friends, family and family friends

We just spent a wonderful day at lake Ray Roberts with 3 other families and I just have to say we are so blessed to have friends like these, and have this great beach and picnic area so near us, and be able to hang out like we did today. We shared everything from hot dogs to sun block to taking turns watching kids... You know you had a great time when the kids AND adults fall asleep in the car on the way home (except the driver, of course!).
I just love our little community and family of believers, love sharing life with them and love loving Jesus with them. Pictures coming soon (maybe next weekend, when I have a chance to spend time on the computer again!)

Family Camp!

Now we're caught up to summer time, and this year's big vacation was to Family Camp with several of our church friends. We had a blast getting to know some new friends, and experiencing a few days "off the grid" -- WITH NO CELL SERVICE.

The kids enjoyed playing in the river, and floating in the tubes (Joel called them swim rings).

We saw all sorts of animals there, from butterflies, to bats...

and horses to lemurs.

Every night before dinner, a fire truck came around to give the kids a ride.

And, after a full day of hiking,

swinging,

and climbing...

...sometimes you just need a nap, and you'll take it wherever you can get it.

Spring Flashback 4: Disney On Ice

Disney On Ice was in town in March, which made it a perfect birthday outing for Joel and a couple friends. It was also near Graeme's birthday -- he's my co-worker's son, and just 2 weeks older than Joel.

It was so neat to see these little folks experience a big show like this! For ours, it was their second event, but the rest of the crew were first-timers. Even still, every one of them had this fantastic look of amazement on their little faces when the show first began, the ice was lit up, and their favorite Disney characters came out to play.

Spring Flashback 3: Spring break

For spring break, we took a day trip down to Dinosaur Valley State Park. It was such a fun time, and we took cousin Nikki with us too. We had a picnic lunch, tromped in dinosaur footprints, and made a few muddy footprints of our own...

Before we left, the kids did their best T-rex impressions by the huge T-rex statue