Happy Easter!

OK, so I know it's been a week now since Easter, but I thought I'd post about our Easter weekend. We had a great time and really enjoyed our time with everyone... the Nebraska crew were missed... but with 4 kids under 4 all hopped up on Easter candy and excitement, we managed to create enough chaos of our own! Here's some pics from a couple special moments.

Mattie is 9

Happy Birthday to Mattie O'Pattie.  She is our St. Patties day blessing.

Happy Birthday

Our Winter Trip

Over Presidents' Day weekend, Becca and I visited Washington, D.C. We had a great time. We saw some of the sites and had a fun and relaxing time. Here are some of the pictures. There are pictures of the mall and the memorials, walked past the White House, the National Zoo, the National Cathedral, the National Museum of Natural History (that blurry reflective picture of the blue thing in the box is the Hope Diamond), and the subway. We also went to dinner in Georgetown twice. During my time at Messiah and now as a member of the Mennonite Church USA, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on foreign policy, nationalism, US history, etc. Visiting the capitol of our country and visiting so many monuments and memorials gave me time to appreciate the many blessings we often over look daily. How different this country would be without the rule of law or the freedom from religious persecution, for instance. Enjoy the pictures!

For you Northerners...

We had a great time swimming today.  It has been pretty "cold" this winter, so we haven't gone swimming much.  Recently, it has been back up in the mid 80's, so the pool will once again be a regular activity for us.  Here are 2 pics and a video.  As always, click on pictures for a few more...

Rob

New Videos Posted on Our Blog

If you haven't seen them yet, we have posted 3 new videos on our blog.  Check them out here.

Rob

A Visit to Ft. Myers Beach

We had our first Care Group (small group of Sunday School class members) activity last night at Ft. Myers Beach.  It took awhile to get there (it was like Ocean City, NJ traffic in July), but we had a great time!  Here are a few pics (I was seriously bummed that I missed getting a picture of that shark fin protruding ominously above the water about 50 ft from shore)...

Click any picture to view the whole album.

 

Rob

Being a Missionary has its Perks

Ok, so you might not interpret this as a perk, but I sure did.  What a great experience!  As part of the missionary conference (GIC)  at our church, McGregor, here in Ft. Myers, FL, we took at trip way out into the Everglades for a tour by Swamp Buggy and by Air Boat.  Either the airboat or the holding of this alligator was my favorite part! Click the picture for the whole album.

Rob

Basketball Fun

Jesse playing point guard

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mattie brings the ball down past her good friend Brooke.

A Great Season Comes To An End

Toby finished his Freshman season of wrestling this weekend.  He finished the year at 22-13 and was one win away from qualifying for the State Tournament.  He wrestled most of the season at 103lbs but moved up to 112lbs for this weekend's district championships.  Although our high was 16 degrees today, track season is just around the corner.  Toby will be running the 1 & 2 mile races. 

Brian would be proud!

On Wednesday, Karen and I picked up our "new" 2006 "pre-owned" Honda Odyssey (doesn't "pre-owned just sound better than "used"?). Despite our earlier promises to ourselves that we would never do it, we broke down and conceeded the fact that they're just plain practical! It's dark gray just like the one in the picture. Very comfortable and even enables us to have friends and family come visit without us having to take two vehicles everywhere (depending on how many come to visit, of course!). I'm sure we got "taken" somehow by the dealership, but at least we got what we wanted for the price we expected and the amount we expected for our trade-in. Although I never thought we'd say it, we're very excited about our new minivan.

Brian, knowing how much you love minivan's, I think you'd love it!

Nebraska Bucks Are In Trouble Now

Sam was excited to get his brand new .50 Cal Thompson/Center Omega Muzzle Loader.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 12th Birthday Sam

 

 

February 7, 1996

 

 

 

 

Camping...

I think we've got the camping bug.  We camped a lot before kids came along, but we haven't had/made the opportunity until recently.  Rob went on a one-night guys only trip with guys from our Sunday School class a month ago and out of that came the idea to do the same with spouses (no kids!) this past Friday night.  We had a great time and a great turnout.  It was awesome that the majority of our class was able to attend!  We are planning a family trip in the next few weeks.  This campground was 15 minutes from our house and it felt good to "get away." Here are a few pics.

James and Josh-- our master chefs...

Fran and Justin had the mac-daddy of all air mattresses!  It was her first time camping!

Hanging out around the campfire!

Mark and Brandy's tent got hung up the next morning while they were out riding bikes...

Two weeks ago, Rob and Drew camped out in the back yard.  Drew was so excited when he and Rob were setting up the tent.  Here are a few pics from that night.  Drew is so excited to go real camping with a fire some time soon!

Drew jumped right in and figured out quickly how to help Daddy set up the tent.

Tessa and Daddy being "crazy" in the tent.

They are ready to go, with their matching headlamps!

Ready for bed!  Drew was asleep by 8:30 PM and slept all night.  Rob did a little reading and you tube watching and was asleep by 9:30!  They had so much fun!

~Becky

Wrestling Video

Becky's Edit to the Post Below

I know! I know!  The video is so corny you may not make it thru to the end!  If you can't just fast forward to the end part-- that's the part you don't want to miss!

Becky

Warning, Extremely Corny...but life changing.

If you haven't heard...

We sent this to our immediate family on Christmas day.  We know, this is extremely corny, those that have seen it have been sure to tell us!  But, it is "our" (Becky was a good sport about it) creative means of delivering our special Christmas message. 

Enjoy!

Rob (and Becky)

103 lb Champion

 

 

Toby has done very well in his freshman wrestling season.  This past Saturday he placed first in a tournament.  He has placed in the top four in every tournament so far.

Daddy, it's very cold...

Last week it was 85 and we were on the beach.  This morning we woke up it was 29.  Drew and Tessa are very confused.  Drew asked me to turn on the wipers in the car because it was so cold.  He just doesn't know what to make of this cold.  Drew was so cold this morning, that without any prompting from us he put socks on his hands for gloves.  Their sweatshirts are not really cutting the cold.

Here are some pics to show how cold it is...  Why is there ice?  Well, the sprinklers systems came on.  Yes, we are still sprinkling and mowing.  Thank goodness that this afternoon will be back up into the 60's and by Sunday it will be back up into the 80's.

Don't you feel bad for us?

 

Sanibel Beach

Yes, our "Winter" weather is nice.  Come on down!

Here are few of my favorite pics from our day at Bowman's Beach on Sanibel Island on Dec. 27th.  Click on any pictures to see the whole album.

Rob