A Trip of a Lifetime Part 2

We woke on Saturday to the most beautiful, sunny, cool and breezy day!

We swam in the pool for a little bit in the morning, but it was chilly!

Because of the temperature, we had decided the night before to go and visit the zoo on Saturday after lunch.

But first we stopped at Target for some things we needed and Blake bought the kiddos a coffee treat!

Over the last month, the kids have been watching a show called San Diego Zoo on the channel Animal Planet – which shows all kinds of behind-the-scenes care of the animals at the zoo.

It is a fascinating show!

Blake and I knew it would make a trip to the zoo all the more interesting after everything they have learned on that show.

The Naples Zoo did not disappoint!

It was the most beautiful zoo I have ever been too!

I could not get over the trees, flowers and greenery!

Just look at these trees!

Isn’t it beautiful?

We saw some amazing animals that were hard to photograph with a cell phone!

When we got to the giraffe exhibit, we saw that you could feed them some lettuce for $5.

Of course we had to do that!

I only have a photo of Chad feeding them because I took video of the rest of the kids doing so.

We ended our afternoon at the zoo with a show about the animals.

It was awesome!

Such a fun way to spend a beautiful day!

After the zoo we went back to our home away from home and fed the kiddos quick.

Next up we headed to the beach to watch the sunset from the pier.

Little did we know that the temperature was dropping and the winds had increased to 40 mph!

It was COLD and SO WINDY!

I have great photos, but we didn’t last long.

There was a mama with this crew (that’s me!) who was huddled behind her hubby trying to stay out of the direct wind gusts because she was frozen to her core, ha, ha!

Please notice how the palm trees are bent way over in that wind!

And notice how big the waves are too!

We drove around for a little while before the sun went down, just to look around and see all the things!

Naples is beautiful!

Sunday morning was another beautiful day.

The winds and clouds of the last three days were gone!

Blake researched on line and found a church for us to attend.

We enjoyed church SO MUCH!

Our church here at home loves to sing, and this church we visited in Florida was the same!!

What a beautiful time of worship we had and were also challenged and encouraged by an amazing sermon.

We had driven by a place called Seed to Table on our way to church and went back to check it out after church!

It was very neat!

Think Joanna Gaines kind of neat.

It was packed with people though, and was not allergy friendly.

We bought some guacamole and salsas to go with our lunch and that was all.

Sunday afternoon had us back at the pool – the first time it was warmer and completely sunny!

We made a delicious meal at our home away from home Sunday evening.

Then Chad kicked Blake and I out on a date!

Why, yes, thank you, Chad!!

We went to check out a bakery we hoped to enjoy with the kids, and of course went grocery shopping.

Date night was just like here in Wisconsin really!

Monday morning brought the promise of a super yummy breakfast at an all gluten-free bakery.

It did not disappoint!!

I was not able to eat anything there because I do not eat grains or sugar, but Blake and the kids said it was the best gluten-free baked goods they have ever had!!

We ate on their patio even though in the shade it was a little chilly!

Thankfully Blake had a sweatshirt for Eliza to borrow.

She is so cute.

Because of Monday’s predicted temperatures and clear blue skies, we decided to go and play at the beach for the first time during the day.

It ended up being a great choice!

We were turned away from the first beach we went to because it was at capacity, which meant there was no parking.

I told everyone that finding a different beach was going to be a happy accident, and it was!

We found one and Blake let us out so he could go and find parking.

We ended up walking quite a ways through a construction area, which no one else was bothering to do, and had an entire beach almost to ourselves!

The other side of the construction was packed with people.

I am so glad we decided to take a chance on that long walk!!

After getting back to our suite Monday evening and getting everyone cleaned up and fed, Blake took me out on another date – for dinner and a smoothie!

It was fantastic.

The date and the food!

Pretty great vacation so far, wouldn’t you say??

I am SO thankful I have all of these photos!!!

They will be such a joy to look back on!!

Stay tuned for the HUGE finale to our trip that Blake planned for us – that will be up in the next post!!

A Trip of a Lifetime!

On Wednesday, April 6th, Blake, myself, and our four youngest children hopped on a plane and headed to Naples, Florida!

To say this is a dream come true for me is an understatement!

It only would have been PERFECT if our WHOLE crew would have been able to join us!!

We are not vactioners, as you know if you have been around here for any time at all, so this truly was the trip of a lifetime!

I have somewhere close to a gazillion photos – so I decided to “scrapbook” our memories in three different posts – each covering three days at a time.

SO…here we go!!

It was freezing cold and snowing when we left that Wednesday, which made flying to somewhere so warm and summer like even sweeter.

The kiddos were great travelers!

We drove three hours to the Minneapolis airport and caught a direct flight to Fort Myers from there.

We had a rent-a-car reserved for when we arrived.

The line was LONG.

Do you see my hubby (in between Eliza and Lane’s head) who is the last one in line here?

