My 30th Birthday was all about...

Yes, Elvis! Joe and I went to Memphis for the weekend - alone! My parents graciously took the kiddies and off we went to the birthplace of rock 'n roll! We have always thought
it would be cool to go there, and it just worked out!

We upgraded our rental car to a new MUSTANG! Vroom vroom! It was fun to drive!

Graceland... ahhhh, Graceland. We both LOVED IT! We thought it was so cool to be in the King's house, or "bling-dom" as the billboards say. Lots of mirrors and over-the-top decoration, but very homey and comfortable. We were only disappointed that we couldn't see his
bedroom, darn!

The whole tour took us about 3 hours. The house itself was neat, and then there are several buildings on the property that you go through that hold his miles and miles of gold records. Seriously, we had no idea how HUGE Elvis was. Hundreds of number one hits and over 30 movies. And what struck me the most was that he just seemed like a fun guy, super friendly, very generous with his earnings, really talented, and smokin' hot - yes, I must admit, I felt like I was crushin' on him a little! And when we came to the part where you go by his grave, I had to sit down for a bit, so I didn't get too teary! You really feel like you are getting to know the guy.

It was cool.

We also enjoyed some Memphis barbeque.

Joe tried on some rock star clothes for me!

And we walked up and down the famous Beale Street - in the rain. There was a big music fest going on that weekend too, so lots of people were walking around there.

We also went to the "Memphis Recording Service" studio, which was later called Sun Studios. This is were Elvis recorded is first hit in 1950... something -I'm bad with the dates. The song was "That's alright" and it is a way cool song. Here I am in the studio - the "x" marks the spot where Elvis stood to record the song. They say Bob Dylan got down and kissed it when he came there! We learned a ton about the early rock 'n roll pioneers. It was cool.

Here is Joe singing into the same microphone that Elvis did - it's the one in the picture behind him!

We had a great time and apparently or kids did too! Mina literally howled and cried when she saw us - she did not want to leave Grandma and Grandpa! Calvin wasn't too happy to see us either. Oh well, now we know we don't have to feel bad for leaving them!

The Calvinator turns 3!

Here's a little birthday countdown... or up, I should say! Here's Calvin, on the day he was born.

His first birthday!

Second birthday!

Third birthday!
Happy Birthday Calvie Boy! We started the birthday off right with candles in the breakfast bagels! I like to put candles in everything, all day long, on birthdays!

Here is our nice hot dog birthday dinner! It was the first time day of the year we could eat outside - so fun! Notice how Mina likes to partake of the candles-in-the-food treat!

Those are olives on their fingers, such a treat!The town next to us had a "touch a truck" family night, so we went to that, got to go in a garbage truck, and ride some tractors, sit in a police car - in which Calvin screamed his head off (I think it was too loud, the sirens were going, kids were honking the horn...) and then we went to Dairy Queen for dessert.

When we asked Calvin what he wanted for his birthday, all he said was "a spider-man cake". Okay, so I tried my hand at cake decorating and it cake out pretty good! I won't say how LONG it took, but Joe kept me company, asleep on the couch!

The next day we had our family over for a little celebration.

Cousin Alex

Aunt Elizabeth and cousin Natalie

Mmm, cake and ice-cream!

Here's my Pop and my Mom below. Joe's folk were there too! We kept it low-key, with just parents and siblings.

For his birthday Calvin got lots of summer clothes from both Grandmas and Grandpas, and some fun spiderman stuff, a cool game and big chalk from Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Ethan, a buzz lightyear lazer and shirts from Aunt Vicky, a big boy bike from us (that was a hand-me-down from some friends - thanks Mulfords!), and we also got him a hot wheels car track that has a car-eating-shark on it. Cool!

Calvin got some spiderman underoos that he thinks are pretty sweet. He wanted to wear them all day, just like this, and wanted to wear them in the tub for a bath too. Then he slept in them! Since this first time in them, he'll wear clothes over them now.

Easter

Here is Mina with the colored eggs. Mina and Calvin loved dying the eggs. We did 2 whole cartons (not hardboiled, we don't eat those) and knew did which eggs and which carton was whose. I love seeing colored eggs!

Mayzie is pretty resourceful, she figured out how to get the "candies!"

Mayzie was the only one not too scared to sit BY the bunny (they don't allow lap sitting where we were). She is with my sister, Stephanie. Steph came in for the weekend.

Easter baskets on Easter morning.

This was the best picture I could get of the kids together. Oh well.

For Easter, we went to Jane and Aaron's house (Joe's sister). Here is Mayzie with Grandma Costabile.

Jane and Aaron in the kitchen. Aaron is a great chef and made a fabulous Easter dinner!

Mina with Joe's cool Aunt Susan! All the kids love her, she is so fun. And she has an ipod with cartoons on it, how cool is that?

Calvin loves to pour and serve people. Here he is pretending to pour some drinks.

Here all the Costabile grandchildren!

Mayzie in a smiley mood with Momma!

Mina and Calvin are often TERRIFIED of dogs, and Mina more so than Calvin. I think it's how dogs COME AT YOU, jump up on you and SMELL you, and the real clincher - they LICK you. Aunt Jane and Uncle Aaron have the cutest 2 "chi-weinie" dogs, and when we arrived at their house, M & C were pretty freaked out, and the doggies had to be placed in a secure location. BUT, later, somehow Jane and Joe's Mom got M & C to pet the dogs, holding their little dog faces and wet tongues away from them.

Good job Mina, you are sooooo brave!

Oh wait, I spoke too soon! This is what happened when the dogs were loose again! Mina always tries to climb to the highest point in the room, this just happened to be Uncle Aaron!

Here they are perched like birds on Uncle Aaron, safe and sound from the dogs!