Taking Moments For Memories

Kyle spies something beautiful, wonderful and totally memory worthy! A family that hikes together, plays together and makes the most of their time together!

I have two newsletter articles to write, sleep to catch up on, laundry to sort, and studying to do...but I had to crank out one more blog, hoping that will clear my mind so I can complete my tasks.

I love the fact that we are trying to make it a priority around here to take some moments for making memories. We used to call it Sacred Saturday, when we could actually do something as a family on Saturday...now we take it when we can! It has been a struggle to get out of the house together as a family for a very long time. Mike's grandfather needs round the clock care and so it is virtually impossible, unless we take him with us, to go anywhere together. (Except for those times when someone watches Pop...and we have indeed been blessed from time to time with amazing people who will do just that!)

So on the days that Pop goes to Respite we are making an effort to enjoy one of those days out of the house! Side note here...let me just say how amazing the Council On Aging has been to our Pop and to us. They totally understand the needs of caretakers and how challenging it is. If you are in a situation where you are going to be caring for someone, look them up, they are wonderful!

Anyway, Tomoka State Park is where we chose to go on our first Moment for Memory Making Family Day! It was wonderful..chilly weather for us thinned blooded northerners, but wonderful all the same!

So we head out early in the morning...binocs on, bird book and tree book ready on hand!! It was absolutely beautiful! I think the park is noted for its live oak hammock with arching limbs covered with Spanish moss, resurrection fern and green-fly orchid were spotted as well. Love that as we walked there were rangers walking the trails too, so we could ask questions whenever we had one! We even saw some Florida holly! (So special because of it be so close to Christmas.) I have to say my favorite thing to see was the Florida Bobcat! YES!! Very cool! Couldn't get a picture though! Sorry! Next time..and there will be a next time...here is why:

Super interesting the way these live oaks twist and turn!

Timucuan Indians I'm sure once fished in this very spot!

As we passed through the ancient Timucuan village site of Nocoroco, a once thriving community along the banks of the Tomoka River. We asked our boys to imagine what it might have been like to live here a thousand years ago. We walked where they actually walked, were seeing some of the very same things. Wonderful, fun and educational!


As we were hiking along, really again, with no map or anything, we did come across this statue of Chief Tomokie! Interesting piece of art! You can learn more about The Legend of Chief Tomokie here.
Well, one of our big goals during these memory making moments is to see to it that our eyes begin to reflect our hearts! Psalm 103:4-5 says "He surrounds me with loving-kindness and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things!" That's what I'm talking about! Thank you Lord!

Kyle, Brendan and Shane can spy Mom and Dad...loving every single bit of this time together!!

Do My Eyes Deceive Me?...

Yes and no! We are still trying to hold to our keeping one day a week sacred to our family. One day where we just do something fun...just the 5 of us. Yesterday, after church, we had one of the most memorable fun family days yet. We headed straight for Downtown Disney and walked around. The boys created their own Lego men and we saw so many beautiful Christmas decorations. The music was playing and we just had a wonderful festive time walking around.

Then we sat down for a pretzel and got to see an amazing show of the famous Yoyo People from Boston. This guy was on the Discovery Channel show "Time Warp". He is amazing. He holds a record in the Guinness Book of Records and was the World Champion in 2007. (I didn't know that there was such a thing as a World Champion Yoyo guy!) Needless to say, he was so much fun to watch!

Then we made our way to Celebration Florida...not far from Orlando. It was beautiful. On Market Street, every hour, it snows. My children had a blast. Again, the carols were playing, there were horse drawn carriages, yummy food, Christmas lights! (Real snow???? Well...let just say us northerners need to use our imagination.)
The best part about our whole entire day was that it was FREE!!! Yup...FREE fun!
Oh this was one of my favorites. I felt like I was in the middle of a Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol")...This group was amazing. We finished our night with a Starbucks coffee (shouldn't every night end that way)!
So once again fun was had by all! We went home and got a good nights sleep.

Another Summer, Part II

More summer fun! The above picture is a group shot of my "summertime siestas"! We did Beth Moore's Summertime Bible Study "Me, Myself & Lies" by Jennifer Rothchild. What an amazing bunch of ladies! I love each one dearly...(missing in this picture is my dear friend Kelly Bonds!)

I have been living in Florida for almost 6 years, 20 minutes south of the famous Daytona Beach and I have never been to one of the country's largest Flea Markets! Well, this summer on one of our "Sacred Saturdays" we went! We missed the Pickle Eating Contest, but we had a blast anyway! And yes...we did eat some garlic pickles! YUM!

