This may be another sign that I'm not meant to resume the blog.  More problems but you can read it by clicking HERE.  I had to post through DropBox again.  You do not need an account/login to read it.  When the pop up box comes up, hit "No Thanks" at the bottom when it asks you to sign in.

If you are reading this on the regular blog than I guess it worked.  I had the same problem with my last post as what made me give up before.  I was able to put my pictures into the blog but then it wouldn't post it.  On the plus side, we upgraded our Internet and now pictures our loading much faster so at least one of my headaches is gone.

I'm going to try and move along quickly here...

Last Sabbath we had a busy schedule.  After Sabbath School we joined some kids in making Valentine's cards for the widows in the church, all Jennifer's idea.  Hopefully the widows are much fonder of Valentine's Day than I since I'm generally a bah humbug when it comes to that particular holiday. The kids did have a great time making the cards with Caluabra making three each.  Colby spent pretty much the entire time playing with a stick of glue.  Better than the Elmers I guess since I remember eating it as a kid.  Aubree was excited to be the one to make one for Aunt Wanda.

Not quite sure why the church still has a Christmas tree up!

After Brady was done making his cards, he and Colby got very friendly with Bruce.

Love this picture!  I told Jennifer they need one more daughter so that we can pair my boys off with two Bergherm girls.

After naptime, it was back to the church for Adventurers and Family Fun Night.  Alas, Duncan did not join us for either event because he wasn't feeling very good.  This was met by great consternation from the kids and this conversation when we got into the van to go home afterwards:

Aubree:"I really wish Daddy came.  It wasn't fun without him."
Me: "I'm sorry Aubs.  You know why he couldn't come.  We still had fun."
Aubree:"Yes, but it's called FAMILY Fun Night.  Not MOM and KIDS Fun Night."

Touche.

Getting ready to play "Pass the Pickle"

Cookie decorating

Apparently pleased with the end product.

Brady taking a whack at the piñata.  Yay, so GLAD to have more candy in the house **insert sarcastic face here**

The girls love this little claw machine, trying to grab a prize.

This is the hippo game.  Each team wheels someone out on a dolly and they try to get as many balls as they can under the upside down container and then they wheel that person in and another teammate is wheeled out. The object is to have the most balls at the end of the game.

Their team didn't win but it was really fun and fast paced.  Once everyone on the team had a turn, Colby climbed right on to the dolly for his turn but of course, he fell right into the middle.  Sorry kid!

They also did the Pie Face Game which is a really new and popular game.  I wanted to get it for Christmas but it was sold out everywhere.  Basically you keep turning a lever and you don't know if you will actually get hit with the whip cream or not.  Aubree and Brady were too nervous to play.

Sunday was the Super Bowl and we will just skip right over that because it stunk.  I will say this though.  Wow, is it ever hard to watch it with kids.  Half the commercials are for either violent movies (Deadpool, anyone?) or beer.  Don't even get me started on the halftime show.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that the whole thing was a bust and I was happy to turn it to America's Funniest Home Videos for a diversion.

Monday I had a dentist appointment in the morning so we were off to Grandma and Grandpa's for babysitting.  On days like these, we often skip classes we need to do together (like Bible, Geography, and Science) and the girls will just do their individual work (like Math, Reading, English, Handwriting, and Spelling) both before we leave and also in the car.  After my appointment, I stopped at a consignment store which was having a big sale (70% most of the winter clothing) so that was a welcome diversion to start off the week. Mentioning that here so that I'll know when to look for the sale next year!

We have been enjoying our Bible curriculum this year which is having us read the whole book of Matthew (admittedly I have skipped certain parts like "adultery") and studying various missionaries that go along with the countries we are learning about in Geography.  This week we finished up a book (which I read aloud to them) about Nate Saint who was a missionary to Ecuador.  I saw on the back of the book that his lifespan was 1923 - 1956 so I knew it wasn't going to end well.  Sure enough, it didn't and I couldn't help but start bawling while I was reading the conclusion.  The poor kids didn't know what to do.  The girls ended up coming over to me and hugging me and wiping my tears.  I suppose it was a bonding moment but boy, those missionary books get me every time!

Thought I'd throw in a little meme about our school.

The rest of our week was pretty routine so I think I'll just finish up with a few pictures.

These two are always working on some sort of art project.

Here they are making a "Snake" book.  This was the first thing they did one morning even before breakfast. They carried all the supplies down from upstairs, including the hole punch, and set up shop in front of the garage door.

Not to be outdone, these two have a special bond too.  Calleigh drives him nuts with trying to kiss him constantly but he will allow her to hug him.  After she does, she will then get him to say to her "Thank you, Calleigh." It sounds like "Ca-Ye" though.

One afternoon after quiet time, they designed their own mini golf course.

Hole # 1.  I got a hole-in-one on this one but tanked it from there.

This one was quite challenging.

After I finished, Duncan came out and promptly beat me.  Show off!

Love these guys!

 Have a happy Sabbath! 

A few weeks ago I came across a notice on my Facebook that Wild Kratts Live was coming to Lakeland.  If you don't know what Wild Kratts is, well, you must not have a small child.  They are two brothers, Christ and Martin Kratt, who created a kid's show about animals.  It's half "regular" and half cartoon.  Brady absolutely loves it and has learned so much from it and really, I contribute his love of animals to this show.  I had been wanting to go to this show for a long time but one never came close enough...until now.

Lakeland is about an hour drive southwest from here and although an hour isn't that far, it's far enough that I didn't want to drive there just for the show at 6 pm and drive back. So I decided to make a day of it.  I had bought a Groupon some time back for the Children's Museum they have in downtown Lakeland so I figured that would be a good stop and then I found this really great park on Trip Advisor and added that as a second stop.  I didn't tell the kids where we were going because a) I wanted to surprise them but also b) I didn't want to hear Calleigh complain about Wild Kratts.  I think she gets sick of watching repeats of it (Brady will watch the same shows over and over again) and so she acts like she doesn't like the show.

The first stop was the museum - - we arrived about 10:30.  Although it was spread over three floors, it definitely is much smaller than say, the Science Center.  I'm sure Brady and Colby could have played there for hours but Calleigh and to a smaller degree, Aubree, are starting to outgrow this kind of stuff.  Kind of sad but such is life!  They still enjoy it but they like to be in each section for about five minutes and then they're ready to move on.  After a couple of hours, it was time to move on to some lunch.  I am so glad McDonald's has all day breakfast now so that we can go there for lunch. Otherwise there isn't much to eat there besides french fries.

These crutches were their favorite part.  "It would be so cool to have a broken leg and need these!"

Shopping at Publix

Calleigh was content to sit and play some songs.

Curious George play area.

Love the face!

Oh how I love going places on school days.

Next it was on to Common Ground park.  This seriously is probably the nicest playground/park I've ever been to.  It's huge!  The City of Lakeland has done an amazing job.  Colby fell asleep on the way there and I made the kids sit in the car for about 40 minutes to let him snooze.  They were frothing at the bit to get out but I knew they would have several hours there so I didn't feel too bad.  About 30 minutes after we got out, Jennifer and Vasti arrived with their brood (minus London who stayed home with Bruce).  Our homeschool group was back together again!  The kids had a ton of fun running around all over the place.  Definitely got their exercise in for the day.  They all played together but sometimes little groups would branch off.  Evan spent a lot of time with Brady and I have to say Evan is such a nice kid.  He's seven compared to Brady's four but it doesn't seem to matter to Evan.  When we got in the car and I was buckling Brady in he says very seriously to me, "Evan is my friend." Then he goes on to say "I have Evan, Camden, and Kohlden.  Those are my friends." From the back seat, Aubree yells "I'm your friend too." So Brady adds Aubree and says "I have four friends. And hey, I'm four!!!" It was just cute.  As if those are the ONLY friends he has or something.  But anyway, he wanted to sit next to Evan for the rest of the day, of course.  

Before any of the kids tried these, for some reason I got the bright idea to try them first.  I jumped up on the first one and took a step to the next one, not realizing that all the other ones were on springs and moved.  I was this CLOSE to wiping out big time but I somehow saved myself from total embarrassment.

For a mere $2k, you too can have this cool swing in your backyard.

This sliding hill was definitely one of the highlights.

One downside of a playground and a two year old is that they aren't quite old enough to be given free rein.  I had to follow Colby EVERYWHERE and it got to be very tiring especially when I would see Jennifer and Vasti just sitting, relaxing, and chit chatting.  Finally I remembered that I had some cars in the van and for the last 40 minutes, I got to just sit while Colby played in the sand.

We grabbed a quick supper at Crispers before heading to the main event.  As I suspected, Calleigh wasn't exactly thrilled to hear it was Wild Kratts but apparently she changed her mind since I have heard she was talking positively about the show after the fact.  It was a fairly small venue and I'd guess there were several thousand people there.  The show was great for a kid!  It is really just the Kratt brothers for the whole show.  I had found out earlier in the day while reading a review that there weren't actually any live animals in the show which was a little disappointing but I don't think the kids noticed or cared.  Brady pretty much had an open mouthed gape the entire time. Colby sat on my lap and was engaged the whole time as well.  All in all it was a success.  Good thing we didn't need a refreshment or try to purchase a memento though because the lines were huge.

Evan Brady (yes, that's his middle name) and Brady

Aubree and Brady were so excited from the show that the next day I had to go on Amazon for them so they could page through and make a list of things they wanted to get.

Moving back to earlier in the week, Sunday was a big day for the girls because they got their reward for completing their first year of piano lessons.  Now, I'm sure there are people who don't believe in giving their kid a reward for things like this but clearly we aren't in that camp.  In the early going of lessons, Calleigh was complaining a lot and wanted to quit so I decided to bribe her with the allure of a new American Girl doll at the end of the first year.  And it worked.  If the payoff is that they keep playing, I'm good with it.  Yes, I know American Girl dolls are expensive but they retain their value so well and they are such good quality.  They can either pass them down to their kids one day or we can sell them when the girls get older and get back most of our money, or even make money, if we some of the dolls are retired.  A few weeks ago I found a McKenna doll at a yard sale.  I didn't buy it because it was $50 and the girls would rather have a new one in a package.  A little later, I looked on eBay and found it was selling for $175 and even more now when I check!  I found the contact info for the yard sale and sent the lady a message that I wanted to buy it if she still had it.  She did and I did.  I haven't sold it yet but I will be soon.  Of course, the girls wanted to know if I was going to tell the lady that I could sell it for a lot more money.  Obviously that was NOT my plan but then I started feeling guilty.  I didn't do anything morally wrong, right?

Aubree got Samantha and Calleigh got Lea who is the doll of the year.

Oh, speaking of instruments, when Brady saw all this hoopla over the dolls because of the girls playing the piano, he announces to me that "When I grow up, I want to play the drum." Big pause. "But don't worry, Mom. Not the electric one." Ha!

This week was tough for sleep for some of us.  Colby woke up a few night with a stuffy nose. Duncan had a cough that woke him up (and me up) really early a few mornings. Calleigh had one of her vomiting spells on Tuesday morning. I think I've mentioned it on here before.  About every four to six weeks, she'll wake up about 5 am-ish and come down and say her belly hurts.  Usually within about 10 or 15 minutes after that, she'll start throwing up.  Sometimes it will only be once and then sometimes it will be three or four times.  Once she's finally done, she'll feel fine and it's a completely normal day. There are no other symptoms.  It's really quite odd but I haven't given it that much thought because it really hasn't affected anything.  I had noticed that it has become slightly more frequent as opposed to every six to eight weeks and the last few times she's also wanted to take a shower, apparently liking the warmth.  Later in the day on Tuesday when we went to art, Jennifer tells me that she's figured out what Calleigh has because her friend's future daughter-in-law has the same thing.  It's called cyclic or cyclical vomiting. Basically it's a disorder where you vomit for no apparent reason. It's often accompanied by other symptoms like headache and lethargy which fortunately she hasn't experienced, yet.  It says that it often develops between the ages of three to seven and that the affected person will throw up typically at the same time of day each time (check and check). This also stood out to me: "Some sufferers will often want to bathe in warm or cool water." Check. There is no known cause but some studies seem to think it has to do with migraines and is more prevalent in people with a family history of migraines.  Check.  Although to be fair, while my mom and I both suffer from bad headaches, I don't know if they're specifically migraines.  I have no idea if this is what she has but it sure sounds like it.  I will need to obviously discuss this with her pediatrician at her next visit. We shall see.  It sounds like the only was to say it is this is to undergo a bunch of testing to rule out other stuff.  That doesn't sound like much fun.

Some other pictures..

Excuse the demon eyes here.  Last Saturday night we went out with the Bergherms and Isidros to RusTeak in College Park while the grandparents babysat.  The food was excellent!

We spotted this game at Target so, of course, we had to get it after playing it the week before at Family Fun Night.  So the grandparents got to play it while they were babysitting!  The kids could barely wait for us to leave the driveway so they could bring it out.

"How am I supposed to get the lid on?!" This seemed to be very perplexing for Colby.

We realized that Brady could now help with putting the silverware away out of the dishwasher.  He took the job on with great relish and in fact, emptied the whole dishwasher (with some help) as a surprise for the girls the first time.  I thought it was so kindhearted of him until he said "Now I'm going to get more money than them!!"

We are wrapping up our "trip" to Norway for school.  Apparently Norway is known for an art form called Rosemaling.  I decided to let the kids have a go at it.

This is not it but they had fun.

This REALLY isn't it.

The girls forbid him from coming in their room so he took his bedding and slept near the bathroom door at least.

Week 6 of ice skating.  That's Brady in front doing some cones.  I seem to have a blurry spot on my phone.

Our next missionary book for school.  We were so excited to see "Bristol" (England) since that is where Elaine is from.

Adventurers. They had snacks out for the kids to talk about healthy eating (not sure why the cupcake was there then!) and I was worried there would be a big problem but fortunately they had an extra for Colby.

This is how my guest room looks right now.  Trying to go through all the clothes that Colby has outgrown.  Some will be sold at the consignment sale and many are going to Goodwill.

Six bags for Goodwill so far.

Aubree has two loose teeth!  She's very excited despite the face.  We knew it would take awhile to get to this point since she was 11 months old when she got her first tooth.  She'll be seven in three months. Comparatively, Calleigh lost her first one at age five (nearly six).

Brady and his future wife Violet (if I had my way).  A red head and left handed!

Sabbath afternoon lay activities.

Pink was the color of the day today.

Happy Sabbath!

I discovered about six weeks ago that on our cruise, only children that are potty trained are allowed to go into any of the swimming pools on the ship.  They can't even go in while wearing a swim diaper.  A little extreme in my humble opinion but there it is.  I actually knew this from when we went on a cruise when Calleigh was 10 months old but I had completely forgotten about it until I was reading a review that laid it all out.  My heart pretty much sank because I was imagining poor little Colby watching his older siblings romping in the pools while he sits forlornly on the sidelines. What a depressing picture. But, considering that he is a mere two and a half and the girls were three and Brady was three years, eight months when they all potty trained, I wasn't too confident it was something I would be accomplishing before the cruise.  Nevertheless, the next day I put him in underwear and in about five minutes flat, he already had a puddle on the floor.  Not a promising sign.  I decided to forgo the idea and just put him in the pool without a swim diaper (I don't think he would poop anyway) and hope nobody came and asked me outright if he was potty trained (they do do this and obviously I wouldn't lie).  

Isn't it nice to have a big brother who can teach you how to pee outside??

Of course, it's kind of hard to be impressed with the cakes after seeing and tasting Jennifer's cakes.

We got to go into the freezer.

The meat department.  I had to strongly warn the kids not to yell out "DISGUSTING!" Because I just knew one of them would if I didn't.

The kids backed way far away when he offered for the them to touch it.

Only seven (almost six) years away from being able to work here!

She is the Customer Service manager who did our tour.  She looked SO familiar and I finally discovered it was because she used to work at our store.

The goody bags were very generous.

The other side.

Aubree decided to set him up with some copy work. (Don't you love the attire?  No shirt for one and the other in a Christmas dress.  The joys of homeschooling!)

Not sure how much he got out of it but he did enjoy fiddling with the gadget!

Out clothes shopping with Daddy.

Aubree completed her first Nanoblock set - - the Eiffel Tower to go along with our study of France.

Cory and Amanda were in town this week so we hit up Cafe Positano along with the Isidros.

Sweet Tomatoes on Friday - - the early bird special, now that I'm 40.

The kids in groups by birth order.  Poor Colby!

Art from last Tuesday - - the Northern Lights

One of Brady and Aubree's art projects one morning.  Excuse the laundry in the background.  But hey, at least it's folded!

This is typically what happens every Tuesday on the way to ice skating.

Saturday evening we went to New Smyrna Beach for a surprise 40th birthday party for David Whitaker.

Always neat when mutual friends randomly know each other.  In the middle is Shelley, Camille's sister, who is friends with my friend Katrina (on left).  Shelley was visiting from Tennessee because she knows David and Ashley.

He was surprised.  Hopefully he wasn't disappointed that he wasn't actually going fishing.

Roasting our supper.

The big Brace family trip finally arrived!  All fifteen of us in the immediate family - - my parents, their three children and those children's families were able to go on a cruise together.  We had never been on a vacation with just us before and some adults in the group (Camille and Ana) had never been on a cruise so this was a pretty big deal!

The cruise was on Royal Caribbean and it left out of Port Canaveral on Sunday, March 6 making three stops in Coco Cay (Bahamas), St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.  I really care more about the boat than the stops (since I've been to so many of the Caribbean islands already and they all seem pretty similar anyway) so I was very excited to be going on the Freedom of the Seas.  Back in 2006 when it debuted, it was the biggest ship at the time (definitely no longer!) and I remember driving past it on the way to Cocoa Beach thinking "Someday I'm going to go on that ship." It only took ten years but hey, I made it happen!

Gigi had the girls write a report on the islands.  Aubree did St. Thomas.

Calleigh did St. Maarten.  This was 9:30 the morning of departure.

Freedom!

We all left our house at about 10:00 with Ricky and Ana (and my dad who was with them) making a stop along the way to drop off their dog at the kennel.  The rest of us got there a little too early and had to wait for them which just made the excitement mount as we got to gaze at the big ship but couldn't board yet.  My parents and Shawn had rental cars so we then had to wait even longer as Duncan went with them to drop them off and then ferried them back to the ship.  And then finally, we could begin the boarding process.  After going through security, we ended up in a fairly large line, although it was moving pretty quickly, to actually check-in.  As is his custom, my dad struck up a conversation with the couple directly behind us in line who were with their teenage daughter and younger son.  He asked where they were from (Tennessee) and they revealed at some point they had an additional son who was on a mission trip.  My dad's ears perked up to that and said "Oh, is it a church group?" When they said yes, he asked what denomination and she said "Seventh-Day Adventist." What are the odds, right?  Turns out the husband, Claes Svendsen, is a doctor for one of the Adventist Health System hospitals.  Small world!  We exchanged info with them to meet up later on the ship.

The boys goofing off

We finally got our ship cards and then it was GO time!  Oh, it is so exciting to be going on a whole new adventure with your kids.  It definitely makes things that much more fun when you can experience things with them for the first time.  I was pretty giddy myself!  We checked our cards and saw that we all did get the 5:30 dinner seating and that our tables were 311 and 312 (we assumed two tables of eight).  We already knew our cabin numbers, of course, from booking it.  We were in cabins 1860 (Ricky & Ana), 1862 (Shawn & Camille), 1870 (Us), and my parents (1872).  The numbering is a little confusing.  All the other cabins start with the number of the deck which leads you to believe you're on the 18th deck...but the highest deck on this ship was 14.  Instead, we were on the 12th deck. This would be the highest deck we had ever stayed on while cruising (usually we are like 4 - 8ish) so definitely a change.

Got our ship cards.  Ready to board.

When we looked at the stock photos of the room online, it looked like it would be a porthole (we did not get a balcony because we didn't want to worry about the kids, among other things).  Well, when we walked into the room, we were in for a big surprise when we saw that the entire wall was windows...from floor to ceiling.  It was really, really great.  I almost preferred it over a balcony because your view from the balcony is somewhat limited due to the partitions whereas with this, we could see everywhere. We also weren't sure if we would have drop down bunkbeds for the girls. Thankfully, it was a couch that pulled out.  When we booked, we obviously couldn't book it with all four kids in the room with us so we had to book it with Calleigh and Aubree in my parents' room. They offered for them to actually stay in there but we didn't have a connecting room (none available) so I knew the girls would want to stay with us.  It all worked out because the girls took the pull-out, Brady was on the floor, and Colby was in his pack-n-play.  I was even successfully able to find closet and shelving space for all of our clothes and gear.  So yes, it's possible to fit six people, even comfortably, in 175 square feet of space! Now, once the boys get older and want to sleep in actual beds, we might have a problem.

All aboard!  I love Winnie's expression.  It's like she's saying "I have to put up with these clowns all week?"

I was SO happy to see this view when we opened the door to our stateroom.

My parents' room next door.

Since our luggage hadn't arrived yet, the first order of business was to eat.  Probably would have been either way.  The Windjammer Cafe was on Deck 11, one deck below us, but at the other end.  Both decks have a lot of space open to the outside (pool was on Deck 11 and walking track on Deck 12) so in order to get there, we had to walk outside each time.  It was very windy (around 40 MPH) a few of the days so getting to the food was an adventure at times.  One particular time, Colby had his Crocs on with the straps up instead of behind his heel and right as Duncan was getting to the door to get to the restaurant, the Croc came off and the wind started whirling it around the ship.  Duncan went after it and saved it just before it went overboard!  Phew.  But now we know how people accidentally fall off the ships.  All this time I thought it was because they had too much alcohol and were acting dumb. Ha!

The Windjammer Cafe...hmmm.  It was good but sometimes it wasn't.  Don't get me wrong.  I was just happy to not have to cook so I would have been satisfied with whatever.  The main problem was that it was exceptionally busy.  I came to the conclusion that while the cruise line industry is making these ships bigger and bigger so that they hold more people, they aren't increasing the size of the eating area proportionately.  I NEVER remember being on a ship (I'm guessing I've cruised like 10 times by now) and having the buffet area be so crowded.  Sometimes we couldn't even find a table and you were always bumping into people.  The buffet, or course, provides you with the advantage of getting your food "right away." You don't have to go to the dining room and wait to order it and then have the courses be served one by one which can be slow at times.  But, buffet style with little kids is also stressful because you can't go through the line with the kids (not with those crowds).  So one parent waits at the table with the kids while the other parent goes through line to get the kids' food, deliver it to them, and then goes back to get their own food.  By the time said parent sits down to eat, the kids already want something else or they're done.  It's quite a predicament. I say all this not to complain, because again, I DIDN'T HAVE TO COOK, but to just expound on what it's like to eat somewhere with toddlers.

The food itself was pretty good but I found myself not spending too long looking at all the options once it was my turn to get my food because in your mind you're thinking, "Okay, I have exactly four minutes and thirty-eight seconds to get my food, get back, and eat before anyone needs me to do something for them." Sometimes it turned out to be even less than that.  One thing I noticed is that they didn't have any signage indicating whether something was vegetarian or not.  They've probably never had that but I had eaten at Sweet Tomatoes the week before and noticed all their signs clearly show that and it was SO nice.  Near the end of the cruise, an employee in the Windjammer came and asked me how my experience was and I told them about this recommendation.  He took out a pencil and paper and wrote it all down and took my name.  I was really impressed that he seemed to actually care about my opinion.  If someday you take an RCI cruise and find they have added this feature to their signage, you have me to thank!  In the meantime, I'm pretty sure that the Cream of Asparagus soup we all ate had chicken stock in it.  Cluck, cluck.

Eating at the Windjammer

There certainly were a lot of food choices but Royal Caribbean hasn't met the likes of Brady Grodack.  Let's see.  I'm pretty sure this was the entirety of his meals for the duration of the cruise: cereal, fruit, bread, pizza, french fries, chocolate donuts, and ice cream. Oh, and he ate pancakes the last morning. I'm not even exaggerating.  He ate pizza every single night. Things did start off really well when we got him to try a piece of kiwi and he dipped his french fry into ketchup.  That was a pretty big deal.  But that was the end of his "adventurous" streak. In case you were wondering, he did not have second bites of those items.

