Jade's Graduation from Pre-K

Jade graduated from Pre-K last Monday just before we went on vacation. She enjoyed the cap and gown attire. Jade will now join Preston in the after school program. She starts Kindergarten in a couple of weeks and Preston will be in 1st grade!!!

RVFFCU Mill Mountain Meeting

Each year, the RVFFCU holds its annual meeting at the Mill Mountain Zoo. RVFFCU, or Roanoke Virginia Firemen Federal Credit Union is the Credit Union for Roanoke City Firefighters and their families. Rhett has worked there part-time for the past 4 years.

Preston, Jade, and Rhett were able to make it this year. Becky was out of town. Below are some images.

Royce and Cathleens Wedding Video

Enjoy a video of Royce and Cathleen Fleitz's wedding from last year.

Melena's Birthday Party

Some pictures from Melena's Birthday party. Nonny, Becky's mom, got a pony for the kids to ride. All of the kids had a blast

Breanna's Birthday Party

Breanna, one of Jade's friends on our street, had a birthday party at Pump it Up. All of the kids enjoyed the party. Rhett and Tim, Breanna's father, even had some fun getting in on the action and raced on the obstacle course.

Halloween

Paul and Vanessa came to visit us for Halloween. We had a blast in the new neighborhood and had a lot of trick or treaters. We decorated the house up for the night and some of the kids were too scared to get candy off the porch.

Pumpkin Carving Party

We invited the neighbors over for a pumpkin carving party and everyone had a blast. I will have to admit that pumpkin carving has come a long way.

Roanoke Firefighter Auxiliary trip to the Layman Corn Maze

Each year, we enjoy going to the Layman Corn Maze. This year, the Roanoke Firefighters Auxiliary planned a trip to the corn maze and we enjoyed the day with many others.

Preston's Birthday Party

Preston had his 6th birthday party in October and enjoyed the party at our house. All of the kids had a blast.

Fleitz Family Beach Vacation in September

In September we went to Nags Head for a week with Becky's Family. We had a blast. View some of the pictures here and then some of the other very interesting stuff we got into at the end.

At the Aquarium in Roanoke Island, NC. We enjoy taking the kids here.

Preston, Melena, and Jade at the pool of the house we stayed at.

Rhett and Bill went diving off the coast of Hatteras. We dove on the wreck of the Dixie Arrow and had a blast diving with some sand tiger sharks. View More here.I also got to photograph a house fire north of where we were staying. Luckily no one was injured, but the wind gave the firefighters a hard time. The house you see was badly damaged as an exposure to the house next to it that you can't see because of the smoke. The house were the fire started burned to the ground.

Preston's First Day of Kindergarten

Here are some pictures from Preston's first day of Kindergarten. Preston was so excited to go to school that it left very little time or opportunity for pictures or for Mommy or Daddy to get emotional. Preston left for his first day without any glitches. Daddy gave Preston a haircut the night before his first day.


Here is one bonus picture from the recent Salem Avalanche game we attended. Preston got a bowl of ice cream in a Cincinnati Reds baseball cap. I can remember my father taking Royce and I to Cincinnati Reds games and getting the same. This was a defining moment in my fatherhood. If it worked for my father, then it works for me. I enjoy following in his footsteps.

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Royce Fleitz

Royce and Cathleen tied the knot on Saturday August 2nd. The wedding, reception, rehearsal dinner, and all other festivities were top notch. The events were attended by many friends and family members and I believe the two had a great time during their marriage weekend. I wish the both of them the best in their new lives together. I took over 300 pictures during the weekend and you may view them by clicking on the picture.

Click here for more pictures

I apologize, but there are a lot of pictures of my children. I did get a lot of pictures of everyone else too.

Some pictures from the neighborhood

These shots are of our new house in Wedgwood. We do not live far from our previous house, and we love the neighborhood and our neighbors.

One day, we all took a drive on our lawn tractors. We drove around the neighborhood and Preston got to drive.

Here is Preston on his bike.

Here is Jade with a Friend down the street having fun.

Fleitz Family enjoy Fence Post July 4th Block Party

We enjoyed another great block party with the Hyltons on July 5th. It was a great time and the kids enjoyed every second.


Kim & Becky

Best Friends Forever, Jade & Trinity





Watch out, here they come

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Fleitz Family.