Here he is again one hour later.

Do you see him there??

Not quite to the front yet!

That’s ok though, because THIS is what was outside that airport door!!

When we finally got to pick a car out of the lot we chose the biggest one we could find – but still had to ride to the hotel like this, ha, ha!!

We headed out for grocery, made a quick dinner, and then got unpacked and settled into our little home away from home.

My wonderful hubby thought to bring the lap top and a cord so that we could run our discovery plus through the T.V.

That meant they could watch their favorite show on Animal Planet with no commercials – which is the way we watch shows for obvious reasons!

Thursday morning I was welcomed by this early bird during my Bible time – who, by the way, was thrilled that his mama had lost her mind and bought cinnamon roll cereal at the grocery store the night before.

Something I love very much about being a mom of many is how different they all are!!

Here is Eliza – who slept late – and went straight from her bed to the couch.

Tate promptly went to make his bed, now that everyone was FINALLY awake and all!

It wasn’t very warm on Thursday and it was also partly cloudy.

We went to check out the pool anyway and decided it was perfect for us Wisconsinites!

We swam and played there most of the day!

In the late afternoon we got everyone cleaned up and headed out and about.

We took the kiddos to get smoothies at our favorite smoothie place and also stopped and picked up Chipotle for everyone (but me!) for dinner.

I ate once everyone else was done, don’t worry! My dinner was fantastic too.

Blake and I had bought a new card game on date night the week before we left on our trip to surprise the kids with!

They really enjoyed playing five crowns and I highly recommend it as a fun game!

Friday morning after breakfast we headed to the beach.

It was the first time the three youngest have seen the ocean!!

Chad had been at the ocean when he was nine months old, which he obviously does not remember.

It was the BEST to watch them experience all these new things!!!

We played there for awhile, but it was cold!!

Back to the pool we went, and ate lunch pool side that day.

Blake and I had other surprises that the kiddos did not know about!

He had bought them each a kite, so Friday late afternoon we went and flew them at a park.

It was SUPER DUPER windy and a great day for kite flying!

There was also a disc golf course at the park.

We tried to play a round, but the super duper windy part was not a good fit for playing disc golf!!

Eliza and I enjoyed the swings for awhile too!

Friday night we headed back and made dinner in our home away from home.

The kitchen was challenging, to say the least!

It only had two burners and a microwave…but they had a grill outside we could use.

We managed to pull off this delicious meal!

Saturday was another chillier windy day – can’t wait to share what we decided to do!!

That post will be next!!!

Just reliving these memories through the photos and my words is filling me with JOY!!

It was SO wonderful to be somewhere warm, away from the our day to day stuff!!

Stay tuned for more Florida photos!!

Happy Birthday Lane Stevan and Kayla Lauren!!!

On Sunday we celebrated two very special people!!

Lane’s birthday is April 2nd and Kayla’s birthday is April 8th.

Kayla reminded me how when she was Lane’s age she was praying and praying for another sibling – and just look – God answered and gave her Lane….and then Eliza….and then Tate!!!

We opened gifts first this time because we had just had lunch at church and it wasn’t time to eat again.

I LOVE TO GIVE GIFTS!!

Planning someone’s birthday is wwaaayyy better than having your own!

Lane chose our evening meal for the celebration.

Usually it takes them awhile to decide what to have, but Lane answered within one second of me asking him what he would like!

Chili soup! Rolls! And fruit salad!

You got it, Lane!!

I also made a chili soup that was nightshade free for those of us who needed that!

Of course there were desserts!

Not one, but two!!

Lane wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting – that’s my boy!!

When I asked Kayla what she would like, she said cheesecake – that’s my girl!!

It was delicious and fun to sing to them!!

We got to spend the whole afternoon and evening together, which made it seem like it was MY birthday!!

I love Sunday family day. LOVE, love it!

Can I just say I am so glad Kayla was so faithful in her prayers to pray for more siblings??

Cue all the tears.

Lane Stevan, how I love your visionary spirit, your thoughtful, quiet self (until you are not!), your love for the Lord and your knowledge of His Word.

How you look at everything as an opportunity to make it better, and also for what a GREAT big brother you are for Tate and Eliza!!

You are one in a million, Lane.

And WE LOVE YOU!!

Kayla Lauren, how I love your compassionate heart, your willingness to pour into others, how you do not know the words “that will be too hard”, how you and David are raising your arrows for His Kingdom, and how you still consider your Mama a friend.

You inspire, encourage, and challenge me daily and I am SO thankful for you, sweetheart!

You fill your roll as the oldest sibling of this bunch so perfectly.

You, too, are one in a million, Kay!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Happy, happy birthday to our Lane Stevan and Kayla Lauren!!

Does it Feel Like April to You?

Happy Monday morning!!

My Dad and I always started our conversations with a weather report – do you all do that with someone too?

I miss him.