Little did we know that first night that we would see this exact meal six more night in a row.

Brady wasn't the only one who enjoyed a few donuts.

If Duncan and I had our way, we would have eaten all of our meals in the dining room. Our tables were on Deck 3 in the Leonardo Dining Room.  But, the reality of it is, you'd probably also go crazy doing the dining room that many times because the kids do get a little stir crazy.  Actually, the three older ones did really well.  It's Colby Cabot that causes the problems.  Two is such a fun age...said no one ever.  They get upset about the dumbest stuff and you hate to give in to them but if you don't, they'll scream their heads off and everyone will stare at you with the look as if to say "Poor lady. But what did she expect with having so many kids??!" Mostly I had to pacify him with my phone. I tried to hold him off as long as I could each meal with books and toys but he got bored of those eventually. I do hate to be the person who resorts to electronics at the dinner table but boy, did it make things so much more pleasant.

Brady always wanted to sit next to Camden.

Love my boys!

He's like, "What?  You want me to be quiet and play with this darn shark for the next two hours?!! Nonsense I say!"

We did have two tables of eight and we quickly discovered that they had different waiters.  The first evening, Duncan and I sat at Table 311 and our waiter introduced himself as RJ from the Philippines. I told him he had a lot to live up to since our very good friend was from there and he was a great guy. I'm not sure that RJ ever lived up to that...maybe I put too much pressure on him.  In actuality, he probably did a great job but he was living in the shadow of Peter, the waiter from India at Table 312 who was just a terrific guy all around.  He is just the kind of waiter you dream about having...very personable and attentive to your needs.  He took down everyone's name the first night so he could call them by name and when he found out most everyone was vegetarian, for the rest of the cruise he would bring us out an Indian entree (along with the entree we would also order off the menu) even for those that got the short straw that night and sat at 311. He would also have fruit and appetizers ready and waiting for the kids and on two nights, he brought us out giant trays of egg rolls and samosas as soon as we sat down. If he was working us for an extra tip, mission accomplished!  Since we all wanted to sit at his table, we had to rotate each night who sat where to keep it fair.  The assistant waiter was Lui, who was 22 and from China.  He was so smiley all the time and friendly and we all just loved him.  It's funny because when we did our Alaskan cruise, many moons ago now, we have not forgotten the assistant waiter we had then, Katut.  This is why I will never do the freestyle dining - - I like coming to the same table each evening and having the same waiters so that you can get to know them.

Table 312

Some of the dining rooms on cruises have been so gaudy and ugly but I thought this one was quite lovely (it was three stories).

One morning we convinced the others to eat in the dining room so I could enjoy the thick french toast.

Samosas end egg rolls.

Peter

Lui

RJ on the left.

Not all of the dining room staff were quite so charming.  There was a 20-something woman assistant waiter for another table who would now and then do something for our table.  On Friday, the girls were sporting their braids that they had gotten in St. Maarten. This lady walks by and notices Acadia's (who is FIVE) braids.  She fingers them and says "Oh, aren't these sexy." Did I mention Acadia is FIVE? Awkward!!  But it doesn't end there.  She starts getting chit chatty and says "When I got on this ship, my sister's baby was only a week old.  I did a web chat with them and when I saw my niece who is now four months old, I said 'Who the f$*% is that???'" Except she didn't say "f$*&." She said the actual word.  Thank goodness she had a bit of an accent.  But who says that to a table with a bunch of little kids???

So RJ did do a magic trick one night which was cool but the lady in the background is the offending lady in this story.

But, enough about the food and dining experience.  Our first stop was to be the next day, Monday. We were stopping at Coco Cay which is Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas.  The only other time I've been on RCI, which was my honeymoon, we skipped it due to weather.  Well, as they say deja vu all over again.  As were walking into the dining room to check out the menu Monday morning, the captain came on over the loud speaker and informed us that they had to cancel the stop because it was too windy.  We had to tender in at the stop and it was just too dangerous for those boats. We were obviously disappointed but it was indeed windy so it was understandable.  The whole thing did give us a good laugh though and became a running joke for the rest of the cruise.The captain must have come on about three more times to make the same announcement and he would also emphasize that the other ship, a Carnaval, that we could see next to us wasn't making the stop either.  Carnaval shares the other half of the island. He also mentioned that this was typical of the "winter season" to miss the stop.    Anyway, the captain was Norwegian and had a bit of a thick accent and tended to draw out his words and make big pauses between words which unfortunately set him up for some good natured imitation by a few men of our group.  "Gooooood moooooorning, ladies and gentleman.  I am....afraiiiid to inform you....that as uuuuusual for this time....of yeaaaaar.....we have hit an iceberg....and willll not...be able....to ssssstop at St. Thomas.....but don't worrrrry....so didddd...twoooo other shipppps." Anyway, we got some good mileage out of it.

With that option now out, we looked to fill a day at sea.  I thought about putting on my bathing suit, grabbing my Kindle, and relaxing out in the warm sun.  But then I remembered that I had four children.  Shucks.  But wait!  There was an Adventure Ocean club.  You could drop off kids who were 3+ and potty trained from 9:00 - 12:00 and then from 2:00 to just about whenever.  The groupings were ages 3-5 and then 6-8 as it pertained to our kids.  It was a good thing that the cousins were there because I'm sure Brady would have never done it by himself.  But he had Acadia with him so it was all good.  Within a few minutes, I was down to one kid.  So I settled for lying on my bed, in my clothes, but I did have my Kindle!  Colby is quite good at entertaining himself with his trucks and books so I will say that the time was pretty relaxing.

He would set all his cars up on the ledge next to the window.

In the afternoon, as was our custom for our sea days, we would do the pool.  Now, I think I mentioned that I was worried about Colby and the pool/potty training situation.  My understanding was that there were no pools that the kids who weren't potty trained could go into.  I had read it in a review done by a traveller who had gone on our exact ship a few months previous and then it also rang a bell from when we cruised when Calleigh was 10-months old.  I was prepared to stick Colby into the pool with no diaper (they couldn't wear swim diapers) and hope no one would ask me if he was potty trained.  Well, here I was pleasantly surprised again because they DID have a pool for the unpotty trained.  It was shallow and warm and perfect for a 2-year old.  It even had some little waves because of the natural rocking of the boat.  Colby and Winnie brought their toys in there and had a grand time.  All that "stress" for nothing!

The kids' pool area

Adult pool area (but kids were allowed)

Winslow and Colby in their pool.

The moms hanging out at the kiddie pool.

Practicing their snorkeling

They had soft serve ice cream right next to the pool so one afternoon we let them have it (No, we aren't mean but they were also having ice cream every night at the dining room!)

They spent a lot of their time in the hot tub.  Apparently this was right after having the ice cream, by the mess on Brady's face.

But they also enjoyed running around in the splash play area too.

On Tuesday afternoon (which happened to be Duncan's birthday), I was with Colby for his nap and Camille was with the kids in one of the wave pools in the non-kid section. As the story goes, the kids were practicing their snorkeling when Camille noticed that Aubree's mouth seemed to have some blood on it.  Low and behold, it turns out Aubree's tooth had come out.  That darn tooth has been hanging by a thread for the last week and I was getting sick of it.  Calleigh had apparently bumped into Aubree's mouth with her snorkel which must have finally jarred it lose.  Unfortunately, they didn't know where the tooth was.  Calleigh put her snorkel back on, dove in, and what do you know, but comes up with the tooth.  Somehow she had miraculously seen it on the bottom of the pool (along with an earring and some trash).  A baby tooth is very tiny and would blend in with the white bottom of the pool so it seemed highly unlikely it would be found but she did it.  Makes for a good story to lose your very first tooth on your dad's birthday and lose it in a cruise ship pool!  Somehow though, Aubree was distraught about the whole thing although I'm really not sure why.  She started crying really hard and Camille told me she was desperate and ended up telling Aubree she would probably get some extra money for the tooth because of the circumstances.  Uh thanks Camille!  But no, that was fine. Camille finally had to come knock on the door and get me out of the room (Colby thankfully didn't wake up) to try and comfort Aubree which I was eventually able to do. Incidentally, Duncan was enjoying his birthday gift - - a massage at the spa - - during this time which was why he was no help.

Calleigh looking for the tooth?  Not sure this is the exact picture.

Sure, we had the week of the cruise to enjoy time with all the family in town but they were here at our house for a week surrounding the cruise which presented lots of other opportunities for fun.  I'm going to mainly post pictures of all we did to save time.

My parents and Aunt Wanda went to the Strawberry Festival in Plant City.

Aubree and Camden working on a perler bead project.  A short time later, Colby spilled all the beads on the floor.  That was fun.

A trip to Legoland on Friday, March 4.  We actually went with Jennifer's field trip through Champion because the homeschool day would have been Monday after we got back from the cruise and we didn't think we would be up for it.

Colby planning out our route while Papa looks on.

It's amazing how much better of a driver he is now compared to when he was three.

We had a little delay on this ride because a little girl broke through the line and ran to get into one of the cars.  All these alarms started going off and they completely shut down the ride.  Someone had to come and inspect everything and then they finally restarted it.

This ride is called Chima and you get soaking wet on it.  Fortunately I knew that and brought four ponchos.  I don't like walking around wet!  Brady did not want to go on it but we finally convinced him to do it (there are water guns you shoot at people) and he LOVED it.  All he wanted to do is go on this ride after that.

You had to be 34 inches to go on some of these tame rides and Colby juuussst made it.  Winnie is shorter and we were afraid she would get turned away but thankfully the employees weren't complete sticklers and they let her through. This boat ride was one of the few that we all could go on.

Just a little excited!

Colby and Papa...of course.

There were quite a few rides these two couldn't go on so this is how they killed some of the time.

The girls  performed "I'm a CREATION kid" during first service on Sabbath, March 5 with the drama club. They didn't actually sing - - more like mouthed the words to a sound track.  They picked their letters to correspond with their names.

My dad with his three sisters, Shirley, Mary, and Wanda. When he is in town, they swarm from all over the state.

Getting ready to load up to head to the cruise terminal.

We went to the Science Center on Monday, March 14.  We had a great time but we did have a couple of scares.  First, we thought Calleigh had broken her arm again.  She was walking on these giant block stilts when she took an awkward fall and landed on her arm - - the left one, same one she broke last time.  She said the same thing too, "I'm okay." But you could see tears forming and she was holding her arm tightly.  My mom checked it all out and found that she could wriggle her fingers so we thought it was probably okay.  I was at least glad we were right next to the orthopedist if it came to that.  She held her arm for about an hour but finally let it go.  Phew.  The second scare was later in the evening when we discovered that Shawn and Camille had left their camera there.  Yes, its strange that people still use those fossils but it's true!  I called the next morning (Shawn and Camille were on a plane back home already) and they called me back a short time later and said they found it.  Another "crisis" averted.

It just so happened to be "Pi" day (3/14) and they were giving out free pie.  This created a hysterical story involving my mother.  Please ask me to tell you about it.  I didn't want to put it on here.

On my parents' last night here, we went to Kobe Steakhouse since Duncan and Ron had their free birthday coupons (you can use it any time during the month of your birthday). It was also Kids Eat Free so it worked out well.

With the cruise and cousin time over, it meant one thing - - back to school!  A break can be a blessing and a curse.  It's good to have the break but on the other hand, the kids (more specifically, Calleigh) get too comfortable with just "playing" all the time.  We have hit a few rough days over the last few weeks but I've tried to reel her in by changing things up a bit.  We've done school downstairs on the kitchen table and outside a couple of days rather than just staying upstairs in our school room.  That has helped a bit.  The biggest problem is the same as last year.  She's sick of doing math!  She was all excited this year to do her math on the computer and all has gone well until about a week ago when she announced that it took too much time to do it on the computer and that she would rather do it in the book or go back to the math she did last year (that was Math-You-See which we abruptly ended after a lot of crying and frustration).  Apparently the grass is always greener on the other side. I told her she had to finish this year with what she has and we will re-assess then for next year.  We shall see!

Here is a prime example of the many challenges I face.  Notice the title at the top. The "out" has been mysteriously scribbled out.

She does enjoy some parts of school but she often complains that she wants to be doing something more fun instead of school.  This is what she'll say:  "I will never be free. I have to do this school and then I have to go to high school and then college and then I'll have to get a job and then I'll get married and have a baby and then I'll have to pay for that kid to go to college so I'll have to work again.  I just won't ever be free." Oh the drama.  I patiently try to explain to her that she only has to do school for a couple of hours a day compared to other kids who are in school for like eight hours a day but the message doesn't seem to resonate most of the time.  I take solace in the fact that some very smart and successful people I know didn't like school either so all is not lost. Hopefully!

Aubree, on the other hand, is pretty much the exact opposite.  She very rarely complains about school.  She was doing Math-You-See this year and like Calleigh, she didn't finish the book but only because it was too easy so we skipped it.  A few weeks ago she started on the same Teaching Textbooks, Grade 3 (it starts at Grade 3) curriculum Calleigh is using.  It starts off very, very gently hence why I felt comfortable with her going right into 3rd.  So far so good.  We were doing Spelling-You-See for her too and it had her spelling words like "hat,""dog," etc which was too easy.  She has been wanting to use the same curriculum as Calleigh for Spelling (A Reason for Spelling) so I told her I would order it for 2nd grade and we would get started.  The book came a few days later (after her asking every day in between when it would be there) and we did the pretest and she easily got every word right.  Hmm.  Wasn't sure what to do then.  I ended up giving her the placement test for 3rd grade spelling (the same one Calleigh is doing) and she got 15 of 20 words correct which meant she should be doing third grade.  I think the big difference is that Aubree has been doing "Explode the Code" which is a spelling/phonics book that Calleigh never did.  At any rate, now she is doing third grade math, spelling, and then Bible, geography, and science.  I told her she is basically a third grader now.  I think Calleigh might have overheard me and made a face so I realized I need to tread lightly with this.

Third grade spelling placement test.  You may notice that she still writes some of her numbers backwards

I don't write all this so I can brag about how smart Aubree is or whatever but just to use it as a testament to God giving me encouragement.  It would be pretty easy to get discouraged if I just had Calleigh - - questioning myself as to whether I'm doing a good job, am I not a good teacher, am I not doing this right?  But no matter what, I will not give up.  Not even a possibility but it does keep me going when I see that at least someone is getting something out of all this!

Studied "The Scream" for art so the kids decided to mimic it.  That is the art card attached to Aubree's head.

Home school is not all bookwork, of course!  We have also done some fun field trips the last few weeks.

Going to Chick-fil-A on a Thursday morning for Violet's birthday party counts as a field trip, right??

Some of the kids who are usually in school as this time were on spring break.  So a mid-week party worked out perfectly.

Notice the billboard.  Pretty cool!

Field trip to Better Times Farm in Winter Garden where the kids got to feed the horses carrots and apples.

This horse was named Khalie (or some weird variation but same pronunciation as "Calleigh") but was a male.  The lady giving us the tour said he was the best horse they had (as far as temperament) on the farm.

Brady trying to five the donkey a carrot.  They weren't allowed to give the donkeys apples because apples make donkeys fat.  True story.

Field trip to Winter Garden Pizza Company where we did a tour of the restaurant and the kids got to make their own pizzas.

We also had Easter thrown in there last week.  With it falling in March this year, that caused some scheduling problems as Ron and Elaine were up north celebrating granddaughter Zoe's birthday.  And thus, our annual tradition of brunch and an egg hunt at their house on Easter morning, came to an end.  The kids (and me!) were exceedingly disappointed but we understood it was for a good reason. It all probably worked out for the best anyway because they ended up having soccer on Easter morning.  We had missed the first week being on the cruise and then the next week was rained out. The girls felt bad that they would have to wait another week because of Easter but then I discovered they were having it despite the holiday. So there you go! All for the best.  I didn't feel too bad about missing the egg hunt at Ron and Elaine's though since we still had the big one at the Hilliard estate, the party put on by Jennifer and Heather.  It was beautifully done as usual.

They changed things up this year and had the shin dig on the front lawn under a tent.  They even had a little jazz band playing.  It was SO nice.  Some said it felt like Downton Abbey but that comparison is lost on me.

The sweets table.  ALL made by Jennifer.  That lady is a machine.

The boys inspecting the eggs that are waiting to be hidden.

Brady playing "croquet" with his two lady friends, Violet and Mollie.

Calleigh and Aubree are "little girl" crazy between Winslow on the cruise, London (pictured here) and Pamela below.

"We want a little sister!"

The hunt is on.

HUGE territory to cover!

Not the best family photo ever.

Since the relatives left, we've been in a little bind with Colby.  Apparently Calleigh or Papa or both, read him a Bernstein Bears book with the title "Who's afraid of the Dark?" or something to that affect...unbeknownst to me.  Later, when I put him to bed, he cried and said he was scarred.  I had Brady come sleep on the floor next to his crib and that solved the problem but it then started a rotation of each sibling taking a turn sleeping in his room every night.  It actually works out really well for me because I don't hear from him at all!  Often he would wake up around 7:00 am and I'd go up and get him out of his crib and lie on the floor with him for another hour or so.  Not any more!  I figured that this was a sign that we could combine the boys into one room now.  But...that also means that Calleigh would be taking Colby's room which creates a lot of work for us with getting all new furniture, moving stuff around and all that and are we ready to undertake that all?  We shall see.

Aubree taking her shift.

Another thing that has been happening is that Calleigh's bouts of vomiting have been getting more frequent.  Whereas it was happening about every six to eight weeks, the last two months, it's been like four weeks, than two, and most recently, six days.  I had self diagnosed her with cyclical vomiting syndrome but it's clear to me that she needs to see a doctor now so she's scheduled for Wednesday morning.  I'm sure what is about to follow is a bunch of blood work which I know won't be fun.

I'm going to just put up the rest of the past few weeks in pictures...

Since the kids are continuing with their ice skating lessons we got them ice skates since it's cheaper than continuing with the rentals.

Brady was so excited about his that he put them on as soon as he woke up the next morning, even before he ate breakfast.

Just fooling around and putting Colby in their American Girl doll glasses.

Working on the "Kitchen" honor for Adventurers.  Brady went into a panic when he saw they were making salad.  He was so worried he would have to eat it but I told him I would do it.

No problems for Colby though!!

Aubree and I went to a Gaither Vocal Band concert at the Bob Carr on Saturday, March 19.  It was SO fantastic.  I loved every minute of it!

With Adam Crabb one of the singers.

On Sunday, March 20, I took a "Corey" day while Duncan took the kids to various places.  Here, at Bass Pro.

Later, to the pool.  Still a bit chilly though.

Our friend Eric Badillo was in town and came over for a visit with his fiancee, Tina, whom we got to meet for the first time. We were very impressed.  Of course, I already felt she was a kindred spirit when I saw that it was a short engagement and her mom was doing most of the preparations because the wedding is in a different city from where Tina lives.

Out yard sale-ing a few weeks ago and noticed this guy had a Boston shirt and Red Sox hat.  He was from New Hampshire and when I said I was from NE, he ran and got this can of Moxie for me.  It is a soda from NE and his aunt brings him cases of it down every time she comes.  This was from his last case so I felt very honored.  I hadn't had Moxie in over 20 years when an ex-boyfriend brought it instead of water on a hiking trip.  What's crazier?  That I was hiking or that he didn't bring water??

Last Sabbath we took a late afternoon trip up to Mt. Dora so I could visit my friend Karri (the one whose daughter died in a car crash).  The kids and Duncan stayed at a playground while I went to visit.

We brought a picnic supper that we had to eat VERY fast because there was thunder and lightening happening all around us and we weren't quite sure if it was good to be under a metal roof.

As I mentioned before, soccer has resumed.  It's a different field that is closer to us and with better shade.

Aubree's group.  Although Calleigh's group is bigger, Aubree's seems to be smaller so Calleigh got to play in Aubree's game so she was quite thrilled.

Thankfully there is still a playground for the boys.

Just eating a snack, watching the game.

Brady is already sick of emptying the silverware so he thought he'd teach Colby.

Some mornings school gets put on hold for a bit when the kids are all playing so nicely with the Legos.

Putting on a show for Grandma and Grandpa. Apparently Colby was supposed to be the lead singer.

Grandma and Grandpa brought some new hats and balls with them from their trip up north.

Yard sale-ing on Friday and the kids hit the "best yard sale ever." They got these Build-A-Bear's for $2 each and a whole giant box of Build-A-Bear accessories (clothes, shoes, props, etc) for $10.  As we were leaving, the lady says "Would they like to take another bear each for free?" She was so nice.  The kids were in heaven.  We got it all for $18 and I'm sure she must have spent at least $400.

Have a great week.
 

Have you ever had these words spoken to you as an adult courtesy of another adult? Well, neither had I until last week.  I will expound.

Last week we went on a field trip to the Wycliffe Discovery Center which is in Orlando. This place has a special place in our hearts because earlier in the school year we had read the book about Cameron Townsend, a missionary to Guatemala and Mexico who founded Wycliffe. I first had to get over the shook of hearing it pronounced Wi-cliffe, like with a short '"i" rather than like "Why." Had my parents led me astray all these years with mispronouncing it?? But after checking with Elaine, who I would consider an English expert since she's from England, she proclaimed it is "Why" but they've Americanized it by saying "Wi-cliffe." Crisis averted!  Anyway, we were on this trip with four other homeschooling families and then they happened to put a group of elderly folks on the tour with us. The tour was excellent.  The guide was really animated and it was fascinating.  The gist of it is that Wycliffe was established to translate the Bible into all languages around the world. There are more than 7,000 languages in existence and so far the Bible has been translated into 5,500 of them.  Only 1,500 to go!

Our tour guide explained how difficult it is to translate.  For example, the English phrase "to carry" can be translated 24 different ways into one language depending on various factors (like what you are carrying or how you are carrying it, etc).  Thus, on average it will take 20 years to translate the Bible into a new language.

At the conclusion of the tour, we were able to walk around the area and look at things more in depth on our own.  One particular station had four computers where you could type in your name and print out a sheet that would show it translated into various languages like Arabic, Latin, etc.  The girls, along with their friend Graciana, were busy doing this while at the same time, an older lady who had been on the tour was trying to do the same thing.  She was getting frustrated because hers wouldn't print out.  She asked an employee to help her and the employee told the girls to stop typing for a minute in case it was preventing the lady's from printing.  So they stopped and as the older lady fiddled with the computer, something indeed printed out.  But it was Calleigh's name.  When she saw it, she gets upset and says to me, "You really should have them mind you." I said "Ma'am, they haven't touched a thing." Which was true.  They hadn't touched the computer.  It obviously was just delayed in printing.  This should have been my first sign that she was trouble.

Lunch

We took a break for lunch (they have a really nice cafe where I had a delicious black bean burger) and then walked around a little more.  Now, my kids aren't perfect by an means but they generally have good behavior out in public.  They can be a little loud but most of the time they aren't screaming or running around uncontrollably.  So I was somewhat surprised when this same older lady comes up to me and another mom whom I was talking to and this is how it went down:

Lady:"Are these your kids?"
Me:"Some of them, yes." (I was holding Colby at the moment and the other three were behind me on computers.)
Lady:"YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES. These kids are running around screaming bloody murder when other people are trying to look around."
Me: "I am sorry."
Lady:"WHY ARE YOU SMILING AT ME?"
Me:"I'm just apologizing, I'm sorry."
Lady: "Well, you should have your kids mind you.  This is not right."

And on and on she went.  She finally walked away and I said "God bless you" (in a sincere tone).

So, it turns out that some of the other lady's kids WERE acting in a very inappropriate manner according to my girls.  They were throwing things at the wall and screaming.  I can totally understand why she would be upset in that case.  But, a big BUT, I told the kids that the manner in which she handled the situation was not correct and furthermore, when someone apologizes for it, you don't keep piling it on.  This all weighed on my mind for the rest of the day and even though I really don't think mine were out of line, it's entirely possible they may have been too loud and I vow to keep better watch. Oh, I have to add that I found it a little ironic that we were in a deeply religious setting when this all went down.

