Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Road Trip
We packed up the kids and headed down to Florida. We went to visit family and friends. We had such a great time.
Our trip:
Tuesday April 21-714 Miles Driven: We left the house at 4am! I know so early. But it was worth it. It really made the drive go by fast. We were hoping that the kids would fall back asleep as soon as we got going; Josh did, but Olivia was another story. I think that it took her a couple hours to fall back asleep (I was asleep before she was!). She was quiet and content the whole time though. Which was a huge blessing. We had breakfast at this really quaint coffee shop just outside Cincinnati in Kentucky. They had awesome breakfast sandwiches! Yummy! We were really worried about this leg of the drive because it was our biggest portion, but it went really smoothly. The kids did awesome. It was great. We got to ATL in the afternoon (earlier than I expected!) Olivia was super excited to be out of her car seat.
Wednesday April 22-0 Miles Driven**: We spent the day in ATL with our good friends, the Gurkins. We played on their jungle gym, ran around outside, and of course went to Chick-fil-A YAY!!! How we missed the Chick-fil-A!
This pretty much sums up our love for Chick-fil-A:
Aside from loving Chick-fil-A, it was just a great time to visit with the Gurkins. Thanks Aaron and Alexis!
Thursday April 23rd-347 Miles Driven: We loaded up the car again and headed to Gainesville, FL. In Gainesville we were able to connect with old friends. Chris was able to attend the last Crusade Meeting of the year. It was neat for him to be able to see the ministry there now, and how much it has grown. Thanks to Russell and Mollianne for letting us crash at your place.
Friday April 24th-274 Miles Driven: Our last leg of the journey. Yay! We were all pretty tired of driving and ready to be out of the car for quite some time. It was great to be back in West Palm. The weather was absolutely wonderful. We stayed at Grandpa Tony's condo. It was great. Olivia loved playing on his patio. She would come in, go out, come in, go out. She even would shut the door behind her. What a smart little cookie.
Saturday April 25th-0 Miles Driven: We took it easy on Saturday. We went for a walk and basically just chilled. It was just what we needed, a break. That night we went to RA Sushi for dinner, one of my favorite places. We stuffed ourselves with sushi, nothing better. Olivia loves sushi, well maybe not sushi, but she does love it when we get sushi because she absolutely loves edamame. She ate 1 1/2 appetizers by herself. She also ate cucumber salad, white rice. Tony's girlfriend Soheila and her boys joined us for dinner and it was nice to be able to meet her family. We really had a great time. After dinner we walked around and got ice cream at Sloan's. Yum! Olivia discovered an escalator and Chris and I took turns going up and going down, and up and down.
Sunday April 26th-o Miles Driven: Sunday morning we took the kids swimming and hung out before heading to Heather and Lance's home (Chris' cousin) for a family BBQ. It was great to visit with Chris' family. Chris' Aunts and Uncles got to meet Josh for the first time. Our handsome little man was a little star. Olivia spent most of the time trying to find the cat. She looked for him everywhere. Thankfully Tony (Chris' cousin) finally found him and brought him out so Olivia could pet him. I think that as soon as his feet hit the ground Deeke was back in hiding. Not that I can blame him. Heather and Lance have a beautiful sculpture of an ancient Chinese warrior on a horse. The thing is huge. Olivia soon discovered it and spent hours looking for the horse and every time she found it (which was amazing considering the thing never moved:) she gave it a kiss. I think if she could have she would have taken it with us.
