TRIPS!

As you can see from the dreadful lack of blog entries, we have been busy in the Averill household.  (I'm not a slacker, really, it's just that we have been busy...sooo, sooo busy!)  On the up-side, I noticed that my last 3 blog posts have all been on the 14th of the month - totally a coincidence, but a cool one in my opinion!

So here I go, trying to catch up on the last month or so of fun - the theme is TRIPS!

First, we took a nice, long-in-miles-short-in-time TRIP to INDIANA in October to return to Taylor University where Mike and I both graduated 15 years ago.  Time flies (but not when you are in the car with a sick husband*)!

We are very blessed to have wonderful friends in the Indianapolis area, the Molendorps, who were happy to host us.  All the adults went to Taylor together so we were excited to caravan back together and hang out on campus for the day.  Unfortunately, very few of our fellow classmates came to this particular reunion so it was a little disappointing.  However, just getting to spend some good time with great friends made the trip worth it!

Jen and Sara

Katey and Seth were excited about the trip as well since they got to pair up with Anna and Dayton.  The welcome from the kids was warm and wonderful!  Anna and Dayton had been planning for Katey and Seth's arrival and had a whole theme of Cozy Cabin Camp prepared - complete with signs on doors and welcome gift baskets as well!  The kids got along very well and were all sad to see our short stay come to an end.

Katey and Anna

Seth and Dayton

Thanks to the Molendorp's for hosting our stay and making us feel so very welcomed!


*Unfortunately, Mike wasn't feeling so well on the trip home and ended up sleeping for most of the 11 hour drive.  He managed to not share his sickness with us but did leave it behind for our friends.  Boo! 



Our next TRIP was just around the neighborhood for HALLOWEEN!  The kids were excited about their costumes, but not as excited as they were about Belle's...or Mike was about his own!

Seth the Ninja, Katey as Hermione Granger and Mike the Dolphins-loving Ape

Belle the jailbird...um jaildog

As always, the kids scored big on candy and we will be eating it until Easter, I'm sure.  One great thing about this Halloween was that we moved an old couch to the end of the driveway and some of the neighbors joined me in passing out candy while relaxing on the sofa!  :-) Wish we had gotten a picture of that!

Finally, we just got back from a TRIP to MARYLAND!  Another quick one, but we really enjoyed being with Brandon, Annie, Nate and Karina.  Everyone was excited to meet baby Karina and we got lots of time to snuggle with her.  We were also pumped to be able to be there for Nate's 3rd birthday party!  Katey and Seth were great in helping with the gaggle of small children as well as helping with the leftover cupcakes.  :-)

Nathan was all about tackling Katey this trip

Seth playing the Wii and Nate mimicking with a toy train!

Uncle Brandon working hard to give Seth a swirly!

Happy Birthday!

Another favorite past-time:  ATTACK Daddy/Uncle Mike!

Thanks to Brandon and Annie (who I managed to not get any pictures of, unfortunately) for having us at your house! 

Being with family and friends is always a special time and we look forward to more TRIPS to come!

Honor Roll and Georgia!

The end of the school year always brings a flurry of activity and this year is no different.

Katey took the EOG tests 2 weeks ago (4 tests over 4 days) and passed all with flying colors!  While we didn't have much worry that she wouldn't pass, it is still a stressful time for Katey and her school mates and we are so thankful to have them behind us!

Friday was an exciting day around here.  Katey was part of the award ceremony for the Honor Roll at the school.  She was in the A honor roll all year long and received a certificate and trophy for all her hard work!!

Right after school on Friday we headed south to Georgia to meet up with Aunt Christy and visit Aunt Martha and Uncle Lee (and cousins!).  We had a wonderful weekend of fun playing in the pool, catching frogs and a turtle, exploring the woods, playing on the tire swing, watching Uncle Lee take off in his plane, visiting church, laying around with Cody the dog and eating lots and lots of cookies!  As usual I was really bad about getting pictures and neglected to pull the camera out while we were hanging out with Mike's cousins.  (I think it was because we were enjoying being together so much that there wasn't time to think about pictures!)  Guess we'll have to have a next time so I can get pictures then!  :-)  

Alabama!

As mentioned in my previous post, we took a little road trip to visit Mike's sister, Christy, in Louisiana Alabama a few weeks ago.  (After Christy moved there I could never remember if she lived in AL or LA!  No worries Christy, I have it straight now that we visited.)

