Sharing Our Awesome Vacation

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Ahhhh...

We are venturing South for a few days!  I've been doing laundry all day and now we are packing!!  It's been  five years since we've been to the beach. We can hardly wait to get there!

24 Years? How can it be?

We drove down to Columbus on Saturday to celebrate Andy's birthday. I can't believe that I have a child that is 24. Time really does fly. After a little shopping, we went out to eat at Red Robin. FYI: You can get a free gourmet burger on your birthday by signing up here I got the Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad that was on special. It was really good. We stayed overnite and attended church with Andy on Sunday. It was so nice to get away for the weekend.

Isaac displaying his new "funny" face. Camera shy sisters.

Erica made Andy his favorite lemon cake (see recipe below)

Lemon Miracle Cake

1 sm box lemon jello

1 cup boiling water

1 pkg cake mix (we used lemon)

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1T lemon extract

4 eggs

Glaze

Combine until smooth:

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

7 T Real Lemon Juice

Dissolve lemon jello in cup of boiling water; set aside to cool. Mix cake mix with oil, lemon extract add eggs one at a time on low speed-then add cooled jello and pour into 9x13 pan. Bake at 350○ for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and punch holes with fork all over hot cake. Immediately pour glaze over cake.

This recipe comes from our church cookbook. A very dear lady always brought it to every potluck.

"Weekend to Remember"

My husband and I had the opportunity to attend a "Weekend to Remember" conference this past weekend. Did we originally plan to go to this? No. Would we go again or recommend this conference to others? Yes.

We happened to win our trip through a Christian radio station. Our 7 year old wanted to go to the zoo. I started to look for free zoo tickets online and happened to find the contest page at WBCL. I didn't see any contests for zoo tickets but I decided to just sign-up for the current contest-"Weekend to Remember" conference registration. As I filled in my name, address etc. I noticed they asked how many years that we had been married. I filled in 24 and thought to myself that younger couples would probably benefit more.

The next day I received an email telling me that we had won. I emailed to thank WBCL and mentioned: "I was actually on your contest site looking to win Ft. Wayne Zoo tickets, but this is even better ;)" A few minutes later I received the following: "Guess what….just because…I am sending you 6 tickets to the zoo too!"

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" James 1:17 We had been doubly blessed!

A little about the conference: It is awesome! It is biblicaly-based, it is not boring (I mean one of the speakers was a comedian on the side) and clips from movies are shown for examples of specific principles.

It is designed to bring you and your spouse closer together and to discuss things that you never have time to talk about. It challenges you to become the person God wants you be. And it gives you a game plan to take home with you. There is a reason that this conference has been around for such a long time. It works!

Zooing It

We had a great time at the Ft. Wayne Children's Zoo on Saturday. The tickets were a gift from WBCL. The day started out rainy but turned out to be just perfect. We even got to bring along a cousin! If you love frogs as much as my guys do...then this one is a great size.

This ostrich was very curious. He was attracted to my watch gleaming in the sunlight.

The guys heading out on their expedition into the Austrailian Adventure.

The kangaroos are actually loose. We have even had the opportunity to pet one on a past visit.

The farm area with a very friendly horse.

A Little Michigan Get-Away

Gorgeous Beach on Lake Michigan

Sleeping Bear Dunes 450' above Lake Michigan

A "newt" found friend. My boys can find critters anywhere!

Enjoying a campfire and s'mores with dear friends.

A goofy tourist attraction.

A little local Flavor-Yumm!!

Camping?..... Who Me?

I have never been one to rough it in the great outdoors. I guess getting older and discovering how fast kids really do grow up has changed my perspective. We visited a state park that is very near to us one Sunday evening. It was early spring and it is a nice place to walk around. We happened to see this thing: This is a yurt. It is a dome shaped structure on a wooden platform.
It had 2 bunkbeds, a fridge, microwave and A/C! My kind of camping. We reserved it over a month ago on a weekend that my sister and her family could come too. It turned out to be a fun time! Campfires, s'mores, hotdogs, fishing, swimming, early morning devotions on a picnic table! Everything was great except for the mosquitoes! On the second night they were so bad that we ladies and the younger boys went in our yurt and played "Name the animal that starts with each letter of the alphabet" Such a fun little thing to do that we never have time for (for some reason) at home.
My little guy had the best time riding his bike around. He probably put about 50 miles on it!
My proud fisherman!
My sister and I sat and watched the guys fish. She was trying to teach me to crochet. I thought I was doing really well. I was adding my second row when she realized that I was knitting on a crochet hook! I guess crocheting isn't my thing. I better stick to sewing.
Camping was a good experience. We will have to try it again.

Just a Little Summer Fun

The two older girls are gone this week on a mission trip. The rest of us felt the need to do something fun! We decided to pay my sister Linda a visit.
How can you not have fun with someone who agrees to babysit the science teacher's lizard all summer?
These fun masks were in a cute country general store. How do you like my Carmen Miranda look? Maybe strapping on a fruit bowl would be easier then styling each morning.
This is Linda. I think her mask fits her personality pretty well. Of course my 14 year old daughter was mortified that we "old women" could act this way!
We visited a real Amish store. The fans and refrigerators were run by generators. Very interesting.
An Amish cemetary.
We were laughing a little at this lady. I don't know if you can see it-but the floor of her wagon is full of Mountain Dew and Pepsi.
I found a few cute fabrics at a quilt shop. A retro girl's print and a 30's style boy's print with adorable puppies.
I also brought home a cute boy cousin to stay overnight!

An Early Father's Day

We have our two older girls leaving on a mission trip early next Sunday(Father's Day) so the blessings decided to celebrate Father's Day this Sunday! They packed a picnic lunch and we headed off to Maumee Bay State Park. Of course, everyone was hungry so we ended up eating in the van on the way there. The day was perfect! We brought home sand, sunburns and great memories! Happy Father's Day!
Trying on antlers in the nature center.
Chasing seagulls.
Someone had to get buried!
Captive prisoner.
Attack!
Having fun on the waterslide!

Playing on the beach.

A Year Ago...

A year ago today we had the opportunity to fly out to Colorado! It was a trip of a lifetime. We visited Rocky Mountain National Park, Red Rocks, Garden of the Gods, Focus on the Family and Pike's Peak. Wow~it was gorgeous scenery and a lot of fun! I would LOVE to go back again sometime!



On top of Pike's Peak. I had no idea it would be that high up!
Focus on the Family in the "Narnia" room.
Taken on our 23rd anniversary.
Garden of the gods
Flying "W" Ranch-where we enjoyed our 23rd anniversary dinner.
Red Rocks near Denver
The road through Rocky Mountain National Park was closed because of too much snow. We went as far as we could.
A June snowball!
The boys loved feeding the chipmunks!

Close-up of an elk.