Perhaps you have been wondering where we have been. Perhaps you suspect that my rambling on Destination Lopez have shifted over to other forms of social media like Facebook. I am on a mission to make sure that this blog stays alive. I have hopes that in the future we can compile the writings of this blog as a pseudo family history.

Imagine looking back in 20 years and being able to remember the minutiae of how everyday life was back at the beginning. The trials we experienced, the emotions, the mundane, the funny, all of them memories.

So, where have we been? The answer is everywhere! What an action packed 2010 we have had so far. The last post here left off on Alexandra’s birthday back in late February. I’ll try to fill in the rest.

On February 22nd I left home for an extended business trip to Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central coast of California. The project that I had been working on for the past 2+ years had reached the deployment phase and I was one of the crew tasked to field and launch one really sophisticated and very fast glide vehicle. This deployment lasted 9 weeks and I only had one trip home after the first three weeks. It was a tough assignment with an insane work schedule that ended with one of the most intense and draining days of my life.

On April 22nd at 4:00pm PST our rocket was launched from Space Launch Complex 8 at Vandenberg AFB. This was the end of a long road and was both exciting and terrifying at the same time. It was an experience I will not soon forget and I am grateful that of all the people that worked on this project I was able to have this experience.

On the flip side of things, this job assignment came with much sacrifice required. The year leading up to this trip required many weekends and long days of extra work. I was away for Alexandra’s fourth birthday and I missed Easter with the family. I missed 9 weeks of Katharine’s stellar growth and development at a phase in her life where she changes so much. Erin was put in a tough situation where she was at home with both kids for nearly nine weeks by herself. She got them through sickness, stomach bugs, and a bout of pink eye that hit all three of them. She is my hero.

Fortunately, Erin had some reinforcements during my trip. She had family visit and even took a road trip to Nashville to visit her aunt and sister. There were play dates and activities like Disney on Ice that filled in the time.

I made it back into town on April 26th. It was so good to see everybody. I missed them so much. The fun didn’t stop there. Since my return there has been a flurry of activity which isn’t going to slow down any time soon. Alex finished up her first year of preschool just last week and now we are gearing up for summer activities. Alex will be going to Kids Camp at the YMCA, going to Vacation Bible School, and taking ballet and tap lessons. Kate will be getting her first shot at swimming lessons and Erin and I, well we get an all-inclusive vacation to Jamaica without the kids, which is well deserved. We leave in less than a week.

Shortly after my return we took a day trip down to Washington DC where we met up with Erin’s family. We explored the Air and Space museum and the botanical gardens and hung out around the mall. It was a perfect day and the girls both had a blast.

This past weekend we had a special visit by Aunt Megan and Uncle Ryan. They flew up from Florida to spend some time with us then they went on to NYC to spend a few days up there. While they were here we went strawberry picking at Highland Orchards and had a wonderful picnic in Valley Forge Park.

As mentioned above, in less than a week Erin’s mom will be flying in to stay with the girls as we jet to Jamaica for a week of relaxation. Our resort will have pristine beaches, snorkeling, kayaking, catamarans and a whole lot of nothing going on. We are excited. See you all on the flip side.

Its hard to believe that four years ago tonight our little Alexandra made her rapid entrance into the Paoli hospital. Its been four wonderful years or learning and growing (both for her and us).

Its weird thinking of her as a little kid instead of a toddler. She is in preschool and can have real conversations (which can be very interesting and extremely funny).

We got Alex a real bike and it will be fun teaching her how to ride it (safely).

The only sad spot is that I cannot be with her today as my work has taken me to California. We love you Alexandra!

Well we just heard on the news that the volume of snow we are getting right now is unlikely to be seen again for the rest of our lifetimes. We had a snow of nearly 2 feet roll in over last Friday and Saturday and right now we are getting hit with Blizzard conditions which may be expected to drop another 2 feet on us. This puts the yearly snow totals for the region at over 70 inches which is way higher than normal.

Other than the back breaking task of shoveling the snow we are staying inside. Today was a snow day from work and a good chance to stay home and hang with the girls.

Well here we are and its February already. Alex will be four years old this month and Kate is already 16 months. The time is going by so fast. Kate is into everything, especially the things her big sister is doing. She is starting to talk a lot more and her little voice is so adorable.

We have uploaded pics from January and February for your enjoyment. The full sets can be found on our photos page but here are some highlights:

This is from the first snow, not the blizzard hitting us today.

After two weeks of being in limbo Destination Lopez is now back online. Sorry for all of you that did not get your fix.

Christmas with small children is an event.

This year we were blessed to be joined by my childhood friend Aaron for Christmas. After a packed Christmas eve service at church we came home and had dinner, read The Night Before Christmas and then the kids were tucked into bed.

Once the kids were asleep we migrated truckloads of gifts from their hiding places to under the tree. On Christmas morning we enjoyed coma hot chocolate, monkey bread, and lots and lots of presents! Alex had so much fun and was even overwhelmed by the sheer volume of gifts. Kate was still a little young to get excited about the day but next year should be really fun! Thank you all for the gifts and the unending generosity. We wish you and yours a very happy holiday.

We’ve spent the last week getting some much needed work completed at the house.

Tonight we had some good friends over to celebrate NYE and now we are waiting for the ball to drop in New York City.

Since this is the turn of the decade I thought it fitting to briefly reminisce over the past ten years. Ten years ago I graduated from High School in the class of 2000. That same year I went to college and met the love of my life. The next year (2001) I proposed to Erin and the day after that we lived through the 9/11 attacks. In 2002 we were married. In 2004 I graduated from UCF and Erin and I made the big move to Pennsylvania. In 2006 we were blessed with the birth of our daughter Alexandra. In 2008 I graduated from Penn State University with my Master’s degree and we were blessed with our second daughter Katharine. In 2009 Alex started preschool.

Its amazing if you think about it. In ten years time I went from a high school student to a married man with 2 wonderful kids and two college degrees. I can only look back and thank our wonderful God for all the blessings he has bestowed on us and I can look forward into the next decade hopeful, optimistic and excited to see what is in store for our family. What does your story look like. Think about it…