We went from annoying the elderly (or one elder) to pleasing the elderly in the matter of a week.  On Monday we did a field trip to an assisted living center in Winter Garden. The purpose was for the kids to show their talents by playing the piano, violin, giving a speech, etc.  There were about a dozen kids including Calleigh and Aubree who obviously chose to play the piano.  I have to give them credit because I'm positive I would never have voluntarily played the piano like that as a kid.  Before they performed, we took some time going around the room meeting the residents and giving out artwork that the girls have done in their Tuesday art class.  The residents were all SO kind, friendly, and appreciative and I have to say that I loved talking to them and hearing their stories about where they were from, etc.  The first lady I met was from Maine so I chitchatted a bit about how my brother lived in Maine. As you can imagine, pretty much everyone was from someplace other than Florida which goes with my theory that the only native Floridians I know are kids.  

The girls did great.  Calleigh played "Alma Matter Blues" and Aubree did "Amazing Grace." She sang as well but unfortunately you could hardly hear her over the sound of the piano.  She definitely needed a mic.  As good a job as they did, I was blown away by some of the other kids who performed plays and speeches.  This one lady had six kids and the four older ones all performed and they were unbelievable.  One of them recited a whole "Amelia Bedelia" book and changed voices and acted out the parts for each character.  He was eight.  Another teenage girl gave about a ten to twelve minute speech which was an excerpt from a book.  I could not believe the talent these kids had! I told them so afterwards and they said they competed in competitions.  I can believe it.

Two of the boys did a play about bullying.

Calleigh

Aubree

This little girl was five and did a monologue on the story "Are You My Mother" which is a children's book about a little animal trying to find it's mother.  She did it complete with all the animal noises and seriously, it was one of the cutest things I've ever heard.  She was adorable.

All the performers.

As we were leaving, one of the employees told us that this resident, Bob, could play the piano so we asked him to play us a number.

Two weeks ago we had Investiture for Adventurers.  A few weeks previous to that, at one of the meetings, the kids had all practiced on stage singing their theme song. Brady refused to go up there but said he would for the actual performance.  I didn't really believe he would but he did.  The sang twice for church and then again for the Investiture later in the day and he did it all three times. Elaine asked him about it afterwards and he said it was fun.  Wow!  He sure has come a long way.  The kids each go on the stage by themselves when their name is called to get their certificate, pin, and their trophy and he did that fine too.  I think he was pretty excited to get his trophy because he sees the girls'. So ends Adventurers until next year.

Singing for church.  Aubree on the far right.

Calleigh in the middle.

And little Brady.

Getting ready to march in for the ceremony.

Getting his pin and trophy.

Grandpa read Colby books pretty much the whole time.

Group picture

Hanging with the Bergherms, of course.

Last week I took Calleigh in for her doctor's appointment regarding her vomiting.  The doc asked a lot of questions, of course, and Calleigh had to give a urine sample to see if there was any sugar in her urine or anything.  That came back negative.  I was expecting that we would go to blood work next but the doctor said she wanted to do a brain MRI to start with.  If she had any kind of head trauma, like a fall or whatever, it could cause nausea.  Of course, I am not aware of anything like that happening and why would it happen over such a long length of time (been going on for more than a year) and an MRI seems pretty extreme.  But, Duncan talked to one of his doctor friends and he said that it is reasonable for them to start with something that would be most serious (something in the head or brain) and if that's negative to work back from there.  So she goes tomorrow evening for the MRI.  Yes, a Sunday evening.  Weird but I'll take it because Duncan can take her.

On the way back to Grandma and Grandpa's from the appointment - - pumping gas for the first time.

Ron and Elaine took care of the three younger while we were at the doctor.  Elaine showed us the snakeskin she had found.

Last Sunday was a busy day for us.  First the girls had soccer (they allowed Aubree to play in the older group so she didn't have to miss hers) and then from there it was on to the Ladies and Daughters Tea at the church with Elaine joining us.  The theme this year was "If an Apron Could Talk" and they encouraged us to think about different stories or memories we have involving aprons.  Elaine whispered to Calleigh that she had once accidentally answered the front door to the delivery guy with just an apron and her underwear on which of course, dissolved Calleigh into a fit of giggles.  A little while later, they opened the floor for people to share their stories with everyone and Calleigh quickly volunteered Elaine to go first which she did.  Good times!  This is the second year we have gone now and it is quite lovely.  I had forgotten to bring my own tea just in case and Elaine had brought a tea bag for herself (we both like just plain tea) but fortunately they had an "Irish Breakfast" tea there that Elaine said was suitable.  Which it was.

Different ladies are in charge of decorating each table so they all come out different but all so pretty.

We sat at Patti's table again.

Grandma telling her story.

Later in the day, Jennifer and I had a volunteer outing with the consignment sale "Boutique for a Week." You have to price and tag all your own stuff so the week before I had been working each night on it.  We decided to volunteer because you get to shop earlier than everyone else and we thought it would be fun.  Since the sale hadn't opened yet, our stint was just helping people hang and place their stuff.  We worked from 5:00 - 9:30 and about half way through my dogs were already barking.  I said to Jennifer "How was I able to waitress and be on my feet for like 12 hours straight?" She quickly reminded me that I was a lot younger then.  Yeah, I guess 20 years has gone by.  Wow. We got to shop early - - which was on Monday evening and we did note that there seemed to be much better stuff than when we normally go so it looks like we will be volunteering every time now.  I did spent a bit of money but I'm glad to say that I definitely spent less than what I made selling - - $331. One interesting thing - - one of the other volunteers was a woman named Corey.  I don't know if I have ever met another woman with my name spelled the same way.  If you ever see a woman with the name Corey, it's usually spelled all cutesy like "Cori" or "Kori" or something.

This week our upstairs has been in a state of turmoil.  As I mentioned in the last entry, Colby hasn't been able to sleep by himself at night so we decided it was time to switch up the rooms.  Duncan started the process on Sunday and it is quite a process, indeed. So this all that happened:

-Brady & Colby are now in the girls' old room.
-Aubree is in Brady's old room.
-Calleigh is in Colby's old room.

We said we didn't want to paint so the newcomers have to just go with what is in their new room. Yes, this means the boys now have a light yellow room but we think we can make it look pretty nice when we turn it into a safari theme. Aubree kept all her white furniture which fits in nicely with her Americana room. We took off the top of the bunkbed and now she just has her bottom double bed. Calleigh got all new furniture which arrived yesterday to go in her "jungle" themed room (she got the same furniture that Aubree has except in black).  The boys have their matching crib/toddler bed and dressers except they are different colors. We were thinking of getting a new bed for Brady but it seems like we should get his and Colby's at the same time to make sure they match.  Since I have no intentions WHATSOEVER to move Colby out of his crib any time soon, we decided to just hold off on getting beds and dressers for them because I don't want to have to store a bed for Colby until he needs it.  Poor Duncan worked so hard on Sunday moving all the furniture around in the case of the bunkbed, having to take it all apart and then put it back together again (at least the bottom part of it) in the new room.

Aubree's new room.

Calleigh's new room.

Duncan had all the manual labor but then I was left with moving all the clothes into the new rooms and cleaning up all the other stuff that had moved out of one bedroom and seemed to no longer have a home.  It was/is quite an undertaking.  Thank goodness for Grandma and Grandpa!  They came and took the kids on Wednesday morning and had them for a good portion of the day which really helped me to get a lot of work done. What a Godsend.

Lots of fun!

Thursday night there was still a lot of work to be done and as I looked at the clock and it struck midnight and I saw the eight baskets of laundry that needed to be folded, I had to just plow on.  My cousin Shannon and her family are coming to stay here on Sunday for a few days after their cruise so I knew I needed things to be in order by the time she gets here.  Sabbath I obviously wouldn't be doing anything around the house so that didn't leave much time.  No choice but to get laundry folded then and there.  It took me until 1:30.  Friday morning, I woke up around 5:00 am and I felt awful.  It felt like I had a head cold.  Between that and all the work I had to get done by Sunday afternoon I had to make the unbelievable decision to SKIP YARD SALES.  You know things are really crazy if that happens.  I don't think it has ever happened in all my years of yard sale-ing. So, I spent that time working more upstairs.  I ate breakfast but then didn't eat any lunch.  I had no appetite and I was so tired.  Thankfully Duncan got home early and could be here to facilitate Calleigh's furniture delivery. Last night I went to bed at 8:45 pm and this morning felt a little better but didn't go to church which I HATE to miss. Hopefully all will be well come tomorrow.  Ain't got no time for this!

In closing, some additional random pictures...

Early morning art work

Found Brady sleeping like this.  Is it really comfortable sleeping with your hand down the back of your pants??

Found this at a yard sale for a $1 total.  This is the math curriculum Aubree used this year and I know this is probably worth at least $100.  Doubt I'll save it until high school though!

We had Friday night supper at a house of some new church attendees that we've befriended,  They have four kids and homeschool.  This is Graciana (8) and Joseph (3).

Edward, Misty, and oldest daughter Magdaline who is 14.  She has no cell phone which is refreshing to see.  She was very sociable and stayed engaged in dinner conversation with us all evening.

Brady came into Colby's Sabbath School class at the end of class and Colby was so happy to see him it was like they had been parted for days.

Sabbath afternoon bike ride to the park and we ran into the Isidros.

Beautiful day to be on the West Orange Trail

Playing the Geography game for school.  We are studying Africa, most specifically Kenya, right now.

Making the dough to design some safari animals.

Finishing up a puzzle to go along with Science.

One of the advantages of having girls...while you do the read aloud during school, they do your hair.

We joined a new homeschool PE class at the Orlando Magic Rec Center nearby.  It meets every Wednesday and is only $8 for the entire month.  Can't beat that with a stick.  Our new friends mentioned above are also in the class.

They have a rec room that the boys hung out in some of the time.

Some Sabbath afternoon artwork by Aubree.

How a mom rolls to first service on Sabbath morning.  Have to eat your yogurt and drink your tea on the way to church with a towel covering for protection!

Brady volunteered to be Jesus in Sabbath School!  That is him sleeping on the boat during the storm.

Happy Sabbath and have a great week.

Last weekend we were at Camp Kulaqua for church retreat, hence my lack of a post (hey, at least I have a good excuse).  Since we now have retreat for Adventurers at Camp Kulaqua we were there in October so this trip marked out third time in the last calendar year.  The kids love it so it's all good. That wasn't meant to imply that we adults don't love it.  That being said, I was still feeling pretty crummy at the end of the week and thought about just sending Duncan up with the kids but I knew that would go over like a lead balloon.  So I pressed on like we mothers tend to do.

We go up after Duncan gets out of work on Friday and congregate at a local diner for supper (it's about a two hour drive to camp).  The first year we "discovered" this diner, there were only three families.  This year there were like ten and I think we may have officially overdone our welcome with the massive amount of kids.  It may be on to Plan B.

Our lodging arrangement was the same as usual - - us, Bergherms, and Isidros in the mini-lodge. No sooner did we start getting settled in then a loud noise deafened our ears.  Turns out that one Colby Cabot Grodack had pulled the red fire alarm lever as he walked down the stairs.  To be fair, it was exactly at his level and he had no idea what it was so why WOULDN'T he pull it?  He's two!!  Of course, the poor thing started crying and kept asking if he was in trouble.  Gave me an excuse to cuddle and give him a million kisses.  There was a sign next to the alarm saying there was a $50 fine if the alarm was accidentally pulled so then the girls got all worried we would have to pay. Bruce tracked down a maintenance person for us and after about ten minutes of listening to the horrifyingly loud ringing, the guy came and turned it off for us.  We questioned him about the placement of the alarm and he said they pretty much had to do that because of handicap requirements.  Makes sense I suppose.  And no, he did not charge us $50.  I told the girls he wouldn't make us pay on Sabbath!

Resetting the alarm that Colby pulled.

That was out first snafu upon arriving.  The second was Brady's bike pedals.  Due to a series of events where one of Brady's bike pedals broke, and then the back up pedals were put on a bike we ended up donating, Brady needed a new set of pedals.  Duncan bought some for him a few days before we left for camp but never put them on the bike. Once we were there and he went to put them on, oops, they were too big. So now Brady only had the one pedal. It was Sabbath and there wasn't even a convenient place to go get some after Sabbath.  Major fail because Camp Kulaqua is all about the bike riding.  Fortunately Duncan was able to jimmy rig a pedal by borrowing an Allen wrench - - from Allen - - and securing it with some hair ties.  Voila!  It worked.  Crisis averted.

We had a nice Sabbath at camp despite my horrible night sleep on Friday night.  Colby was back to his old tricks by sleeping with me - - pulling my hair, lying on top of me, generally being a major nuisance the whole night.  I put the kibosh on that on Saturday night by having Duncan sleep with me (instead of the single bed) so that he could give Colby a stern look if he awoke during the night and wanted to come in my bed.  It ended up not being necessary fortunately.

Hanging out on Johnny's lap watching the program.

A guy named Mr. Doodad did Sabbath School. He talked about health and how our bodies are temples of God.  Unfortunately he talked about the sugar content of Mountain Dew and when he asked if anyone's parents drank it, Calleigh was quick to wave her hand wildly in the air.

Calleigh, Braelyn, and Marley

I felt like I was in Copenhagen.

I get asked almost every day if these two are twins.  Because, yes, they are so similar in size.  I joke. About the size, not about getting asked that.

Calleigh is always happy to get to hold London.

Checking out the tiger.

Waiting for Sabbath supper potluck.

I think someone invented the S'mores to cover up the horrible taste of a marshmallow.  Didn't work.

After sunset, it was to the gym for some fun and games.

On Sunday morning, the kids found a baby bird sitting in the street.  We were worried the mom would never find it or reject it but are happy to report that this story has a happy ending.  They put the bird near where they found it and the mom came for it.

Mini Lodge # 7

Couldn't leave without doing the blob.

Over the weekend, Aubree lost her second tooth which had been hanging around "by a thread" for the last four weeks, at least.  The adult tooth was already half in.  Every night as I brushed her teeth, I kept fantasizing about "accidentally" hitting it with the toothbrush just to be done with it.  But I resisted.  While we were at camp, Duncan took on the tooth brushing duties and suddenly Aubree comes running over to me, with her hand cupped under her bleeding mouth.  "Daddy accidentally hit into my tooth," she cries.  She was upset for a minute or two and then calmed down and was glad it was out.  I took a look at Duncan and he gave me a wink.  That's what I thought.

Going back to two weeks ago, Sunday the 17th was the big day for Calleigh.  First, she had a soccer game with Duncan.  He had gotten some free tickets to the Orlando City (the professional team in town) game versus the New England Revolution.  As luck would have it, it was Calleigh's turn to get to do something with one of us so it worked out perfectly (if one can even use the word "perfect" at all in association with having to watch a soccer game).  She was quite torn on whether to root for the Revolution, since they are obviously from NE like the Patriots and have the same owner or if she should go for the home town team.  I told her to go for the home team which she ended up doing and scored a new hat in the process.  The thing that was perfect was that she had her brain MRI scheduled for 7:00 pm not far from the soccer stadium so they could zip over from the game to the appointment. They ended up only staying for the first half but according to Duncan, it FELT like a whole game. Wouldn't have mattered anyway because it ended in that exciting phenomenon known as a tie (2-2), which as my Dad would say "Is as bad as kissing your sister."


As Calleigh reported it, the MRI went fine.  It wasn't a big deal to lie there other than the fact that it was really boring.  When Duncan retold the story after she went to bed, it turns out she had left out the dramatic part where they tried to stick a needle in her arm to do a second MRI with contrast and she went screaming and running out of the room. Fortunately, that had been right at the end and all had gone well before that point. They decided they didn't need the contrast so she was off the hook. I'm afraid my girl is just like me with the needles although I am pleased to say I outgrew the fear once I started having kids.

Because they had showed Calleigh the pictures after it was done, we figured they didn't see anything particularly alarming so it wasn't too difficult to wait all the way until Friday to get the results.  The nurse called Friday morning to report they didn't see any tumors or anything else out of the ordinary. It was still good to hear that though. The doctor recommended seeing a GI doctor as our next step so I need to schedule that. Meanwhile, we have now been four weeks since the last vomiting episode so that's good news at least after the very short stretches recently.

Also last week, we had visitors at our house from Sunday to Wednesday.  My cousin Shannon and husband Sean, kids Finley(4), Griffen(2), and Hudson (6 months) came to visit after their cruise. Shannon, of course, lived here in 2008ish but hadn't been back to the Orlando area since moving back up north.  She was the last of the cousins to see our "new" house.  As much as I enjoyed having them here, I'm afraid I wasn't very good company.  On the Monday, I came down with a fever of 102 and took to my bed from the afternoon through the rest of the day.  Shannon ended up making supper on both Monday and Tuesday nights so I think maybe it was providential she was here.  The kids loved having their (second) cousins here and Brady and Finley had a marvelous time especially playing outside.  Brady cracked me up because he would look to see where Finley was and he'd ask me, "Have you seen that girl?" We also discovered or rediscovered that Griffen loves cars just as much as Colby so the two of them were like two peas in a pod.  And then Calleigh and Aubree couldn't stop doting on Hudson.  A nice time was had by all (Well, except me who felt like junk).

How 2-year olds play.  Next to each other but not necessarily "with" each other.

On the Monday that I didn't feel good, Brady threw up twice.  But after a quick nap at 11:00 AM, he was back to normal.  Thankfully nobody else got anything...whatever it was.

Being silly.

Thank goodness for Shan!

On Tuesday, our microwave/convection oven stopped working.  It went completely dead as in it appeared there was no power.  Duncan and Sean tried to fix it but to no avail.  We had to have the GE repairman come.  Ended up costing $248 but I would have paid a lot more to have a microwave working again.  It is SO hard not to have one.  I had to make my tea the old fashioned way by boiling water on the stove.  Who has time for that??

This week we also had some company in the form of Shawn.  He arrived on Monday to attend a church planting event called Exponential, taking place at the First Baptist Church in Orlando.  He is starting a new church in his hometown of Bangor, Maine, hence his interest.  His time was short here as he left on Thursday but I enjoyed the few days together.  He is someone you can have deep conversations with and I often consider him to be my moral compass here on earth and can't help feel a little bit closer to Jesus after being around him.  I know I complain about not having a sister but honestly, I think my brothers make up for the lack of one (mostly!).  His new book also just came out, "There's More to Jesus"available on Amazon (Kindle) and soon at your ABC.  Buy yours today!

The girls got him to play the Geography game with them which involves identifying the most countries on a particular continent - - in this case, Africa.  Calleigh beat him by one.

On Wednesday morning, the kids and I took a field trip right around the corner to Lake Meadows Naturals Farm with one of our groups.  This place was only about five minutes down the road but I had never heard of it.  They have a farm full of animals, a big garden, a store, and 5,000 chickens.  Our tour consisted of about a dozen moms and their young children and then about ten other adults and kids that somehow ended up on our tour.  You could say it started off on a very strange foot.  Our first stop was the turkey pen where our tour guide (a 50ish woman) pointed out the one male and several females.  She says, loudly, "We used to have another male but he grew to be 43 pounds and was too heavy to mount any of the females.  He did make a good turkey salad though." Mount?? Mercy.  Know your audience lady! Nothing questionable happened after that though thankfully.  We ended the tour with a visit through their store which had all kind of neat "natural" products.  I promised to come back when it was less crowded and we had more time. While we were on the tour, I saw a mom I hadn't seen before.  She had a toddler and a son about the age of the girls. All the other kids on the tour were babies or toddlers so this boy made a beeline to Calleigh and said "Hello. What's your name? I'm Aden." Right away I noticed that he was terribly cross eyed.  I saw Calleigh kind of looking but she didn't miss a beat and started talking to him.  He was very friendly and well spoken (he was seven) and it looks like we made a new friend.  Later that day, his mom sent me a message (though Meetup which we use for the group) and said "Your daughter was very sweet to and nice to my son.  He said 'She is so cool and she didn't ask me what was wrong with my eyes.  I want to be her friend.'" It was a proud Mom moment.

This picture cracks me up because it looks like Colby and the goat are kissing.

They found a kitten in the garden and the kids were all enamored and starting begging to get one.

Found some kohlrabi which we enjoyed last year in Nova Scotia.

When I saw this house on the farm overlooking a big green pasture with no other houses in sight, my heart started to yearn.  They even had big band music playing on a loud speaker.

Lots and lots of chickens.

The kids got to help pack the eggs.  It was neat seeing how an automated system sorts the eggs by medium, large, and jumbo based on the weight of the egg.

Straight from there it was on to the dentist for the kids.  They are taking after their parents (who didn't get a cavity - - and then only one - - until their 20's) as far as cavities and are still cavity free.  The exciting thing was getting to add Colby to the appointment on the next go round since he will be three.  All four will get to go at the same time which is very convenient.  

Friday was our big yard sale day.  Not to go to yard sales but to have one.  The girls have been bugging me to have another one ever since the last one we had at our house 1.5 years ago.  But, I decided we needed to do things differently.  Our community has a sale twice a year but we just don't get enough traffic here on a Sunday to really make it worthwhile.  The solution was to have a sale at Ron and Elaine's since we could do it on a Friday and they live in a much better location.  Fortunately they went along with our plan since they had some items to sell as well.  We went over on Thursday evening to set up everything on tables in the garage (Ron and Elaine took several loads of our stuff in their van when they would visit in the weeks prior) so that Friday morning it would be much easier to set up - - just pull the tables out.  I had a lot of clothes left from the consignment sale and then I also had cleaned out my clothes from the closet along with a bunch of other items.  The kids and I arrived at their house at 7:30 and the sale started at 8:00.  It went great!  I have always loved selling things and handling money so it was right up my alley.  The biggest seller was my clothes and when all was said and done (at 1:00), my total was $200.  Ron and Elaine made much more with some big ticket items so we concluded it was well worth it.  But the best part was the girls who were selling lemonade and brownies.  They had a ton of customers and made $24 (each items was $0.50).  We ran out of brownies at about 10:30 so I'm sure they would have made even more if I had made more. Something to remember for next time. All in all, it was a fun day.  The only downside was not getting to go to yard sales myself!

We told the girls they could go in the pool when they sold all the brownies.  This nice lady heard me say that and she was really sweet and bought all the rest of the brownies (like maybe six left).  She said "It's all about the kids."

Some more random pictures...

Church today.

Calleigh's new bedroom set, bedding, and curtains.

Aubree working on her cursive and Colby working on?

Blueberries are in season!  Went picking a few Sunday's ago.

Attended a small Saturday night gathering for the twins sixth birthday.

At art class.  Loved her project.

Loved seeing the boys cuddled up together looking at a book. See, they do look like twins, right??

In closing, one funny thing from Brady today.  We were on the way to church and I was trying to get him to repeat his memory verse.

Me: "Brady, please say your memory verse, 'Pray to Me, and I will listen to you.'"
Brady: Silence.
Me: "Brady, come on, we need to say it."
Brady: More silence.
Me: "Brady, I know you know it."
Brady:"Pray to me, Mom, and then I'll listen to you."

Very clever.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Things have quieted down here on the home front after our slew of visitors coming through.  The next big thing on the radar was Mother's Day!  As is my typical fashion, my activity of choice on such a holiday is to be without my children which does sound kind of sad as I write it here. But considering I am with them almost 24/7, it helps to explain it some...I hope.  I'm sure when they are all grown and out of the house and one sends me a measly text (if that medium still exists) saying "Happy Mother's Day" I will think back on this.  In the meantime, I sure do enjoy the kidless outings to Goodwill!

I did get in at least SOME kid time though.  As I woke up Sunday morning, I could hear the kids hard at work in the kitchen followed by Brady and Colby bouncing into the room to snuggle with me in bed. A little racket and banging around later, in walk the girls with a tray of food - - breakfast in bed! As they come over to the me bearing the tray of goodies, Brady leans in and whispers, "Don't forget - - I got the spoon." He wanted it to be clear that he DID contribute to the meal.  It was precious.