Paul and Vanessa's Wedding Pictures

The Fleitz Family had a blast at Paul and Vanessa's wedding in the Bahamas. We enjoyed meeting a lot of Paul's Family as well as getting together with the extended Fleitz Family.

I uploaded the pictures (all 580 of them). The reason why I uploaded all of them is because I wanted to offer you guys the opprotunity to see all of the pictures taken. I apologize to those of you who don't want to look through all of them, but that is the deal. Feel free to download any of the pictures you want. Just right click on the picture and save the image to your computer.

Click here to see the whole picture gallery.

The Fleitz Family in Richmond

The Fleitz Family was in Richmond recently for Becky's 10 year high school reunion. While we were there, Preston had fun playing ball with Papa and the kids all got together for a photo.

Summer UPDATE

Ok, so we know it has been quite a while since the last post, and Rhett has been saying for a while now that I should start posting stuff here. I have finally decided to take his advice.

In June, Preston was at the fishing game again at the Waldron family pond (AKA Preston's Pond). This is the only one he could hold up on his own, but he did catch two catfish that same day.

Preston "The fishing Machine"
















Preston & Jade played in their new pool several times this summer. This day they stayed in the pool all day long and loved every minute of it.



During Melena's visit, the kids enjoyed the pool.
















They even played with water balloons.
















Fence Post Cr July 4th Block Party

Jade and Trinity (Jade's best friend since she was 11 months old) coloring with chalk.














Preston on the neighbors new B-day 4-wheeler










We have been really busy as you can probably see, but have been saving up energy for Vanessa & Paul's wedding in the Bahamas in October. We can't wait.

Roanoke Fire-EMS 100th Anniversary Celebration

Preston, Jade, Becky , and I enjoyed the day at Fire Station #1 for the 100th Anniversary. Preston is pictured below with the Dalmatians from the Dalmatian Rescue, and then sitting in the Tiller of Ladder 1 .

Roanoke's St. Patrick's Day Parade

Here are some pictures of the children at the Roanoke St. Patrick's Day Parade in Downtown Roanoke.



The children had a blast watching all the floats, firetrucks, and clowns even though it was extremely cold out.
After the Parade, we enjoyed lunch at Macado's downtown Roanoke.

Preston catches a Bass at the pond

While we were up on the Mountain, Preston wanted to go fishing with his new fishing rod that his best buddy Steven got him. He caught a couple of fish, this being the biggest of the day. It was cool out and we were only able to fish for a little while.

Preston and Jade enjoy the Virginia Museum of Transportation

A couple of weeks ago, I had a book signing at the Virginia Museum of Transportation and realized that the children hadn't been to the museum in quite a while. Becky was out of town, so we visited the museum the following day.

Preston and Jade on the 1218

Preston and Jade enjoy coloring at the museum.

The New Year in Roanoke

The Fleitz Family would like to wish you a Happy New Year. We have had a great year and look forward to another one in 2007. Thank you to all of our family we have been able to visit and who have visited us. We look forward to travelling more this year and seeing many of our friends and family who are not close to Roanoke.

We enjoyed a quiet New Year's Eve at home with the kids. We cooked several appetizers and enjoyed each others company. We watched some television and the kids enjoyed playing around. Jade has reached an age where she can play with Preston and they enjoy playing together. Jade looks identical to Vanessa when she was young, especially with the new hair cut Becky got her.

Preston and Jade enjoy Shirley Temple's

Here is the Family as we pose just after the New Year 2007.

Christmas in Roanoke

After getting back from Nashville, we still had to celebrate Christmas with Becky's side of the family. We were able to celebrate Christmas with Becky's Parents two days before New Year's Eve followed by going up the mountain to the Waldron Farm to celebrate with everyone the following day.

Preston and Jade's stockings were just about as big as they are.
Preston takes on Papa in a friendly game of Rockem Sockem as Daddy cheers on.
Preston and Jade pose with Nonny for a photo.
Jade and Melena enjoyed playing with each other and were running around and laughing all night long.
Fawn opens a present as Grandma and the rest of the family watch on.

Christmas 2006

This year we spent Christmas in Nashville with the Fleitz side of the family. All of Rhett's siblings were able to celebrate Christmas with Grammy and Grampy Fleitz. Unfortunately, Royce had to leave early and neither Cathleen (Royce's girlfriend), or Paul (Vanessa's Fiance) could make it. Due to Rhett's work schedule, we only get to travel on Christmas every so many years. Most of the time, Rhett has to work Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

That is right, the Tuesday after Christmas Paul asked Vanessa to marry him and she accepted. Paul and Vanessa are a great couple and are currently living in Fort Lauderdale.

