My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

This year we decided to take the RV to Florida, which added even more excitement and adventure to the vacation!  As Jimmy was snuggling down on the couch to sleep while Jim was dutifully driving us south the first night, he sighed and said, “This was a REALLY fun day.”  And the vacation hadn’t even started yet!  Of course, what kid wouldn’t like to wear pajamas and watch movies and have snacks handed to them all day, let alone get to buy junk food at truck stops and eat pancakes for dinnner at Denny’s?!

We arrived safely there (discovering we had a flat tire once we arrived – it was really perfect timing if we had to have a flat!), and the reunion with our Arizona family who had also traveled to Florida was wonderful!  We were all sad that Alli couldn’t join us because of her college schedule, but the little cousins rejoiced to be together again. 

We spent our first days there living it up at the condo complex!  Who needs a beach when you have a volleyball sandpit?!

Our condo this year was an awesome arrangement with enough rooms so that all the kids had their own section.  It was their dream come true!

There were late-night shuffleboard competitions and Vespa rides:

And lazy mornings soaking up the sun:

Family vacations are the best!

Sometimes our mornings just have to be documented by the professionals!

This exchange of notes (passed back and forth during a church meeting) made me laugh. 

From Susie: “Dear Becky, Let’s be pen pals or do you not want to (do) that, well that’s ok.  Love S.J.B.

From Becky: “I will think about it!”

From Susie: “Dear Becky, are you done thinking now.  Love Susie”

From Becky: “I will never be done!”

My husband always buys the best gifts.  One of his finds this past Christmas were little wooden kits from Lowe’s that the kids could assemble.  The girls received bird houses, and the boys got monster trucks.  Here is Jimmy’s truck – he let me do most of the hammering, but he was excellent at following the diagrams and putting it all together:

Danny wanted to get his hands on that hammer.  You can see he enjoyed himself immensely.  I love his face in the first picture – it’s his face he makes when he’s being silly and macho!

While I was cleaning a closet the other day, I came across a box of stationary that I had kept since my childhood (thanks Mom and Dad for housing my stuff for so many years until I finally took it home!!).  It brought back so many memories!  I remember hand-picking each piece of paper.  I don’t recall whether I intended to use them or simply collect them, but I sure had a lot left over!  Much to the girls’ delight, I told them the box was now theirs, and they could use the paper as they wished.  I hope my children will continue the art of letter writing, even in this digital age.  Beautiful stationary is a joy to send and receive!