Two Weeks of Spring Break

This year, my oldest two kids had TWO weeks off for spring break.  My plan, originally, was to just pack those two weeks with activities, but when my mother-in-law offered to entertain us for a week IN FLORIDA, I had to agree.  So we all headed south after E's 8am soccer game on Saturday.

Heading South!

After a REALLY long 8 hour car ride, that took us closer to 11 hours, we finally arrived in Florida.

Florida:

Headed to the beach

Kite Flying

Hole Digging

Swimming in the HEATED pool

Being Goofy

My husband and O

"Princess And The Pea" play in Seaside

Indoor Playing

Digging in the sand

Cousins

More digging in the sand

ME: After a short run

E actually touched the sand (a huge accomplishment)

More swimming!

Scooter Rides with Pop

This was O's favorite game

"Ring the water fountain"

Putt-putt in the subdivision

The Score Keepers

The kiddos!

O LOVED playing putt-putt

Lunch

Taking Walks

More Pool Time

Haha!

Bike Rides

Frisbee

Playing Catch

Catching Some Rays

E

O

O

Walking to the Pool

More Bike Riding

After a week in mostly sunny Florida, we left this:

And came home to this:

Dusting of Snow and Freezing Temperatures

The first few days we just tried to adjust to the weather and played inside. We went swimming at the indoor pool at the Y, visited a local toy store (with bunnies),  and went to an indoor play place.  We were only able to enjoy one day of warm sunny weather in Tennessee, but thankfully we had pretty great weather the first week in Florida.

Playground:

More Outside Playing:

Soccer Practice (for E):

She's in the light pink jacket

Indoor Play Place:

Merida, from Disney's Brave

Chatting with Merida

Practicing their "pose"

E was SO excited!

Lunch Out (Chik-fil-A):

We still have E's soccer game in the morning, an Easter Egg Hunt, and Easter to go, but I'll make a separate post for those.

Happy Spring Break!

A God Moment

O was fussy during worship this morning so I took him out to the foyer to walk around.  I knew he was tired, but the kid just would not fall asleep.  At one point I thought he was drifting off to sleep, but he quickly wiggled down.  He walked over to the Great Hall entrance and was peaking in the door.  An older man and his wife came out around that time and, naturally, were drawn to my sweet little guy.  

(photo from October 2012)

The older man bent over and said, "Hi.  Would you like to shake hands?"  Instead of putting one hand out, O looked up at the man and reached up with both arms.  The man picked him up and, surprisingly, O laid his head down on his shoulder and put his arms around him.  I saw a tear in the man's eyes and he whispered, "Oh, thank you," over and over again.  When the man handed O back to me (after O refused a few times), the women told me, "You don't know how much he needed that."  She gave O a little pat on the back and told me,  "Thank you for sharing your sweet son with us."  

I honestly have no idea what was going on in the man or woman's life this morning.  I'm not sure why they were leaving church early, why the man "needed" O, or even why O immediately felt comfortable with him... BUT, I know it was a God thing.  God sent my sweet boy to this man for those few minutes.  So if you're struggling with how God might be able to use you, be reminded that God uses, even the least of these.  If he can use a tired 16 month old, I'm sure he can use YOU.

I'll add, I took O from the man and within 1 minute (literally) O was sound asleep in my arms.  It was almost like O was waiting for this God moment.