Later in the day, after Goodwill closed, we had plans to meet up at Olive Garden for supper.  For some reason, I recalled eating there before in the evening on Mother's Day with not much of a crowd. Well, not the case this time.  It was at least an hour wait.  I made the executive decision to abort that mission and we all headed to the Crepevine instead.  This is a new-ish restaurant that opened a while ago that serves - - crepes. Crazy, I know.  You order at the counter so I figured it wouldn't be very busy and it wasn't.  I had been wanting to try it so this was a perfect chance.  I apologized to Elaine that our taking her out to dinner for the holiday was not very fancy but it turned out to be a really great experience.  We got to watch them make the crepes and then sat outside to enjoy our meal.  I had kind of a Greek crepe which was excellent and then had to get a dessert one at the end, of course. Duncan enjoyed his meal but he said it was torturous sitting only a few feet from the Indian restaurant and not be able to eat there. Sorry bro!

Eating brunch at Grandma and Grandpa's while Mom shopped.

The Crepevine

Speaking of that Indian restaurant, we had a family outing there the Sunday before last. We were studying India for school and I figured it would only be proper to eat Indian food to go along with it. I had been wanting to try the buffet at the restaurant which is served only at lunch so this seemed to be our chance.  We had soccer first (the next to last week) and then it was on to the restaurant.  Of course, the thought on my mind when we go to places like this is "What is Brady going to eat?" Fortunately he does like Naan (he generally likes all bread products since he's part Brace) so at least there was that.  Aubree has a vast palette and Calleigh is usually willing to at least try stuff so the buffet worked perfectly for them.  They tried pretty much everything (vegetarian, obviously) and liked some things better than others.  We couldn't have our Indian meal without mango lassies so I ordered up a round of those and Brady was all too willing to drink anyone's who couldn't finish.  So Naan and mango lassies...a very well rounded meal compared to some days.  As we were leaving, I struck up a conversation with one of the employees (owner?) about whether she had lived in India previously (she had) and how was the food in India compared to the Indian food here.  "Oh, this isn't Indian food," she says.  Ohhhh-kay, interesting.  We were headed out so I couldn't ask her to expound but there you go.  Guess I need to go to India and find out what she means.

At soccer first.  You can tell Aubs was playing hard just looking at that face.

This past Tuesday the ice skating classes started up again.  I wasn't sure if they'd all want to take the classes again but it was a resounding "yes" from both girls.  I knew Calleigh would want to but I wasn't sure about Aubree.  For some reason she seemed to have slowed down with her progress this past session (which was the second set of classes overall).  I thought some of it might have to do with her and Brady being together and her trying to stay at his pace so he isn't by himself.  But she really wanted to keep going.  Brady, not so much.  But, we still signed him up anyway and said he was doing it.  He gave a little fuss but not much.  When we got to the rink, we noticed that they had put Brady in a group with the 3- and 4-year olds and Aubree was with her age group.  So in different groups.  Oh boy!  Within about twenty seconds, both kids were crying, loudly, right there in the middle of where you put your skates on.  I mean, really!  Brady I could understand but Aubree is almost seven.  It's not like Calleigh and Brady aren't right there still and I'm in the stands watching for Pete's sake!  I finally got her calmed down and she went to join her class.  Brady, meanwhile, was just sitting there with the tears literally streaming down his face, like his puppy had just died or something.  I was trying to encourage him (you know, before you get to the stage where you say "I paid a lot of money for this class and you WILL do it) but it was no use.  A few minutes later an older lady in an RDV sweatshirt comes by and asks what the matter is.  I explained that that last two sessions he had been with his older sister and that he was feeling pretty bad that he wasn't with her this time.  She was so sweet and immediately said it wasn't a problem at all for him to be with her and he was welcome to be with her every time and it is never their policy to separate kids like that.  The tears stopped and off he went happily with Aubree.  Crisis averted!  I thanked her profusely, grabbed Colby, and headed to the stands.  A few minutes later, she comes back by and hands me two free tickets to the public skating sessions (value of around $22).  The kids get to go free each week if they are signed up for lessons and I've been wanting to go.  So it was perfect!  I proceeded to tell her that I hadn't been on skates in like fifteen years but it was like riding a bicycle, right?  She says "I tell anyone who hasn't been on skates since they were a kid to..." I didn't catch the rest of what she was saying because all I could think of was 'Does she think I was a "kid" fifteen years ago???' I'll take it!! Anyway, turns out her name is BJ and she runs the skating program.  She was incredibly nice so I feel all the better about giving RDV my money.

Not too much else exciting happening around here.  We are plodding along with school. Only four weeks left!  Actually, I used the word "plodding" but it has been fine.  We haven't hit the end of the year blues, yet.  The girls have gotten really good at doing a lot of their work "on the go" so that we can do other extracurricular activities.  My brain tends to shut off in the afternoon after lunch so our goal is to get everything accomplished before lunchtime.  Since we have art on Tuesdays (at 1:00), Homeschool PE on Wednesdays (10:00) and Gymnastics on Thursdays (12:00), it can be a challenge to get everything accomplished by the lunchtime goal on those days. Not to mention the days that we have some other random outing. To combat that, they will often take their individual work (like Math or English, etc) in the car with them to get it done.  They know the more work they get done before lunch, the more free time they will have afterwards.  Usually all they will have left after lunch is their Reading which consists of reading a book for fifteen minutes.  It does seem like we have a pretty good routine and I'm glad they are going with the flow of doing work in various places.

What the boys do while we do school. A car parade - - you can see it starts all the way back in their room.  To Brady's credit, he did pick it all up all by himself.

A mention about Colby.  This kid really kills me sometimes.  I know a lot of it has to do with the age. I don't remember two being quite so challenging.  As in, the screaming and crying over the dumbest stuff.  A few mornings ago he sat and cried for 20 minutes because the muffin I gave him had a "crack" in it.  There is no reasoning with it.  They won't, or can't, understand that the muffin still tastes exactly the same despite the crack no matter how many times you mention this fact to them.  I don't know what took me so long but I finally remembered that when he gets like that that the only solution is to remove him from the situation.  I put him on a chair in my room and told him he had to stay there until he stopped crying.  A few minutes goes by and then he strolls out, as if nothing had happened, and says "I all done crying." Then there are the messes.  They dump bins of toys out and make gigantic messes and then don't want to clean up, of course.  Admittedly, they are held to a slightly different standard when it comes to clean up time because they are in fact, only two.  I've had to remind the other kids of this several times..."You know, Colby is two.  When you were two, you didn't clean up all of this." So now last night, Colby had a mess upstairs and I told him he needed to go up and clean it. And this is what he says "I TWO!  I TWO!" As if he knows that excuses him from it.  When that didn't work, this is what he says "My legs are broken." He kept repeating it.  That little rascal.  But then, he comes up and says "I love you, Mom" and gives you a giant hug and you think he is pretty much the cutest thing in the entire world.  He has been saying "I love you, Mom" multiple times a day and it gets me each and every time!

Crying about his muffin.  You can tell that Daddy put him to bed because he's wearing the same shirt he wore the day before as his pajamas.  Ha!

But who can resist that smile?!

One more quote from Brady.  The boys spend a lot of time outside in the backyard. One evening this past week they were out there and it was starting to get dark which means the bugs start coming out. I was inside and all of a sudden, I see Brady tearing inside as fast as he can and he shouts "The mosquitoes are taking our bloods away!" Kids have such a way with words.

Some other pictures...

We were able to find our futon that we took out of Brady's room a good home at the Bergherms.  Here the kids look at a Lego book after art class.

Christmas in May.  They sure love to do dress up.

Duncan had a 24-hour business trip up to Boston and got a private tour of Fenway Park.  Notice what is written on the white sign in the middle.

Brought back a souvenir.

The kids bought another Lego set with the money they saved.  It was to be delivered via UPS on Thursday by 8:00 pm.  Usually UPS arrives between 4:00 - 6:00 pm so when it hadn't come by 7:00 pm, they were especially anxious and kept asking me "When is it going to get here?" After about the tenth time, I said, sarcastically of course, "Hold on, let me call up the UPS driver and ask him when he'll be here." A minute goes by and Brady notices I'm still just sitting there, "When are you going to call him, Mom?" Ha! It came at last around 7:15 pm. It's like Christmas morning around here!

Some fellow moms (Amy, Ashley, Jennifer, Vasti, Katrina, and Tangie) and I took a partial beach day after church to just sit and relax in the sun sans kids which we never get to do.  It was our pre-Mother's Day activity since some people wouldn't get to relax on the actual day.

A wedding unfolded before us and we were convinced it was fake because the bride and groom looked like they were 18.  The bride was wearing off white and the groom had on a blue shirt and bright white pants so we figured there was NO WAY they would wear that combination for a real wedding.  Alas, it was indeed real (upon closer inspection they looked to be about 25.  But the outfits didn't look any better!)

Playing some floor hockey in the Z's garage.  Looks like Aubree needs to learn how to hold a stick.

I decided I want a picture taken here every Sabbath so I can keep track of what the kids wear.  Some weeks the results may be better than others....

Swimming season is in full bloom.  The pool was warmer than the air at 5:30 pm the other day. Kids are resuming lessons next week.

Getting a haircut to continue to look like Brady who got a haircut a few days before.  I think I'm going to start wearing a sign that says "THEY ARE NOT TWINS."

Giving me a foot massage.  He and Aubree go all out giving me massages.  Yup, I have the best life!!

Happy Sabbath!

Last week we had two birthdays to celebrate with Calleigh turning nine on the 17th (Tuesday) and Aubree seven on the 19th (Thursday).  As is becoming our new tradition, we did not have a traditional party.  Instead, the girls were excited to go to the American Girl store on Sunday and eat at the cafe there, with their dolls in tow, of course.  Since we had never done it before, it was "special." We brought Grandma along with us and we had a great time with just the four of us.  The cafe has a bunch of questions on little pieces of paper that you can answer while you wait for your food - - like "If you could meet three famous people, who would you pick?" Without missing a beat, Aubree says "Papa! He's famous because he's a pastor!" The food was good, although the portions a little small, and then afterwards the employees sang happy birthday to them.  All around us other girls were having the same thing done and Calleigh and Aubree spent a lot of time staring at it all.  Following our meal, we made a stop at Toys R Us, where in lieu of gifts to open and a party, we had said the girls could have a certain amount of money to shop for their gifts.  It sounded like a good idea but when there are that many toys, it gets very overwhelming.  Aubree eventually picked out her items but Calleigh was just walking around in a daze.  I finally asked if she wanted me to buy her gifts so that she could be surprised and she readily agreed.  So that is my takeaway from this - - I think it's much more fun and easier to just get their gifts for them.

Lea enjoying her cup of tea.

They got to decorate their own cupcakes and one for their doll as well (which I promptly stole).

We had to get in a picture with Grandma to show she was there!

Last weekend marked one of the things I look forward to all year - - the homeschool convention!  It is the pinnacle event of the year for those of us homeschooling in Florida. But actually getting there proved to not be as simple as I was hoping.

The convention is always Memorial Day weekend although, in reality, it is really the Thursday - Saturday beforehand.  It does go through Sunday but that is just for graduation for those finishing 12th grade (sidenote - - I think it's cool that if you homeschool through high school your kid doesn't have to miss marching in a graduation - - the convention puts one on).  This was the second year now that we decided to stay at the hotel, the Gaylord Palms, for Thursday and Friday nights.  The convention hall opened at 5:00 pm (although I subsequently found out 4:00 pm) and check-in was at 4:00 pm so I figured we would leave the house after the girls piano lessons finished at 3:00 pm (they are usually Monday but the teacher had to reschedule).  But you know what they say...the best laid plans.

Wednesday evening, Duncan and I discovered an errand I would have to do on Thursday morning that was going to mess up my plans a little.  That night, after doing some packing, I finally got to bed about 2:00 am.  I awoke at 7:00 am and turned my head and thought, "OH NO!!!" Yup, my stinking left ear was all blocked.  It was the wretched wax again.  I had only gone 14 months in between incidents this time and it couldn't have been worse timing.  When it gets like that, the only solution is to get it cleaned out at the doctor.  I have no primary care doctor to speak of and I didn't want to go wait at a Centra Care so my solution was to go to the family practice in Winter Park that's easy to get into.  But it's in Winter Park, a good 35-minute drive.  I mentally thought about my day - - I had to go do that other errand, the girls had gymnastics at 12:30 that probably wasn't going to happen now, I had to finish packing and getting the car loaded up, needed to stop at Publix to get some food to take with us to the hotel, the girls had piano at 2:00, and so much for getting a little school work done. And now I had to go take car of my ears which would add several hours to the day.  Such bad timing. But God works in mysterious ways.

I got an appointment at 11:00 am so off we went.  The waiting room was really crowded and as I feared, we waited probably 40 minutes to get in.  The nurse called me back and off I walked with the kids trailing behind me.  In a very typical manner which I am quite accustomed to by now, the first words out of the nurse's mouth after "Hello" were "Is school out today?" She didn't say it rudely, just wondering.  I proceeded to explain that yes, they were out today because of what was happening but it didn't matter anyway because we homeschool.  At that, a big smile came over her face and she says "You do?? My husband and I have really been wanting to homeschool but we just don't know where to start." Wow.  What an opportunity!  In between her removing the wax from my ears, she and I had a wonderful discussion all about homeschooling, how to get started, the advantages of it, how many kids she had (six) and ages and what she wanted for them, and I wrote down a bunch of websites for her and my name and phone number.  "You know," she says to me, "I really think this was supposed to happen.  That you were to come here so you could share this with me.  Please keep me in your prayers." I looked at her name tag and then said "Luestra, can I pray with you right now?" She was so appreciative and I tell you, I am amazed at how God turns something that seemed to be such a nuisance like having to get ear wax removed when you are super busy into an opportunity to be a blessing to someone else.  The fact that it happened on the day that I was trying to get to the homeschool convention just adds a little irony to it!  By the way, I have gotten ear wax removed many times now and honestly, this was the best experience I have had with getting it done.  It came out really easily and she even put it in a little jar for me so I can now gross people out with it. So watch out!!

After that happened, I couldn't be frustrated with my day anymore.  We did end up cancelling piano lessons too and then not leaving until later than we had hoped but it was all good.  We finally got into our room at about 5:00 pm and after waiting for our luggage to be delivered, it was closer to 6:00 pm. We were all anxious to get out onto the convention floor to go see all the booths.  Duncan arrived about 6:30 pm and we had supper that I had brought and then he took all the kids to the pool while I walked around until the very last second of it closing at 9:00 pm.  Jennifer and I felt like it was a big tease - - all this buildup and then it's only open a few hours on the first day.  It should go until at least 11:00 pm!

Once we got back to our room, the kids were all riled up so we turned the TV on to the National Spelling Bee.  I've never actually watched it but I have a friend, Shasha, that I worked with for many years at the hospital (she is now at Washington Adventist Hospital in DC) whose 10-year old son was in the bee this year.  He did make it to the finals which aired the last day but finished 22nd.  Pretty awesome!  Click HERE to see the story.  It was down to the last four contestants though when we turned it on which eventually turned into two.  It kept going and going but we couldn't turn it off because you just HAD to know who won!  Eventually all the kids except Calleigh fell asleep so she was awake to see it finish in a tie. I'm hoping that it will inspire Calleigh to enjoy spelling more but somehow I doubt it. But seriously, those kids are really, really amazing.

We were entertained by a magician as we waited in line to check-in.  He was quite good.

The view of the atrium from our balcony on the fifth floor.  You feel like you're outside but you aren't.

Friday I spent most of the day wandering around the convention hall after the keynote speech.  The keynote was done by a man named Kirk Martin who actually had come to our church last year to talk about "Celebrating Calm" which is basically about raising and discipling children.  Since I had heard him last year and it was similar content, I sent a text to Duncan to come switch with me.  I would stay with the kids while he listened to the talk.  He really enjoyed it (the guy is hilarious!) so it worked out well. Afterwards he took the kids to the pool/water slides while I did my thing although they did come for some of the afternoon to walk around the convention hall some more and take in the sights. In previous years, I would spend Friday attending a lot of the lectures but I always felt like I didn't have enough time to wander around looking at curriculum, teaching resources, talking to folks, etc so I decided to do it differently this year and focus on doing that instead.  I didn't feel nearly as rushed so it was very nice. Also, of course I wouldn't be making any purchases on Sabbath so I wanted to make sure I had it all done before then.  Sabbath would be for attending the talks.

The pool Thursday night was VERY crowded.

Colby going down the waterslide.  It's hard to see but he has a big smile on his face.

Traipsing back to the room on Friday late morning.

Brady really wanted to carry my backpack around for me, I think because it had a long handle that is pushed down at the moment in this picture.

Actual dead animals that you can buy to dissect.  Really cool, I guess, but I think we will have someone help when we get to this part of our schooling life.

Calleigh found a piano to do her thing.

A larger version of stacking cups.  We ended up buying the regular sized version that comes with a timer.  The girls both love it and are challenging their mom for the title of "Fastest Hands in the East."

We were all given a free copy of one of Rush Limbough's children's books from his children's series that have gotten excellent reviews.  Rush had also recorded a snippet (which you can see in the background) to say that he was very supportive of home schooling.

The convention wouldn't be complete without enjoying the buffet!  Jennifer, Vasti, Ashley, and I did our usual lunch there and although we determined it wasn't quite as good as last year we greatly enjoyed it.  In the afternoon, Ron and Elaine came by and spent time walking around the booths and then hung out with Duncan and the kids. During that time, Colby and Brady were wrestling in the room and Colby fell into the mirror on the wall which sticks out and hit his cheek on the side of it. When I got back into the room to go to supper, he was just finishing his wailing although his cheek was still severely red but no blood fortunately.  I was able to distract them though with our purchase of some Kapla planks.  Trying to get some more toys that inspire creative play.  After Colby settled down, we left to eat.  We were hoping to go to Tom and Chee which is a grilled cheese restaurant that got it's start from Sharktank but on the way there Calleigh says "I don't like grilled cheese, remember?" I don't know how that's humanly possible but it seems to be true.  At any rate, there was a Noodles right next door so it was an easy adjustment.  Jennifer, Julia (her mom), the kids, and then Vasti and Abel (who had taken the day off and was staying at the hotel), David, and Jonathan met us there.  As we left, I casually mentioned to Duncan that our meal that evening for six had cost the same amount as my buffet for one that afternoon.  And that's why only I get to go to the buffet and not the whole family!

Trying out the planks

I had to get in the picture to show how high they had gotten it.  Then we did a slow motion video of them knocking it down.

Colby's cheek a few days after the incident.  This picture doesn't even do it justice.

This is a change of pace.  Usually it's Colby that's all over me. And now that I look at this, it's NOT appropriate behavior at a restaurant but I do recall there were no other patrons around us, at least.

Enjoying the outdoors after our meal. Notice London all up on Colby on the right!

The view from our balcony in the evening.  It was nice to just sit out there.

Many of the speakers and lectures/talks are very spiritual in nature so it worked out quite nicely for Sabbath.  The keynote on Saturday morning was Heidi St. John who has millions of Facebook followers.  Her husband is a former pastor and the two of them (and their seven homeschooled children!) travel around the country speaking about Christ.  I got such a great blessing from her talk. I also attended a few more talks but by the afternoon, I was really worn out and didn't quite make it to the end like Vasti and Jennifer!  But all and all, it was a really terrific time and as I've said before on here, the title of the convention may say "Homeschool" but it should really say "Parent" because that's really what it is.  The fact that they have a bunch of school stuff there is just icing on the cake.

Duncan checking out - - managed to get everything but the duffel bag of clothes onto the stroller.

He found this note on our door when he got home.  Yup, I forgot to close the garage door when I left which has been known to happen when I'm backed in and not looking at the garage door while I drive off.  But never done when we were going to be gone for two nights.  Thank goodness for good neighbors!

A couple of neat things from the convention that I wanted to mention...First, during the keynote on Friday morning, we had the pleasure of seeing the Annie Moses Band perform.  Yes, I'm sure you've never heard of them and neither had I.  It turns out that they are a musical group comprised of adult siblings (and maybe spouses?) and their dad.  The kids were all homeschooled.  They were very talented with playing the violin, harp, etc and I greatly enjoyed the first song which was "Make His Praise Glorious." Some of you may recognize it as a Sandi Patti song which I also did.  After they finished the song (they only did two songs but were having a concert that evening), the leader of the group, aptly named Annie Moses, told us that their parents, Bill and Robin Wolaver, had written the song. So that was neat!


Secondly, I think I've mentioned on here about how we've been reading some missionary books this year.  It turns out that the writers of the books were at the convention.  I felt a little giddy getting to meet them!  They are a husband and wife team, Janet and Geoff Benge, originally from Australia but now living in Winter Park, Florida.  They have written 70+ books and I highly, highly recommend them.  I took the girls over to say hello and they were really sweet and kind, telling us how they work together writing the books. Janet does a lot of the research and the writing and Geoff does the editing because as Janet admitted "I'm a horrible speller." That gave me some hope for Calleigh.  Ha!  I told them that they have had me in tears so many times and they admitted that they will often cry writing the books because they are so touched by the stories.  Anyway, it was one of the highlights of the convention for me.

Three of the four we've read this year (we gave Cameron Townsend away).

The convention wasn't the only exciting thing to happen to our family recently.  After being freaked out by driving through a puddle and losing my steering on the van, we knew it was time to take some drastic measures with our vehicle situation.  Either the van needed to be fixed or we needed to get a new van.  The van, a 2008, only had 107k miles on it after seven years so really not bad.  BUT, we were certain that there were other problems with it because it made strange noises when you started it AND it had no backup camera which I've really wanted ever since that little backing up incident a number of years ago.  We decided it was time to trade her in.  At first, we were contemplating getting a used van but honestly, the Honda Odysessey's hold their value so well that there wasn't that big of a difference with used versus new.  New it would be. Duncan's middle name is Research so he had done his homework and we knew that is what we wanted to get.  Off to Headquarter Honda in Clermont on Sunday, May 22.  We looked around and sat in a few vehicles and there ended up only being one van that had everything in it that we wanted and it happened to be red.  So red it would be! The kids kept saying "We really want this one.  This is so awesome." And I kept thinking "Shhh, we don't want them to know how much we like it so that we lose some bargaining power." But, it turned out to be very easy wagering.  There is a thing on-line called "True Car" or something like that where you can set a price and then the dealer can agree to accept it which they did in this case.  There really wasn't much to negotiate on after that since the price was already $5k less than the sticker price.  We were a little disappointed with our trade-in of $2,500 since we had been offered $3,000 a few months ago when we had been looking.  We managed to get it up to $2,750 but still, it's tough to think you only get that much for something with fairly low mileage.  It is what it is.  We obviously weren't about to sell it to someone.

After we had finished negotiating and moved on to the signing process, our salesman Dennis, a man who looked to be around 60, mentioned how we would get Sirius Xm and this is what happened.

Dennis: "You will get Sirius XM radio for free for three months."
Me:"That's great.  I doubt I'll use it much though because I usually have the kids in the car with me."
Dennis: "Yeah, I have it and I mostly just listen to sports."
Me: "Oh, what teams do you like?"
Dennis: "The Red Wings, the Tigers..."
Me:"You are originally from Michigan, I take it?"
Dennis: "Yes and a lot of my family is still there."
Me: "Well, I went to school in Michigan but it is really small and I'm sure you will never have heard of it."
Dennis: "What was the name of it?"
Me:"Andrews University."
Dennis: "In Berrien Springs?"
Me: "Yes! Wow.  How do you know about it?"
Dennis:"I had some friends that went there.  Plus, I went to Grand Ledge Academy."
Me:"Really?! My dad taught at Grand Ledge Academy!!"
Dennis:"What is your maiden name?"
Me:"Brace."
Dennis:"Bill Brace?"
Me: "Yes, that is my dad!"
Dennis:"He was my PE teacher and I was just thinking about him six months ago...wondering what happened to him.  He took me to my very first hockey game ever."

