~Snow Day~

We haven't had much snow this winter...  that means everything looks dead and dreary.  My feelings are if it is going to have to be cold, it ought to be pretty.  Well, not this winter.  We did have flurries but nothing ever amounted to anything. 

We were supposed to get dumped on last Monday and while it wasn't as much as we wanted, we did get to play in it.

I had the 4 wheel drive, so I took the kids to our local sledding hill...

They enjoyed the park as well... till our feet were wet and cold anyway!

 

Sorry, I can't turn this video... listen for the giggle!

 

~Progressive Dinner~

We got home from vacation and hit the ground running.  We had our LIFE ministry meeting on Tuesday, church Wednesday, grocery shopping on Thursday and we spent some quality family time Friday night preparing food for the youth group Progressive Dinner.

 

I enjoyed having the appetizers again.  Jordan cleaned the pepper for the popper, Jared washed the mushrooms for stuffing and Aaron wrapped the smokies in bacon.  Gregg did a bunch of helpful things as well.

 

We had 26 people!  They split the teens in half... girls and guys were even so we split that way.  I really should have made more food!  Some of the teens were disappointed that I didn't make my pepper jack bread loaf... I guess I'll have to make that for them later!

Gregg handled the guy group while I followed the girls to dinner and dessert.  It was a fun night out... and I'm always thankful to have the kitchen clean by Lovie while I was out partying!  (He actually volunteered me for this... so, you know, it was his own doing:-)

~Daddy Daughter Date Night~

Chick Fil A was sponsoring a Daddy Daughter Date night the day we got home from vacation.  Gregg made reservations and planned the day to get home in time.  They had fun together... and I was able to get everything unpacked and laundry started while they were gone.

 

 Gregg was disappointed in just one thing... Kiersten was more excited to be with the cow than with dad :-) hehe!

~Vacation 2013 - Days 5 & 6~

Sunday was spent with church family and real family!  It wasn't our church, but it was just as welcoming and we really enjoyed the services.  We even got to go out to lunch with the Pastor and his lovely wife!  Pastor Ross is a great speaking and a great writer!  His passion, teens. He will be speaking at our teen camp this summer and Jordan will be going!

 

After lunch, we had a long drive across Indianna and half way across Ohio to Gregg's family.  What a fun pizza party we had! We hadn't seen Gregg's cousin in awhile so it was nice to see him again.  If only we had more time!

 

We didn't get back to the hotel until after the pool closed so we let the kids swim Monday morning until it was time to go.

 

It was along drive home... and the first day we didn't see snow flurries.  We got home just in time for Gregg and Kiersten's big night out!

 



~Vacation 2013 - Day 4~

My favorite from today... sleeping in... finally & frozen yogurt for lunch!

 

I think this was the boy's favorite day.  Indianapolis... racing stuff.  I just kept benches warm and smiled at them.

 

We continued heading west... to a crazy full hotel in Terre Haut.  We didn't even get to swim the pool was so packed!

 

~Vacation 2013 - Day 3~

I somehow lost some photos of the middle of our vacation.  Here they are in scrapbook form:-)

 

Day three was to the Creation Museum!  It has been a number of years since we were there.  Buddy David happened to be there on that day and we enjoyed a concert from him.

 

We saw a Bass Pro Shops on our way to the Creation Museum... and, of course, we had to stop.  We all liked Cabelas better.  The greeter as Bass Pro Shops told us about Jungle Jim's (a combination of Ollies and  Wegmans in my opinion) and someone at Jungle Jim's told us about an all you can eat Pizza place.  Fun day!  You never know where we are going to end up!  Actually, you do... the pool!

~Vacation 2013 - Day 2~

We got up on Day 2 and headed to Kentucky.  The Newport Aquarium was running a special.  For every adult ticket, 2 kids got in for free! 

 

 We met some real penguins in the lobby, but Kiersten liked this penguin better.

We have spent most of the school year studying all the swimming creatures so this was an excellent way to really "see" what we learned.

We listened to divers in the water tell about the animals in the tank.  I was curious as to why she was dusting the fish that went by with small rocks.  They seemed to really enjoy it.  I was able to ask about it at the end... fish in the wild have cleaning stations (which we read about) but they don't have them here in the aquarium.  The rocks actually feel good to the fish and actually can clean them. 

The first time we were at this aquarium I think we only had 3 boys in this window... I can't wait to compare the photos!

 My favorites... I really liked the jellyfish, the alligators and the penguins.  I could watch the penguins for hours!

Having fun in the gift shop :-)

 

We were there from opening until closing... minus lunch break.  There was a Five Guys just outside of the aquarium... wow, those were great burgers.  It took us a long time to order all those burgers, and then we had to order all the drinks.  They had one of those fancy soda machines with 100+ drink choices.   That took forever!  It was delicious!

We were not hungry when we arrived at our hotel... and much to my delight, there was a Hobby Lobby across the street.  I did a little shopping :-)  We went swimming and then walked across the parking lot to Chick Fil A for a late night snack.

I was not looking forward to vacation... the stress of keeping everyone together and happy... finding bathrooms at record speed... and the cost of everything.  At the end of Day 2, I was relaxed and having fun!

~ Vacation 2013 - Day 1~

Well, we decided on a last minute vacation... once racing starts, we are kind of tied to home.  The only available time was the very end of Feb/beginning of March.  Quick plans and fast packing!

 

We took off Wednesday, Feb 27 around 5:30 am.  I packed bagels and chocolate milk for breakfast and we made it all the way to Cabala's in West Virginia!  It was a great time for a stop!

 

 

After a long break of shopping, we grabbed some burgers and took off, still heading west.

 

 

We made it to our hotel outside of Cincinnati, OH and immediately went swimming.  The trip out was so nice I didn't even feel like we were driving all day.

 

We met up with a friend who is currently in OH for training and will be doing mission work in Texas this summer.  He has been a great friend to our family and we really miss having him around.  It was neat to see what he is doing and hear his plans for his future ministry.

 

Since vacation is all about food... we tried to eat at different restaurants the whole time we were gone.  Tonight we ate at Chipotle! Yum!

~March~