FLA 15 year reunion

This weekend was Keith's 15 year high school reunion. It was at Lake Lotus park in Maitland. I was pleasantly surprised at what a fantastic park this is. The park ranger drove up on his golf cart 4 different times with 4 different animals. He brought out some snakes, then a rabbit, then an alligator and then another reptile. Most of the kids and adults were pretty excited to see the animals.

I did not go to FLA, I went to public school. So I wasn't even going to go to the reunion since Keith couldn't go. But my dear friend, Jennifer, who went to high school with Keith and then college with me, told me that I had better be at the reunion! It was soo good to see Jennifer! (And everyone else, but seeing Jennifer brought back some great college memories!). Keith's friend, Troy, was able to come for a short time. His wife, Monica, also went to college with me and Jennifer, so it was really fun to see her, too. I took a few other pictures that I'll put up on Facebook later this week when I have more time.

Daniel claimed the Jeep as his own, and offered to drive the rest of the kids around the park. Joshua loved the giant tire. He kept climbing up and then jumping down. Megan couldn't quite get herself to the top of the tire, but it sure was cute to watch her struggle.

Overall, it was a great time, I sure wish Keith would have been able to be there with us.

Lots of growth around here!

Our backyard has the potential to be beautiful. However, it's a bit overgrown right now. Keith has been on a demolition kick with pulling up overgrown shrubbery and hacking down half-dead trees. Keith has been working really hard on the yard, I need to get out there and take some "before" pictures.

The fence on the side of the house has a tree or two growing through it. We'll plan on pulling out this fence and putting in a wooden fence. I'm not so sure why Keith had a camera up on the ladder with him. But I do know that he must have been up pretty high in the tree, since that's the top of my neighbor's house in the background.

The other area of growth this week has been sweet Megan. It seems to have become Megan's birthday month. Her Sabbath School class sang Happy Birthday to her this weekend and she was just thrilled!

She loves her teachers.

Fort DeSoto Park

Saturday morning Daniel was feeling a little on the yucky side. His allergies are bothering him and he's been really phlemy. We've now missed going to church 3 weeks in a row. Fortunately, our church streams the service on the internet, but it's just not the same as being there.

We had a wonderful visit with the Fox family this weekend. They are friends of ours from Kodiak that happen to be visiting Florida. Megan was thrilled to play with her friend, Jordan. They are just two little peas in a pod. Kyla absolutely loves our cat, and Meow-meow is such a good sport.

This morning, the kids and I were going to head to the farmer's market for some produce, but after talking to Keith on the phone, we decided it was a great day for the beach. The kids and I drove over to go to have lunch with Daddy and then go to Fort DeSoto Beach.

The kids had fun checking out the huge cannons.

Joshua was trying to crank the handle to move the mortar.

Daddy and Daniel on the top of the fort.

Megan says, "it's like the yellow brick road, but it's red".

The kids had a great time playing in the water and collecting shells. The two hour ride back to the house was filled with snoring children.

Megan's 5th Birthday!

We had a small celebration for Megan's 5th birthday last week. The trend in her class is for each of the mothers to bring in a batch of cupcakes for their child's birthday. Since Megan marches to her own beat, instead of cupcakes she brought in strawberries to share with everyone. She was asking if Stuart Little was a boy movie. She's so funny!

We met Grandma and Grandpa at our favorite little pizza place for dinner. She had a great time. It was a nice quiet birthday celebration.

A race and a rocket

Today was the annual 5K race for Christian Education at FLEC. Before the 5K was a 1 lap around the track fun run for the smaller kids. Megan ran it and came in 22nd place. At first she wasn't so sure she wanted to run, but once she got started, there was no stopping her. She was yelling and running at the same time. A friend of mine that was running the field along side the kids was laughing and telling me that Megan was cheering on her friends while she was running. She's got such a great heart.

Megan and her friend Samuel.

Megan and Carlie.

Cheering on the 5K runners.

Daniel wishing he was bigger. He wanted to run the race. Megan's teacher gave him a medal just for showing up. Joshua did not run the race because he his allergies have really been bothering him. He got a medal because he has run the track a few times already this week.

Daniel was so excited because we parked by the construction trucks. He wanted to go look around at them, but I didn't think it was such a good idea. He named them will all the Bob the Builder names (Scoop, Muck, and I can't remember any of the other names).

Between parking in the dirt parking lot and all the pollen all over the minivan, I decided to get a car wash when I filled her up today. I usually just wash my own car, but these days the time it would take me to haul everything out, wash the minivan (with my helpers) and put everything away - I'll gladly pay $5 and run the minivan through the machine. Especially when it provides this much entertainment. It was so funny watching Daniel trying to touch the water through the van window.

We went shopping for goodie bag stuff for Megan's upcoming birthday. The trend in her classroom is to transform the classroom into a birthday party. I talked with her wonderful teacher today about bringing in a healthy snack for after outside time. It's been so hot that I'm sure the kids would love some watermelon or strawberries or grapes when they come in from playtime. As far as Megan's actual birthday party, we've decided not to have a party this year. She'll give out goodie bags at school, provide the snack for that day, and we purchased a book to donate to the classroom library. We also picked up some fun educational place mats for our table at home. I bought the game Perfection and was intending to give it to her for her birthday, but she saw it on the counter and wanted to play it. She loves it. Joshua is really good at it, too.

Just when the kids were ready for bed, I looked out the front window just in time to see the Shuttle going up over our neighbor's house. I grabbed the kids and we all ran outside just in time to see the boosters being released from the Shuttle.

Visiting with the turtles

The kids have figured out that there are turtles in the water at Cranes Roost Park. This provides hours of free entertainment on the weekends. Last weekend we spent quite a bit of time watching the turtles and fish swimming at the park. I promised Joshua I would take a picture of one of the turtles (in the murky water with just a tiny bit of his/her head poking out), so that he can look is up in his Florida Animals book.

Chores, chores, chores

Coming soon to a refrigerator near you...a new chore chart. All of a sudden Keith and I both realized that the kids are capable of doing so much more than we have been having them do. Not only are they capable of helping more, they actually enjoy doing it. I should be taking advantage of this while it lasts.

Orlando Magic Game

Joshua, Daddy, Grandpa and a neighbor Denny went to the Orlando Magic vs. Phoenix Suns game last week during spring break. Even though it ended way past bedtime, Joshua had a blast!
Watching the pre-game warm up. Enjoying the game (evidently behind some big hair!).

Joshua, Grandpa and Denny.