Holy cow!!  What are the odds of finding an old student of your dad's down in Florida from his short teaching career some 45 (?) years ago at a small private Adventist high school in Michigan??  Very remote I would think.  Dennis explained that he was not an Adventist but his mom wanted to him to go to a private school and that's how he ended up there.  I, of course, immediately called my dad who remembered him and they chatted for a bit on the phone both saying that when the other was in the area, they would get together.  How great is that?!  I took that as a sign that we were meant to buy the Odyssey!

Dennis talking to my dad.

The old and the new...

We got this van two months before Aubree was born so it was always easy to remember how long we had it.  Our new van was purchased on May 22 which was Aunt Sherrie's 60th birthday so that will be easy to remember too.

We took the van in on Thursday to get the rails put on the top.  As you can see, Calleigh was less than thrilled with this.

The finished product.

The one snafu we had with the whole operation is that we couldn't find the title to the Sedona anywhere.  I looked through my files multiples times but didn't even have a recollection of ever seeing it.  Maybe we had never gotten it?  Fortunately the dealer has a way for you to file for a replacement there at the dealership at the low cost of $85. Ha! Yesterday I finally got around to going through all of the papers that Duncan had pulled out of the Sedona glove box and yes, you got it, there was the title.  How it got there, neither of us has any idea! But it makes me so mad that we paid that $85.

I have been enjoying the new features of the Odyssey like the back up camera and self looking doors (although I am annoyed that they don't "self" unlock when you turn the car off) but it's funny how there are little things that you don't think of when purchasing it. For instance, I use a GPS and the kids will watch some movies while I'm yard sale-ing. In the Sedona, I had two cigarette lighters, one of which kept working even when the car was turned off. I would keep the GPS plugged into that one so that it would always stay on.  Well, the Odyssey only has one and it doesn't stay on when the van isn't on. So every stop I make, I turn the van off and the GPS goes off every time and then takes a minute to come back on when you turn the van back on.  Just a small thing but a bit of a pain, nonetheless. Then, because the van doesn't work by putting a key in the ignition but by pressing a button, I suddenly realized, how do you keep the van "on" but the engine off?  Before it was simply turning the key.  But now I don't have a key!  I had to make an emergency text to Duncan who explained you could press the start button without pressing the break. Voila! But...I have yet to figure out how to get to that mode without turning the car off first.  Perhaps there is no way?  Anyway, again, I'm very happy with the new van but these are little things you don't think of when you're trying it out.

Let's see...what else have we been up to?  The Wednesday before the convention we had our year end party at Chapin Station for the homeschool PE class.  Of course, we haven't been in the class very long so I'm sure the party next year will be more meaningful since we will know more people. But, it was still nice to mingle.  It almost ended very badly though.  At one point I noticed Colby going over to these stair type things and I recalled how Brady had gotten a really bad bruise from banging his eye off it.  I made a beeline for Colby and just as I was reaching him, he took his first step, noticed me behind him and said "I won't fa...." Just as he was about to say fall, he fell.  I heard a big clank as his teeth banged off one of the rungs and the fear went through me so badly.  I feel like I can handle some other injury fairly well (maybe?) but I have ALWAYS been so paranoid about one of the kids losing a baby tooth or teeth.  It sounded so bad hitting that rung but by some miracle, there was only a little blood coming out of the gums above one of his front teeth.  After some crying (by Colby) and a few minutes to get up my courage, I felt around in his mouth and the teeth were all still in there and not even loose.  I don't know how that was possible but I said a big prayer of thanks.  We did have to cut the outing short though because Colby kept crying/whining for his binky after that.

Waiting in line for food.

The evil ladder/stairs.

Brady and his injury.  Ironically when I went to find this picture, he had gotten his injury at the same age, down to even the same month, as Colby.  Weird!

The girls recently went for the annual well visit appointments.  All was well with Calleigh staying right on track for where she has been percentage wise and Aubree dipping a little bit on her weight. It is also interesting to me that it has now been more than two months since Calleigh's last vomiting episode. Keeping my fingers crossed this keeps up!

Calleigh - 9 Years

Weight - 73 pounds (75th)
Height - 54 1/2 inches (75th)
BP - 96/60
Shoe Size - 4
Clothing Size - 10/12

Aubree - 7 Years

Weight - 47 pounds (Between 25th and 50th)
Height - 48 inches (50th)
BP - 86/55
Shoe Size - 12.5/13
Clothing Size - 7



Some quotes from the kids:

We were driving in the van not far from our house...

Me:"Remember that old house that was here and they tore down?  Looks like they are building a new development. That's good."
Aubree: "Why is that good?"
Me:"It means the economy is going well...people have money and are buying houses."
Aubree:"Well, at least we know they aren't buying drugs."

Ohhhh-kay.

We had a movie night last Sunday night to watch "Snow Treasure".  Duncan had read the book to Calleigh in the evenings and in anticipation, we had found the DVD off a remote website.  I had remembered watching the movie as a kid and loved it. Unfortunately we couldn't get it to work in the DVD player so we ended up watching "Treasures of the Snow" off YouTube.  Very similar name but a completely different movie. It's about a boy who is blamed for another boy falling off a cliff and becoming crippled.  The crippled boy's sister wants to get revenge but eventually she lets it go. We greatly enjoyed the movie especially since Ron and Elaine joined us and we had cookies, popcorn, and hot chocolate.  Anyway, the movie ends and Brady says in a loud voice as the credits roll.  "Well, I guess there was NO treasure." Apparently he was waiting the whole movie for a pirate to discover some hidden booty?  I don't know!

Some more pictures...

We babysat the Bergherm kids a few Sunday's ago while Jennifer helped throw a birthday party for a little boy from our church who has leukemia.

While we were watching them we took all the kids to the ABC that was having an open house/festival. My brother's book is now in stock!

Free drinks and hot dogs!  But, they weren't Vega-links so I was out of luck.

A free climbing wall which the girls did many times.

Brady gave it a whirl right at the end although the flip flops probably didn't help.

The girls in their new skating outfits they got for their birthday.

From 6:30 - 6:45 it's free skate time but Aubree asked a teacher to help her during that time.

As did Brady.

Getting their skates off with friends Nora and Violet.  This past Tuesday was the last class until after the summer (there are still lessons going in the summer but we won't be around for much of it so not worth it to sign up).  The girls are really sad to have to wait until then. "I wished we lived in Canada so we could have a skating rink in our backyard," they said.  Apparently it hasn't occurred to them that it is also almost summer in Canada so nobody is skating in their back yards at this time of year.

Duncan took them to skating the week before last.  Not sure if the girls sleeping was real or what.

My cutie pie.

Brady has been going into Colby's crib a lot lately.  The first time he did it, which was the night of this picture, I asked him afterwards why he did it and he said "To read him a story."

Up close because it's even cuter.  Sorry, couldn't resist!

Another sleeping picture, this time on the floor.  While we were at the convention, Colby fell asleep in my bed both nights and then we moved him. Well, apparently that ruined things because once we were home, he kept wanting to sleep with me and wouldn't stop crying.  The first night I put him on the floor with Brady and he finally fell asleep.  The second night I had him cry it out in his crib.  It was literally like having a newborn again.  He probably cried for almost an hour. But it worked because the next night things were back to normal.

Aubree and Brady wrecked one of Calleigh's Lego creations which put Calleigh in tears.  A heartfelt note to the rescue!  Aubree is very much into writing notes.

We went to Ikea on Memorial Day where they were supposed to be having crafts and such on Russia which we are studying for school.  I was really pleased at the prospect but when we arrived we discovered they had changed it to America due to the holiday.  Stinkers!

I love London in this picture!

We at least got a free kids' meals for participating in the craft.  They remodeled their eating area and also added new meals including veggie quinoa balls which were quite good.

Just a little help from Dad...

Hey look!  Colby is finally smiling again for our Sabbath picture.

Twinsies.

Brady can now swim the entire length of our pool by himself. He swims for a ways than goes onto his back to float and rest and then swims some more.

Brady was jealous of some new Legos the girls had gotten for their birthdays so one evening after he had gone to sleep, they made these Legos for him and left them and this note next to his bed for when he woke up.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

My oldest boy, the one whom I initially wanted to be my third girl, turned five on Wednesday (8th).  Oh, do I love that boy and oh, how I want him to just stay little forever.  I can still pick him up and turn him upside down and rain kisses all over him. There are some advantages for being little for your age!  Over the past few weeks I kept telling him that I had a secret potion that he could drink that would keep him four forever (because honestly, I think it is a perfect age) and he went along with it for awhile and then I think one of the girls told him that he wouldn't be getting any presents because he wouldn't turn five.  That put an end to that.  I am so curious to see him as a man someday but mostly I am just enjoying every possible moment with the wonderful, crazy, funny, happy little boy that he is.  I am blessed.

Ever since we went on the Chima ride at Legoland when we were there in March, Brady has proclaimed that he wanted to go to Legoland for his birthday.  Since I am a "horrible" mom and am not throwing parties and since we can get into Legoland on the cheap on the homeschool days, I was all for it! Of course, we can only go when those days are offered which is every Monday (and some others during off peak) so Monday it was.  I was hoping that Duncan would be able to go with us but he had some important quarterly meetings taking place Monday - Wednesday and there was no getting out of it.  Instead, we took Grandma and Grandpa and then Amanda Reeves and her boys, Noah and Jake joined us (Cory was at the same meetings as Duncan). Legoland also has a water park but since we usually go to Legoland in the fall/winter, it has never been open when we've gone.  This would add something exciting to the trip and the good thing was that it was only an extra $7 to get in.

Unfortunately, the weather did not look promising.  Sunday afternoon I realized that tropical storm Colin would be making landfall on the west coast of Florida on Monday bringing with it lots of rain.  Also unfortunately was that we had purchased our tickets in advance (as required for the homeschool rate) so as far as I knew, there was no changing it.  Plus, obviously we wanted Amanda to go and besides, the kids had VBS the next week so we decided to just make the best of it.  The advantage to possible bad weather was that the park wouldn't be very crowded.

The plan was to meet at the park entrance and then I got the brilliant idea that Amanda and the boys could ride with us because we now have eight seats.  It SEEMED like a good idea but after Amanda got the boys' booster seats out (one of which was rather complicated) and tried to put them in the van, we realized that three boosters or two car seats and a booster do not fit three across either of the rows.  So there you go.  I'm sure, no, I KNOW it is possible with some certain brands that may be thinner but it wasn't working here. Oh well.

One of my favorite pictures of these guys.  Planning their Legoland route.  Love how both Brady and Colby have their hand on Calleigh.

The rain wasn't supposed to come until around 1:30 so we tried to do all the things we really wanted to do before then.  The first thing was to ride Chima which we did covered in our ponchos.  I think it was as good as Brady remembered it.  Next was the Dragon rollercoaster.  You only had to be 38 inches to ride and Brady is now over 40 so the girls asked if he wanted to ride it.  He was hesitant at first but then agreed. Elaine took Colby elsewhere and then the rest of us went to get in line.  As you wait, they show you a video of the roller coaster.  Once Brady saw that, he got even more nervous and grabbed my hand.  I kept whispering to him that he didn't need to do it but he kept saying he wanted to.  At one point he quietly asked me if he could sit on my lap.  Poor thing.  Then another time I felt him shaking as he watched the video.  But he did it.  He got on the ride!  The beginning part of the ride takes you through the building where you look at different Lego creations including the dragon and then you go outside for the actual roller coaster part.  He held my hand tightly but didn't scream in fright or anything and seemed to like it fairly well.  But then when I asked him a little later if he liked the ride he said "Yes, I liked it but I didn't like the part when you come out of the building and then go up and then down." So basically, the actual roller coaster part.  We shall see if he rides it again.

While the bigger kids rode the "horses," Grandpa tried his hand at winning a stuffed animal for Colby.

Mission accomplished.

We did a few more rides and then headed to the water park.  It's not a huge area like a full scale water park or anything but they have a a lazy river, wave pool, about six or seven slides, and some other stuff.  It was perfect for the kids.  Aubree, Brady, and Colby in particular absolutely loved the wave pool.  They had life jackets for the kids to put on so all three put those on and then just floated in the deep end bobbing up and down to the waves.  Aubree said, "Can we just stay here forever?" It was rather nice especially since it was not crowded at all.  There was also a little island in the wave pool with a bunch of blocks on it to play with and Brady christened it "Block Island." Pretty sure that name is already taken but it was fitting.  Calleigh, meanwhile, found a couple of slides where you could ride tubes down and that was perfect for her.  She tried to go on some bigger slides but apparently she wasn't tall enough (Ron and Elaine were with her since I was with the other three).  We could easily have stayed there much longer but with the rain coming, I knew we should try and go do some other stuff.  We left about 1:15 and right as we went in to change, it started pouring.

Amanda and I trying to figure out the logistics of the lazy river.

Wave pool.  The boys are hanging out on Block Island.

The girls on their tube.

Snack break while they watch the girls on the slides.

For the rest of the day, it rained off and on although more on than off.  It never really rained horribly hard again but we were wet despite our ponchos.  They closed some of the rides periodically when they thought there was lightning in the area or if the ride wasn't conducive to a lot of water.  So we didn't go on that many more rides after having a late lunch.  But we did hit some of the shops and had some apple fries before we finally made it out to the parking lot about 4:45.  The kids would easily have stayed longer (the park closed at 7:00) but it felt like it was time.  Despite the conditions, a good time was had by all and we never had to wait that long for anything which was my fear with going in June.  Aubree declared that she wanted to go there for her birthday next year.  Done and done!

Lunch at the buffet

Brady trying to show off his Happy Birthday button.

Now he's all wet and Colby is snoozing.

Can't leave without apple fries!

Pretty sure this isn't proper manners.

With Wednesday being Brady's actual birthday, Duncan and I spent Tuesday night blowing up balloons to decorate his room and kitchen chair.  I did feel a little bad because Brady randomly asked me a few days before the big day, "When do you think I can get a mirror in my room?" I then realized that he was thinking about how the girls had "Happy Birthday" written on the mirrors in their rooms.  Fortunately, he seemed to have forgotten about it and it wasn't a big deal.

Eating his birthday breakfast on the special plate.

His first gift of the day was some cable locks (the items in red, blue, and green) and other locks.  He loves that kind of stuff!

Lunch was SIX pieces of toast.  I usually only allow two but since it was his birthday...When I finally drew the line at six, he went back and ate all the crusts.

Tuesday afternoon I happened to see that Winter Garden Bowl had "Kids Bowl Free" for the summer so I decided that's what we would do to celebrate on the actual day. We did some school work and then off we went getting there around 11:30.  The lady at the register was really nice and put us on lane 15 after we got all the shoes figured out (you do still have to pay for shoes which came to $12 but not bad considering the strings are free).  She had to come put up the gutter guards (not sure where their official name is) and then I asked if the light for the lane would come on.  She had a guy try to do it but when he did, the pins went up and then never came back down.  I had to go back to the register and let them know.  The guy disappeared, ostensibly to fix it, but he never came back and it didn't get fixed.  I went to the register again and they assured me it was being worked on.  I looked all around and I saw plenty of empty lanes but I told the kids we would just look at the arcade stuff while we waited.  Five, ten minutes goes by so I finally go back to the register again and ask if we can just move to a different lane (this seems like an extremely obvious solution but it appeared the offer wasn't forthcoming).  The lady says to me "I just don't know if I can do that.  I need to ask." I'm thinking, "Seriously???" If they don't move us, are we supposed to just turn in our shoes and leave without bowling?  I wanted to crack a joke like, you can bowl for free but you don't actually get any pins but I don't know if they would have found it funny.  At any rate, a few minutes later she tells me they can, in fact, move us and so after probably what was a 25-minute delay, we actually started bowling.

Of course, every time we (although I didn't bowl myself) bowl with these "big" balls, I am reminded how much better it is with Candlepin and the little balls that go with it.  So much easier for the little kids especially.  We did have a ramp the three younger ones used at first but then eventually Aubree and Brady ditched it.  There is clearly no skill for any of the kids at this point because all of the concentration is just on heaving the heavy ball down the lane.  Despite that, it was a good time with Colby probably enjoying it the very most.  After he'd roll the ball down and watch the pins topple over, he'd turn around all excited and say things like "YES!" We only bowled one string even though we get two free a day because it does take quite a while with four kids and very slow moving balls to bowl one entire string let alone two.

Colby was the winner but he did use the ramp the whole game.  Aubree finished first among those they didn't use it.

Ron and Elaine came over for supper and we had a nice time eating (I made a salad and we ordered in Pizza Hut), opening gifts, and eating ice cream cake.  The girls were probably just as excited as Brady about opening the gifts because they knew he was going to get some Playmobile stuff, which he did, and they couldn't wait to play with it all.  They were not disappointed!

The girls presenting him with the card they made.  They each made their own card but when you flipped it over to the back, they fit together to make one heart.

The gift they bought him with their own money.

Paw Patrol from Grandma and Grandpa.  Colby was SUPER excited about this gift.

Playmobile from Papa and Gigi.

More Playmobile from Mom and Dad.  Love his (and Aubree's) reactions in these photos.

Had to recruit Dad to put together the Playmobile Tree House.

They declared that since it was Brady's birthday, they should stay up as long as they want and play with his new stuff.

Fell asleep with some new Wild Kratts gear on.

Thursday we had Brady's well visit appointment.  There are some shots that we knew were coming but the girls didn't get them until age six so each time it was mentioned about going to the doctor, the girls and I always assured him that he would not be getting any this time.  So, you can imagine my chagrin when the nurse informed me that he WOULD be getting them this time because Dr. Smith likes to do them at age five (the paperwork says to be given between the ages of four and six). I knew I could just talk to Dr. Smith about it but I asked Brady if he wanted to just get it over and done with instead of waiting and having to think about it coming up next year.  I also told him there might be a little gift included if he were to do the shots now and he readily agreed.  Everything checked out fine and then the nurse finally came back in to do the shots.  I held his hands and he did so well until the last one went in and he started crying.  I did take comfort by how sweet Calleigh was being to him though.  She kept telling him over and over again how great he did because when she got them, she cried the whole time and he only cried at the end (I have no recollection if that is even true but it was sweet of her).  She pulled him off the table in a hug and held him on her lap to comfort him while I was getting everything gathered to leave the room.  He soon stopped crying when she started talking to him about his new Pirate Playmobile set (yes, I was a sucker and let him get one as his gift.  I felt so bad about saying there weren't going to be any shots and then there were).  For the whole rest of the day, the two of them were a team, playing with all the pirate Playmobile stuff together (the new set came at 6:00 pm) and then they were on top of the moon when I said Brady could sleep in Calleigh's room with her.  They even went so far as to ask Duncan to switch Brady's carseat with Aubree's booster so that Brady could sit in the back with Calleigh....which he did.  It makes this mom's heart very happy.

Brady - 5 Years

Height - 41 inches  (10th - 25th)
Weight - 35 pounds (25th)
BMI - 14.8%
Blood Pressure - 82/52
Clothing Size - Shirts 5T, Pants/Shorts 4T
Shoes - 9

I can't locate Aubree's stats at the moment but at five, Calleigh was 45 pounds, 44.5 inches and wearing size 11 shoe.  He is such a little guy compared to her!

After the shots.

Going back to earlier last week, on Sunday morning we attended Blake's 10th birthday party - - a football theme at a park.  We got to wear all of our Patriots gear which was fun.  As you might imagine, the theme was the Bears since that is their team.  Brady was quite perturbed with this and at one point told me that he wasn't going to eat any of the desserts since they were all Bears stuff.  He was completely deadpanned for about 10 seconds and then says "Just kidding!" I knew there was no way he would resist chocolate. They had a big game of flag football (which has changed by the way...now you pull off the whole belt with the flags rather than just the flag.  Who knew?) with Duncan as quarterback.  Aubree was concerned that she wouldn't be able to play with the bigger kids and she didn't play for awhile but then apparently came around (I was in the playground with the boys) because by the time we had to leave, she wanted to stay and was asking when we could play football again.  She did catch a pass and Calleigh had two touchdowns - - I'm sure it helps to have your dad as the QB!

I wish the lighting was better for this one!

My friend Rosa's (who teaches art) husband came and took some footage for a short video they will be showing at church for Father's Day.

Talking more footage (although you can't see him recording here)

On Thursday we sort of, kind of, marked the end of our school year.  I say sort of because we still have a read aloud (David Livingstone) that we haven't finished and there is one geography piece I want to do.  And now the girls are telling me they still want to do school but only the parts they like which is Bible, Geography, and Science and oh, maybe English Calleigh says.  That means Math, Spelling (although not for Aubree who loves it), Handwriting, and Reading would be toast.  Next week we have VBS and then we have various trips during the summer so we really won't have time to do much school even if we really wanted to.  To celebrate the "end" we made a stop at Menchie's yesterday for some frozen yogurt since they are under the impression that is what everyone does at the end of the school year.

My students on the last day.

Calleigh finished but kept her spoon and stalked the other three and kept asking "Are you going to finish that?"

Some other random pictures...

The evening before Legoland, Duncan and the girls joined the Reeves family for laser tag to celebrate Noah's birthday.  I think it was right up there near the top of the list of the most fun thing the girls have ever done.  They loved it so much.  And got really, really dirty.

Duncan's sister, Kristin, got a Golden Retriever puppy named Sydney.  I am SO, SO jealous.

More plank creations.

More Playmobile fun.

Some belated gifts came in the mail.  Always a fun surprise!

Colby is now obsessed with this book.  I have the Scholastic video of it which I happened to put on and he wanted to watch it over and over again.  Then he discovered the book and the girls have probably read it to him a dozen times in the last 36 hours.  The funny thing is that he keeps forgetting that they are called "wild things" and no lie, he has asked me "What's the name of it again?" like 20 times today.

Getting ready to be sung to in Sabbath School.

That moment when you sit down in church and realize that BOTH of your shoes are broken.  I hadn't worn these shoes in years.  I have no idea what happened to them in the interim.  Thankfully I made it all the way to walking out of church before one of the heel's finally came off.

Yup!

Have a great end to your weekend.

Since I am pressed for time and have a lot going on, I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet and hopefully do mostly pictures.  So here we go...

Vacation Bible School was last week at our usual place, Markham Woods Church.  Last year was a bit of a challenge with Brady who basically said every day that he didn't want to go back and finally on the last day, he didn't.  Well, a year makes a big difference.  This time he was willing, had a good time, and even said the singing was his favorite part.  Go figure!  I remember trying to bribe him to go onstage to sing with his group at the Friday night program last year.  No enticing needed this year.  What a relief all around!  The girls totally loved it as usual and when asked what their favorite part is, they always say "All of it!" I really felt bad walking the halls at the end of it because they have such a good time.  Colby, of course, was my buddy and we spent the three or so hours each morning doing various errands including eating out at Keke's one morning, going to a couple of Goodwills, and a consignment store.  He seemed to enjoy his one on one time (not a surprise!).  Unfortunately for the little bugger, he has an August birthday and will still be too young next year to attend since you have to be four.

We have to leave every morning by 8:15 at the latest to make it with a little extra time on the other end (it starts at 9:00).  Sometimes you run in to your neighbors on the way (they took this picture of us behind them).

Calleigh in her group with Braelyn and Marley (who wasn't originally in it but got switched).

Aubree was with Evan, Kaleb, two other boys and her new best friend, Eva.  We already knew her but being in the same VBS group turned it into best friend status.

They both stated that they already had "best, best" friends (Aubree's being Camden and Eva's being Ethan) so they could only be "best" friends.  They even planned to wear their hair the same.

Brady with his leader Amelia.  He had the triplets (Will, Price, and Molley) and another boy, Levi, in his group.

More games.  Brady is in the brown shirt.

The whole group Friday night.  Brady is in the front row.  They are all wearing t-shirts they painted.

Calleigh on the front row as the 3rd and 4th graders performed their song.

Brady performing in the front with the four and five year olds.

Aubree's leader, Nada.

Calleigh's leader, Janie Thompson (a fellow Patriots fan!)

