Florida 2015

Another great Florida trip is in the books! This might have been the best one yet! The ride there and back went really well (now that the kids are all at an easier age). The weather was PERFECT the entire time. We all had a great time relaxing and being together with family. And, best of all, we even got a date night...thanks to our wonderful babysitters (Grandpa, Grandma, and TiTi)!

The kids were quite happy watching movies throughout most of the trip.

Got there with enough time to hit the pool before dinner and bed!

The best way to decorate Easter eggs in Florida is in you bathing suit!

pool fun

Easter

beach bums

Good thing Grandpa has buddies to eat snow cones with!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

afternoon fun

Caleb's Michigan buddies (Josh and Justin)

Joel's buddy, Liam....from the town next to us (Joliet).

all smiles at the beach

Preschool Easter Fun

Two more preschool Easter parties are in the books. The kids did great this year and Leah even managed to get in on the class picture with the Easter bunny. As she graduates this year, we know her legacy will live on. The teachers still laugh about her reaction two years ago when she was in the Giggle Garden class and she hid under the table when the Easter bunny came!

Ronald McDonald House

For about a month, our church collected donations of snacks and goodies to give to families staying at the Ronald McDonald house at a nearby hospital. My friend, Carolyn, was in charge of the whole project and she kindly asked the kids and me to join her with the packing up and delivering. We had a lot of fun working together to put all of the stuff into bags. It had gotten rather late by the time we finished up with that, so I decided to just take Caleb with to make the delivery. I had never been to a Ronald McDonald house and I was completely blown away by the entire operation. The house is huge and gorgeous. The giant kitchen is stocked with all sorts of things for families to cook with and eat. They have an enormous closet filled with just toy donations and another (even bigger) closet filled with food donations. Groups come in on a regular basis to cook meals for families staying there and they even have groups that just come in during the afternoons to bake homemade cookies for families. It is heartbreaking to think about what the various families are going through who stay there, but it is wonderful that they can be so well cared for. I think the entire visit was eye opening for both Caleb and myself. I hope there will be chances for all of us to go back in the future to serve there.