Florida!

We were blessed to spend 5 days in beautiful Florida! This was our first trip on a plane with all three of the kids and we were curious to see how they would do. The girls were very pumped! Here they are all buckled in.

And here is our wild card for the journey. You never know how a baby will do on flights...

It started off going great. We even got two whole rows to ourselves! (Probably because people saw our three kids and went the opposite direction.)

Unfortunately, after the initial 20 minutes it became a bit of a nightmare. Silas cried, well screamed, off and on almost the entire time. Then Carrie started to melt down, followed by Lydia. It was definitely a patience and self control building experience for Zach and me. A sucker helped for about 10 minutes.

Are we there yet?

Care finally crashed for about the last 20 minutes of the flight.

But we made it safe and sound!! We joined my parents in Fort Myers where they were renting a beautiful house. We started every morning with a long swim in the warm pool!

Taking a trip to the beach!

First beach experience for Carrie and Silas! Lydia went to Florida when she was 7 months old.

Care practicing her "shelling" skills.

Sweet Silas just trying to avoid the wind.

Dessert after one of several delicious meals!

My parents scouted out an awesome park and we hung out there three afternoons. Silas preferred eating the wood chips to playing.

Carrie really liked the house in the playground.

Pausing during a walk in a park for a picture.

Family shot.

Carrie sporting her shades!

After a lovely, restful time we headed back to the airport for the flight home. Our flight was delayed for an hour so the girls practiced their gymnastics moves.

The flight home went better than the flight to Florida, but Zach and I have agreed that we won't be flying again for a while. But it was well worth it. What a gift to have a week away in beautiful weather with wonderful company!

Daddy Daughter Date!

For Valentines Day Zach took the girls on a Daddy Daughter Date! The girls were very excited for their dinner out with Daddy...

Daddy giving his beautiful girls a rose before they head out.

Cheese!

Kidney Ball!

Zach and I were invited to a Kidney Ball to honor and celebrate all the work being done to help those with kidney problems. It was a black tie event- a rare occasion for us. It was fun getting dressed up for a night out!

Dr. DeJong, who performed Zach's surgery a year ago, was honored that night. We had the pleasure of sitting next to him and his wife. What a wonderful, humble, Godly couple they are who live their life for the Lord, each other and others. We were even gleaning parenting advice from them. It was just a lovely evening.

Misc. January Pics

Here are some random pics from this past month. Daddy making a Lyddi-Care sandwich!

Zach got to do a little baking this past month...

I got the girls outside as much as I could: 10 minutes of bundling them up for 10 minutes of play time!

Care and Daddy hanging out.

Pony rides!

Lyddi nursing her baby...

Care playing waitress.

Got puffs?

Story time!

After a special "Mommy-daughter" outing, Lyddi was pretty tuckered.

Ready to head out with their new backpacks!

Onto February!

Gymnastics!

We started going to a weekly gymnastics class and open gym. It's been a lot of fun and the girls love it! I really like it because it is a multi-age class so the older kids step in to help the younger ones when they need it and the younger ones learn a lot from the older kids.

Below, cousin Sarah, is practicing her flexibility!

Si hanging out while his sisters are stretching.

He does have quite the fan club. :-)

Museum

A highlight of this month was a visit to the museum! Care though the car exhibit was pretty cool!

The whole morning was really fun and interesting. But the highlight was definitely the carousal! Lydia loved it! 

Carrie wasn't too sure about the whole thing so she watched from the waiting area. 

She also got comfy in the chairs while waiting for Lydia's ride to end.

Eventually she gave it a try- under two conditions: Mommy had to go with her and she had to ride on the bench.

Checking out the view of downtown GR...

The dioramas were really neat!

There was even a -drum roll- WOLF exhibit! Our girls are really into wolves right now so this was awesome!

Standing Si!

We have a video monitor in Silas' room. The other day I was checking on him and this is what I saw....standing Si!! 

Ever since then he's been spotted many times around the house practicing his new skill!

 Way to go buddy!

Misc. December Pics

Here are a few pictures from December that didn't fit in one of the earlier posts, but just too cute not to share. 

Close up Care!

Silas is super close to crawling! He spends a lot of time rocking on all fours. Any day now we're waiting for this guy to take off.

Say cheese!

Unfortunately we got hit pretty badly with bronchitis in our home. The kids and l had it for a couple weeks and Zach had a similar viral infection. So we didn't get out as much as we would have liked, but thanks to some internet searches, we we're able to do lots of crafts together and have lots of cuddle time.

Care feeling better.

As you can see we had a green Christmas this year!

I was able to connect with three dear friends from elementary school for breakfast. What a delightful morning it was!

Friends for 24 years and going strong!