Benny Boo Bear Birthday Boy turns 9

It has always been our family tradition to go stay at a hotel for Benny's birthday. Because of this, he has never actually had a birthday party. Well, this year, Jackson had a club volleyball tournament down in south Florida the weekend after Benny's birthday and we didn't want to go stay in a hotel 2 weekends in a row so we told Benny his birthday hotel stay would be the next weekend and for his birthday we threw him his first party!! Fitting that it would be on his Golden Birthday (9 on the 9th!) It was so fun and the perfect way to celebrate this birthday boy. His birthday was on a Saturday and we started the morning at 2 of Jackson's basketball games. We hit up Sam's club afterwards for lunch. Benny wanted to go to Drive Shack with all his cousins that evening so the boys came over around 3:00 and we golfed early to give us time to eat at his favorite place afterwards (5 Guys of course) and then come home for some backyard football, basketball, pool time, cake and ice cream. It was a super fun evening!! We had the best time celebrating our birthday boy. One of the cutest things I want to remember about this night was the "Golden Birthday Ritual." (I'm sure they had just made it up.) It was so adorable. I walked outside to catch all the boys in the pool splashing and chanting and the biggest grin on the birthday boys face before he plunged in for the cannon ball finale. I wish I had gotten it on video. It was the best. 

We had to snap a pic a little later of the birthday twin boys... it's tradition!

A Visit From my Cousin Wes!

I love it when my family comes to town! The perk of living near Orlando is that it's a popular location for vacations, sporting events and other competitions. We were lucky enough to spend some time with my cousin, Wes, and his darling wife and 2 kids when his son's pop warner team qualified for the national championship (played right here at Camping World Stadium!) They had some time between their game and practice schedule to come out to Wild Florida! We met up with them there for lunch and had a really nice visit... it had been years since we've seen each other. 

They made it to the final championship game and we were able to attend! (Ivy and Benny talked us into letting them skip school for the game!) They didn't win, but it was so fun to watch Bryce play and be together!

Light The World!

The same weekend Daniel and Jackson were in Texas, we kicked off the Light the World initiative. Every December in the Orlando area we try and "Light the World" and share the spirit of Christ with others. The last few years it's been a regional blood drive but what is becoming more and more popular are the service projects happening during the blood drives! Since I had the kiddos with me, we went to 2 different service projects (at the blood drive locations) and were able to participate in making nativities for a rehabilitation center and packing hygiene kits for a local non-profit that services the homeless. We had a great time and of course hit 5 Guys for lunch afterwards!

Texas Hunt Trip Dec 2023

Jackson was the lucky one that joined Daniel on the Texas hunt trip this year. He went along with Austin & Sam and Ila & Jordan. They had a great time and were quite successful! The customary car picture on the way to the airport!

Daniel is always good about sending me pictures when they are in the blind or the stand.

Jackson shot a very nice buck this time!

And they were both able to fill their doe tags!

Other November Things...

Jackson's club volleyball continues...

Cute picture from my dad of my very tall handsome brothers.

We joined everyone for Thanksgiving dinner leftovers on Sunday night, the day after we returned from Paris. Was fun to be together with our Florida fam. 

Our lakefront sunrises.

Daniel and Jackson went to Texas for a hunt trip the end of November/beginning of December. So naturally we went to a movie and dinner!!

Christmas Pins!!

The conclusion of Thanksgiving marks the beginning of CHRISTMAS!!! And the wearing of the Christmas pin tradition of course. My favorite. 

 

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I usually decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving but I knew we'd be in Paris so I decided to decorate before we left. I am so glad I did because when we got home, the house was ready!! All we needed was the tree and we got that the following week and all was well!! My favorite time of the year! 

 

FRANCE!

The kids have an entire week off during Thanksgiving break so this year we decided we would spend it in France visiting Ryan, Heather and fam. The kids couldn't have been anticipating a trip more! It's not an easy flight over but they were the absolute best travelers! The flights over went very smoothly. It was a little on the tricky side fitting all of our luggage into the "minivan" we rented in Paris (not your typical American minivan I assure you!) But we finally made it!! It was the most joyous reunion!! 

We traveled overnight and arrived in the early afternoon the next day. I learned from our Ireland trip that the trip over wrecks you so we didn't have anything planned... and we didn't need anything planned! We visited, ate a collection of all their favorite French snacks and ventured out locally later that evening to pick some things up for dinner the next evening. We all crammed into Ryan's 7 seater (the 9 of us!) - not to worry, we didn't travel far. 

The next day was Sunday so we attended church together, took afternoon naps and had family dinner together that evening. 

The kids were in school all that week and we didn't really have anything specific planned so Monday we went to Carrefour with Heather (a large grocery store there) and that was an adventure in itself! They've got some weird stuff in France. But also some of the most delicious yogurts and crepes and jams and spreads. Yum. Tuesday we went to Costco (Heather and Ryan had a zone conference they were prepping for, plus we needed to get stuff for our Thanksgiving dinner!) We made a wrong turn at some point and ended in, like, a 13 mile long tunnel... and had to circle back. I believe it was this venture that we got our traffic tickets (not to worry... mailed to us after our return!) 2 to be exact. For speeding. Darn. 

Did I mention that Maddie and Ben came down for the week as well? That was a real treat!! We gamed almost every night. And puzzled. It was the best. 

Wednesday was the day we designated for Paris! Our plan was to meet up with Ryan and Heather at their zone conference for lunch and then venture out but traffic was so bad we missed it. We did however manage to charge the Arc de Triomphe and circle it a few times... Daniel drove like a boss.  When we finally did arrive we actually missed our turn into the parking garage Heather said to park in and it took us 20 minutes to circle back around. (side note - taking the train in next time). We joined them for a few minutes to hear a musical number and then set out with Maddie as our trusty tour guide. It was the best, most beautiful day in Paris ever!! The kids were in great spirits! We did a whole lot of walking but there was no complaining. We enjoyed every bit of the day. Riding the subway, seeing the Eiffel Tower, eating a variety of delicious food, having the most expensive but equally delicious and well worth it hot chocolate, walking through an amazing Christmas market, and the Louvre. You've never seen so many pictures of the Eiffel Tower, I will tell you that much. Enjoy.

After such a long, busy day in Paris we were ready to take it easy for Thanskgiving. Daniel and I crashed Maddie and Ben's turkey trot and made them do a turkey walk. It was a beautiful walk along the Seine river. After that we prepped for our dinner. We had 2 senior missionary couples join us in addition to Kael and it was the most perfect Thanksgiving meal ever! We were so happy to be enjoying it with our family that we've missed so much!

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Versailles! It was extremely cold so we didn't last long but we also made a quick stop at the temple! We decided to venture back into Paris that night for dinner at a restaurant they all enjoy and we stopped at another Christmas market. Plus the kids all rode the Ferris wheel together and were able to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle from up high!

At one point, we were all stuck in an elevator. It was a little alarming. Luckily we were able to pry the door open!!Yikes!

Sadly, all good things come to an end and Saturday we came back home! It was an epic visit, that is for sure! We are excited to go back but we will say this... we love the USA!!