Spring Break Recap

Well, now that we are FINALLY having Spring weather, I will finally post our Spring Break photos from way back in March!  :)

We chose a new destination this year:  Winter Park, Colorado.  Paul has a cousin who works as the PR person for the Winter Park Ski Resort, so he was able to give us free lift tickets for the whole family for as many days as we wanted!!!  That's what made the trip possible, and we were so grateful for this fun opportunity.  Thank you, cousin Steve! 

It was a looooonnnng road trip to get to Winter Park.  It took us 15 hours to get there due to a snow storm that slowed us down.  I think it took about 12 hours on the way home.  But, the kids did great in the car!  They have become terrific travelers, and all of us enjoy listening to good books on tape to pass the time quickly.  This time we listened to the book, "Unbroken," which we highly recommend.  What an inspirational story of perseverance, forgiveness, and miraculous conversion.

Once we arrived at Winter Park, we had a blast at the condo.  It was lovely, with lots of space and a wonderful rec center with a nice swimming pool, pool table, and work-out room.  One of the big bummers of the trip was that Dominic was not able to ski due to his recent bone infection that he was still recovering from.  But thankfully he had plenty of fun swimming, playing the iPad, and two days of snow-tubing instead of skiing! :)

On this trip, we decided to let our teenagers go off and explore on their own---which was hard for their worry-wort momma!  :}  They had a blast at the terrain parks and the double black diamond runs!  Crazy boys.  One lesson they learned was to always wear sunscreen, or at least a buff to cover their face, because they ended up with wicked sun and wind burns.  That was partially my fault, because I forgot that you can still get sun-burnt even when you're playing in the snow.  But I think they would say it was totally worth it :}

As for the little boys, they had fun learning to become better little skiers.  Natey did fantastic!  Last year I think he only skied once at our local ski hill, but this year he quickly graduated from the easy green runs to the tougher blue runs.  Isaiah was a different story...  This was Isaiah's first year on skies, and he spent most of his time laying in the snow, whining, and waiting for Paul to pick him up and carry him down the mountain :}  We should have put him in lessons.  Lesson-learned.  I'm guessing that next year will be much better.  I cannot believe that we now have our whole family in skis and that we can all be together on ski hills.  I dream of many fun skiing vacations ahead!  It's a new chapter for our family, and I like it :)

And now for the picture-story :)

Abundant blessings 

on your Spring and Summer!!!

Whirlwind Recap

Spring is always such a busy but beautiful time of the year around here.  I took tons of photos, but didn't have time to ever post them.  So, here is a whirlwind recap of the menagerie of memories we made this Spring...

Seeing the first bulbs silently burst out of the ground in the Spring made my heart burst for joy 

(and run for my camera) :)

Each new leaf budding from branches that appeared dead days before 

was like a declaration of hope and survival.

These raspberry leaves prove that darkness and ice cannot prevent the promise of new life.

I planted tulips last Fall to remind me of my holy Grandma from Holland :)

I was so happy when they actually came up after a long, cold winter.

Tulips can't help but make me happy.

I think I need to plant more of them :)

Spring also brought trips to the carousel for rides and ice cream for our Spring birthday boy.

Oh how happy my boys were to finally play at parks again!

Our silly monkey hanging from monkey bars :)

Got chicks?

We do.  16 to be exact.

We kept them indoors for a couple of weeks, 

which was fun to hear the "peeps" throughout the day... 

But soon they were moved outside,

growing faster than our grass.

It was fun to watch their new feathers and true colors emerge.

We bought all Americanas which lay the pretty blue-green eggs,

so we were surprised to see so many different color variations of their feathers.

Chicks are just fun.  Period.

Other big Spring news:  Nathanael learned how to ride a bike!

Boy he is cute on a bike.

Boy was he proud of himself,

and we were so proud of him too!

Spring also brought turkeys back into our yard.

This male turkey was sure trying to impress this hen 

(or protect her from the crazy camera lady).

He puffed up extra big, hoping she wouldn't notice his missing tail feather.

(how embarrassing) :)

The variety of colors is sure impressive.

Did you know that Benjamin Franklin proposed that the wild turkey be our national bird instead of the bald eagle?  Now that I can see them up close, I understand why.

Michael graduated into high school this Spring and even had to give a speech.

He did awesome, and we are so proud of him.

Memorial Day is always bittersweet for our family.

We remember our 3 sweet babies in heaven,

as well as Paul's dad and other family members who have gone before us.

The boys picked wildflowers to honor their siblings in heaven.

We are grateful for our 3 baby intercessors who are praying for our family,

and someday it will be such a joy to see their faces and hold them in our arms.

Divine Mercy Sunday happens every Spring.

One of my favorite feast days for a variety of reasons.

A reminder that no sin is greater than God's mercy.

Our first fishing trip once the weather got nice.

Michael caught a nice arctic greyling.

Our second fishing trip of the Spring,

Michael caught a bunch of brook trout.

This boy was born to fish.

We catch these at a stream near our house.  So much fun, not so much meat.

Good thing I'm a catch and release gal anyway :)

A sweet moment of Daddy bonding with his little boy in the sun.

Oh how I love those precious little fingers!

These are the memories that Spring is made of.

Now, on to Summer memories!!!