On the Road Again!

A few weeks ago, Amy's cousin's son Brenden got married in Collegedale.  It was an opportunity to see family, see Aunt Louise, and to see Hicks' so we decided that it was time for a road trip.  The last time that we went up there for a wedding Addison was 3 and was potty training - so we stopped every single hour on the way up - we were VERY thankful that was not the case this time!  Grandma came with us as well. 

The gang is ready to leave!

Not long into the trip she was out like a light!

It was a great opportunity to see Amy's aunts and uncles, with only two of the 8 still alive) missing the event. We were so happy to see Aunt Louise doing fairly well!

Aunt Louise!

Addison remembered Uncle Jim from his trip down to Orlando and how he read books to her, so he was a bit hit!

Saturday night, we went over to Aunt Louise's independent living facility to gather for supper, a picture walk down memory lane that Uncle Melvin put together, and to celebrate all of the October birthdays!

Looking lovely in blue!

Happy Birthday to Aunt Jeanette, Margie and Louise!

Taking a moment to grab a picture with Aunt Louise - the kids miss her very much!

And us as well

Don,Jeanette, Louise, Amy's Mom, Margie

One of Amy's favorite uncles on the Syfert side - uncle Melvin - always with a look of mischief!

While we weren't at with the family, we were at the Hicks' enjoying some play time!  Kayley was camping for the weekend, so it was just Leah and Erick until Sunday.  Leah kept them entertained very well!

Addison quickly decided that she liked Miss Leah!

No trip together would be the same if we didn't sit down and play cribbage!

Umm,I think something has grown into Karis' shirt - sticking out from his sleeves.....and he suddenly wears very tight clothing....! Is it a growth under his shirt?

And more cribbage the next day!

The day of the wedding was lovely weather, just perfect temperature and a bright blue sky.  We were fortunate as it was an outside wedding!

Daddy's little girl

The happy couple - Brenden and Elani

Addison loves to spin and make her dresses flare out, and this particular dress is made for it, so she had a blast with playing in it!

Pictures of the family:

These two have such a special bond!

Not much longer before he is taller than his mom!

A sweetheart, through and through.

These four had so much fun!

So awesome to have friends from college days!

The whole gang!

Always a fan of Erick!

On the way back, we saw a beautiful double rainbow!  It rained like crazy on the way back, so we were thankful to have safe travels!

Letting Our Lights Shine

Over the past month, we have had a couple of chances to do community service events, which allows us to as a family help think about others - it has been a great experience.  The first was the Orlando Cares event for packing food for Puerto Rico hurricane victims.  It was down at the convention center, and we packed food (chili can, chips, granola bar, apple sauce and a little dessert) in boxes.  Afterwards they fed us lunch and gave us free tickets to the Southern Women's show!  Addison was even old enough to join us, so it was a really great experience.

Starting to pack the meal boxes

Proud of this family!

As we walked out, a lady was standing there and saw Addison and gave her this crown - she was in seventh heaven! 

Pretty princess

Pretty finger nails and lipstick samples!

The next event was the Adventurers Can Collecting.  Addison has always been too young before to miss her nap, so this was the first time that Amy and Addison have gone but the Z-men have gone many times.  We actually just hand out the bags themselves and then the Pathfinders go to pick up the filled bags a few weeks later.  It was a beautiful day for the event, and it was fun to walk around outside enjoying the fresh air!

Kieran and Kaleb

Erik and Kaleb hanging out on the bus from one subdivision to the next

Our most recent community outreach was "Pack the Forest" which is sponsored by our church at the Academy gym.  The meals are basically oats, spices, rice etc in a bag that they then boil.  The event packed 65,000 meals!

Kieran tagged along with us for this one, while Addison and Daddy stayed at home for a nap!

In other news, we have also had a few weddings over the past month that we went to (one of the reasons we haven't posted on our blog for so long is that we were out of town!).  The first wedding was a coworker of Amy's from her AHS days, so it was lovely to witness their wedding celebration.  They had a foot washing as part of the ceremony, it was very unique!

We do - 18 years later!

The happy couple!

Random picture:

One day Addison insisted on taking her fishing pole to Miss Jennifer's - and actually caught a few fish!

Gender Reveal

Catch-up #2 - again, trying to catch up on our missing weeks where we went radio-silent on the blog!

Amy's cousin Jeff and Niesha are expecting their first baby in February of next year, and they also just bought a new house - major changes going on all at once!  They had a special event to reveal the gender of their baby (which was a surprise even to them) and to have a house blessing for their new home.  It was a special opportunity to gather together with friends and family and celebrate the new beginnings for these special people.

They revealed the gender of the baby through a fireworks display - it was incredible.  Watch the video to see the gender of the baby based on the color of the first fireworks! :)

Niesha's sister Shayna came for the event and did a lovely job of decorating and then a friend made an amazing cake, and she just does this for fun - she's not a baker!

Beautiful - and chocolate, what else could one ask for?

Participating in the house blessing

Reading the house blessing

 There was another little girl there, and Addison had fun getting to know her and playing.

At FLEC, they had a grandparents day so it was fun for Grandma to be able to go to Zachary to school and participate.  So glad that we are blessed to have her here near us!

Addison is taking soccer skills camp again this year, and it is amazing all of a sudden she has really gotten into it and is running around on the field instead of hanging back.  She is so precious - whenever she kicks the ball she then looks back at Amy with a huge smile on her face!  She is all girl though - she has informed Amy that she is not pleased that her soccer socks aren't pink! :)

Kicking the ball

In the goal now

She was so into it that day!

 We capped off the weekend by going over to Touchards to watch the final show of the America Ninja Warrior - it is a favorite, and our favorite contender almost finished the course but much to our disappointment he fell.  Boo!  Addison had a bit of a poor ending to the night when she stepped on an ant pile on the way out and was bitten 16 times on one foot.  Sleep wasn't plentiful over the next two nights for Addison or Mommy......  but thankfully she didn't seem to react as much as Amy or Zachary usually do, so that was a blessing.

Zachary and Daddy went on a FLEC field trip to the Ponce Inlet Marine Center - they even went on the bus!  What was funny is that all of Zachary's friends were on the bus, but he had his kindle and was so into it that he just sat and read the whole time instead of talking to his friends.....the kid is into his books....

Seine netting

Zach, Cristian and Luke

What was funny is that through a complete coincidence the other two kids went to the same place for a field trip with Champion the Friday before.  What are the chances of that?!

Touching a huge snake skin - GROSS!

Showing some bravery!

Random pictures:

Digging for worms to go fishing

She is so into slime lately - she even put it on her "Thankful for... list"  

Love that smile and those dimples!