A short family vacation...

Every year while in school, Chad needs to complete 35 days of Air Force Reserve duty. Most of the time this happens over the summer, but Chad was 1 1/2 days short last summer. So right after our Memorial Day Work weekend we took another trip to Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio where Chad completed the weekend with a friend of his.

We started off with a night in Indianapolis where we stayed in a hotel and ate supper at one of our favorite restaurants from Hawaii, the Old Spaghetti Factory. The boys had a great time in the swimming pool that night. Then we headed off to Dayton. We met up with Chaplain Dickens for lunch at McDonald's and then Chad was off to work. The boys and I got settled into the Wright Patterson Inn and took a nap. Then we met up with Chad and Chaplain Dickens for supper that night.

The next day, Chad was off at work and I took the boys to the U.S. Air Force Museum. They enjoyed looking at all the old air planes and war vehicles. This time they were particularly impressed with the stealth jets and getting to sit in the cockpit of a fighter jet.

The next day we were on our way home. Sorry for the lack of pictures. My camera spent the majority of the time locked up in the hotel room (where I kept forgetting it).

Lutherhaven Family Work Weekend...

For the second year in a row we have spent our Memorial Day weekend at Camp Lutherhaven for their Family work weekend.

One of the big projects that we worked on over the weekend was roofing the office building.

In addition to the work, Camp Lutherhaven is always an enjoyable place to just hang out. We took a night hike with one of the camp staff, played in the icy cold lake water, and had a cookout. One of the highlights for the boys was getting to use the bow and arrows.

Shadow Art...

Seth has been wanting to get started in a "school book" so I went out and bought a fun Boz Devotional. For those of you who have not heard of Boz, he is a big green bear that teaches lessons to two kids named Drew and Gracie. He is produced by Focus on the Family. The book we have teaches about God's Creation. This week, Seth is learning about the sun and today we took side walk chalk to trace our shadows.

Of course Seth was not the only one to get in on the fun!And our boys with their military genes even made their shadows saluting the neighbors flag!

Sandbox Creations...

A highlight of every spring since we moved to Fort Wayne has included digging in the sandbox that we built in our back yard. After spending 3 years in Hawaii on beaches, we knew the boys loved digging in the sand. Throughout the spring, summer and fall months creations turn up regularly in our sandbox. In an early endeavor this spring they decided to completely bury their wheelbarrow!

Upon completion they placed a "flag" at the top of the mountain!

Let's Go Fly A Kite...

3 time a year our church holds a Bible Bucks Sunday for the Sunday School Kids. Throughout the quarter they collect Bible Bucks for coming to Sunday School, bringing their Bibles, knowing their memory verses, etc. One of the prizes they could buy with their Bible Bucks was a kite. This was quite the investment as it cost 20 Bible Bucks (typically they have around 30 to spend). Two of our boys spent the 20 bucks and came home with kites. With the wind today we had no trouble getting them in the air and the boys had a blast running around with their new kites.

Mother's Day at Chuck E. Cheese

We normally save Chuck E. Cheese for Birthday celebrations. This year, we were trying to decide what to do for Mother's Day when I suggested Chuck E. Cheese. It was windy and cold outside and what a better treat for a mother than to see the smiling, happy faces of her children at play!

Pirate...

Chick-Fil-A in the mall does a family night each Tuesday night. We get two kids meals for free and then there is a project and other fun stuff for the kids. This week there were clowns who made balloon animals, a shaker project and face painting. Zeke and JJ decided on a pirate theme for their faces... Aren't they handsome?