Conference on Mission & Family Celebration

Every August, AdventHealth gets together to focus on our mission, and why it is so important to what we do on a daily basis.  Last year, after the Sabbath service, Erika hosted a haystack luncheon at her house, which was delightful!  This year, Amy offered to alternate with her and host it at my house.  We had a lovely group come over (no picture of the complete crowd unfortunately) and enjoyed visiting all the way until 9P! Yay!

The last of the group - Reiners, Vasti, Sendros', Browns' and Dawn

We grabbed a picture of Abel and Lorenzo before they went home for an afternoon siesta

We had a family birthday party for Addison, as always for the kids, and it was fun to have everyone over.  Steinke's stayed a little later now that Sadie is getting older, so that was fun for the kids to all hang out together

Join in on the "do a plank" movement!

And they played a few games after sundown

And in other random happenings:

Play date over at Salagubang's one afternoon with all her friends

Amy went to curriculum night at OCS and took a picture of Kaleb's name on his locker

This is before Addison's haircut day, but for years we bought the Juice Plus gummies and they have finally fully run out and we've moved on - good bye tradition!

This may have been the birthday boating event, but as we can't remember, we are just sharing the fun of the girls all sitting outside catching up!

And one last fun event was when Devin finished his summer camp at the local theater playhouse and put on a play at the end - Addison went to watch it and then they went out for supper afterwards - thanks for the invite! 😃

A New School Year Begins!

This year, we struggled with an important decision for where Kaleb would go to school - FLA or Orangewood.  

Unfortunately, when he was selecting classes for his Junior year at FLA, he was not able to take A/P or dual enrollment classes, and he ended up retaking an elective (digital photography) that he took in his sophomore year.  We tried to work with the school to figure out different classes as that just didn't make any sense, but it was to no avail for a variety of reasons.  With that in mind, we went ahead and switched him to Orangewood, which is another nearby Christian school.  He was able to take dual enrollment Bible, two A/P (college credit) classes, honors pre-calc and Anatomy & Physiology.  A&P is turning out to be a super interesting class for him, so that has been fun.

He has noticed a few things thus far- all of his teachers are good, fair graders, knowledgeable in their area of study.  The classes are challenging but doable, and he is enjoying learning.  He noticed that there is a lot less busy work.  On the other hand, there are more inter-grade mixers to build comradery at FLA, and the genders don't mix at lunch at Orangewood, which is kind of odd.  He is making friends, and happy with his decision.  He and his friend Becca (who also switched) were given/elected (whatever the right word is) to be the team leaders for the A&P class Armitage table

He started one day earlier than Addison (on her birthday), so this was his true first day, all by himself.

Js switched their two kids over as well, and Kelli sent us this picture as Kaleb walked in after parking (he can drive himself thankfully!)

The next day Addison also started school at FLEC, so we were able to get the requisite first day of school picture together!

7th grade and 11th grade

Special Day for a Special Girl

 Addison's birthday is on August 7, which thankfully often lands right before school starts.  Amy has a tradition of taking the day off for the kids' birthdays and we planned a very special pampering day for the special 13th birthday!  It was a day for whatever Addison wanted (within reason) of her favorite things!

We started off with a frappacino (no caffeine of course) at Starbucks

Before then heading over to Winter Park (fancy part of town) to get a haircut and style.  She wanted it dramatically shorter, so we went all the way to her shoulders in a bob.  Very cute!

We then wandered the streets of Winter Park window shopping -- because who can afford Winter Park prices - which was really fun.  We found a make-up store, which delighted Addison as she is allowed to start tip-toeing into the world of make-up, and did some in-store trials.  She was allowed to get some mascara and tinted blush/lip cream.

During our wanderings, we found some neat little stores that we enjoyed looking through

A store of PINK!  

And the Ancient Olive, which has all kinds of olive oil and balsamic vinegar varieties - we tried some and bought some to try at home.

That evening, we went out to eat at one of Addison's favorite Mexican restaurants - Garibaldis - with the grandparents and with Bergherms, as Evan was heading out the next day for GCA.  He will be missed!

After dinner, the ladies in the group headed over to Cherry Blossom to get our nails done - who doesn't love that!?

Playing Heads up while they waited for the rest of us to finish

The evening ended with Jeremiah's Ice Cream instead of cake, happy birthday songs and gifts.   What a lovely day! 

Zachary joined via Facetime

Addison - we pray that God blesses you over the coming year, and that you stay true to Him.  May you pursue the path He has for you, making wise choices that bring you joy and happiness.  You can achieve whatever you put your mind to, and we hope that you are blessed with friends, wonderful life memories and adventures, and that you never forget how much you are loved!

End of Summer Tradition - Chocolate Camp

One of the things that Addison loves is to end her summer with an outing to the Peterbrooke Chocolate store for a "chocolate camp" with her friends.  This year, it was Penny and Elin who tagged along with her for a fun time.   Thanks to Grandma for taking the girls!

 

There was a meeting at work in which all of the female CFOs coordinated and work pink - why, not sure, but it was fun anyway!

And we had a fun update when we got a picture that weekend of Zachary hanging out with the Hicks - always nice to see a proof of life picture!

Lake Boating Birthday Party!

 This year's birthday was a boating party, which was super easy thankfully and with the water to cool the kids down, it wasn't unbearable.  The Js decided to do separate birthdays this year, so it was just Devin and Addison.  13 years old - can you believe it!?

We did boating for 2 hours and then headed over to our house for food and cake until 2.  It was definitely a party that we'd do over - with the kids being older, it was pretty low-key and next time, we'd let the kids stay longer and tube longer - but you just never know the first time.  Kent J was incredibly kind and agreed to take Devin's friend's all on tubes behind his boat, and then Karis pulled Addison and the girls.  It worked out like a charm!

The girls are ready to go!

the combined birthday guests

The guests of honor

We have another teenager in the house!  Where does the time go so fast!?

After so many years of combined parties, we couldn't resist grabbing Kelli for a birthday-mom photo too!