Lots of Love,

Pam, Mike & Caleb Staples

Oops... It has been too long.

I've been a bad girl not posting to the Staples Blog but instead focusing on my scrapbooking and stamping blog at www.sunnygirlscraps.com!

Mike and I have had a very interesting summer with some of our vacation plans having to be canceled. We are now back on track and looking forward to visiting family and friends in Minnesota the month of September. Unfortunately, we are not able to bring the puppy dogs along for the visit.

We also miss seeing some of our family. Mike hopes to visit his sister, Melissa, in Georgia towards the end of September and early October while I'm away at a couple different scrapbooking retreats.

I am excited to share that at the end of March, I became a Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator. It is so much fun using my creativity selling Stampin' Up! My hope is that I can make it into a thriving business while teaching others how to create beautiful handmade cards, scrapbook pages and gifts. If you have a chance, take the time to check out my SunnyGirlScraps blog! Also, if you know anyone that enjoys making cards, scrapbooking or making handmade gifts email them a link to SunnyGirlScraps so they can see all the great projects that I've posted. My Stampin' Up! online store is available 24/7 for purchases from anyone located anywhere within the United States!

All my best.

Kings Creek Plantation... USS Wisconsin!

We are on vacation in Williamsburg, VA staying at the Kings Creek Plantation. This place is absolutely beautiful. Our accommodations consist of a beautiful 2 bedroom townhouse that can accommodate up to 6 people. There is plenty of room and I'm seriously thinking I'll have to arrange for a week get away scrapbooking retreat in February 2010!

Mike and I enjoyed visiting the Nautilus today in downtown Norfolk, VA and touring the USS Wisconsin which is in the same class of ship as the USS Missouri. My Uncle Otto served on the USS Missouri when the Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II. It was very interesting. Did you know that the USS Wisconsin is in "reserve" and can actually be recalled to active duty? Now you do!

Tomorrow we are planning to visit Yorktown and Jamestown Settlements along with visiting some lighthouses along the VA Beach coastline.

Celebrating our 3rd Anniversary... Trip to the Outer Banks!

Outer Banks

For our 3rd Wedding Anniversary, Mike planned a short trip to the Outer Banks. We stayed at a wonderful Bed & Breakfast called the "White Doe." Staying at a B&B is quickly becoming an annual tradition for celebrating our Anniversary! I love staying at the B&B, relaxing and enjoying the surroundings to be explored.

We arrived on the Outer Banks ("OBX") Saturday afternoon which is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from home. The first stop was at the Visitor Center just as you cross over onto Roanoke Island. The gentleman working at the Visitor Center definitely helped us plan what we wanted to do for the weekend. After leaving the Visitor Center we stopped for lunch then made our way towards our first tourist stop of the weekend.

Our first stop was Currituck Beach Lighthouse on the very northern part of OBX north of the town of Duck. Currituck Beach Lighthouse is one of the few lighthouses that you can climb. Mike and I enjoyed the climb to the top. The lighthouse is red brick without any paint on the outside. The view from the top was beautiful if not extremely windy! The photo on the left shows the lighthouse keepers home and in the background is Currituck Sound.

Currituck Beach Lighthouse Photos

Below are the stairs that we took to make our way up to the top of the lighthouse. As you get to the top they become more narrow. The center photo is Mike at the top of Currituck Beach Lighthouse. It was a cool, windy day! The last photo on the right is of me at the top of Currituck Beach Lighthouse. Have to love the blowing hair! It was definitely challenging taking photographs at the top of the lighthouse with the blowing wind.

The White Doe Bed & Breakfast

After an enjoyable trip to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, it was time for us to find our Bed & Breakfast and get registered for the weekend. Mike managed to keep the B&B name and location a secret from me up until the day of our departure. The B&B was located in Manteo (pronounced Meh-nay-o. The "T" is silent) on Roanoke Island. This is the website for the White Doe Inn: http://www.whitedoeinn.com/. It was a very quaint and friendly! We stayed in the Roanoak room.

Each morning, breakfast was served in the formal dinning room or out on the outdoor terrace if the weather was nice. Breakfast was a wonderful time to meet the other guests and chat while enjoying a 4 course breakfast. The "4 course" breakfast consisted of (1) fresh fruit, (2) Grits (we passed!), (3) Main Course, (4) Dessert! Our 1st morning found the fresh fruit to be wonderful and dessert was superb with it being an Orange Swirl Cheesecake . On our 2nd morning, the fresh fruit far exceeded the 1st day and the main course was outstanding stuffed french toast and dessert was also a nice Key Lime Tart.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