The mascot, Bert.  Colby was a little scared of him up close.

One of the "errands" that Colby and I had to run was that we went to the dentist on Tuesday.  You may recall that I posted a few weeks ago about Colby falling and smashing his teeth at the playground.  I thought we had dodged a bullet.  Well...that was premature.  No teeth are about to fall out but his top front left tooth is starting to become discolored. Devastating news for me.  The dentist looked at it and basically said yup, tooth discoloring that occurs two to four weeks after the incident is due to bruising.  The tooth could become even darker or it could lighten.  There is also a 20% chance it could deaden and fall out.  Basically, you just act like nothing happened and periodically check for signs of infection.  So yay, I get to sit here and watch my son's tooth possibly turn black.  It isn't THAT bad yet (I'll have to get a picture) but obviously it could get much worse.  And to think that he won't be losing it for another four years perhaps...

His first dentist appointment.  It wasn't supposed to be until September but life happens.  At least he has no cavities.

Although I'm quite perturbed by all this, I had to keep it in perspective.  It has been a really, really difficult past week in Orlando.  The day before this dentist appointment, the little 2-year old boy got snatched by an alligator at Disney and drowned.  When you have your own 2-year old boy, it is especially difficult to hear.  I just randomly would cry over the few following days of that story.  My heart just aches and aches for them and I can't even really dwell on it.  A black tooth doesn't seem so bad as I hug my little Colby tightly.

Both Sabbath and Sunday mornings I woke up to news alerts on my phone about shootings in clubs in Orlando.  Friday night it was the singer, shot by a crazed fan (we think).  Saturday night, of course, was the deaths of 49 persons shot in a night club.  I never thought I'd be seeing "Orlando Strong" and "Pray for Orlando" but there it is.  When you have little kids, you struggle with what to tell them, if anything.  So far, with these major news events, I've not purposely brought them up, instead waiting to see if they see or hear anything.  Calleigh had a birthday party to attend on Sunday afternoon and as she I drove there, we were listening to the Christian music radio station.  I should have guessed they'd say something and sure enough, they said "Our hearts are broken over last night's tragedy." Calleigh doesn't miss anything so she quickly asked "What tragedy?" I explained it as succinetly as I could (leaving out the type of night club).  She took it pretty much in stride which is probably typical for a 9-year old.  It really isn't something they can relate to and it doesn't affect them.  Her only comment was "Well, that's why it isn't good to drink alcohol." Apparently that was her takeaway from my explanation of the event (I had explained that a club was where people go late at night to dance and drink alcohol.)  When we got to the party, the birthday girl's mother had also been explaining it to the birthday girl and she says to her mom, "Why is murder so popular?" I can see how it would seem that way.

Incidentally, I wasn't planning on mentioning the boy with the alligator (I don't need them freaking out or something) but Calleigh came home from VBS and says "Marley told me that an alligator ate a baby at Disney." So that was that.

Danica's ninth birthday.  It has an astronaut theme and they got to decorate their own "helmets."

Complete with space suits!

Pool break

Danica's mom, Jackie, created this room for the girls to eat their lunch.  Honestly, it was SUPER awesome.  She did such a great job.  The room was almost completely dark but had all this glow in the dark stuff including the plates.

On Thursday after VBS, Calleigh and Braelyn were invited to Marley's house for the afternoon to go swimming.  That gave the opportunity to take the other three to Lucky Monkey which Brady has wanted to do again for a long time.

Potty break.

They spent probably 80% of their time riding these Plasma cars which they didn't have the first time we came to Lucky Monkey.  They cried when they had to leave.  They loved these so much...

Meanwhile, the girls had a great time swimming and looking for bugs.

Allen picked the girls up and they went out for supper on their way home.

A few more pictures.

Box day!  Our new My Father's World curriculum for next school year, came.

Calleigh teaching Colby how to make a quesadilla.

Jennifer made 550 cookies for the church to pass out for Father's Day.  I went over one evening to help paint the "DAD." Please note that it was already written and I had to just go over it with a paintbrush.  It was dummy proof!

The girls went over Friday afternoon to bag them and Jennifer was really impressed at how hard they worked and how fast they were.  They did so great.

Bringing Daddy breakfast in bed for Father's Day.  Just some mangos cut up with whipped cream.

We had brunch at Ron and Elaine's and gave the dads their cards.

The video for Father's Day that we were involved with recording a few weeks ago was shown on Sabbath and there were some snippets of Duncan and the kids.  The whole thing  was really well done.  When I went to look up the link in the church archives, this is the cover picture which was neat!  You can watch the video by clicking HERE and going to about the four minute mark.

This Sabbath's picture.

One little cute thing from the kids this week.

As I was driving back to the church to pick up the kids from VBS, I was switching lanes to get on to I-4.  The car let me in and I put up my hand to wave thanks.

Colby:"Why are you doing that with your hand?"
Me: "Because that car let me switch into their lane."
Colby:"Oh, that was sweet."

No, you're sweet.  Hug them tight!

This world may not seem so great right now....people have lost their lives and others have had their hearts broken.  But remember, we have such a great hope for the future!  I can't wait to go home.  Even so, come Lord Jesus.

A few months ago Duncan took a new position at Adventist Health System (AHS) as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Florida Division.  AHS is the parent company of Florida Hospital, just as an FYI.  With this new position, each June there is a special week of meetings called President's Council which takes place at a hotel in some part of North America - - a different place each year.  This year that place was Park City, Utah and of course, the family got to go along.

The meetings didn't start until Tuesday, June 28 but we decided to head out on Thursday, June 23 so that we could do some sightseeing first.  Cory Reeves suggested that we join them in Moab where there are a couple of national parks so we took them up on that offer.  Ron and Elaine had been wanting to go out to the Utah area too so they hopped on board with the plan as well.

Ron and Elaine left on Monday so they could do a few other parks first (Zion and Bryce) so that left us fending for ourselves to get to the airport.  We contemplated just parking there since it was a work expense anyway but I wasn't excited about having to get the car ourselves when we returned at 12:15 am.  We ended up parking our van at Ron and Elaine's and then taking a shuttle from there.  I had wanted to take an Uber but we were worried about not being able to get one big enough to fit all of us, hence the shuttle.  While we were driving there, it suddenly occurred to me, "Why would we not just take TWO Ubers?" It would have been like half the cost of the shuttle. Note to self for next time.

On the shuttle

We got to the airport a little early because I needed to finish my CLEAR registration. CLEAR is a program that for a fee allows you to skip the security lines at participating airports, Orlando being one of them.  Duncan had already joined because he flies a fair amount and then I could be added for an extra cost.  Orlando has some long lines sometimes so I was all for it.  We got that done pretty quickly, stopped for some food, and then proceeded to security. We had our stroller with us but the boys wanted to walk so we had all the backpacks piled on the stroller.  I had my black backpack, complete with my new Mac laptop, stuffed with a bunch of items as usual.  I was so glad I didn't have to carry it all through the airport though.

Signing up for CLEAR.  Colby is wearing his new backpack which he was very happy about and wanted to wear the whole time. I did have my backpack on at this point.

If you look closely, you can see where is his front left tooth is a little discolored.

The theme was yellow.  Obviously.

As we got to the spot to put everything on the belt, Duncan took over the job of unloading stuff while I went through the metal detector with the kids.  We retrieved all our stuff off the belt but I noticed that my backpack hadn't made it out.  Ah ha!  I knew immediately the problem.  We hadn't unzipped it and laid it flat on the belt.  It's a special bag where you don't have to actually take the laptop out but you do have to unzip it.  I razzed Duncan a bit that he forgot to do it but the truth is, I forgot to on the last flight because, well, because we have four kids and it's easy to forget to do it!  The TSA agent had the bag in her hand and was teasing us a bit about who forgot to do it. She then took the backpack and disappeared for about a minute.  She re-appeared with it in hand and says to me "I just need to put this back through again." I waited another minute and it appeared on the belt.  I grabbed it and put it in the stroller and that was that.  A small snafu but overall, we had gotten through security in less than 10 minutes.

Riding the tram to our gate.

The kids had a bit of an argument/discussion about who would would be sitting with whom but we finally settled on Brady and Aubree sitting with Duncan and Calleigh and Colby sitting with me.  I pretty much get Colby by default so it was no surprise.  The odd thing is that we had assigned seats!  We are so used to flying on Southwest where we sit wherever but this time we were on Delta.  I had originally booked us on Southwest flying in to Denver because I didn't want to fly to Salt Lake City, drive east to Moab and then back to Park City (which is just east of Salt Lake City).  My brilliant idea was to fly to Denver and then drive west to Moab.  I even booked the plane tickets. But then, a few weeks later when I went to reserve the rental car, holy cow!! It was triple the price to drop off the rental in a different city.  Yikes!  There went that plan. Thank goodness I had booked the tickets on Southwest.  I was able to cancel those ones and use the funds for our trip up for campmeeting/Nova Scotia.  I then booked tickets on Delta to Salt Lake City.  Southwest, of course, also flies to Salt Lake City, but they had no direct flights and it was more expensive.

We boarded the plane and found our seats in row 26.  We got such a kick out of that. Whenever we "fly" somewhere for school, I make airline tickets using a fake airline ticket website.  It always puts in the same row number on all the fake tickets.  Yup, row 26.  I hadn't even thought of it when I booked our real tickets.  I really hadn't even noticed the row number only that it was the only row that had six seats available all the way across.  Anyway, a funny coincidence!

Aubree scored a window seat.

We got settled and the kids got out their tablets.  I had taken some extra time to put some new games on Colby's tablet but had also brought the laptop with some DVD's for him to watch when he got worn out with the tablet.  Sure enough, the tablet lasted about ten minutes and just as we are taking off, I go to get the laptop out to turn on a DVD.  I unzipped the bag and there was NO laptop.  Arghhh!!!!

Of course, I immediately realized what had happened.  The TSA agent must have taken it out of the bag to run it back through the screening process.  Obviously that had not occurred to me at the time especially since she had held up the bag, with no laptop in her hand, to say she was running it back through.  Because the backpack was mostly in the stroller, I didn't really notice the difference in the weight of it and and it had been so heavy to start with anyway.

My immediate thoughts weren't, "Oh, no.  My new laptop is gone forever.  What a waste of money." No, it was "Oh no.  Now I have nothing to play a DVD on to entertain my 2-year old for the next 4.5 hours." Okay, let's not panic.  He can go back to playing some of the games on the Kindle, after all, I put a bunch of new ones on it.  I turned it back on only to discover they were all gone.  None of the games were there even though he had just played one. I showed it to Duncan who concurred I wasn't crazy. What in the world was going on?? Time to go to a Plan C.  I noticed in the Delta magazine that you could get free movies and TV shows streaming on your devices. Ah ha!  They may have something appropriate.  I read through all the instructions and took all the steps on his device.  As I got to the last step, I see "Not compatible with Kindle." Well shoot.  There went Plan C.  On to Plan D, my phone.  Again, I went through all the steps but the darn thing wouldn't download an app that was needed from the App store.  By now, I was seriously frustrated.  I looked over at Duncan who was peacefully watching a movie as his two seat companions did the same thing.  I will admit that a little tear of self pity came out one side of my eye.  But, I brought myself back to reality that it would all work out and it did.  In the end, Colby was entertained by some dinosaurs, coloring, eating, books, and his sisters lending him their tablets.  We survived!

When we landed and were walking to baggage, we passed a TSA agent and I asked him what they do when they find stuff left behind at security. He said they turn the stuff in to Lost and Found three times a day and they log EVERYTHING even down to a pack of cigarettes so he was confident that the laptop would be turned in.  That gave me hope. What didn't give me hope was trying to reach the Lost and Found department.  You couldn't reach a live person.  Instead, they had you fill out something online.  That deflated me a little.

Friday morning was a shower day and as I stood there, it occurred to me that my dear friend Amy was coming through the airport that very day on the exact same flight as we took the day before. Perhaps she would have time to stop and inquire?  I gave her a call and she agreed to check it out, time permitting.  Some odd hours later, I get a call from her and she says "They have it!" She was at Lost and Found.  The lady called and confirmed it all with me and she gave it to Amy who brought it to me.  What a relief!!  I will add that I was very relieved in a way that it was my new laptop because the new one has a password to log in from the very beginning whereas my old one has none of that.  People potentially could have been able to log in to my email, bank stuff, etc.  A word to the wise...

Thank you Amy!!

With that out of the way, time to just enjoy Moab.  First we had to get there.  Moab is about a four hour drive from Salt Lake City but because we already had our rental condo that night, we decided to just drive that evening and be able to wake up there in the morning.  Our car rental was supposed to be a mini van but when we got to the counter, they tried to upgrade us to a Suburban at only an extra $10 a day. I wasn't all that interested but I asked if the mini van had a DVD player.  They said only the Suburban did.  So, we went for it.  Of course, as Duncan put the car seats in, I noted there was a mini van parked right next to us and chances are it would have been ours. I peeked in the window and yup, there was a DVD player.  I felt like we had been scammed.  Nevertheless, it did work out to have an 8-seater because Ron and Elaine were then able to ride with us everywhere in Moab.  I will say this though.  After getting in and out of that backseat, I am glad I have a mini van!

We didn't end up getting to the condo until close to 1:00 am which would have been 3:00 am the old time.  The kids slept in the car and it was easy getting them inside and back to sleep.  I will say that doing it this way really worked out for us as far as adjusting to the two hour time change.  It was completely seamless.  They slept in late the next morning and then didn't go to bed the next evening until probably 9:00 pm and then woke up at a reasonable hour the next morning.  I didn't need to worry about any kid waking up at 6:00 am or some other horrible hour.  Truth be told, the kids did amazingly well the whole trip with their sleeping.  I didn't hear a single sound from Colby (or any other kid) any night except the very last one where he ended up in bed with me.  I feel like I deserve this though after all the horrible nights of traveling with Colby up until he was about two and a half.

We rented a 3-bedroom condo for Thursday - Sunday nights about 10 minutes outside of downtown Moab.  I was finally able to find a condo with a room that had two double beds so that Duncan and I could have one and the girls could have the other.  It also must have carpet because Brady slept on the floor in his sleeping bag (Colby had a pack-and-play).

Our condo is the one on the left.

Our view in the front.

Our room.

The main area downstairs.

Friday, our first day there, I did some grocery shopping while Duncan, Ron, Elaine, and the kids went on their first hike at a trail about 20 minutes away.  This would really be our first time experiencing heat above 100 degrees. Supposedly the humidity is less than in Florida but I pretty much felt how I feel at home which is very hot in the summer.  We made sure to keep ourselves well hydrated, obviously.  The hike (a few miles long) went great save for a few minor problems with Aubree who had to go potty in the middle of the hike and there was nothing around to use for cover. Duncan told her to just pee her pants because it would cool her off and she did just that and didn't seem to mind!  Another time she had to climb up a rock but then freaked out when she had to come down.  Duncan was worried this would be a bad omen for hiking the rest of the time.

Grandpa was ready to go!

Not sure if this is pre or post pee.

Grandma and Colby.  Duncan bought a new "baby" carrier to wear on his back during the hikes.  Colby did ride in it a lot but he also did enjoy walking some of the time.

Off to the pool at the condo to cool off.

The Reeveses arrived late afternoon and soon after we headed out for an early supper. I depended solely on Yelp to figure out where to eat during our trip and I think it steered me right every time.

Okay, so, yeah, it was called a brewery.  Elaine got a kick out of us eating at a place with a name like that.

Yes, that is Calleigh reading a book while waiting for her food.  A book she brought.  Knock me over with a feather.

Enjoying some gelato afterwards.

That evening when I went to go to bed, I walked into our bedroom and it was really hot. I tried to locate a thermostat upstairs but there only appeared to be one downstairs which I turned down to 67 thinking it just needed to be turned cooler for the night. But as I lay there, it didn't seem to be getting cooler.  I looked all around and that's when I realized there was no vent in the room.  What in the world??  There was a little desktop fan which I turned on myself and eventually went to sleep.  About 1:00 am, I was wide awake and it was just as hot as ever in the room.  It felt like a sauna.  I couldn't figure it out because the night before it wasn't like that.  What had happened?  I finally opened the door to let some cooler air in but I just laid there fuming and thinking about the scathing review I was going to leave on the place.  Who builds a place in the dessert and doesn't put an a/c vent in every bedroom??  Ridiculous.  I finally could stand it no more and I went downstairs and read on the couch for about an hour and a half. Eventually I was tired enough that I could stand the heat enough in the room to fall asleep but it made for a short night.  The next morning I was complaining to Elaine about how hot it was and she says "Oh, you know the vent is in the floor, right?  We had the same problem and Ron found we had covered it up." Bingo.  I felt like an idiot!!  Sure enough, I ran upstairs and we had covered the vent, which was indeed on the floor under the window, with a bunch of extra pillows and bedspreads from off the bed.  Thank goodness Ron figured it out.

Moab is near two major national parks, Canyonlands and Arches.  On Sabbath, we decided to set out for the former.  We got ourselves up pretty early so that we could try and do our hiking before it got TOO hot.  Ron had gotten a senior pass before the trip which allowed us to get into any national park for free.  Score!  I guess it was a good thing that we were all able to fit in one vehicle (otherwise, it would be $25).  We ended up doing three different hikes with the first two being pretty short (less than a half mile) and then the last one being about three miles.  Now, if you know me at all, you would know that I am NOT a hiker.  However, if I am hiking with my family and witnessing beautiful views, it isn't so bad.  And beautiful views they were indeed.  The downside is that we were also near some very steep edges which made me incredibly nervous.  I did not enjoy that part of it at all.

At the Visitor's Center.  Calleigh is wearing the backpack the loan out to you with supplies to help you get your "Junior Ranger" badge.

Our second hike which looks like a big crater.

That's close enough to that ledge...

Saw a lot of these along the hike.  Can't remember what they're called now.

At the culmination of the third hike.  I did not care to see them up there so Calleigh took this picture.

Don't I look like a professional hiker with that cooling towel around my neck?

Enjoying some shade with Noah and Jake

That backpack had these pair of binoculars in it that Brady wanted to carry the whole time.  It did cause a few fights when other siblings wanted to use them.

Like this one.

Elaine getting in some pictures.  Shortly after this, just after we had turned around to go back on our 3-mile hike, her ankle gave out while stepping down on a rock along the trail.  I saw her take a tumble which scared me especially when her face also hit the ground.  Fortunately the worst was some skinned up and bloody knees.  But it makes you wonder what they do if she had hurt herself badly enough that she couldn't walk.

We got back right in time for a late lunch and Colby's nap (and mine!). Early evening, the Z's arrived and we had a haystack supper (what else!).  Our condo didn't have a huge yard but it did have a little gully that the kids could hike up and down and play in which did entertain them quite well.

Playing in the back.

It was not without it's problems however.  On Friday night, Brady got a bunch of little prickers stuck in him that took Duncan and Grandma a good while to pull out.

The view from the other side.  That's the condo in the background.

No room at the table for Addi and Colby.

And that is the end of Part 1 of our trip.  Tune in later for more!

Not Moab.

Sunday morning was our Hummer adventure.  Amy and I had been talking before the trip about what to do and she (or Karis) had come up with going on a 2-hour Hummer tour.  Sounded benign enough.  We did see a video preview where the Hummer appears to be on two wheels as it goes down some rocks but we figured, hey, we will just tell them we have kids and we don't want to be doing stuff like that.  Easy peasy. Our tour was at 8:30 so it was another early morning.  There were 17 of us in total and since the Hummers can seat 12 people, the Z's (since they were the only family with five people) went in the first Hummer with some other random people and then the rest of us were in the second Hummer. Our tour guide, Josh, introduced himself by saying that this was indeed an "adventure" so there could be times when we were doing exciting things.  I was curious if the kids would get scared.  Turns out...it was just me!

Waiting patiently for all the paperwork to get completed.  You know, the paperwork that basically says if they kill us, they aren't responsible.

He drove us a few miles out of town and then began the off road stuff.  We immediately climbed this rock formation and it was quickly evident that we were driving on a small strip of "flat" rock with nothing but drop offs on both sides...maybe 75 to 100 feet down?  I tried not to look while hoping fervently that this wasn't what the whole trip would be like.  The kids were in the front row and they were completely unfazed. Josh pointed out that although this was a small strip, it was a two way road and if another vehicle came from the other direction, we would have to pass each other.  And yes, we would be coming back this way.  Thankfully no other vehicle came by but then I had the rest of the trip to think about what if one did while we were leaving?

May be hard to tell but you can clearly see the side drops off there on the right and the left is the same.

There were some other moments the rest of the trip but nothing too crazy.  We were never so close to an edge as at the beginning.  Indeed, it was pretty fun and I loved watching the kids have such a good time.  But still, that ledge at the end was weighing on my mind...

Colby raising his hands as we go down a hill.

Checking out some dinosaur tracks.

Our guide, Josh.  He reminded me of Bruce MacDougall.

Yup, this is us. I wasn't phased by this point.

The guy sitting in the back row of the Z's Hummer sent me some pictures he took of us.  They were really great!

Our whole group.

The Z's Hummer led the way for the first half of the trip and then we led the second half.  That meant we were first up the hill on that scary portion that marked the end of the trail. We got to the top and I held my breathe, hoping I wouldn't see another vehicle up there.  And then...coming right for us were THREE Jeeps.  My heart was in my throat as Josh started backing up very slowly as he tried to pull over to the side.  Ron made a video of it and you can hear me saying, "Just let me out right now." The only thing that saved my sanity is that I was sitting on the inside rather than the outside so I couldn't actually see how close we were to the edge.  But it had to be really, really close.  I honestly have no idea how another Hummer would have passed since they are even wider.  As the Jeeps passed us, I noticed that one of the drivers was a woman who had a man (her husband?) in the passenger seat.  I couldn't help but think to myself that never in a gazillion years would Duncan ever be a passenger while I drove in such a precarious situation nor would I want to be the driver, of course! Anyway, we all made it back safe and sound and I was glad (I think?) that we did it because the kids had such a blast but I was scared out of my mind for about 120 seconds.

So crazy but Jake actually slept through the scary incident at the end. Lucky!

After our Hummer tour, we all headed over to a dinosaur museum which also had dinosaur replicas outside.  Aubree and Brady were going through a dinosaur phase at the moment so I thought it would be cool.  Well, not cool at all considering that you are outside in 100+ degree weather.  Some of it was indoors which included a movie about the beginning of time which we basically disagreed with completely.  Not sure why we even went and saw it but I suppose we didn't totally expect that.  Plus, at least we were inside!  In the end, Duncan and I concurred that it probably wasn't worth the money ($60 for the family).

Aubree and Kaleb were good buddies throughout the trip.

Getting ready for the movie.

Sort of looks like giant dinosaurs were following us. You could walk around this road looking at all the life size (?) replicas of dinosaurs.  Did I mention it was a little warm?

Following lunch, it on was on to Arches National Park.  Arches is known for its...arches. Arches are neat to see but after seeing all the beautiful panoramic views at Canyonlands the day before, Arches wasn't quite as exciting.  The kids had had a busy day and the boys, particularly Brady (who had to walk as opposed to Colby who was on Duncan's back), were fading fast so we ended up spending less than two hours at the park.  We at least got to see Balanced Rock and then the famous Delicate Arch (from a distance) which is on the Utah state quarter.  The girls had picked up a Junior Ranger book when we came into the park and they finished some activities to get their Junior Ranger badge so we did feel like we accomplished something.

Balanced Rock.  As you may have guessed.

Delicate Arch is way, way, way, back there in the distance.

Here's proof.

Being sworn in as a Junior Ranger.

Now wearing their badges.

We picked one of these up and now we are itching to get to as many national parks as we can so we can get our book stamped.

Got in some swimming and the hot tub later in the evening.  Once the bubbles shut off on the hot tub we were a little worried about the color of the water.  Thankfully no one has gotten sick!

