The Horvick's

Getting Ready for Christmas

2008-12-18T23:54:00.002-05:00

The kids in front of a fully decorated tree!

Brian hanging his "Baby's First Christmas" ornament. Every year each child hangs their own ornament.

Passing out the swag.

Our new topper this year. We've had the same ugly one for many years. I finally got sick of it and picked this one up. Tinkerbell's wings change colors off and on. The kids seem to really like her.

the tree before getting decorated.

Disney On Ice

2008-12-18T23:41:00.003-05:00

Every year the Boys get to go to a Hurricane's game, so our compromise for the girls, is that I always take them to Disney on Ice when it comes to town.

This is Evelyn at the pre-show. they had all the Princess dresses on display

Evie with her Girl Scout friends.

Cecilia is a good sport. I know she's getting to old for souvenirs from Disney, but she humors her Mom.

Lightning McQueen

Fairy Hallow

Holly Springs Christmas Parade

2008-12-18T23:30:00.003-05:00

Holly Springs Christmas Parade

Evie after her long walk down the parade route

Cecilia Passing out flyer's for Tae Kwon Do

Evie marching for gymnastics (with her bear paws on)

Brian waiting patiently for the parade to make it down to us.

Thanksgiving "08"

2008-12-18T23:07:00.002-05:00

Robert carving the turkey

Setting the table

The kids getting ready for the feast.

Cece taking it easy watching the parade

Evelyn making the fruit salad

Ben and Evie with the pies they made

Ben helped make the pies

Halloween "08"

2008-11-04T13:04:00.003-05:00

The Benedicts finally visit!

2008-11-04T12:38:00.003-05:00

The MN branch of the family finally came for a visit!

this is us outside of the Mortici house. it was a plantation built in the late 1700's

Here we are going into the Dead Sea Scrolls exihibit at the museum

Cecilia and Grandma infront of a large Dino at the museum

We decorated a gingerbread house for halloween, it was a tradition at Grandma Peg's to do this every year.

Mom looking at an exhibit at the museum

All of us enjoying the beach

Here we are at Fort Fischer, a Civil War Battle field that they have recreated for touring.

Disney 08

2008-11-04T12:01:00.002-05:00

We spent a night at Nick Hotel and 8 nights at Disney World this year. We had a wonderful time! We took the kids to the Halloween party at Disney world. Here are a few of the pictures that we took.

First Day of School 08

2008-08-27T10:05:00.003-05:00

All of the kids are back in for another school year. Ben and Evie started school on July 7th, and Cecilia and Brian went back on Aug. 25th.

Ben is in Ms. Bailey's 5th grade class this year

Evie is in Mrs. Holland's 2nd grade class

Cecilia and Brian were excited to get going in the morning. I think they just wanted to get it over with.

Our Summer Excursions

2008-08-07T20:05:00.003-05:00

We have had a lot of fun trips this Summer, We have just been so busy we didn't post them to the blog. Here are a few of the things that we have been up to.

Cecilia Went to camp Hardee the last week in July. She had a great time! They had air conditioned cabins. That's really roughing it.

We took a trip to Williamsburg with our good friends the Noonans. We all had a blast! We took the kids to Busch gardens. The kids got to ride some of the biggest rides in the US. It was so nice to travel with another family that had kids our kids could play with. When we weren't in the park, the kids enjoyed the hotel pool.

In May we flew to MN for Amy's wedding! It was so exciting to see everyone, and meet little Addison. We had so much fun hanging out with the whole family. The wedding was beautiful.

In April, Lin and Paul flew out to visit us. We hadn't seen each other in two years! It was great showing them our little part of the country. We all drove to Myrtle Beach and had a weekend on the coast. I hope that we can make it an every year thing.

Locks Of Love

2008-08-07T19:38:00.003-05:00

Cecilia has been talking about donating her hair to Locks of Love for a couple of years now. She had to have at least 10 inches to donate. It took her a while, but she finally had enough. This week she decided to call it quits with the long hair. She is getting ready to go back to school and decided to simplify her life. We all love her new do. She looks so grown up!

Dixie Arrives!

2008-07-18T20:05:00.003-05:00

We've just adopted a Labrador Retriever named Dixie from the local animal rescue Pawfect Match.

She is about 5 years old, a bit hefty, loves belly rubs and is really mellow. Here's some photos from her first day.

Cecilia's Birthday Party

2008-03-30T21:52:00.003-05:00

For Cece's party she had 4 friends come over for a movie at a "cinema grill" theater and a slumber party.

Sue made Cece's cake

The girls at Raleighwood Theater having dinner and a movie.

Her new iPod made her quite happy.

Easter 2008

2008-03-30T21:45:00.002-05:00

For Easter the kids painted eggs, searched for their baskets, got all dressed up and had the big Easter dinner.

Easter Egg Hunt

2008-03-30T21:35:00.002-05:00

Autumn Park held it's Easter Egg hunt at the gazebo this year. Our backyard was the Tot Egg Hunt area.

Here's some photos of the kids searching.

Fourth Grade Field Trip to Kitty Hawk

2008-03-16T20:52:00.004-05:00

Ben's class took a field trip down to Kitty Hawk and Roanoke Island. Sue chaperoned and along the way got some photos of the kids having fun.