For our second day of adventures, we took the southern route to visit the lighthouses located along the southern point of the OBX! We decided our first stop for the day would be the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse since it was the other lighthouse that we could climb. The weather for Sunday called for cold, wet, windy and possibly stormy day. We knew we needed to do Cape Hatteras as soon as possible.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is one of the MOST viewed lighthouses in all of the USA and is extremely well known around the world for its distinctive black and white spiral stripes painted on the exterior as well as being the international symbol of the North Carolina coast. It is known as "America's Lighthouse." The brick beacon is the tallest standing lighthouse at 208-feet high and was built in 1870. In the background, note the nasty dark clouds heading inland off the ocean side of OBX. Those clouds were bringing in the wet, windy and stormy weather.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Photos

Ocracoke Island & Lighthouse

After leaving Cape Hatteras Light Station, we continued our drive south. We were hoping to take the 40 minute ferry across to Ocracoke Island. Our original plan was to stop for a quick lunch however our "lunch stop" was anything but quick with us being at the restaurant nearly 2 hours. By the time we were done it was just after 2pm. We were uncertain whether or not we would make the ferry and assumed the ferries ran only on the hour. Regardless, we decided to drive down to the ferry landing and see if we could get the ferry across to Ocracoke Island. To our surprise, the ferry ran every 30 minutes and we were in time for the 2:30 pm ferry crossing. The ferry was a quick 40 minute trip! In no time, we were on Ocracoke island. We just drove the car right onto the ferry where directed by the ferry operators then turned it off and set the parking break!

Once we were on Ocracoke Island, we drove to the small fishing village of Ocracoke to see the lighthouse. Ocracoke Lighthouse is the oldest, operating lighthouse in North Carolina. It is a quaint, small white lighthouse standing at 75 feet tall and was commissioned to be built in 1822. In 1868, the lighthouse was cemented and whitewashed giving it the appearance it has today. The light shines 14 miles over the ocean.

The Beach!

Ok... So what is a trip to the coast without at least a few stops at the beach? Not a complete trip! Of course we had to "enjoy" the beach! Needless to say, the beach was not a very welcoming environment this weekend visiting OBX... With the stormy weather, it was cold, wet and very windy on the beach. There was also LOTS of blowing sand. We did have the beach all to ourselves with not a sole to be seen for miles!

What I enjoyed the most about the OBX beaches is that there were wide expanses without any development... No HOUSES, NO HOTELS, NO BUSINESSES! Even with the yucky weather, the beaches were beautiful.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

On our last day in OBX, we stopped at our last lighthouse that we had yet to visit called the Bodie Island Lighthouse located within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The lighthouse isn't open for climbing but it is in a beautiful setting set along the coast towards the sound side of the island. The day started out beautiful and partly cloudy yet still windy!

I think the Bodie Island Lighthouse is probably one of my favorites especially since it was less commercialized with a nice walking and nature trail provided. Admittedly, the blue sky may have helped!

Wright Brothers National Memorial

Finally, we had to make a quick stop to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial. There really wasn't enough time to do everything and completely take in the whole memorial. The Memorial is a wonderful tribute to the first days of motorized flight. It was cool to see the location of the 1st four flights that the brothers took and where they landed in relationship to each flight from the point where they "took off." The first 3 flights didn't go far yet they were a major accomplishment. The 4th flight was over 300 yards and just under one minute in flight!

Mike and I had a wonderful time on the OBX. We look forward to many more future trips to the area to explore, enjoy the beach and new adventures!

Pam

St. Maarten Day 5 - Sea Turtles!

It is unfathomable thinking that today is already Friday and day 5 of our vacation in St. Maarten. Mike and I are having a wonderful time enjoying Phillipsburg, Margot and Simpson Bay where our hotel is located.

On Wed., after my dives, we went to Phillipsburg for some shopping. We enjoyed Phillipsburg. It is an easy place to shop with all the shops being located on "Front Street" and "Back Street." We only made it down Front Street before we had to head back to the resort for a Sunset Catamaran Dinner. The sunset was not spectacular but the evening was still enjoyable although I did imbibe just a couple too many rum punches (yummy!)...

Thursday, Mike and I took an all day excursion on a catamaran to Prickly Pear Island for the snorkeling, beach and lunch. Prickly Pear is a small sister island near Anguilla. The volcanic rock on the island lends itself to naming the island. Snorkeling is the best we've ever done with a large variety of fish especially of the Parrotfish variety. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the photo's I took turn out and posting them to our blog. The wonderful thing about snorkeling at Prickly Pear is that there is a very shallow natural reef close to the beach and protected within an outer reef area. The Prickly Pear reef is also a protected wildlife marine preserve.

