St Jude

We have a refrigerator that is sooooo packed it looks like a game of Jenga BUT instead of trying to clean out some left overs we dined out tonight! Here's why: today at Chili's 100% of all profits went to St Jude Children's Hospital to fund research for childhood cancer cures! The stats are amazing at how far they've come since they opened their doors years ago. 20% chance of survival rate then and they are now up to 70%!! We know several families who have been/are affected by this horrible monster. So along with hours and hours of prayers held for these families we happily dined out to support ANYONE who can find a cure in hopes that one day NO child will suffer and no family will ache over watching their child suffer or worse yet loosing their child. Although realistically I know that day will only come when we are reunited with our FATHER in Heaven! I pray pray pray that my children NEVER have to be a part of the horrible kid cancer statistic. My heart aches for those that are currently dealing with this and who have lost their children to this.

i know this sounds crazy but they are my thoughts.....there are days i wonder "why them and not my children"???

but believe you me i AM sooooo very thankful for the health of these beautiful girls of mine!!

can't complain about our meal.....spicey black bean burger and broccoli!!

Ocoee

We had the epitome of the perfect Sabbath!

Church= renewed

Lunch made ahead of time= yummy and easy clean up

Rainy afternoon + nap= refreshed

Early evening on into night at the Ocoee= fun

found the perfect spot to watch the kayakers "surf"

beautiful flower

muscadines

ever seen a river board??? like surfing but down the river!!

relaxing on the rocks

sweet

The sunny days of Hatteras

Last post from our wonderful vacation! We did have some sunny moments and we absolutely made the most of those times! We love the sun, sand, and water! (most pictures are in no particular order.....just a view of our sun/fun filled days)

where we go

where we stayed.....pluses of going during off season...spacious house, our own pool, and this year we were able to have a view of the sound side......heavenly!!!

1 of the many birds we saw

this is hours of free entertainment

this part of the ocean is pretty rough and this is pretty much how far we allow the kids to get in

we where able to watch kite surfers for hours and days from our back porch or the pool

emery progressed from her full body flotation device to "swimmies" and swam with her face under water......huge for her!!

jon and taylor playing a little further in the ocean 1 afternoon

view from our room (jon and i)

twins... a younger sister ......and their mom

our offspring

family portraits are sometimes futile for us but i know we'll look back 1 day and laugh and miss these times when they were little enough to hold

view from the living room

she spent LOTS of time here during the week

peak a boo during a beautiful sunset

treasure hunting on the beach

playing

running

stopping for a quick sec to capture time

nature slides

more swimming

yummy frozen drinks made by auntie kristi

this does NO justice to the few minutes of beauty and awe we experienced on a couple nights

jon and i, for the past couple years, have sat on the back porch from our room the last night of our stay and grabbed some alone time....reliving the week, looking at pictures, talking, listening to the wind blowing, and some moments just being quiet in amazement of what God had blessed us with.....surrounded by our family whom we LOVE, nature and ALL the wonders of it! we have SO MUCH to be thankful for it is in those quiet moments that you are reminded of them more!

hoping to keep this tradition going for years and years.....and then be tag a longs with our kids families.....it really is a place everyone should visit!!

*and an inside joke to give the fam a laugh...."well lordy be shelby".....imagine saying in the most slow country aunt be kind of way!!!*

Wright Brothers

"Isn't it astonishing that all these secrets have been preserved for so

many years just so that we could discover them!!"

Orville Wright, June 7, 1900

Due to the lack of sun on our vacation we decided to take a drive off the island and visit this national memorial. This is something we've wanted to do in the past but when the sun is screaming your name it's hard NOT to hit the beach or pool!! So a perfect cloudy day it was to go! It's great to learn in general but when you can actually walk the grounds of where a new idea/invention took place it seems ALL the more real and exciting!

Sewing machine that Wilbur used for the fabrics of the glider, borrowed from Addie Tate who was a resident of Kitty Hawk

Replica of the glider made/designed by Wilbur and Orville

This boulder marks the spot where Orville and Wilbur took flight for the 1st time on

December 17, 1903

There are then 4 granite markers which show the 4 flights they took that day......how far they flew and how many seconds it took

*Kayden and Emery running to the 4th marker which was

852 ft from the boulder and took 59 seconds to fly*

Getting to the 4th marker

Replica of the "flight"

Kinda crazy to imagine being all exposed to the "elements" AND not buckled in. They just laid in this semi circle contraption and secured their feet into another one!

Trek up to the Monument which marks the spot of hundreds of glider flights prior to the 1st powered flight

One of the ground keepers told us that this hill used to be 450 feet forward but due to the constant shifting of sand it lays where it is today. They finally planted vegetation on the sand hill to keep it still

It was quite the blustery day and thought this was an

appropriate shot of Em's pretending to fly! (sorry about the undies)