Marco Island, FL

These are just a few pics of what we have been doing. We have also been seeing dolphins which has been really fun. They feed about 50 feet off the pier outside our condo. Blessings to you all as you sit by the fire enjoying the snow!

Lakeland, Florida

We left Troy, OH at 8 pm on the last Wednesday night of January headed to Lakeland, FL. We estimated we had about 16 hours of traveling. The driving went very well. We were very thankful. We have traveled a lot at night, but haven't always gotten along so well. We arrived at Mom and Dad's trailer about lunchtime. We were very ready to get out and walk around a little. It was very fun to see where Mom and Dad like to go so well. It was good to be there.

Mom and Dad in front of their trailer.

We were so glad that we had brought our bikes. It was great fun to ride through the park.

We spent Friday at The Holy Land Experience in Orlando. It was really fun and I think we picked up a little knowledge. We have studied the Ancients in History with the kids this year so it was fun to see replicas of items that we had studied. It was their first official field trip! Yea, I know, it was high time to take them on one.

We left Lakeland on Saturday morning by way of Plant City heading to Marco Island where we plan to get a little R&R. We picked up a flat of strawberries, a half a box of tomatoes, and a half a box of avocados. It has made for some good eating while we have been here.

the rest of Christmas

So... obviously I am very late in posting the rest of our Christmas pictures. I finally have time. We are on vacation. I am thanking God for the r&r coming my way.

There is no way that I will forget this Christmas. We had our small family Christmas on Christmas Eve. Grandpa and Grandma Schaurer came to celebrate with us. We had a very enjoyable evening. We fondued steak and chicken. Ken deep fried vegetables. It was all very yummy! The problem was the kids did not like the food, but they had a good time frying our meat! We also dipped pretzels and other good stuff in white and milk chocolate. It all tasted good!

Brett, Briana, and I headed to Bev's Christmas morning. We had silo issues so Ken had to stay home. We had a yummy lunch with Mom and Dad R, Clem's, Travis, and Holly. We were working to get things together for everyone else arriving that evening. The fun started when Andre' woke up from his nap throwing up! We were sure it was just a one time thing, right??!! We were so wrong. He continued to throw up while the rest of the clan arrived. We enjoyed supper and some visiting and then it hit Bev. So we decided we had better move out. Kip's and Russell's drove back home. Dave's decided to go home with us since they have a 3 hour drive home. By Saturday noon the Bowman household had recovered so we all headed back to finish Christmas. Mom had bleached everything. We figured we were already exposed so we better just enjoy our weekend. We were pretty sure it was a 48 hour incubation period so we lived it up till Sunday evening.

It hit Maebrianna at 10 pm Sunday night and from there people started dropping like flies. Till Monday morning, there were 7 more sick. Then 48 hours later it made another round that wasn't quite as many as the first. Needless to say, this Christmas will go down in our history!

We did all have a wonderful time together. It is always a little bit like a zoo. We have Steph's 4 older children and then 9 children under Brett. It is a rip roaring good time atleast for the kids. The parents spend a lot of time fixing issues and cleaning up messes, but we would not trade it! You can tell that in all the commotion I did not take very many pictures.

Schaurer Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with the Schaurer's on the 12th of December. I am hoping those who were unable to be here will enjoy a few pictures. For the first time we held Christmas at a location other than Mom and Dad's. Rod and Jer (and family) hosted and they did a wonderful job. The building was cozy with a little carpet and a roaring fire. You can tell from the pictures that some played games, some conversed, and some stayed warm by the fire. Thanks for hosting, Rod and Jer!

Dad always read the Christmas story before we opened gifts. This year he told the story and held the childrens' attention quite well.

Merry Christmas to all the Ralph and Lois Schaure clan who were unable to make it. We love you and missed you. Merry Christmas!!

Fun in the Snow

We woke up to a little snow this morning. It was very wet and was melting as it snowed, but it was still fun to play in. Ken went to town this morning to get a sled for the kids to ride on behind his new big toy! They waited patiently till after lunch and then wanted to go play. They built a small snowman and then it was off to sled ride!

They were having such a fun time riding.

Oops! Where did they go?

Wow! They are big enough to shake their own sled off.

And then go at it again!

Till they came in they were both wet to the underwear, but they had a great time and we are trying to get them warmed up now.

The Creation Museum

The long awaited trip to the Creation Museum took place yesterday. Ken and I had went with the Dennis Schaurer family last August and our children had begged to go ever since, but we just had not gotten it done. At Christmas they put on a live nativity so we decided to make the trip. We had a wonderful day; although, we spent very little time reading the info posted everywhere. The day was for the kids so we sped through the parts that did not interest them and spent our time on the kid friendly stuff!

Brett and Bri in the Garden of Eden!

The photo spot.

They had built a small replica of a Jewish marketplace outside. We visited
there and bought a little hot chocolate. Then went on to see Joseph, Mary, and Jesus and hear a little info on the lifestyle back then.

Bri enjoyed the animals and petting the sheep.

Visitors

The week before Thanksgiving, we entertained visitors from Washington, The Dallas Flory clan. Actually, I am not sure if we entertained them or they entertained us, but it doesn't matter we had a great time! It was fun for the children to renew friendships and us to catch up. One evening we had company in for them. It was super fun to get together with so many and catch up with one another.


The family's that came all brought shoeboxes to donate to Operation Christmas Child. We had a great time decorating the boxes and putting little notes in them. Thank you to all who donated. This project is so close to my heart.




Boy, have we grown. When I got the invitation ready and realized that we only had 2 children under the age of two coming, I thought, "Wow! We are getting old." We also had a few "children" that showed up late after they had left young folks. That really tells the story. Sorry, to walk down memory lane a little, but it has been 10 years since Ken and I started dating and these childrens' faces are either new or have changed a lot in that time.