Monday April 27th-0 Miles Driven: We finally made it to the Beach!! Yay! We went to Loggerhead Park in Juno Beach. It is one of our favorite beaches so it was great to go to it. The water was a little rough, so we didn't do any swimming. We did put the kids feet in the water. Josh wasn't a fan and Olivia was okay until...a wave completely took her out and water started rushing around her. It was pretty scary and well now she is terrified of the ocean. Poor little bug. She much prefers the calm pool. Maybe one day when she is older she will want to venture back in the ocean, but not for now. After attempting to be at the beach, we went to the Turtle Rescue at the Park. It is really neat; they have a museum and a sanctuary for injured and ill Sea Turtles. Once they are better they release the turtles. Olivia loved looking in all the tanks and checking out the turtles. We were there during feeding time so we got to see them eat. After watching them eat Olivia wanted gold fish (just like the turtles), too bad I didn't have any on hand. Monday afternoon Chris went into the office. No, he wasn't working but he went to visit his old colleagues. I was able to go to dinner with my girlfriends and we had a great time. It was awesome to connect with old friends again.
Tuesday April 28th-0 Miles Driven: Tuesday was a pretty interesting day for us. While driving to my girlfriends for dinner the truck was making some interesting noises. So after lunch Chris took the truck in to get it check out and it is a good thing he did. We had a bad wire harness. As a result we couldn't go anywhere. Thankfully my girlfriends were willing to come hang out at the house instead of meeting at Starbucks for coffee. Thanks Ladies!
Wednesday April 29th- 80 Miles Driven: Back in the car again! This time for not too long. We headed to Vero Beach for a couple days to stay with Chris' Mom. We got there in time for lunch. Chris and I spent the afternoon at the pool while Gigi watched the kids (a pretty standard situation-Thanks Gigi!!)
Thursday April 30th- 0 Miles Driven: Gloria and her boyfriend Hal are very involved in the local Human Society. Hal is the current President of the Vero Beach Humane Society, so we got to go on a tour of the place. It was so neat. Olivia loved seeing all the dogs and cats. (I think she might be a cat person-or she is just extra excited because we don't have one and dogs are old hat.) They also had a pot-bellied pig and tortoises at the Shelter. It was pretty neat. It was great to be able to see everything that they have going on. Thanks for tour! After lunch it was back to the pool and ocean. Life is good.
Friday May 1st-0 Miles Driven: I feel like I am starting to repeat myself-another day at the pool. I mean it is a vacation after all! :) Thanks for having us Hal and Gigi-we had a wonderful time!
Saturday May 2nd- 893 Miles Driven: Well, we pulled another 4 a.m-er. Our original plan was to drive to Atlanta and stay the night at the Gurkins again and then head out the next day at 4 a.m again. We got to Atlanta around 2:30 pm and the kids were doing great and we felt fine, so we decided to go as far as we could. Well that took us all the way to Corbin, KY! We stopped at a Hotel around 8 at night...finally. We were all exhausted. (We actually made it all the way into KY before needed to turn on the DVD player for Liv-the first time all trip! She watched a Veggies Tales while we were trying to find a place to stop! Way to go Liv!!) We took it easy the next morning at left around 10 a.m. I don't plan on being up at 4 a.m for a while!
Sunday May 3rd- 431 Miles Driven: The last leg! Yay. We pulled into Northville around 6 pm. It was great to sleep in our own beds. The kids slept in until 10! They sure were exhausted. We had a great time visiting everyone. But it sure is nice to be home again.
**Okay, so I realize that technically we drove a few miles around town and what not, but no travel miles.
Our trip:
Tuesday April 21-714 Miles Driven: We left the house at 4am! I know so early. But it was worth it. It really made the drive go by fast. We were hoping that the kids would fall back asleep as soon as we got going; Josh did, but Olivia was another story. I think that it took her a couple hours to fall back asleep (I was asleep before she was!). She was quiet and content the whole time though. Which was a huge blessing. We had breakfast at this really quaint coffee shop just outside Cincinnati in Kentucky. They had awesome breakfast sandwiches! Yummy! We were really worried about this leg of the drive because it was our biggest portion, but it went really smoothly. The kids did awesome. It was great. We got to ATL in the afternoon (earlier than I expected!) Olivia was super excited to be out of her car seat.
Wednesday April 22-0 Miles Driven**: We spent the day in ATL with our good friends, the Gurkins. We played on their jungle gym, ran around outside, and of course went to Chick-fil-A YAY!!! How we missed the Chick-fil-A!