Monday morning we checked out of our rental and met up with everyone for a late breakfast, did a little window shopping and then it was time to hit the road for the four hour drive to Park City.  I was reading a book and wasn't paying attention to the drive but about 1.5 hours in, Duncan realized that he had missed a turn which added about an hour on to our drive.  I honestly didn't care because everyone was happy but Duncan wasn't pleased with himself.  As we got closer to our destination, I put the book away so I could enjoy the amazing scenery which was really quite something to behold. The houses there, many on the sides and tops of mountains - - just wow! Money, money, money.  Our hotel, the Montage Deer Valley, was itself in the side of a ski mountain.

Monday morning breakfast.

The hotel was very, very nice and nothing that we would have stayed in on our own, to say the least.  We were able to get two adjoining rooms with a king in one room and two doubles in the other.  This worked out nicely because Ron and Elaine stayed with us on Monday and Tuesday nights and were able to take the room with the king.  We are quite adept at staying in one room so it worked out just fine.  The hotel was very posh but unfortunately, it was so posh that they didn't have an in-room coffee maker (also heats water) which was bad news for Elaine and me.  We are accustomed to having our morning, afternoon, and evening tea and that was in serious jeopardy with this set up.  Fortunately, I was able to get my cup in the morning and some afternoons when we had group meals but Elaine was not part of that so she went without some of the time.  On the second day, she was so desperate that she went to a restaurant in the hotel that wasn't even open yet, put on her thickest British accent, and they "gave" her two cups of tea.  I use "gave" very lightly because they charged her $17 for two cups of tea.  That did include the tip though.  Ha!

This was on the wall when we first checked into our room.  MDV stands for Montage Deer Valley.

This was also there for the kids.  Paintbox is the kids activity group.

View down from our room.

The view up.

The kids each got a free stuffed animal in the lobby as soon as we walked in.  A nice greeting!

The kids loved the huge tub!

And bathrobes just their size.

Very peaceful and relaxing.  Not that I actually sat there peacefully relaxing.

The boys chilling one morning.

When we arrived, we quickly realized that it was valet parking only and of course, there were bellman to take your bags to your room.  We tipped the bellman that loaded our stuff from the van to the cart and then tipped the bellman who brought the stuff to the room.  Then we realized we needed to tip the guy who brought our car around from valet for us so we could leave and go get supper.  Only problem was that we had a measly $1 left between the two of us.  Clearly I had not been thinking ahead about needing cash for the tips. I told Duncan to just explain to the guy that we would bring cash back with us after we ate and that we were really sorry but we would make it up to him.  So Duncan gets his name, Cord, and humbly apologizes for our ineptness with a proper tip but gives him the $1 at least.  A bit later, we meet up with some of Duncan's colleagues at the Loco Lizard (really good Mexican food) and we got around to discussing the tip situation and one of the wives says "Oh, didn't you see the message?  They said we didn't need to leave tips because it's all part of the contract they negotiated with the hotel." AHS created this app that you could go on to get news, post pictures, see the agenda, etc for the conference.  It's looks very similar to Facebook actually.  Someone posted that tip info in the newsfeed so unless you happened to just be scrolling through the feed (which we had not been doing) you would totally have missed the announcement.  I was a little perturbed by this methodology but very grateful that we didn't need to worry about all the cash we would need on hand.  On the way back to the hotel I said to Duncan, "I guess we need to track down Cord and ask for our dollar back!"

The reason it's called Deer Valley.  Sadly we also saw several deceased ones, killed by motorists.

Duncan was in meetings for half days on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday but we had no problems entertaining ourselves in his absence.  Tuesday afternoon they had a kids' program and then also on Tuesday night while the adults were at the Awards Banquet (employees got plaques and such for hitting significant years of service at AHS) which took place on the "Grand Lawn" under a tent.  Originally I thought I would be skipping this because children need to be at least four to be dropped off at the kids' program but voila!  Ron and Elaine were there and were happy to hang out with Colby at the evening kid events.  It worked out perfectly.  Some time on Tuesday, Duncan was alerted that they had inadvertently forgotten to invite him to a Wednesday evening dinner out on the town for new leaders in the Florida Division.  Duncan told them that he had a two-year old that would be "under age" but he was told (by AHS) that it would be fine.  Once again, here was another event that I didn't know I would be attending.  I had brought a few extra things but I wore something I wouldn't necessarily have donned had I known in advance where I was going.  Oh well!  At any rate, we dropped all four kids off the hotel's kid club and all seemed to be in order.  We had a little extra time before meeting at the restaurant so we headed to Walgreens to get a few odds and ends.  It was probably 30 minutes after we had dropped the kids off and I get a call on my phone and it showed a number from Provo, Utah.  Of course, I immediately guessed it was something to do with the kids and I was slightly fearful as I answered the call. A lady answered and said "Hi, this is (I don't remember).  I am SO sorry I'm late but I'm here in the lobby.  I got stuck in bad traffic." I finally figured out that she was the special baby-sitter that they had gotten for Colby which was separate from the hotel's kids program.  She said she usually would stay with the kid in the room, get him some supper, and then put him to bed.  I told her that that wasn't going to work in this case because he was with his older siblings and needed to stay there.  She was confused but said she would go talk to someone.  I never heard back from her so I assumed everything was all right but it was indeed a bit strange.  Sure enough, when we went and picked the kids up, she had just stayed there with Colby so it all worked out.  It was funny though because when we went to get them, they were watching the movie "Minions" which isn't a movie we would normally let the kids watch.  Calleigh says to me "I tried to tell them a couple of times that we weren't allowed to watch that movie but they didn't believe me and told me that I was just saying that because I didn't WANT to watch it." I applauded Calleigh for her efforts but told her that sometimes in that situation you just have to go with it and it's not her fault for watching it.

Thursday was our big day.  Duncan had meetings in the morning so the spouses and kids had a special outing to tour Olympic Park via bus.  Olympic Park is aptly named because it was the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics and also where US Olympians train to be in the Olympics.  There were four buses to take all of us and as we waited in line to board one of them, there were a bunch of teenagers in front of us.  Calleigh looks at them and says to me, "We should go on the next bus.  I don't want to go on this one with a bunch of teenagers.  They are so loud." I will remind her someday that she said that.

Hanging with the Z's as usual.

Our tour took us to various sites and then we were dropped off at the main area/museum which we could tour on our own.  The plan was to have Duncan join us there and then spend the afternoon doing the various outdoor activities.  Unfortunately the weather looked really, really sketchy like it could start raining at any moment and they had a sign up that said "No refunds due to inclement weather." You could do one activity for $15 or as many as you wanted for $40 (per person).  But who wanted to pay $80 or $120 (depending if Brady did stuff) and then a few minutes later, it all close down? Decisions, decisions.  While waiting for Duncan, I decided to spend $30 and have the girls go down a big hill on a tube.  The $30 would go towards the day pass if needed.  Well, they had such great fun with it and the skies seemed to clear slightly so we decided to gamble and go for the day pass.  I am so glad we did.  What ensued probably had to be one of the most fun days they have ever had.  At the end of it, all I could think of was "Who would pay $100 to go to Disney when they could pay $40 and come here??

Our tour guide, Leslie.  Didn't catch her last name but she is training on the skeleton for the next Olympics.

The ski jump

Beautiful view from up there.

Smaller area down below for people to practice jumping.  They land in a pool.

Aubree has another best friend.  She knows Becca Wandersleben from her Sabbath School.  She and Becca were born at the exact same hospital on the exact same day (May 19) and year although Aubree was born in the morning and Becca in the afternoon.  And yes, I do know Becca's mom, Jennifer, and we both got a kick out of having our babies on the same day at the time.

Inside the museum there were some neat virtual rides which included bobsledding, skiing, etc.

Downhill ski jumping.  Trying to get Colby to lean forward as he started the jump.

Watching Karis take a turn.  Karis got such a kick out of how the characters looked when they crashed that I started dying of laughter too.

One of the kids coming down on a tube.

The day was not without drama, however.  There wasn't a whole lot Brady could do but two of the things he could do were the tubing (which he did once and said he was good) and then a smaller (but still very worthy) ropes course.  It said the minimum weight requirement for it was 35 pounds.  Seeing as Brady just had his well visit appointment and was 35 pounds, I knew he was good to go. I spent the $40 and got him the pass.  About this time, Duncan arrived as Brady got in the line for the ropes course and I took Colby to the car for his nap (he fell asleep as I buckled him in, he was that tired).  I had been in the car for about 35 - 40 minutes and I got a text from Duncan, "They won't let Brady do it.  They said he weighed 30 pounds.  He is bawling." I was like, what?? 30 pounds?? No possible way!  Duncan texted back, "Nope, they won't let him do it." I was so upset.  I was ready to just jump out of the car and go give them a piece of my mind but I couldn't leave Colby, obviously.  A little later, Duncan texts me again saying he weighed Brady on the scale and it now said 34 pounds.  It was a non-digital scale, one of the ones where depending on the angle you are looking from, it looks different.  I was about to lose my mind, trapped in that car.  How dare they make you wait in line only to tell you that you aren't big enough?  How dare they sell me a ticket without weighing him first to be sure he's big enough in the first place? They better be giving me a refund.  But mostly I was heartbroken that my dear little boy had his heart crushed.  He had been so excited.  It wasn't just the boy who was crying.

A little while goes by and I don't hear anything from Duncan and I was just sick.  I couldn't even do anything but sit there.  Finally, I get a text from Duncan and it's a picture of Brady suiting up to do the ropes course!!  Turns out that Duncan got the brilliant idea to put a few rocks in Brady's pockets and bam!  Suddenly he's 35 pounds. And oh, how he loved it.  He did so great although he did need a little help from Zachary because he wasn't quite tall enough to reach some of the stuff (nothing to do with weight, mind you).  Lest you think we are these terrible, cheating people, a little later we went to the main ticketing area and they had a digital scale there.  Sure enough, he was 36.8 pounds.  When we got home, I also weighed him, naked, on our scale and he was 35.5 pounds. I feel completely vindicated!

Getting this picture made me so happy!

Brady holding the rock that put him over the top.

So proud of my boy!  At the end of this course, there was a zip line.  In addition, there were other zip lines, an alpine coaster, and various other things (some of which were for adults only).

Hard to see but that's Aubree in the middle of your picture on the large course.  It was crazy because on the first hike in Moab, she was so apprehensive but then she did a complete 180 and had no fear on everything else.

Calleigh on the drop tower.  Aubree and Kaleb finished the ropes course at 5:58 and ran down to do the drop tower.  It closed at 6:00 and the lady wasn't going to let them do it but she finally relented when I said there was still two minutes.  I thought Aubree might freak out (I know I would!) when she got to the top but she didn't even hesitate dropping off the side.  Nor did Calleigh earlier.

After Colby woke up, I took him to McDonald's for a treat.  Other than the virtual rides, there wasn't much for a kid his size to do.

We ate here for supper both Thursday and Friday.  The food was so good (cauliflower soup to die for!), cheap ($3.99 for kids meals which included grilled cheese and soup), and the employees were the friendliest people I've ever seen working in a restaurant.

Friday morning a large group of about 75 persons from the conference went on a white water rafting adventure.  After falling out of the raft on the one and ONLY time I will ever go white water rafting (which was in California, pre-kids), I was MORE than happy to stay behind with Colby while Duncan took the other three along with Ron and Elaine (they were now staying at a condo in Salt Lake City).  It was only a Class 2 which is apparently pretty tame but a big "no, thank you" for me on that.  Instead, Colby and I were very pleased to spend the morning at the children's museum in Salt Lake City along with Amy and Addision whom we rode with and later the Johnsons whom we met there.  It's actually really nice going to a museum with one kid because then you can go entirely at the pace of the one kid as opposed to four kids wanting to go four different places.  We found the museum to be quite well done and it was especially nice to get half off the admission using our Science Center pass.

Playing with Addison.

Just liked the tongue sticking out in this one.

I got a full report of the rafting trip upon our reunion.  It turns out that Elaine fell out of the raft but fortunately had no lasting effects from it and seemed to handle it much better than I.  Aubree almost got decapitated from a branch that the tour guide had warned her about but Aubree evidently didn't hear it.  She had to lean her head way, way back as the branch passed over her.  So yeah, other than those two things, it was a great time!

Friday and Sabbath afternoons Duncan took the three older ones on hikes while I stayed with a napping Colby.  It was really tough for me to sacrifice to do that but someone had to.  Hehe! The hike on Sabbath was almost six miles but they did really well.  Duncan had taken the backpack to carry Brady in if needed but he never did.

My sleeping buddy.  He did like to take naps in my bed.  After awhile, he would always get close to the edge and I'd be so paranoid he was going to roll off that I couldn't close my eyes or run to the bathroom for fear he'd fall off in that moment.

Friday's hike.

You could hike up and then take the chair lift down.

That is our hotel down there in the valley.

Sabbath afternoon hike.

They even had a snowball fight!  Excuse the butt picture.

Duncan and Cory hiked a bit farther while Amanda stayed with the kids and they saw a couple of moose.

Some more random pictures from Park City:

Killing time at the outlets while the parents shop.

There was a little pool that the boys enjoyed playing in.

Each evening between 8:00 and 9:00 they served s'mores and hot chocolate.  Brady liked to pretend he was drinking coffee like Daddy.

The hotel mascot who hung out at the lobby twice daily.

Sabbath lunch alfresco.  Many of the meals were provided by AHS which was very nice.

Chatted with our neighbors and "cousin" Tiffany and Anthony and their new baby, Beckett.

The boys did a nature scavenger hunt on Sabbath morning.

Meanwhile, the girls did a painting session.

And yes, we carried both of these painting home on the plane.

Make your own trail mix for a snack.

Saturday evening was the ice cream social but it was really a big meal.  The only downside was that as it got darker, it got COLD.  I definitely did not pack enough cold weather clothes.

The girls getting in their last bit of friend time.  They had such a good time.

There were a couple bigger boys, Cole Hilliard and Jonathan Brown, that were so great with Brady and Colby.  Cole and Jonathan would always wrestle and play with Brady and Colby whenever they crossed paths, which of course makes little boys happy.

Sunday morning it was time to pack up and head out.  When I booked the tickets, the direct flights, which were only on Delta, were quite expensive although in hindsight I don't remember how much more.  Duncan's ticket and mine were paid for but we still had to pay for the kids so an expensive direct flight ticket times four adds up.  That left us with a Southwest flight connecting through Denver.  I did not want to leave at the crack of dawn so we ended up on a 4:25 departure, arriving Denver at 5:50, departing Denver at 7:10, and arriving in Orlando at 12:45 AM.  Of course, there is a two hour time change mixed in so arriving in Orlando at 12:45 was like 10:45 with the time we were accustomed to so not nearly as bad as it sounded.

I didn't want to leave Salt Lake City without at least driving by some of the significant landmarks so we drove by the Mormon Temple and that whole area.  It is very extensive and quite beautiful.  We also drove by the state capital and admired it's stunning view.  I did feel bad at that point that we haven't even visited our own state capital so I plan on making that a priority here very soon (I have lived in Florida for 18 years and never been to Tallahassee!).  We then headed to the airport and dropped off our rental.  As we were walking past the rental car counters, I hear Duncan say something to a guy who was walking quickly past him.  A second later, I realize what went down.  It was Mitt Romney! Fitting, in Salt Lake City I guess.  Duncan waved his hand and said "Hey Mitt." And Mitt replied back, "Hey." He was clearly in a rush to get somewhere and Duncan said he was even sweating.

A beautiful view from the state capital.

Mormon Temple

We had eaten a late breakfast, around 11:00, so as we waited to board our flight, the kids had a couple of snacks and my intention was that we would get some supper in Denver before our connecting flight.  The plan was going well...until about 45 - 60 minutes into our flight when the captain says "Some of you more astute travelers (apparently I am not part of this group) have noticed that we have been circling.  There is some bad weather in Denver and we can't land so we are circling." When you hear that, your heart just sinks because you figure you will either miss you connecting flight or have no time at all to get to it.  A bit later he comes back on and says "Okay, the weather is still bad in Denver.  We are going to land in Grand Junction (Colorado) to refuel and then wait for further instructions." Well, Duncan did want to stop there on the trip so I guess he got his wish! After sitting there for probably a good 30 minutes, we were finally told it had cleared up and we could take off.  He told us it was a 30 minute flight to Denver from there.  We did the math - - we wouldn't be landing until at least 7:20 and our other flight left at 7:10.  Duncan was none to pleased but I told him not to worry because it was possible that flight could be delayed for the same reason or if there were a lot of us on our current plane that were going to Orlando, they might hold the plane for us.  Nevertheless, my mind started to wander.  Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have to stay in Denver overnight.  The hotel would surely be a business expense.  Duncan didn't have to work Monday because of the holiday.  Some of our electronic devices, most notably my phone, were dying and wouldn't make it for another flight.  And, most importantly for the kids, we obviously wouldn't be able to get something to eat if we immediately ran to catch another flight.

As soon as we touched the ground, I turned on my phone and checked our flight, 2400. By now it was 7:30 and the plane should have certainly taken off.  The website listed it as "At gate" whatever that meant.  Surely it didn't mean it had taken off or they would have said so.  And then they came on the loud speaker and said "For those of you on Flight 2400 to Orlando, they are holding the plane." A big cheer went up.  The other gate was right across from the gate we exited so it was an easy connection.  We found our seats and then the realization sank in that we would be eating peanuts for supper. We also were worried our luggage wouldn't make it but as we sat there, we saw all of our bags and car seats/boosters get loaded so that was a relief.  In the end, the flight didn't take off until nearly 8:00 pm.  Low and behold, there were actually empty seats and rows in the back of the plane too.  I honestly don't remember the last time I have witnessed that.  It seems to never happen anymore.  We did have peanuts for supper. But they also had some animal crackers and cheese crackers so we did have a little variety, at least.  I completely exhausted my supply of applesauce pouches and fruit snacks that I had put in my backpack, certainly not thinking we would go through all of them.  The good news was that I did have my laptop in my backpack this time which I was able to bring out and entertain Colby with for the majority of the trip.  Bliss!  He fell asleep about the last 20 minutes of the flight along with Brady.  Ron and Elaine were so kind to pick us up and we eventually rolled into our driveway sometime after 2:00 am.  God bless America for the holiday!

I am just going to skip over anything we've done since then.  I will say that while the time change out was so simple, the time change coming this way was so much harder especially for the girls who struggled with getting to sleep before midnight all the way through Friday night.  It was really tough for them.

In closing, the trip to Utah was just really, really fantastic and we hope that a few years from now, we will be able to return....this time with bigger boys that can do everything their bigger sisters can!

One last thing which is HUGE for me.  Soon after we got home, I was looking at Colby's tooth closely after trying to ignore it for awhile.  I am so, so, so excited to report that the darkening has reversed and it now the same white color again as the other front tooth.  I am beyond excited and if this isn't a direct answer to prayer, I don't know what is.  Praise the Lord!

The kids and I left for campmeeting on Wednesday, July 13 which meant that we had ten days between getting back from Utah and leaving for up north.  It felt like it was just long enough to get laundry done and repacked!  The summer definitely felt like it was moving by quickly.

Last year we were all aghast when campmeeting was scheduled for the second week of August due to a variety of factors.  We were not pleased and were hoping for new dates for this year...which we got.  This year it was July 15 - 23.  I was not altogether pleased with those dates either since it meant that Duncan would not be able to go to all of both campmeeting and Nova Scotia as they would be back to back.  When campmeeting was held the last weekend of June/first weekend of July it had worked out so nicely because it gave us a nice gap between events and also it was so neat being in Freeport on July 4.  In hindsight, it was perfect that it wasn't those dates after all since we would have had the Utah conflict.  Plus, I suppose it IS nice not having to fly up twice during the summer.

Since Duncan was obviously not going to take three plus weeks off work, it was just the kids and I that departed that Wednesday evening.  As we drove to the airport (where Ron and Elaine met us to take the van home with them), I explained to the kids that since there were only five of us, and there were six seats in a row across, most likely one of us would have to sit next to someone we didn't know.  That got them in a little bit of a tizzy (mostly the girls) but we finally worked it out that it would be Brady sitting next to a random person.  It sort of felt like the lottery when we boarded the plane and sat down and waited to see who it would be.  Thankfully it ended up being a mom who had the dad sit with her kids while she sat with mine.  It worked out perfectly! The kids were really great on the plane and I actually dared to think "Wow, I am enjoying this time of quiet where I can read my book."

Obviously, I was sitting next to this kid.

The mom who sat next to Brady.

Campmeeting started on Friday but I like to get up north with an extra day to spare so that I can get all of our stuff organized.  I leave bedding, toys, tables, etc in my parent's basement so all that needs to come out and get packed up.  My dad was already in Nova Scotia so it was just my mom who would be coming up with us.  She took Friday off from work so we were able to get a pretty early start for the three hour drive to Freeport.  The kids were very anxious to see their cousins! I did rent a car for two days because we weren't able to fit everything into just the van.  I had to laugh when I picked the car up at Enterprise.  The guy took down all my info and printed off the paperwork for me to sign and explained he was the manager and to give him a call if I needed anything.  We go outside to inspect the vehicle and as I'm signing off on it on the paper, I notice that the lessor of the vehicle says "Shirley Casey." I was like "What in the world?" The most bizarre thing. The manager said that my phone number must have been hooked to her name somehow and it just autofilled her name in. Clearly he should have noticed that! I'm still scratching my head because when would I have ever helped Aunt Shirley rent a car?

The cousins soon arrived after we did and the festivities officially began.  And what a great week it was.  I know there are some who don't find campmeeting quite as relaxing and charming as I do but I truly love it.  Once again, this year I splurged and got us all passes to eat our meals at the cafeteria (along with Shawn and Camille who get it free).  Honestly, it's like being on a cruise for me.  When I don't have to cook and clean up, it's pretty much the best thing ever.  But beyond that, I feel very relaxed while I'm there.  The kids have their meetings, friends, activities and I can spend a good portion of the time sitting under a tree just watching them and chitchatting with whomever happens by.  In the evenings, the kids would conk out pretty fast after their busy day and then the adults would sit in our extra tent (too buggy outside) talking. When things broke up, it would only be about 11:00 pm, leaving plenty of time for some reading.  What's not to love??  Yes, some people complain that it's too hot (not at night where sometimes it would get too chilly) but I love it being sunny and in the 80's which is what it was pretty much every day.

Unloading and organizing

Which one is my tent and which is...

Camille's?

Enjoying a bag of grapes that seemed to disappear very quickly.

This year some of the kids were in new classes.  Calleigh should have still been in Primary for this last year along with Aubree and Camden who just entered it but when she realized her friend Anoni was going to Juniors this year, she begged to go too. Our friend Kathy was the teacher and she was fine with Calleigh attending.  I think it was the right choice.  Kathy is a great teacher with a lot of singing and hands on stuff both of which Calleigh loves.  They had meetings four times a day with the crazy time being at 7:00 am every morning!  But Calleigh got up faithfully each morning because a guy was telling a continuing story and she didn't want to miss it.  

The Junior tent

Hard to see but Calleigh got a backpack in her class to keep all her projects and such and she wore it every day, every where.

Aubree and Acadia performed "Sanctuary" one evening while I did a little talk about my trip to Russia when I was in high school (Kathy was focusing on missionaries and the continents as her theme).

As I mentioned, Aubree and Camden had their first year in Primary.  They had new teachers this year - a lady and her father who came in from Washington state.  They have sort of a business and I was never clear if they were paid to come or not - - they were friends with the lady in charge of all the kids programs for campmeeting.  They are more conservative than what we've experienced in past years so it was a bit of a change.  Things started off rather slowly but improved over the week and they did enjoy themselves.  We did have an interesting thing take place though one of the days. The class was going out one afternoon to a garden for a field trip.  They were supposed to take the bus but something fell through and they had to take the kids in people's car and vans instead.  I quickly volunteered to drive Aubree, Camden, and Colby (who was with me) in Shawn and Camille's van.  As we all started loading up, I realized that all of the kids were getting into random people's vehicles and not one kid had a booster seat.  There were quite a few kids smaller than Aubree and Camden who are certainly still in booster seats.  I told the older gentleman teacher who was loading six girls into his van (which was a little odd in itself), "Some of the kids still need to be in boosters.  Do their parents know they aren't taking the bus and are in this van now?" Unless things have changed, my understanding is that a bus is a bus and you don't use boosters or car seats in it which is what parents thought their kids were taking when they signed permission slips.  The teacher says "Oh, I thought they didn't need them anymore." I was quick to inform him that the recommended height is 57 inches which my 9-year old hadn't even reached yet and she's tall for her age.  These kids are WAY shorter and plus, it's a decision a parent should be making, not a teacher.  I don't know if they were too happy with me for making a fuss but I would have been pretty peeved if Aubree had been driven off in a stranger's van with no booster.  In the end, they contacted parents and it all worked out although we ended up with only about 30 minutes to spend at our actual destination.  But can you imagine if there had been an accident or something??