That same day we went to the Daytona Beach Pier and played some games on Florida's version of a boardwalk! Nothing like Wildwood or Seaside Heights in NJ, but fun nonetheless!



Below are some of the children in our homeschool group. We did a field trip to Publix, one of our local grocery stores. We got to go behind the scenes to each department and the children got to be a cashier for a few minutes too!

One of my favorite free activities is Downtown Disney! There is so much to do while you walk around. Here you see Shane working hard to create his own personalized lego person! Each boy created and purchased their own lego person!

Here we just played with Mr. Potato head...we had so much fun creating all different kinds!

Oh, and we can't go anywhere without trying on the hats! We are so goofy! Well, here Shane is Jack Sparrow!

Ahh..It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! This was fun! One hot August day, I decided to put the Christmas music on and serve up hot chocolate and we had so much fun creating our snowman snacks!


Sunsplash Park in Daytona Beach....we brought Ty and Faith with us one time, Hope and Hunter one time and even the Dinardi family! We went here a lot this summer!
Two monumental moments for me this summer was my 5K Run in St. Augustine,


And flying with Marmaduke at Universal Studios!


4th of July celebration on the beach with our great friends, the Bradleys and the Dinardis! We also had several game nights at Amy & Dave's this summer.


We spent many days on the Henry Farm too! Here I have Hope & Hunter, Faith & Ty, my boys and Josie Dean! Great summertime memories!

The best birthday bash ever! Six boys sleeping over! We ate pizza, made our own cupcakes and designed our own T-shirts!


Disney World...nothing better really!


Finally, I saved the best for last! The beach...we start going to the beach in April and don't stop until November! (Then we still go to the beach...but not in the water!)
Of course swimming in the pool, I am pretty sure that this is my kids' favorite thing to do!

This was the summer of 2009! Another summer of memories made, relationships built and family fun! Now it is time to switch gears as we look at the beginning of another school year. Kyle still attending Edgewater Public (we meet his new teacher in a few days), Shane in 1st grade and Brendan in 3rd, both again homeschooled!

What A Weekend to Live in FL

Beautiful weather, beautiful friends. The above picture is my friend Carla holding baby Satori with me at Stella's On The Beach! YUM! The Engel family had a busy, fun filled weekend. Because our Sacred Saturday was busy with my having to teach our Connextion Team Orientation Class (which I really enjoy doing) my boys had a birthday party and I had dinner with some girl friends, we moved our Sacred Saturday to Sunday. We had a family day with all of the Connextion Team members today out a friends' home on the intercoastal! Thank you Kevin and Judy! We had a blast! Here are some photos of my fun weekend!

This is Amanda and her friend Jessica who came to help with Amanda's transition home with her new baby (baby above)

That red kayak is my Kyle...all by himself...out in the inlet...he got way out there...I was so proud. Brendan got to kayak by himself too (no pictures), and Shane didn't get that far...he cut up his legs and feet (first of 3 casualties by Shane alone today) on some barnacles!

There is the rest of my gang...see Shane up on Dad's shoulders...that would be after he cut up his legs and feet, and after he fell out of his chair because a palmetto bug was crawling up his leg, but before he almost smacked his head on the picnic table. UGH!

This would be Kyle getting pulled in from "way out there"...thankfully the water was full of experienced kayaking kids! I love kayaking...it is one of my favorite things to do here in FL! Sorry no pictures of me...I was being competitive...volleyball, badminton, and ladder ball....(they call it redneck golfing) hilariously fun - wish I had a picture! I lost at all three, but it was a blast!

Sacred Saturdays

We had so much fun this weekend. We went to Go-Kart City and did everything but the Go-Karts. We played mini golf, hit the batting cages, and had some friendly competition in the game room. We ended our day with a bite to eat at McDonald's (Oh and I brought a Fiber One bar...and had a coffee...I didn't even taste a french fry!) Lost 2 lbs. bringing my total to 13.6 lbs so far. Whew! Ok so the strange faces that are always present when Mike and I get our picture taken by our children is just from the fact that they practically stick that camera on our noses! Plus it is amazing that a picture comes out at all...with all of the fingers in front of the camera. Not bad though...that was taken by Kyle! It was great cheap fun...and memories were made! Criteria for a great Sacred Saturday for the Engel family!

Here were some of the highlights!

I won....7 to 2. Poor Mike!
He gets his license in just 10 years here in FL!

Iced Coffee.....Oh this child!