This pretty much sums up our love for Chick-fil-A:
Aside from loving Chick-fil-A, it was just a great time to visit with the Gurkins. Thanks Aaron and Alexis!
GA Pictures
*Click on the pictures to view the entire album
*Click on the pictures to view the entire album
Thursday April 23rd-347 Miles Driven: We loaded up the car again and headed to Gainesville, FL. In Gainesville we were able to connect with old friends. Chris was able to attend the last Crusade Meeting of the year. It was neat for him to be able to see the ministry there now, and how much it has grown. Thanks to Russell and Mollianne for letting us crash at your place.
Friday April 24th-274 Miles Driven: Our last leg of the journey. Yay! We were all pretty tired of driving and ready to be out of the car for quite some time. It was great to be back in West Palm. The weather was absolutely wonderful. We stayed at Grandpa Tony's condo. It was great. Olivia loved playing on his patio. She would come in, go out, come in, go out. She even would shut the door behind her. What a smart little cookie.
Saturday April 25th-0 Miles Driven: We took it easy on Saturday. We went for a walk and basically just chilled. It was just what we needed, a break. That night we went to RA Sushi for dinner, one of my favorite places. We stuffed ourselves with sushi, nothing better. Olivia loves sushi, well maybe not sushi, but she does love it when we get sushi because she absolutely loves edamame. She ate 1 1/2 appetizers by herself. She also ate cucumber salad, white rice. Tony's girlfriend Soheila and her boys joined us for dinner and it was nice to be able to meet her family. We really had a great time. After dinner we walked around and got ice cream at Sloan's. Yum! Olivia discovered an escalator and Chris and I took turns going up and going down, and up and down.
Sunday April 26th-o Miles Driven: Sunday morning we took the kids swimming and hung out before heading to Heather and Lance's home (Chris' cousin) for a family BBQ. It was great to visit with Chris' family. Chris' Aunts and Uncles got to meet Josh for the first time. Our handsome little man was a little star. Olivia spent most of the time trying to find the cat. She looked for him everywhere. Thankfully Tony (Chris' cousin) finally found him and brought him out so Olivia could pet him. I think that as soon as his feet hit the ground Deeke was back in hiding. Not that I can blame him. Heather and Lance have a beautiful sculpture of an ancient Chinese warrior on a horse. The thing is huge. Olivia soon discovered it and spent hours looking for the horse and every time she found it (which was amazing considering the thing never moved:) she gave it a kiss. I think if she could have she would have taken it with us.
Monday April 27th-0 Miles Driven: We finally made it to the Beach!! Yay! We went to Loggerhead Park in Juno Beach. It is one of our favorite beaches so it was great to go to it. The water was a little rough, so we didn't do any swimming. We did put the kids feet in the water. Josh wasn't a fan and Olivia was okay until...a wave completely took her out and water started rushing around her. It was pretty scary and well now she is terrified of the ocean. Poor little bug. She much prefers the calm pool. Maybe one day when she is older she will want to venture back in the ocean, but not for now. After attempting to be at the beach, we went to the Turtle Rescue at the Park. It is really neat; they have a museum and a sanctuary for injured and ill Sea Turtles. Once they are better they release the turtles. Olivia loved looking in all the tanks and checking out the turtles. We were there during feeding time so we got to see them eat. After watching them eat Olivia wanted gold fish (just like the turtles), too bad I didn't have any on hand. Monday afternoon Chris went into the office. No, he wasn't working but he went to visit his old colleagues. I was able to go to dinner with my girlfriends and we had a great time. It was awesome to connect with old friends again.
Tuesday April 28th-0 Miles Driven: Tuesday was a pretty interesting day for us. While driving to my girlfriends for dinner the truck was making some interesting noises. So after lunch Chris took the truck in to get it check out and it is a good thing he did. We had a bad wire harness. As a result we couldn't go anywhere. Thankfully my girlfriends were willing to come hang out at the house instead of meeting at Starbucks for coffee. Thanks Ladies!