Today, I did my final two dives at Maze Reef and Proselyte Reef. The Maze is true to its name and it was beautiful with great color as well as fish. I did see a trumpetfish that was camouflaged a blueish color which was really cool. We also did a swim through weaving through the reef. The Proselyte Reef was my favorite dive today. Shortly after getting in the water, some of our group saw a large shark swimming away but I missed the shark. Then, as we proceeded with our dive, we came across a baby sea turtle. I tried to get a picture but it pretty much turned and took a beeline away from us. Towards the end of the dive, we came across a second slightly larger sea turtle that cooperated wonderfully letting us swim along next to her. Hopefully, the pictures I took of the second sea turtle turn out with the cheap camera I used for this dive.

Tomorrow is our last full day :(... Mike and I are taking an all day trip to Saba Island which is no larger than 5 square miles with a 3,000 foot hike to the highest point of the island. Hopefully we will make it too the top!

God bless!

St. Maarten! Day 2 - Update & Scuba Diving

Well, we have been in St. Maarten for 2 full days.

After a long day of airports and airplanes, we arrived in St. Maarten on Sunday. The landing on St. Maarten is VERY interesting with a shorter runway and the pilot hitting the breaks immediately upon touch-down on the runway. A ladder was then pushed up to the plane and we disembarked. Customs was very easy and relatively quick considering another large plane had arrived just before us. The Pelican Resort is very nice and the room is plenty for Mike and I along with having a small kitchen.

On Monday, we took a bus tour of St. Maarten/St. Martin with a beach/lunch stop at Orient Beach located on the French side. The tour was very informative. We also had a chance to do some shopping in Marigot, the French St. Martin capital city.

Today was my (Pam) first day of diving. The dive shop I choose to go through is Ocean Explorer's which is just a short walk from the resort. Today we visited Purpose Wreck and Frenchman's Reef. At Purpose Wreck, I was surprised upon entry to basically go in the water surrounded by Jelly fish. Thankfully, I decided to wear my 3mm and did not have any unpleasant run-ins with the jelly fish. The wreck is an old tug boat that sank just off the coast of Simpson Bay where we are staying. There was a large variety of fish including shrimp hiding at the base of the tugboat and an octopus. Total depth reached was 87 feet. The 2nd dive at Frenchman's reef was very enjoyable with, again, a large number and variety of fish. I saw some HUGE barricuda for the very 1st time along with some very large lobsters. The Queen Parrotfish was one of my favorites.

I did not take an underwater camera with me today, but I will have a camera tomorrow!

St. Maarten

Mike and I are getting ready to go on a week long vacation in St. Maarten... We are using our timeshare that had to be used this year. It is actually the first time we have ever used our timeshare exchange. Originally, we thought we would use the timeshare in October or November. But since we had to wait until August to start our IVF cycle we made the decision to enjoy a vacation focusing on fun and relaxation just before starting our IVF cycle in August.

The only plans we really have are for me to do at least 6 dives, enjoy the beach, maybe make a trip to Saba island, horseback riding on the beach and, well, enjoy the beach some more.

We will be staying on Simpson Bay.

Sonshine Festival: 7/12 to 7/14

Our 1st TRIP to Sonshine!

On July 11th, we took a 2 1/2 hour road trip to Wilmar, MN to scope out our camping spot and set up home base for the SONSHINE festival! We arrived around 1pm just as a cloud burst hit the area drenching everything... Thankfully, the downpour was short lived and the sun came back in all its shining glory. We drove around the civic center & high school grounds until we found a promising site and lucked out that a high school group was willing to share the area they had staked out for their tents. The spot was primo! Our camping spot was just a stones throw from an entrance closest to the mainstage and 2nd stage! I couldn't believe how convienent. After setting up the tent, we headed back home for our last full-night of sleep before getting into the GROOVE for a weekend of great Christian music.

On Thursday, July 12th, we enjoyed several Christian bands on Stage 2. Most of them I had never heard of but Mike knew some of the songs by a couple of the bands. The bands were Flowerdagger, Mark Alan, Fireflight (definitely liked this band!), Needtobreathe, and Falling Up (another band we both liked). We then moved onto the Main Stage to see Skillet, David Crowder Band, Tobymac and Newsboys. The photo to the right is from the Tobymac concert. This was my first time seeing Tobymac in concert and I'm now a HUGE fan. Their energy was unbelievable!

