Giving Thanks and Hunting Treasure

Aunt Christen's parents, John and Connie, invited us to their Thanksgiving dinner. 

We brought these cute turkey cupcakes (thanks Pinterest). They were a hit!

Before dinner we went around the table telling what we are thankful for. It was a touching moment hearing all of the heartfelt appreciation for family and other blessings. When it was Asher's turn, he said without hesitation, "dinosaurs!" Of course. The food was fantastic and the company even better. We really enjoyed playing UNO with them afterward.

For Avery's birthday, Uncle Jason created a pirate scavenger hunt in the barn.
When the first clue was read, the kids took off running for the next one. They had a ball.

The clues led them to a map....

...which led them to the treasure!

Cupcake time!

Happy 7th Birthday Avery!

A FUN weekend at Kalahari

Grandpa and Grandma decided to take us on our first extended family vacation with Uncle Jason, Aunt Christen, Benji, Avery and Lucy. It was also Asher and Journey's first time at a water park and first time in a hotel. We started them off big by taking them to the LARGEST indoor waterpark in the US! Kalahari in Sandusky is a whopping 173,000 sqft of fun with very nice guest suites.

The first day they spent much of their time in the little kid area. Asher did the big kid twisty water slide behind him ONCE (Mommy couldn't take him doing that again!) and we floated in the lazy river twice with Grandma and Grandpa.

Daddy and Grandma cooked breakfast for everyone.

Holding hands and saying grace.

Day 2 at the water park was spent mostly in the wave pool.

Snow Days

One day, we looked out the window and snow was falling. Asher excitedly declared, "Winter now!" despite the fact that it was barely November. In his mind snow = winter. It was merely flurries, but the kids were overjoyed so we went outside to check out the snowflakes up close. I took these photos with my cellphone! The detail and formations were incredible!

  

A few mornings later we woke to this surprising view. Something I never, ever expected to see outside our RV window. 

SNOW! Lots of it. Five inches of it!

 Lucy came over to play in the snow with Asher and Journey.

 A trip to Blendon Woods Park was a special treat seeing it transformed by the snow into a gorgeous winter wonderland.

One of the trailheads....