West Palm Pictures
*Click on the pictures to view the entire album
*Click on the pictures to view the entire album
Wednesday April 29th- 80 Miles Driven: Back in the car again! This time for not too long. We headed to Vero Beach for a couple days to stay with Chris' Mom. We got there in time for lunch. Chris and I spent the afternoon at the pool while Gigi watched the kids (a pretty standard situation-Thanks Gigi!!)
Thursday April 30th- 0 Miles Driven: Gloria and her boyfriend Hal are very involved in the local Human Society. Hal is the current President of the Vero Beach Humane Society, so we got to go on a tour of the place. It was so neat. Olivia loved seeing all the dogs and cats. (I think she might be a cat person-or she is just extra excited because we don't have one and dogs are old hat.) They also had a pot-bellied pig and tortoises at the Shelter. It was pretty neat. It was great to be able to see everything that they have going on. Thanks for tour! After lunch it was back to the pool and ocean. Life is good.
Friday May 1st-0 Miles Driven: I feel like I am starting to repeat myself-another day at the pool. I mean it is a vacation after all! :) Thanks for having us Hal and Gigi-we had a wonderful time!
Saturday May 2nd- 893 Miles Driven: Well, we pulled another 4 a.m-er. Our original plan was to drive to Atlanta and stay the night at the Gurkins again and then head out the next day at 4 a.m again. We got to Atlanta around 2:30 pm and the kids were doing great and we felt fine, so we decided to go as far as we could. Well that took us all the way to Corbin, KY! We stopped at a Hotel around 8 at night...finally. We were all exhausted. (We actually made it all the way into KY before needed to turn on the DVD player for Liv-the first time all trip! She watched a Veggies Tales while we were trying to find a place to stop! Way to go Liv!!) We took it easy the next morning at left around 10 a.m. I don't plan on being up at 4 a.m for a while!
Sunday May 3rd- 431 Miles Driven: The last leg! Yay. We pulled into Northville around 6 pm. It was great to sleep in our own beds. The kids slept in until 10! They sure were exhausted. We had a great time visiting everyone. But it sure is nice to be home again.
Vero Beach Pictures
*Click on the pictures to view the entire album
*Click on the pictures to view the entire album
**Okay, so I realize that technically we drove a few miles around town and what not, but no travel miles.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Easter 2009
What an amazing time of year! I have always loved Easter as a kid and this year my love for it was rekindled. Easter, to me, marks the start of spring. It is the 'official' benchmark of new life. I recognized more of a difference this year, most likely because I have spent 4 months in winter; cold, snow, ice, and bone chilling wind for months. I am grateful it is over (although there were moments of winter I thoroughly enjoyed). The drastic change between winter and spring is actually noticeable here, opposed to the slightly varied temperature change that we were experiencing in FL. With all the physical signs of new life around me it seemed to parallel our New Life in Christ. Our lives are like the bleakness of Winter-No hope, no sun, gray, depressing. Even the most enjoyable moments of winter are nothing compared to the Glory of Spring. When spring comes it is an AMAZING transformation. Things become green and lush. Birds return, babies are born. People crawl out of their homes that they have been holed up in for months and experience sun...fresh air. Our lives are bleak and doomed to an eternity without God. Yet, because God sent His Son to die for our sins, a blameless Lamb sacrificed on the Altar, and because the Son chose to obey the Father, we can have an abundant live here on Earth and spend eternity in Heaven in the presence of God! We do nothing to earn this, can do nothing to repay it, yet we are loved beyond measure and when we choose to accept this gift we are welcomed into the Kingdom of God. Praise to the Lord!
Check out an aweseome Easter Message from Oak Pointe Church. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?i=53394653&id=217270258
*Click on the pictures to view the entire album
Olivia dying Easter Eggs
Olivia's first Egg Hunt (it's a long video-just a heads up)
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