Liz and Andy at the beach

2008-03-16T20:49:00.004-05:00

Some shots of our trip to Kure Beach with Liz and Andy...

With Andy and Liz at Fort Fisher

2008-03-16T20:29:00.004-05:00

We took Liz and Andy on a day trip down to the coast to see the Fort Fisher and spend some time relaxing on the beach. Here are some shots of our tour of the fort.

Toothless

2008-01-29T16:02:00.000-05:00

Evie lost her first tooth yesterday, and a second one today! At this rate we will be putting her food in a blender by the end of the week.

Brian's 11th Birthday Party at Adventure Landing

2008-01-28T21:30:00.000-05:00

Brian had his 11th birthday party at Adventure Landing in Raleigh. Since it was raining (and snowing!) the outdoor mini-golf and go-karts were canceled and a double dose of laser tag and video games was the flavor of the day.

The gang's all here.

1) Make wish. 2) Blow. 3) Count girl friends

Brian's bowling cake tasted as good as it looked.

The hunt was on in the laser tag arena.

Cece had a blast playing laser tag with the boys.

NASA Astronomy Days at the Science Museum

2008-01-27T18:21:00.001-05:00

We went to the NASA Astronomy Days at the Raleigh Museum of Science today. The kids got to look through various telescopes at the Sun, make rockets from 2-liter bottles and launch them using compressed air and meet a real astronaut (Roger Crouch - flew on STS-83 and STS-94).

Here are some photos of the day

Cece checks out the Sun. The telescope has a filter that eliminates all but a very narrow band of light allowing the viewer to safely view the Sun. All the kids got to look through several different telescopes to see various filters (and even a satellite capturing noise from space).

Launching a rocket starts with picking out the perfect body. Nose cone color is the real key to success.

Brian gets his rocket wings ready for flight. Proper design is critical to a successful launch.

The Astro Rangers get ready for launch.

Looking skyward to track their launch. The rockets went up, with a pop from the compressed air. After soaring to a height of nearly 30 feet they came back down to terra firma.

The post-launch rush to check the structural integrity of their designs. All three survived their initial launches.

The kids meeting Astronaut Roger Crouch. He flew on STS-83 and STS-94.

Sure - I'm an adult (more or less) ... but it was pretty cool to meet an astronaut. These guys strap themselves in just feet above hundreds of thousands of pounds of fuel and launch at thousands of miles an hour into space. SPACE! Come on! These are "Real Men" © and it was pretty fun to meet one. [-Robert]

Pinewood Derby 2008

2008-01-27T18:08:00.000-05:00

The Pack 216 2008 Pinewood Derby was Saturday, January 26. Brian and Ben both participate with cars of their own creation.

Brian's Big Red Machine sports a classic racing profile, high rise intake and pin stripping.

Ben's Blue Streak, a derby-favorite "wedge" design, features flames, lightning bolts and a hornet decal that lets everyone know that this car is fast.

Brian turns 11!

2008-01-21T14:59:00.001-05:00

Brian choose to go to Fudrucker's on his b-day. It's a favorite place of his. When we got home he opened a few presents, and we had cupcakes.

DC New Years 2007/2008

2008-01-02T20:49:00.000-05:00

Some of the highlights from the DC trip over New Years 2007-2008...

The kids with Lincoln.

The family taking a rest at the WWII Memorial on the Mall.

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

The boys with C3PO and R2D2 at the temporary Smithsonian Museum of American History (located on the 2nd floor of the Air & Space Museum)

Waiting to catch the Metro to get into DC. We would drive from Woodbridge, VA to the Franconia-Springfield Metro station park-and-ride and then ride the metro to DC.

Happy New Year 2008!!!

The main gate at Mt. Vernon (the home of George Washington)

The kids out back at Mt. Vernon. We arrived just as Mt. Vernon opened and were the first group to tour (the third people to enter) and basically had the place to ourselves for the first 2 hours. Because it was the holiday season the third floor, closed 11 months of the year, was open. Photography was not allowed inside the home or museum so we only have exterior shots.

After the tour at Mt. Vernon we sat by the fire sipping hot cider and having a ginger cookie with docents in period clothes.

Brian gets the courage to down a jalapeno at the Hard Rock Cafe in DC.

DC New Years day 2

2007-12-31T19:36:00.001-05:00

washingtondc2007 181, originally uploaded by smhorvick.

Today we spent the morning in the Air and Space museum and the afternoon walking the mall (from the capital to the Lincoln Memorial) and then to George Washington University to catch the metro back to VA.

I'll be uploading the rest of the photos tonight.

Tomorrow ... Mt. Vernon.

Washington DC for New Years 2007

2007-12-30T21:31:00.001-05:00

The Capital Building - DC New Years 2007, originally uploaded by The Horvicks.

We arrived this morning in DC, hopped a metro line from VA into the city and spent the day walking around down town.

We hit the Smithsonian Natural History museum, the national Archives and walked a few blocks to the Hard Rock Cafe.

After dinner we jumped on the metro back to VA and are at the hotel now.

You can see all the photos so far here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/horvicks/sets/72157603585620828/