Christy and her roommate, Stephanie, were wonderful hostesses and we had a great time hanging out at their apartment and going on our many adventures.  

We got to tour Beeson Divinity School where Christy is attending.  What a beautiful campus!  The kids had fun climbing trees and collecting nuts (where we found the infamous "Nutty" the acorn).

Then it was off to the botanical gardens to smell the roses, touch cacti plants, explore nature, enjoy time with Aunt Christy, hang out in some bamboo and, of course, collect more acorns!

Finally, our day ended with a tour of Hogwarts at the zoo!  We got to ride the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9 3/4, tried Butterbeer, which tasted oddly like warm rainbow sherbert..., got sorted into houses by the sorting hat, made wands, had faces painted and played on roller racers (which have nothing what-so-ever to do with Harry Potter but were awesome fun!).

Our weekend adventure ended with visiting Christy's church and getting to meet more of her friends.  It was such a blessing to get a glimpse into the life of our sister and to hear the words of praise her friends had to speak about Christy.  She is one incredible, giving, passionate and loving young woman!!  We love you, AC!!

Eventful Hodge-Podge

We have had quite the eventful past few weeks around here.  First there was crazy-alien hair day at school:

Next came the Family Sports Night at school - Mike and I both helped with this event.  Mike was on the tug-o-war station and here he is battling it out with 7 kids:

The following day, I flew to Ohio and drove to Indiana with Shannon.  Wish I could say it was a fun sister trip, but unfortunately, it was for a funeral.  The funeral was for Bonnie, my best childhood friend, Erica's mom.  I have such wonderful memories of Bonnie and her very welcoming and loving spirit.  Erica and I lived 3+ hours apart but wrote letters faithfully from age 10 until college.  We saw each other at Camp Ohio every summer and our moms made it possible for us to usually get together another time or two throughout each year as well.  I hadn't seen Erica or Bonnie in 12 years but I still felt a huge pull to be there for the funeral to say goodbye and to support my friend.  While it was hard, it was also wonderful to see Erica again, to get to know her husband and to meet her 4 kids. 

I am so very thankful to Mike for his willingness to take on the kids for several days (including rearranging his work schedule...).  And especially so after Seth ended up being sick, which meant Mike worked from home for 2 days.  I am also thankful for Shannon and Jason and their willingness to host me on short notice, and to have Shannon accompany me on the trip.  For my dad, who picked me up at the airport and for Jason's aunt, Sandy, who was ready and willing to house Shannon and me for the night in Indiana (even though we left her hanging and didn't come!). This trip really reminded me that I am so very loved and cared for.

Speaking of Seth being sick, he kept saying he was dizzy and needed something to help him walk.  This is how he got around for about a week:

He used his N-Force battle toy as a cane to help steady himself.  Crazy kid!!

Weekend at the Beach

Thanks to Grammy, Mike and I got to take a nice weekend trip to Ocean Isle beach.  It truly was a wonderful weekend away!! 

We started out driving to Wilmington to see the USS North Carolina.   It was really cool to be on a ship and get a glimpse into what life was like as a sailor in WWII.  Gotta say, I was beginning to get downright claustrophobic in some of the areas!

 

 

 From there we headed to Ocean Isle.  What a beautiful view we had from our hotel room!!

 It was a little chilly while we were there, so no actual swimming took place, but Mike did brave the water and got in up to his calves.

 We ended up spending a lot of time walking on the beach and looking at all the seashells that had washed ashore.  Oh, we also decided to rent bikes to ride around the island.  When we got to the rental place we opted to try out a TANDEM bike!!  It took a little getting used to, but we had great fun riding together.

 Another highlight of the trip was sitting on our balcony Saturday evening eating pizza and watching 4 beach weddings take place!  I was pretty amazed that 3 of the 4 weddings involved tuxedos and full-on wedding dresses.  We had great fun talking about the brides and grooms and pondering various aspects of the ceremonies.

We returned home on Sunday.  While we were sad to leave the beautiful view, Mike and I were both ready to be home and see the kids.

Turned out the kids and Grammy had a great time while we were gone.  They had all-you-can-eat pancakes at IHOP.  Seth ate FIVE!!!

 They took the train Uptown and had fun exploring Imaginon:

And, they went to a little farm and rode horses!!

Thanks, Grammy, for a fun weekend for all of us!