Well, anyway – it is a warmer 37 degrees this morning, but raining and foggy here too.

We have had an interesting week weather wise – you will see in the photos that follow!

Monday evening was our Women to Women gathering at our church.

I am on the planning committee for this monthly gathering, and enjoy it very much!

I am thankful for my crew here who helped decorate and set up all the tables and chairs on Sunday after church – it was nice to have it done ahead of time – and a great opportunity for the kiddos to be involved!

Monday we got after our school rhythm, and then in the afternoon the kiddos helped me bake the potatoes for the baked potato bar we were serving the gals Monday night.

They are FUN helpers!!

I have had a harder week this week autoimmune health wise, Monday included.

I even drank some caffeine hoping it would help, but I had to rest quite a bit.

I managed to make it through the day and evening, praise the Lord!

Tuesday had us back in our school rhythm, but Wednesday we just did Math and then headed to Aspen’s place to play and have lunch!

We had a blast, of course!

And I had the CUTEST little barista making me espresso’s by the dozens, ha, ha!!

Thursday morning we woke up to this, and I might have groaned.

It was Sadie’s sixth birthday that day!

She is the sweetest pup, but don’t open a door without knowing where she is or she will BE GONE.

Stickin’ cute pup.

I think she is just ready for spring too!!

School on Thursday was full of fun things – like watching videos about the first man on the moon, science experiments, and doing art class!

I found Tate tracing his art project in the closet!

If you have been here only a second, you know what Friday means!!

Grocery, cleaning, playing with the kiddos, and DATE NIGHT!

I left for grocery bright and early and was at my first stop by 6:30 a.m., which is 50 minutes away from home.

Grocery is just such a big job but is way easier when you are the only one at the store, am I right??

Friday was a GORGEOUS day – so warm, blue and sunny!!!

Friday afternoon Kayla picked up Eliza for a date!

Kayla had given Eliza a future date coupon for her birthday, and Friday was the day!

Eliza was SO excited and watched the clock all day!

They went and had gelato and then went shopping.

There were some cute tag alongs in that car there – which made it double the fun!!

Blake and I did some shopping for date night, and then we found a neighborhood and took a very long walk!

The weather was BEAUTIFUL!!

Saturday morning we woke up to this!

Again!

But this snow fall looked like a movie set – it was so beautiful and covered everything, even the trees!

The snow always brings the cardinals back to us though!

Do you see them there?

While we were making a big breakfast Saturday morning, my hubby loaded the trash to take it to the dump.

He came back in the house and said, “How does one family generate so much trash?” to which Tate answered, “We are a lot of souls, Dad.”

He is so cute.

Since I had made a big breakfast for everyone on Saturday morning, and it was Lane’s FOURTEENTH birthday (I know!!), we put a candle in Lane’s breakfast and sang to him!

Saturday was a BIG kitchen day as we got ready for meal day at church yesterday and also a birthday bash after church to celebrate not only Lane, but Kayla too!

Right before I took this photo I said something like “hold still for one sec!”

Do you spy what I spy with my little eye??

Grant?

Who ducked down when I said that so he wouldn’t be in the photo?

Ha, ha!!

We laughed so hard!!

I hollered at him too, don’t worry, and then I took this one instead!

Saturday also brought a piano assessment test for Eliza with her piano instructor!

She PASSED and moved up to Level 5!!

Piano assessments are not the best for my crew, because they are only on Saturdays.

We have to be on a live chat for 45 minutes, which means everyone else has to be QUIET – because this house is tiny!!

They managed!

And Eliza did GREAT!!

By Saturday afternoon, all of that snow was gone, and it looked like this!!

With a beautiful sunset in the evening!!

Tate, Eliza and I made the fruit salad for the birthday party yesterday morning before church.

I also made two batches of rolls then too – this is one of them!

It ended up being a busy morning in the kitchen as well!

It was another good week in the kitchen though!!

Look at some of the yumminess that we made!!

By the end of the week I was trying to figure out how to use up 20 some leftover baked potatoes!

We got creative and even put them under our Chinese orange bowl dinner one night.

We received the sweatshirts and t-shirts this week that we had ordered.

They were a fund raiser for a sweet family who is going through a life-changing event as their 17 year old son battles cancer.

We are so thankful to have these shirts to wear as we continue to pray for them!

I ordered a new kind of coffee to try.

I have been reacting to coffee for months now.

I have only used this one once – it is not that great.

I think I may have just lost my taste for coffee though!

Time will tell!

If you are looking for a clean decaf coffee, you might want to give this one a try!

You know what will be next, right?

That wonderful birthday celebration we had yesterday!!

Celebrating Lane and Kayla was AWESOME!!

There was good food, delicious desserts (thank you, Addie Mae!), and WE WERE ALL TOGETHER!!

The best day, for sure.

Stay tuned!

I hope you all had a wonderful week with more predictable weather than we had!