A WONDERFUL Week at the Beach

Last week we had the privelege of spending a week at the beach. The boys and I went with Grandma and Grandpa. We also took 2 of my nephews. Here is a glimpse of our WONDERFUL time during which we created many great new memories!I am literally SURROUNDED by boys! What a life!While kids up north enjoyed snow ball fights, my kids down south enjoyed a "south-american" snow ball fight. This literally provided these boys with HOURS of entertainment!

Looking for shells.....

Fun in the sand.....

Water fun......

Grandpa tries to coax Benji into trying the surf board.This is how......

.......oops!.......

MORE sand fun......

Grandma snoozes in the sun, while all her grandsons have a blast digging in the sand.

Picnic at the beach......just before leaving for home.Just before heading home.......we haven't quite had enough water! This pool was at the house where we stayed, which was wonderful, as the boys had something to do while Benjamin took his naps......although, many times, they would still go to the beach anyway, and just play in the sand if one of the adults couldn't go right then to watch them swim.

Father/Son Weekend at Camp

This past weekend, our 3 older boys got to spend the weekend at camp for a father/son weekend. My dad, brother-in-law, and nephew were the speakers for the event. Since Keith was not able to be here, each of them took one of the boys as his "son" for the weekend. They had a great time doing lots of neat things together, as well as learning more Portuguese in the meetings. Here is a glimpse of what they got to do.

This is a glimpse of the zip line that they ride down then jump off of and into the lake.

They had a contest in which each one had to build a tower out of these crates, stepping on one while putting on the next one. They had the safety belt around them to catch them when they fell. Joshua won the competition with 20 crates. The others weren't far behind him.

This is my nephew giving his devotional while using the climbing wall as his illustrations.

Memories for my Husband

This post is mostly for Keith......but for the rest of you, we went to Keith's home church this past Sunday, and also drove by the places where Keith used to live. Hey, babe! Thought you would enjoy reminiscing. Hope you enjoy! Aunt Maureen came up from Peruibe to see us before church began....she was on her way to visit Jeff Yerrington......remember him? It was GREAT to see her again!

Benjamin was in the nursery with Jane Meacham (she is the teacher with whom I student taught)......Keith, the nursery is now in what used to be Carpenter's Union.....at least where I remember it being.....(that is the name of your class....right?).

Walter is holding Cahterine's youngest.

Catherine was visiting....leaving that night to go back to the U.S.....go figure.....I come all the way to Brazil to see her! Here she is with her oldest daughter.

God Answers Prayers!

Just an update on my camera......I prayed very specifically that God would show me HOW to clean my camera. After some research on what to do and what NOT to do, I found a solution here that I was able to use to get most of the ink off the lense. It is not perfect....but, oh, SO much better! Thank You, God!

Yep.....he's TWO!

Notice how this picture is quite blurry, and how there are black smudges......well......let's just say, that ANY time a 2-year-old is quiet for any amount of time......rather than count your blessings......it might be a better idea to go find out WHY he is so quiet. Today (as I was counting my blessings because my 2-year-old was so quiet, and I was actually getting some school done with the boys), my dear Benjamin decided to go to my room, open my drawer, get out a permanent marker, and proceed to get my camera out of its case, turn it ON, then use that permanent marker to color my camera lense. Oh, and he also decided that my glasses needed adjusting, so he took that upon himself as well, and twisted them into fine form. Well, enough on the adventures of Benjamin.....time to go see WHAT IN THE WORLD I'm going to do to fix my camera! I LIKE my camera!!!!!! Oh, and Benjamin......I do still love you......really!

Happy 12'th Birthday, Marc!

As per Marc's request, Grandma baked up a "bread" breakfast. She made homemade doughnuts, gummy rolls, banana bread, English muffins......the works. Marc was delighted, and we all enjoyed a YUMMY breakfast! Thanks, Grandma!

Grandpa made up clues for Marc to follow in order to find his gifts. Aunts, uncles, and cousins joined us for gifts, cake, and ice cream.We took Marc to town for a Brazilian birthday lunch......in Portuguese they are called "pasteis". We also had milkshakes to go along with our lunch......we had over 70 flavors from which to choose. It was a fun time.Marc joins the ranks of those with Airsoft guns......watch out!

Unfortunately, Keith was not able to be with us for Marc's birthday, so we had to settle for 2nd best, and that was to talk severl times via Skype. During this particular conversation, Marc opened his gift from us.......Marc was surprised and delighted with his gift!Marc wanted a cake with tools this year.....so we did our best to make cake in the shape of tools.........he was happy, so we were happy!

Grandma's Day

My mom has Grandma's day every Friday afternoon. My boys are delighted that they get to be a part of it for a few weeks, while we are here. This past week they decorated the Christmas tree as well as did some reading and other things. They always have a blast!

Annual Triathlon

Last week Word of Life held its annual triathlon. The contestants had to first swim the length of this lake, then ride their bikes around this lake and another lake 4 times, then run around those same lakes 2 times. It happened to be pouring rain, and was not a nice day at all. Many from my family participated. Here are some pics to give you a glimpse of the "fun". My Dad (72) and my niece Kelly (10) got medals for being the oldest and youngest participants.

My sister and her team won first place for the team category (the contestants could either enter as individuals, or as teams.)

My brother Steve won 2nd place in the individual category, and his son won 3rd place!

Here is Joshua running along side my dad to cheer him on to the finish line.

GO Kevin! (In all that mud......well you can only imagine what these guys looked like! )

This is the lake that they had to swim across.

Fun in the Sand

Life with cousins is always lots of fun!