A boogie boarding kind of day

Kate trying to master the wave

 Ben's first attempt

 they are loving it!! thumbs up dude!!

 waiting for the perfect wave

Kate, Ben and Elly showed those boogie boards some fun times! 

Mr. Cairney, flexing his muscles for the surfer girl

getting chilly, calling it a night ......

There happened to be a couple of boogie boards in the condo that worked perfect with the waves that we had on Sunday afternoon/evening.  A cool front was moving in and the ocean was a bit rougher, which made perfect conditions for a little boarding. The kids had such a great time and can't wait to try this again next year.



Church photos

 Elly, Cassie, Greg, Grant and Dawn

 a group picture after church

cousins

Shuffle board and golf Sunday/funday

 Gramma and Ben /vs/ Doug and Kate

 ...then Elly joins the tough crowd!

Mr. Ben scored 2 hole-in-one's that day..way to go bud!

 Cousins having fun at putt-putt:  Ben, Kate, Elly, Cassie, and Grant

Cassie also scored a hole in one -- nice work!!!

The games of shuffle board seemed to go on forever (with one night time tournament under the lights which was a blast!!) and this year the resort was within walking distance of our favorite putt-putt course. I think that all of us had atleast one hole-in-one by the end of the week.

Saturday

beautiful (and tasty) fresh brussle sprouts from the Farmer's Market -- I had never seen them all still on their stalk!

 another beautiful day at the ocean

 Elly making her way into the ocean for the first time

 if you look closely, you can see Ben (in the bright shorts) making his attempt at the long jump -- the kids were having a contest before heading in for the night

 the gorgeous sunset

 and amazing moon, all at the same time

Gramma Celie, Kate and I went to the Farmer's Market this morning.  I enjoyed sampling some delicious olives, hummus, and Kenyan coffee. Kate would probably say that her favorites were the cupcakes and the eggs/bacon (that sounds like Sissy doesn't it??? (:   )  Doug and I enjoyed a long walk on the beach up to the pier and back in the afternoon.
 Not only were we having a wonderful time spending the week with Dick and Celie, but this year had another fun twist. Greg, Dawn, Grant, Cassie and Elly all drove down from Pella to visit for a week too! We were so excited when they arrived Saturday night.  We headed to the beach immediately for the sunset, then enjoyed the evening together playing cards and watching basketball.....it is NCAA March Madness time of course and we are loving being able to cheer on our Iowa State Cyclones and the Creighton Bluejays from Florida.

a beautiful Thursday

 my two little beach bums

 Ben was so excited about this giant hole!

 The perfect location to work on my homework for bible study......enjoying one of God's most amazing creations -- the ocean



We all slept in this morning and then enjoyed coffee on the veranda in the sunshine.  I also attended my first Tai Chi class and loved it -- so relaxing!!  The kids went putt-putt golfing with Doug and Gramma while I enjoyed some quiet time at the beach.  Later that day we played shuffleboard and tennis too, always plenty of fun activities!

Sand Sculptures

 our turtle

 dolphin

 let the creating begin

 the mighty castle

Olaf the snowman from the movie Frozen

 

Each year we (meaning Doug and the kids mostly) spend hours creating amazing sand art!  The kids take such pride in their work (-;  and it is always fun to see how long our creations will last.  Ben especially loves to wake up each morning, head down to the beach and check out the "damage" from the tide the previous night, do repairs and keep an eye on them for the rest of the day.   This year unfortunately, we had strong winds on day #4 and they were pretty much gone before we left.  People would often walk by, take pictures, and make comments, which would just light up the kids faces -- absolutely perfect!

Trip to Florida

 Enjoying a "pre-vacation" donut....a silly tradition that we have started that the kids LOVE!

Kate and I modeling our freshly painted toes for Florida

the resort that we stayed at this year

some time on the beach with Papa as soon as we arrived!

hello ocean and bird friends......AAAHHH....how I have missed you both!!

Ben wanted to start digging right away!!

the hot tub was right outside of our door...the perfect way to wind down in the evenings, looking up at the moon and stars

We were able to plan a trip to visit Papa and Gramma Cairney again this year in St. Augustine.  They have been gone since the last weekend in January and we have really been missing them.  Our flights went smoothly flying into Sanford/Orlando.   We then picked up our rental car and off we went, to spend a week at the beach! I don't know who was more excited....the kids or myself??  The minute we landed, you could just feel the warmth of the sun coming through the airplane windows -- YEAH!!! This winter and the cold have been getting very long for us this year....so we have been counting down the days until March 12th.  We spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach, enjoyed a delicious dinner that Celie had prepared, played cards, relaxed in the hot tub and called it a night ~~ what a great first day!!