The Norfolk Zoo

This was our first "official" field trip with all the homeschoolers today. We had so much fun with our new friends, Miss Ashley, Jonathan, Jacob and Benjamin. The boys favorites were the lions, snakes, turtles, and graiffes. Lauren's favorites were the bunny, monkeys, zebra and elephants. Lauren wasn't afraid of petting the snake either(she must have brothers!). God made such beautiful, cool and scary animals!!

Our Mountain Getaway

Thanks to the elders from our church who got us this little cottage getaway in the Blue Ridge Mountains! It's been four years since Shaun and I have been overnight without ANY of our children. We had a great time of rest, relaxation and yes lots of exercise!! We hiked up Crabtree falls which we thought would take 2 hours and ended up taking over 3! There was a sign in the beginning of the hike which stated how many people have died while hiking. We couldn't believe how steep it was and extremely narrow at parts. I was very nervous to say the least but we did it!! It was so worth it because the views were amazing!! The mountains are such an amazing part of God's beautiful creation, it makes you wonder how in the world can people still not believe in God?! At night we would soak in the hot tub and be awed by the billions of stars (God's Majesty), it was just breathtaking!! It was truly a blessing and much needed time alone with my man!! Thanks Mom and Dad for watching the kids and blessing us with such a great gift!!

October - It's fall!!

I love the fall!! Josh is already asking, "when can we make pumpkin pie", his favorite! The kids love it because we get to pick out pumpkins!! That's what we did today. I guess we took a field trip. I don't know if all of you know but I am homeschooling this year. Yes, I'm crazy! It's been really hard to juggle especially having a two year old in the mix but I know God will get me (us) through!





Josh's playing soccer and he scored 6 goals that game. I think he's trying to be like Poppy's soccer players (like he's a pro or something!).



Here is a random picture of Lauren which I thought was so cute. She is always pushing her stroller filled with many animals, as well as carrying her purse, typical girl!!

Adventuring to PA to visit Aunt Sarah & Uncle Josh's

Yes, from the beach I drove with all three kids by myself to visit my Sis. It wasn't so bad and the view was absolutly breathtaking! What a great place to raise boys!! It is almost like heaven. My boys had a blast catching frogs with Will (since we don't have frogs where we live), skipping rocks and playing in the creek, and their highlight was fishing with Uncle Josh (the fish Pro), and they both had to get their hands on beautiful little Abby! Lauren had many first's at Aunt Sarah's too, her first real mini-ice cream cone, picking blueberries (all of our first's), tubing with Mom on the lake, and swinging on a big kid swing by herself. We had so much fun that even though the boys and I were missing Dad lots, Josh said "I wish we could live here"! Thanks Josh and Sarah for putting up with us. We had a great visit and I'm sorry for all the damage I caused (inside joke)! Of course it was hard to leave my awesome Sister, Sweet Sarah!! Love you and miss you too much!!

Vacationing & Visiting Up North

On our trip to the beach, we stopped by Opa & Oma's in NY for a quick visit. The grounds were beautiful! The boys had a blast riding their bike's around and using CB's to always alert us where they were. Lauren had her first horse ride and loved it. She woke up the next morning asking to ride horses again. It always brings back sweet childhood memories every time I visit NY! We really can do without the traffic though.


Next we headed to Ocean City, NJ to spend several days with Shaun's entire family. We would spend our mornings riding bikes on the boardwalk then going to play in the sand and ocean. In the afternoon is was nap time for the little ones while the adults and my boys went mini-golfing (yes, everyday)! At night we would go back up to the boardwalk to ride the rides (thanks to Mom & Dad Brown) and sometimes get a treat to eat! It was a fun week! We ate way too much!! Thanks Mom & Dad Brown for blessing us with this amazing vacation for our family!!