Friday, July 13th, we enjoyed another day of checking out the bands playing on Stage 2 as well as walking around just enjoying the atmosphere. Mike really wanted to see Red on Stage 2 and we also stayed around for the concert by Spoken. The acts on Main Stage was what we were really interested in seeing. Personally, Friday evening had THE best acts of the weekend. It was great seeing Peder Eide perform, especially since he is a Concordia College Cobber. He graduated in 1990 just a year before I graduated. His genre is along the lines of worship and praise - love the actions to "Taste & See!" Hawk Nelson was the next band and I enjoyed their show. Josh Finklea was actually a speaker sharing a message of conviction encouraging Christians to serve others and share the Gospel. The Jeremy Camp concert followed and I was surprised at how much I loved the show. He had a good number of songs that I actually recognized and didn't realize he was the guy singing those songs on the radio. Maybe I should be reading the musician information on my XM radio. The final band of the evening (and my ABSOLUTE favorite) was Casting Crown. Their show was enjoyable but it was a bummer that it was cut short due to a Thunder Storm crashing the party. Below are Mike and I enjoying the Jeremy Camp and you can see the beginning of storm clouds in the background. The second photo is Casting Crowns.

At the LAKE! 8th Crow Wing

Summer Fun!

July has found Mike and I enjoying time up north at my parents seasonal campsite at In-We-Go located on 8th Crow Wing Lake. We took a long weekend after July 4th to enjoy time with my parents and niece's. Friday, we adventured further north to the headwaters of the Mississippi river enjoying Itasca State Park. Everyone had a great time crossing over the rocks and frolicking in the Mississippi. This was Mike's first trip to the headwaters. Kerrigan and Kamryn had a great time in the river as we walked in the river for about a 1/2 mile to an exit point near the headwaters museum.

On Saturday, we enjoyed a day spent on the lake aboard my parents pontoon and being pulled on a tube. The tube was a new toy that "Grandpa Schmidt" bought for Kerrigan and Kamryn. We started with Kerrigan and I getting on the tube to be pulled behind the pontoon. Kerrigan and I had a great time on the tube. Afterwards, I took Kamryn on the tube. Kamryn was a little more timid about the tube. Shortly after taking off on the tube, we took a forward nose dive into the water. Kamryn LOVED the nose dive! I was able to push her back onto the tube then Grandpa pulled us into the boat so I could get back on next to Kamryn. Afterwards, we had a short ride behind the tube. Overall, Kamryn was not thrilled with the tube ride.

Uncle Mike then went on the tube by himself for the first time ever in his life! WooHoo! He had a blast and LONG, LONG ride on the tube. We pulled him all around the lake. Finally, we just stopped the pontoon. Then Auntie Pam went for a tube ride by herself taking the time to show off for Kerrigan and Kamryn. I got up on my knees and let go just. Then I managed to get the tube to go back and forth over the wake made by the pontoon. Finally, Grandpa started weaving back and forth as he passed a speed boat making larger wakes causing me to go flying into the air several times. The final wake that caused me to fly into the air resulted in my decision to do a "crash and burn." It was a spectacular spill into the lake.

Kerrigan and Kamryn then enjoyed just jumping off the side of the pontoon and swimming in the lake. They had a great time and LOVED getting Grandpa's boat all wet climbing back onto the pontoon only to immediately jump off again. Eventually, Kerrigan decided she wanted to try the tube by herself so we moved onto some more tubing. Kerrigan did a GREAT job on the tube by herself. Kamryn and I went for another ride but she definitely did not enjoy the tube as much as Kerrigan.

The day ended with a trip to the local Ice Cream shop for some great treats. Kamryn had the Clown sundae and Kerrigan had the Brownie sundae! Kerrigan definitely needed help from Grandpa Schmidt eating the remainder of her Brownie sundae.

4th of July

This 4th of July we stayed in the Twin Cities since the holiday was on a Wed.

I started the day going to the healthclub for a good workout doing the Aqua Aerobics. The best part is being in the outdoor pool, enjoying the sun and getting great workout! Wed. Aqua Aerobics is based on circuit training. The water bikes are an exhausting workout. Phew... I was glad to get home...

Mike and I decide that for the remainder of the day we would go to the Minnesota Zoo then to the Waterpark of America. The zoo was lots of fun and it was Mike's first visit to the Minnesota Zoo. We enjoyed the Dolphin show then went for a walk on the outdoor path. Our future visit to the zoo will be focused on the tropical indoor path.

The Waterpark of America was a TON of FUN. This is an indoor waterpark and it was great that it wasn't mobbed considering it WAS the 4th of July. The waterslides were great and we both loved the family waterslide. Then we enjoyed the lazy river for a while and were surprised that there was also a small wave pool which is connected to the lazy river. After lazing on the river for a while we then did a few more tube waterslides using the double tubes together. Wow... What a ride! We really wiped out at the end of the rides once we hit the water. In order to recover from the rides we had to take the lazy river around a few more times. I ended the day with the Flow Rider - one word - AWESOME! The Flow Rider is definitely my FAVORITE. Mike's favorite is the body WATERSLIDE...

Dinner was wonderful and relaxing. The Split Rock restaurant in the hotel where the waterpark is located was wonderful. They definitely serve some wonderful corn bread - the "secret" ingredient is cake mix!