Here are some pictures from Christmas in Nashville:

Preston and Jade wait at the top of the stairs for all the cameras to get into place.
They were anxious to see what Santa Claus had left for them.
Jade enjoyed handing out presents to everyone
Preston and Grampy play with a matchbox car garage from Rhett's childhood.
Grammy and Vanessa enjoy some wine on Christmas Eve.
Jade catches a piggy back ride from Valicia.
It isn't often that we get pictures of just ourselves.

Becky runs in the Nike Women's Marathon

Becky and her friend Kate ran in the Nike Women's Marathon this past weekend. They arrived back in Roanoke late last night. Both of them had been training and collecting money for months with Team in Training to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Becky had hurt her foot about 6 weeks ago which limited her training nearing the marathon. However, with her foot better, she persevered. They decided to sign up for the early start knowing that Becky would not be able to run the complete marathon, and not wanting to be the last people in. Unfortunately, Becky reinjured her foot on the 9th mile and was just able to hobble to the half marathon mark (13 miles). Kate went on to complete the marathon and they met up afterwards. They really had fun in San Francisco, and hope to keep running in the future. Becky wants to thank all of the family members and friends who helped by donating money towards her goal.

The Fleitz Family - updated

It has been several months since we have updated this site. We will attempt to keep it updated from here on out. We have been very busy with the kids, vacationing, working, and travelling. We began this summer by travelling to Charleston for vacation. Preston and Jade were dropped off with Grammy and Grampy Fleitz. We met them in Knoxville for the precious cargo exchange. We headed to Charleston for a week with Royce and Cathleen, Vanessa and Paul, and Valicia and Carlos. We had a blast. We stayed on Folly Beach and had great weather.

The following week, Becky had to travel to Orlando for an Alpha Phi convention. She flew back into Richmond where Rhett was waiting to pick her up with the kids. We were off to Nags Head for the week with Nonny and Papa Price. Weather was great and Rhett was able to get his feet wet SCUBA diving for the first time in open water. Rhett, Bill (Becky's father), and Mill (Bill's brother) went diving on the ship Huron. Preston, Jade, and Melena (Tracy's daughter) had a lot of fun with Nathan and Quentin (Mill's sons). We love vacationing in Nags Head.

We were all vacationed out after that busy 3 weeks. Rhett has been travelling with the Roanoke Fire Fighters Association where he is Secretary/Treasurer. He just got back from Toronto where he attended the International Association of Fire Fighters Convention. This past week he was in Virginia Beach for the Virginia Professional Fire Fighters Association Educational Seminar. In November, he will be travelling to Atlanta for the IAFF Affiliate Leadership Training Seminar (ALTS).

Rhett is finishing the final proof for his book he has written. The book is on the history of the Roanoke City Fire Department titled "Firefighting in Roanoke". The book is set to be published by March 2007.

Preston and Jade are still enjoying their daycare. We have really lucked out with how much they teach at such young ages. Preston is growing and his speech and vocabulary are amazing. Jade's vocab and speech is getting better now that we determined her allergies/sinusitis issues. She loves talking and is catching up quickly. Preston will be having his 4th birthday in October.

Becky began a new job with Carilion Health Systems. She works for the Technology Services Group and is enjoying her new role as an Application System Analyst. Becky still works Downtown Roanoke although she is a little bit closer to home now. The building where she works was originally a Norfolk Southern building.

Rhett and Becky have been getting into web design more and more. We have begun a small start-up business and are focusing on a Fire related news site. VAFireNews.com is a Fire/EMS/Rescue site focusing on Virginia. The site has had great reception by firefighters and EMT's in Virginia so far. We hope to continue to expand the site.

We also built Rhett's father a site for his new business: FMAInc.net.

Rhett has assisted with building several other websites for neighboring IAFF locals.

Isabella

This is Isabella and Tate. Isabella is our new dog. She is the black Chihuahua/Min-Pin mix. We rescued Isabella from a shelter in West Virginia. She is fitting right in with Tate and the kids. We thought that Tate would wear her out, but she is the one actually wearing Tate out. Preston always calls Isabella his favorite dog.

We are still here

Here is Preston at the station the other day.

Preston and Jade in the front of one of the engines.

Preston and Captain Willie Wines Jr. in Engine 14.