Escaping Winter and Enjoying Warmth and Sunshine

 We escaped winter and went to warm Southwest Florida! It was wonderful to relax, soak in the sunshine, share laughter, and make many fun family memories together. We also were able to meet up and spend time with three other good family friends of ours who were also vacationing down there. We met up with the Long family, the Wellman family, and the Wegener family. It was fun to see each other down there!

We enjoyed our heated pool, we went to Lover's Key Beach twice, we went to Bowmens Beach at Sanibel Island, Clam Pass Beach, Bonita Beach, Fort Myers Beach, and Delnor-Wiggins Beach. In addition, we went on an awesome fishing charter where we caught all kinds of ocean fish and saw dolphins and manatees up close. While we were swimming in the Gulf at beaches, a dolphin swam up close to me while I was swimming and on a different day a dolphin swam up close to Brian while he was swimming! We went on a boardwalk hike and saw two alligator mamas with their little babies. 

Greta making a dog and kitty in the sand.

Eli made an awesome sea turtle in the sand. He got many compliments as people walked by and many people took pictures of it. Eli was proud.

Fishing off the dock!

The kids love to catch lizards. This one bite Asa's earlobe! 

Eli being silly.

It was great to meet up and swim with Eric and Laura and their kiddos. They all play so well together! Brayden and Jace are going to play baseball with our boys this spring. Greta and Brielle will get to hang out while they cheer on their brothers. 

The Longs had the Wellman family and our family over to swim, have dinner, and watch the Super Bowl together. It was a delightful time! We are thankful for their friendship.

Here are some picture of the house where we stayed. 

Asa caught the biggest fish! A 10 pound Red Fish!

Eli was happy that he caught another Snook fish because he did his verbal presentation on the Snook Fish.

Greta and I caught a Blue Fish!

The kids are great swimmers and they loved the pool!

Greta got all worn out one day!

We took the kids out to the Melting Pot fondue restaurant as a special treat.

We took some family pictures. It was a lovely time together. 

Valentine's Party at Co-op and Winter Happenings

Eli did an awesome job on his the map of Australia he created in art class at co-op. 

All of the kids rocked their verbal presentations at co-op.

Brian took the boys ice fishing.

The kids loved the Valentine's party with friends. They decorated and ate cookies, played bingo and won prizes, and decorated Valentine bags and passed out Valentines. 

Asa was THRILLED to get picked to hold the flag for the pledge during opening ceremonies at co-op. 

Early Valentine's Day Celebrations

We had an early Valentine's Day celebration as a family. I love surprising the kids with their gifts and candy! The boys both really wanted new ball hats and Greta wanted some new Maple animals. She loves to play Maples, just like I did when I was a girl. We had a game night and we enjoyed chocolate fondue. The kids have their Valentine's party with friends at our co-op tomorrow, so I will share those pictures soon.

 

Brian and I got out on a much needed early Valentine's date the other evening. We were reminiscing and we realized that this is our 20th Valentine's Day celebration together. Time really flies! Love him.

The kids worked hard on their verbal presentations for science class at co-op. Our theme for science this year is oceans and they needed to pick an ocean creature to present on. Eli picked the Common Snook because he loves to go fishing for these type of fish in the Gulf of Mexico and Asa and Greta picked Dolphins. They did an awesome job!

Greta was happy to be on a team with Papa as we played the game Ticket to Ride the other day.

We are thrilled to announce that Wild Trail Studios has won The Knot Best of Weddings for 2022 and Wild Trail Studios is in The Knot Hall of Fame! Brian and I love having Autumn apart of our team as a photographer. Her work is consistent and beautiful. Thank you to all of our fantastic couples for your consistent support for our wedding photography business!

Asa and Greta rocking out together. 

Greta loves playing with her dolls. 

Greta showing off her perler bead collection! The kids have made many perler bead creations this winter. 

The kids have improved in their handwriting skills. 

Happy 99th Birthday Great Nana!

Happy 99th birthday to my beautiful Grandma! I am so glad that we were able to come out to California last summer and spend so much time with you. We love you Great Nana!