Sunday, December 27, 2009

December Camping Tour
Post #2
Christmas Eve at the beach

We spent Christmas Eve with Heather's cousin, Laura, at Bonita Beach in Bonita Springs. It truly was "bonita" (beautiful!). What a totally different feeling to be at the beach this time of year. Very foreign to me. I am used to much the opposite, in fact, normally I would choose to be snow skiing over being at the beach, but we had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect, not typical hot and muggy summer beach weather, but in the 70's and breezy. The water was quite chilly, but we all managed to actually swim in it (why come all the way to Florida and not swim in the Gulf?). The kids made sand castles, sand snowmen, collected more shells than we will take home, ate lunch at a beach cafe, and played in the water. An added bonus was that this beach is the home of the Gopher Tortoise Preserve, so we got to see lots of these tortoises throughout the park.
Heather and Laura....our dads are brothers
Eric found a live hermit crab in this shell

Our family



eric working on his sand castle


Bay and Leah looking at the gopher tortoise




December Camping Tour
Post #1
We are in the middle of our December Camping Trip and I finally have time to post some highlights of the trip. We left the week before Christmas and drove down to Florida...brought along the camper, bikes, car-top carrier...loaded to the hilt. Everyone is having a great time.

First stop was Faver-Dykes State Park near St. Augustine. We drove down to Daytona Beach after we settled in to visit with Dennis' step-dad, Sam. Took Elsa to a local d0g-park to let her run, and the kids to a playground to let them run! We love the abundance of the live oak trees with all of the spanish moss here...so pretty. We also drove on the beach for a bit, but couldn't get out to walk...no dogs allowed on the beach in Daytona.
The state park we found is a hidden gem I think. It is very small (only 30 sites) and extremely well maintained. It was well secluded and also gated at sunset, so we felt very safe. Here is the view of the marsh from the playground area. We were told to watch out for the local wildlife: armadillos, alligators, snakes and racoons. Never saw any, but heard many things in the brush at night. Not to worry...there is much to be seen further on in our trip!


Visited old St. Augustine and enjoyed the town very much. The kids enjoyed all of the cannons on the fort, Castillo de San Marcos. It was a really neat fort. We didn't do any tour, just ran through the fort at kid-speed! We also walked through the shops in the town and did the Holly Jolly Christmas Trolly to see the Christmas lights...the whole town and many of the bed & breakfasts go all out to decorate everything!

Here we are at the fort with the sun sinking in the background. We are used to the sun setting at about 4:30 pm this time of year at home, so we have enjoyed the full extra hour of daylight while down here. Same time zone, so we figure it must be because we are a bit further west, as well as much further south.
Look for the next post to be from Ft. Myers on the Gulf Coast. So far we've logged over 1500 miles on the truck!








Monday, December 07, 2009

Christmas Surprise for Leah & a dissappointment
"Kit"
I am so excited about my handmade Christmas present for Leah. One of the things that is so surprising to me about her is her lack of interest in baby dolls; but on the flip side, her extreme interest in animal dolls and how she treats them as if they are baby dolls. She dresses them up, feeds them bottles, and all of the things that little girls do with baby dolls, except she wants nothing to do with human babies! Anyways, in this interest, I found a cute pattern for a handmade baby doll here and the alterations to make it into a kitty (she loves kitty cats), plus outfits to go with it.




I've never sewn anything like this before, and was wondering how it would be to work with tiny garments and such. The whole thing took me just one afternoon, kitty and 2 outfits. It was very fun to do, and I sure hope she likes it!


"Kit" in her little pink dots pintucked dress


"Kit" in her birthday suit
Reversible jumper and shirt


the other side of reversible jumper


On another note, I also got a new foam cushion for Elsa's bed and sewed a nice fleece cover for it with a zipper so it could be removed and washed. The one she had previously was super thin, falling apart, and smelled horrible as well. I got her a nice 3" cushion for her to cuddle up on. I thought it turned out very nicely.


However she was very wary of it from the start, and wouldn't even get in her bed unless I physically put her in. So I thought it just smelled funny to her since it was new, and it would take her a little while to get used to it. Well, she had other plans. yesterday when we got home from church, she had ripped the fabric apart at the seams and chewed up the foam! I guess she was telling me that she really didn't like it after all! We got a good laugh out of it, and now she's sleeping on the floor of her crate with no cushion for the time being. She seems to like that just fine! So much for appreciation from the dog!!!





Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Advent Already!
Wow, I can't believe it is quickly approaching Christmas already! The kids are excited to be decorating the house, are drawing pictures of idyllic Christmas tree and snow scenes at every chance they get, and the preparations have begun with gift shopping, baking, etc.
We usually do a family advent devotion throughout December each year, and so when a friend sent this link, I was excited for something new! There is a daily scripture, devotion and prayer (standard devotional fare), but also very soothing music that continues to play in the background even when you are done with the reading.

Following the Star (click to follow link)

It is fun to see what types of questions arise from the kids out of our conversations about God and heaven with them. After a reminder discussion about Jesus' birthday, Bay asked Dennis and me,
"Since Jesus is God, do you think that when Jesus died on the cross, he really actually died? Or do you think he was faking it?"
What wonderful windows into their hearts. We are often reminded to be thankful for these little souls God has entrusted us with and what great opportunities we have been given to share with them this eternal hope from the very beginning.
Have a wonderful Advent Season!