Primary

They worked on a health "passport" over the course of the week which involved measuring various things like height, weight, oxygen levels. etc.

At the gardens on the field trip.  It was very pretty so I guess it was worth it in the end!

Primary singing for the adults on the last Sabbath.

Last year Brady had primarily attended Cradle Roll even though he was four.  This year, he did make it to his regular class, Kindergarten, along with Acadia and also the extended cousins of Tyson and Finley. Since Cradle Roll only meets in the morning, last year I had tried to get him to go to Kindergarten in the afternoons but he never wanted to and I didn't push it.  This year, he did go although towards the end he started complaining a little.  He also attended the Primary night meeting since Kindergarten doesn't have one.  It was easier to get him to go to that one since Camden was there.  

Finally, there's Colby who is in his last year of Cradle Roll.  I can't believe I'm saying that! I suppose technically he'll still be three next year but almost four and I'm sure we will move on so he can be with Brady.  The aforementioned lady, Lisa, who was teaching Primary with her dad, also taught Cradle Roll for its one session a day.  Our friend,Janel Tyson, had always taught Cradle Roll and she was so good at it.  She has a really nice loud voice and is very engaging with the kids.  We knew she wouldn't be doing it this year and we knew it would be "tough" accepting a new teacher and then when the new teacher ended up being her opposite, it made it doubly hard.  She did not get off on the right foot when for the first class, she had technical issues for the first 30 minutes of it.  We could clearly see that there was a problem with the computer and she was busily trying to fix it but she never acknowledged us once as in "Welcome to Sabbath School.  I'm trying to fix this problem but we should be starting shortly." It was very strange.  Oh, how we yearned for Janel.  But, we did give her a chance and things did improve like they did for Primary.  It was definitely a different style of program than in years past but I will say the crafts were really excellent and Colby loved doing them.

Teacher Lisa

The kids had a terrific time playing with all the cousins and friends they've made over the years.  One girl, Kira (aged seven), who lived in a nearby tent, latched onto us somehow (I don't mean that in a bad way or anything just that one day she appeared and started playing with Colby and there was never any formal introductions).  We noticed that she never went to any of the meetings though.  I would say about Tuesday evening Camille asked her why she didn't go and she told us that her mom couldn't take her because she (meaning her mom) couldn't walk far.  Camille volunteered to walk her up and the mom came over to ask what time the meeting ended and when Camille said "8:30" the mom said "Oh, that's a good time.  Better than 9:00." When Camille went to pick up our kids, she brought Kira back with her too but we noticed that Kira's mom wasn't at her tent.  I told Kira she could just stay around our tent for awhile and I'm sure her mom would be back.  Kira would keep checking every few minutes but each time, her mom wasn't back.  She was starting to get a little worried so I asked her if she knew her phone number and I could call her mom.  She gives me a number but I quickly see that it's only seven digits.  It's missing the area code.  I asked Kira if she lived in Maine but she didn't know...only that she lived on Main Street.  I still put a Maine area code on to the number but it didn't work.  By this time, it's after 9:00 pm and Calleigh is back from her meeting and I need to get my kids into bed but I don't want to just leave Kira there.  We check again and no luck.  Where has the mom gone and why isn't she back?? Finally, at 9:15, I tell Camille that maybe while I put the kids to bed, she should take Kira to find security.  Maybe they could look up the tent info and find the mom's name and her phone number or something.  As I head to the bathroom with the girls I finally notice Kira's mom walking nonchalantly to her tent.  I said "We were getting worried!  They got out of class at 8:30 and Kira has been looking for you." "Oh," She says.  "I was just up in the gym and I was going to check down here for her and then go to the class and look." For someone who couldn't walk, she sure was getting around.  Also, we had specifically said the class got done at 8:30 and it's now 9:15 so what the heck?!!  It was all so weird.  Camille came back a few minutes later and Kira was crying with relief.  Then, the really, really weird part was the next night, it all happened again.  The mom didn't show up at our tent until 9:15 again but at least this time Kira wasn't so worried.  I just don't get parents sometimes.

Kira

I sure missed having Duncan around but the nice thing was that he was planning to fly into Portland on Wednesday evening so that he would be there for the second half of the week.  His flight, coming through Baltimore, was supposed to leave Orlando at 6:50 pm.  At about 4:00 pm, I got a call from my mom (who had gone to back home and to work for Tuesday - Thursday) saying "I just saw on the news that Southwest is having some kind of problem and they're in a ground hold." Just great!  Of all the days. I called Duncan who was en route to the airport at the moment thanks to Megan.  It was the first he had heard of it.  Sure enough, when he got there, it was a bunch of chaos. He did manage to check his bags (using a paper and pencil method) and get to the gate where they eventually cancelled the first leg of his flight which meant there was no way he was getting to Portland.  Of course, they already had his bags so he had to wait around to get those back and then have Megan come all the way back to pick him up.  We were so disappointed.  I knew things would probably be bad the next day too and there was no way I was chancing him not making it another day so Southwest was out and Delta was in.  I still had some frequent flier miles from the old days so I was able to book him a flight into Boston using those and then my mom picked him up on her way back up.  So, instead of getting there at 12:30 am Thursday morning, he didn't get there until 5:00 pm on Thursday.  But, what can you do?  Southwest did send an apology and he gets 50% off a future flight so at least it's something.

Daddy surprised them in class.  One happy girl!

Duncan took the boys to LLBean one day. Weird - - not sure why this picture is backwards.

We had such great weather all week.  One day early on it rained in the morning and then that was it for rain until the very end - - the last Sabbath.  It started clouding up in the afternoon and pretty soon it was obvious that storms were imminent.  Not sure if I've mentioned it here before but Aubree has developed this horrible, horrible fear of thunder and lightening, particularly lightening.  I have no idea what caused it but it has gone on for several months and she goes totally bonkers and doesn't care who is listening or watching.  If there is any hint of anything, she'll get my phone to look at the radar to see what's going on.  So it was that afternoon.  I could tell she was already getting worked up and then she grabs my phone and starts going bersirk, "Pink is coming! Pink is coming!!" Pink is the color on the radar for the bad stuff.  Once she gets like that it's almost impossible to calm her down.  But we finally did long enough for Duncan to take them all up to class which is in the school and thus much safer. The storm did come through but it was mostly some bad wind and rain.  Supposedly there was more coming so we were glad we got out of there Saturday night to head up to Nova Scotia.

 Some other random pictures from the week:

The first Sabbath.  I had gotten the kids all matching outfits so we tried to get some good cousin pictures.  Not sure it turned out super great but it was fun!

Off to Sabbath School.

The "twins"

Every one else thought it was too hot for their kids to nap in the tent but I was like "We're Floridians!" I had two battery operated fans blowing on him and he did just fine.

Play Doh was a big hit for young and old alike.

Taking a bath in the sink which he thought was the greatest thing.

The kids had a couple of water fights with some of the bigger boys which Camden declared as the greatest water fight ever.  Aubree was taking a break here.

One afternoon I took the boys to the ABC (which is in the school) for a special drink. Love how Brady is looking at Camden here.  The cool older cousin!

The next day it was the girls (Anoni tagged along).

Our compound.  In years past we set up the screen tent but decided we didn't need it this year since we ate all our meals in the cafe.

Gigi reading a story.

Sometimes Brady is content to just sit and chill by himself.  Found him here talking to himself behind a tree.

Going through line at the cafeteria.  We found the food to be very delicious for the most part.

Love these two!

Trip to Target.

Taught the kids to play Four Square which we played obsessively as kids at campmeeting.

Great rocks for playing cars.

Campmeeting isn't complete without the trip to McDonald's for some ice cream.

And that's a wrap!  Part 1 of the vacation in the books.

With campmeeting and Nova Scotia back to back that meant we left campmeeting and drove straight to Nova Scotia.  Fortunately, campmeeting is already a good two hours north from my parents' house so it saved us some of our driving time.  Since we wanted to have as much time as possible up there and since the weather was not the best anyway, we decided to leave Saturday night and drive through the night.  That would seem like an obvious statement since for about the last nine years we have ALWAYS driven through the night when we take longer trips.  But, with the kids older now, I almost prefer to drive during the day because it's not necessarily that comfortable overnight for the girls in their boosters (as opposed to car seats that recline).  I also knew we would have my mom with us (or, we would be with her since it is indeed HER van) and with seven jammed into a van, it may not be super comfortable either.  In the end, after I remembered that we could fit three kids in the backseat so I could sit in one of the captain chairs, it was decided.  All night it would be.  Duncan was awesome and drove just about the entire way (ten hours) with me contributing about the last 1.5 hours or so.

Our time this year could be summed up in one sentence: What a difference a year makes!  Last year was miserable with rain almost the whole time.  We barely saw the sun - - in fact, I don't think we saw it until the last day.  It was a complete 180 this year. We had sun virtually every day and oh, how much nicer it was.  Duncan purchased two inflatable paddle boards which sounds strange but when you blow them up, they are like a regular paddle board.  They come in a backpack and he checked them as luggage on the way up.  They were a big hit.  One of the paddle boards was a smaller kid size which holds up to 120 pounds.  Duncan would take one of the boys on his and then Calleigh would do the other one with another kid on hers.  Given that, we (or they) were definitely on the lake every day.  Devin brought up his speed boat and much to my delight and surprise, the G8 (as the four older couples are called) had brought in a bunch of sand to dump on our "beach" so that one could actually sit and lounge while others were in the water.

The pumping part is a bit tedious so Duncan plans on getting an electric one.

Taking a swim off the board.

One day Camille and Duncan took a long trip to explore a stream of the lake hoping they could go all the way down it and out. Unfortunately they eventually couldn't go any farther and had to turn back.

Proof that I was on it.  It was hard at first to steady myself but I didn't fall off.

Our beach.

The kids loved to go frog hunting on the beach.

Tubing...Bode, Finley, and Camden

Aubree, Brady, and Acadia. Brady looks a little freaked out but he did it!

Mia enjoying the paddle board.

The kids also did some fishing.  Brady apparently rolled out of bed and headed down in his pajamas.

You think you escape these when you leave Florida...

Duncan took the girls on the paddle boards to explore an island.

Some changes had been made to our cabin while we were gone.  We had a local put in a loft, insulation, electrical outlets, and overhead lights.  We still have to use an extension cord from the main house but now we have it set up so that it attaches to a receptacle outside our cabin that then transfers it throughout.  It is so nice to be able to just plug in things to the wall.  We haven't put up the actual walls yet so we could see the insulation behind the plastic coverings but it made a huge difference moderating the temperature inside.  We were never cold or hot which was a big change.  In prior years, we often had many blankets piled on us at night.  Between now and next year, we have more work to be done.  We will finish off the walls and extend the loft so that it is the entire upper floor with the goal of all four kids sleeping up there.  This year the girls slept up in the loft, Brady slept on an inflatable mattress, and Colby was in his pack-n-play.  The kids slept SO great.  I think Aubree woke up once in the middle of the night and that was it.  They would sleep until about 7:30- 8:00 every morning.

Brady's bed

The loft.

This year Ricky and Ana built their cabin, the ninth (not sure if the tenth will ever be built.  Jonathan and family who are the last ones aren't usually able to make it up because of scheduling).  Because Ricky had to be back at school in Mississippi for August 1, they came up while we were all at campmeeting to start the build and then left on Thursday of the week we arrived (which was Sunday) with pretty much everything completed.  Brady, especially, loved following Uncle Ricky around, handing him tools and doing whatever help he needed.  He said it was one of his favorite things about being in Nova Scotia.

Colby got in on the action.

One thing we did this year that was different was that we went to the circus in Port Hawkesbury (this is the town that has the closest Walmart, about a 30 minute drive). We saw an ad for the Great Benjamin's Circus coming to Port Hawkesbury for two showings.  I contacted them for group tickets and ironically, they were headquartered out of Florida.  They gave us a good deal at the time which was about $15 per adult and kids were free.  I say "at the time" because once the circus started we quickly realized we had overpaid!  First of all, it was under a tent which we sort of knew going in but hadn't really thought about.  We went to a 5:00 pm showing and it was terribly hot, even by Florida standards.  The show started a good twenty minute late so it wasn't off to a good start.  Then, when it finally started, there were these six woman and one little girl in like leotards/dance outfits doing a routine but it wasn't in sync or anything.  It's like they found them off the street and said "Hey, we are having a circus tonight.  Do you want to come perform?" It was so bad it was funny.  What followed was pretty much as bad.  At one point, they had some ladies performing way up high but had no safety cushions or anything underneath them and we were all holding our breaths. If they were to fall, it would be on cement. We did have fun taking note of who was doing multiple things...like the clown was the same as the announcer and the guy taking our tickets was the same guy swallowing the fire. Anyway, we made a memory I guess!  But never again.

This was at least pretty decent...when they drove motor bikes in this ball.

We capped off the circus with a stop at A & W.

Nova Scotia (as we call being up there) is known for its games.  Back when I was a kid and teenager, this meant a lot of sports like baseball, volleyball, etc but also card and board games.  Nowadays, the sports have taken a back seat (will they reappear as kids get older?) but card and board games are still alive and well.  One game that has surfaced as a favorite the last two years is the card game Monopoly Deal which the girls have learned to play but is mostly a favorite of the adults.  Normally, my late night game of choice was playing Dutch Blitz with Alison and Kelly.  Unfortunately, Alison bailed on us in coming to Nova Scotia this year (long story) so that put a crimp in things although Ana did play with Kelly and me a few nights.  But then she left after a few days and that left me with nothing.  Rad to the rescue.  When he was at my house in January, he and I played a bunch of Monopoly Deal and so we renewed our competition.  He and I would play it after everyone else had gone to bed - - which would often go until 1:00 am or later.  I like fast moving games, not ones where you sit and wait while your opponent(s) think of their move (this is why I don't think I could ever play Chess) and MD moves quickly with just two people.  We played best of five each evening and he would beat me each time, 3-2.  The last night we played best of seven and I beat him 4-0. It was a very joyous feeling!

My playing partner, Rad, with his son, Levi.  They are expecting another boy in December so we all had fun giving them some name suggestions.

Playing the "Name Game" which the younger generation (my generation) loves to play just to see the "old" folks have to act things out and give clues.

The other big game is Mafia which you play with a big group of people.  It's nice because it's all just talking so there isn't anything you have to purchase and you don't have to sit around a table or anything.  If you are ever in a big group (like 10+), look up the game.  It's so much fun!!  Basically, you have to be able to lie to win but it's all in the name of the game.  It makes for some very interesting scenarios.  One of the nights it came down to Rad trying to convince Mia and my Dad that he wasn't the mafia even though the rest of us knew he was.  A visiting cousin, Kathleen, thought that he was and in order for Rad NOT to win, she needed to convince Mia and my Dad that he was.  It was very entertaining and in the end, Kathleen brought them to her side and Rad lost.  We played mafia pretty much every night (after the kids were all in bed) and it's definitely a family favorite.

Rad trying to work on the girls while my dad looks on.

We let Calleigh and Aubree stay up late for one night and watch the game.

For sure there was a lot of fun on the vacation but there was a very scary time.  As you will recall, our original cabin burned to the ground two years ago and last year it was rebuilt.  During that fire, a lot of the surrounding trees got singed and burned and we have been having some small, controlled fires each day to try and get rid of all those trees.  All of this happening with the permission of the local fire department.  One day towards the end of our time up there, a bunch of us went to a local baseball game while about six or eight adults (and a few little kids) stayed behind.  Around about 8:15, just as the game was ending, I get a call from Rad..."Just to let you know, we have an uncontrolled fire here. We called 911.  I'm going down to the lake right now to get water.  Bye." OH MY WORD.  My heart was in my throat.  I immediately told the others and we all jumped from our seats to get into the van and hurry back as fast as we could to help.  Just then, the third out was made to end the game and we saw a few people jumping up really quickly too.  As we peeled out down the road, we saw some other vehicles doing the same thing and we realized that they were the firefighters.  With an island population of only about 4,000, it is a volunteer fire department.

Having fun at the ballgame before the call.

Driving those approximately 12 minutes back were some of the most stressful minutes of my life.  Calleigh was hysterical.  The other three kids were pretty calm.  I tried to be calm but my mind was racing.  I was alternately praying and imagining that the place was going to be burned down and nobody would insure us ever again because we would have had two fires in two year and that would mean we couldn't rebuild and come back up here. We watched the skyline closely to see if we saw billows of smoke. We honestly didn't know what we would find.  Would the place already be on fire? Would it have spread the other way and the woods would all be on fire?  Not knowing is so hard!

We finally pulled into the driveway and we couldn't see any billows of smoke above the tree line so that made us feel a little better.  We got to the house and it was still standing, all in one piece.  That was a huge sigh of relief.  We could hear sirens in the background but we had beaten the fire department there.  We went around back to where the fire was and most of it was out.  Nevertheless, within about two minutes, three fire trucks came barreling up the driveway and they got their hoses out to put out the last bit of it and to make sure nothing re-started.  It was quite a first hand event for the kids who thought it was pretty cool. But all the while I was thinking "They must think we Americans are so dumb to have this happen again.

Watching the fire trucks come up the driveway.

After they finished, they had the kids come sit in the trucks and try on the hats.  There were about 10 guys and they were all so incredibly nice.  One of them joked that it was their annual trip to our place but he didn't say it rudely or anything.  We thanked them profusely over and over again.  The next day we made cards and my mom made brownies and they dropped those off and some cash (just as a gift, not that we needed to) to them.

Family heroes, Camille and Rad, who raced to the lake for water.

The story on the fire is that we had been burning every day with no problems.  Uncle Terry had sprayed down the area between the house and where the fire would be for quite a while, taking all the proper precautions.  When they lit the fire, for some reason it seemed to really spark and spread quickly.  They tried to spray it down with the hose which probably would have easily fixed the situation but there was no water pressure coming out of the hose.  We surmise it is because they had just done dishes (for 40 people) and some had been doing baths and laundry which had all lowered the water in the tank.  This is when they called 911 and then Rad and Camille drove down to the lake to try and bring up water in buckets and whatever they could find.  It all worked, apparently, since it was basically out by the time we got there.  A good ending to something that could have ended very badly.  A lot of thank you prayers were said that evening.

Some other pictures...

All the cousins present this year.

It rained only one morning and yes, the kids had to play in it and get all wet and dirty.

I organized a scavenger hunt. One of the items was to take a picture of a person with glasses.

The winning team.  Calleigh was happy to have gone with Mia.

Our annual day trip to Baddeck, one of my favorites.

Peering through the glass at the ice cream shop waiting for the parents to get some.

The boys found a random strap attached to a building, probably for a dog, and had a great time playing with it.

Lunch at a pizza joint.

Duncan brought the paddle boards so he and Calleigh could paddle around the Bras d'Or Lake.  You can see them starting off if you look closely.

Meanwhile, the rest of us took a boat over to the island to the beach.

Calleigh on the way back.

One afternoon the G8 and four guys (Duncan, Rad, David, and Devin) played a round of golf at Dundee.  The four women were the victors (courtesy of a handicap, of course.

Lovely view.

Enjoying some popsicles.  I guess Colby was napping and missed out.

Steve and Kelly brought a little pool.

Colby loved their dogs, Kody and Kylie.

A trip to the Co-Op with these two = fun times.

Return trip to the ladies with the garden (last year Aubree and I had gotten stuck in the bathroom in their house so they definitely remembered us).  This year they added a kid's play area.

Cousin love.  Brady and Winnie.

Colby and Winnie.

Calleigh and Kaitlyn in their matching stripes.

Acadia and Aubree.  This year was a turning point for these two.  In year's past, Aubree gravitated towards Camden since they are the same age but this year, she because much better friends with Acadia (two years younger) and they were together most of the time.  It works out well since Brady is paired up with Camden now.

One morning the seven couples went out to breakfast in St. Peters while the G8 babysat.

Missing Ricky and Ana (who had already left), Alison and Heath, and Jonathan and Marcela.  The latter two didn't come this year.

David and Yully with the latest cousin, Karlie, born on May 1.

We are hoping to get grass really planted this offseason.  The kids still spent much of their time roaming around outside, nice grass or not.

David and Yully who built their cabin last year, built a nice fire pit this year which we all enjoyed.

Can't beat this weather!

Camille leading out in songs on Sabbath morning.

Aunt Sherrie telling a story.

Later on Sabbath afternoon we went to Point Michaud.  Remembering prior years, I brought my kids all a change of clothes thinking they wouldn't be able to resist going in the water. Sure enough... Not sure why we didn't put them in bathing suits to begin with - - sometimes its really cold so I guess we thought it would be again.

Our picnic spot.

Found Colby napping like this one day.

We did get in a little baseball at least.

Bode and Brady were good pals.

My mom and her sisters' cousin, Gary, and his wife, Mary, and daughter, Kathleen (although it would have been cool if they named her Karri), from California came to visit us for a few days.  Kathleen had her 12th birthday while there.

Shawn was kind enough to take some family pictures at a nearby park one evening.  This was one of my pictures in between poses.

Not sure what he was doing here.

Having some fun in between pictures.  Here they were getting ready for a race.  Love how Colby is posed to run in the opposite direction of everyone else!

Aunt Sherrie, who is a teacher, talking to Calleigh about some math.

Helping to rake the front yard on the last day.  Hoping this will be covered with grass next year!

More clean up as we got ready to leave.

New sign this year.

Parting shot by the last to leave.

One super, super nice thing this year is that right after we left last year, they procured two washers and dryers.  I can't even tell you how nice it is to have those onsite rather than going to a laundry mat.  The only downside is that somehow some of my white stuff got a yellowish stain on them but it was only a few things and I was able to get some off at home.  But seriously, I was happy as a pig in the mud because I came home with about 75% of our clothes clean.  Next year I'll be able to pack much less too.

We left on Thursday afternoon, August 4, hoping to get to Shawn and Camille's by midnight.  We weren't flying to come home until Sunday afternoon but thought it would be fun to spend a little time at their place.  About two hours into our trip, we came to a blocked road and they directed us on to this side road where we came to a dead standstill.  People were all getting out of their cars and walking around.  We had no idea what was going on but Duncan was greatly perturbed.  After about thirty minutes we drove again a little ways back on to the main road where a cop told us there was a bad accident and the road would be closed for several hours.  We had to backtrack thirty minutes and then take a long circuitous route up and around.  During our backtracking, we got stuck in really bad traffic again and there were some unhappy people in the car.  Actually, really just one.  Anyway, we lost a couple hours on the whole thing and didn't get to their house until about 3:00 am.

But, it was all worth it because we had a great time at their house, particularly at the small water park they have within walking distance.

Aubree was apprehensive to go down the slides but came around and then did them over and over again.

Colby even took a nap.

We went to Shawn's church on Sabbath and the kids did special music.

Sabbath afternoon walk.  It started raining and then thundering.  Remember what I said about Aubree and thunder and lightening...

Just a little bit dirty.  I can't believe it but I got all of that out.

We caught Brady taking a leak in the FRONT yard.  Good grief!

It's so hard to say good-bye.  Miss these guys so much.

We left Saturday evening to go to my parents house to sleep and then Sunday afternoon we were off back to Florida which went off with a small delay but other than that, seamlessly.

So ends Nova Scotia 2016.  Another great year!