Longest Time Away: Week 2

The second week of our longest time away was spent in the Naples, Florida area. There was one week between the big Archambault family trip and a conference in Orlando for Joshua, and it turned out to be cheaper just to stay thanks to a generous friend who wasn't going to  be using their condo.

We spent one of the days at Delnor-Wiggins State Park. It had a beautiful beach and also reminded us of the names in the Beatrix Potter books that we had all been reading together.

One of our favorite things about Sophia is her passion for food. Instead of spending her time building castles she requested a cake that she could decorate and decided to grill some seashells.

She also had some creative ideas back at the house, asking to be given rides in a roasting pan.

In addition to the roasting pan, we also enjoyed some time at the pool.

It was wonderfully shallow for quite a distance.

During the course of the week, we consumed a LOT of Florida oranges.

Even more so than the pool (perhaps tied with the oranges) Sophia would tell you that her highlight was the playground.

My favorite moments were playing Rummy and Boggle on the screened in porch at night with Joshua, a family bike ride, and watching Sophia attempt hide-and-seek with Geckos. I also always love watching her swing with her head tilted back and eyes closed. I took this picture to remind her that it is the best way to truly savor the experience.

Longest Time Away: Week 1

Joshua and I had never been away from our home together for longer than two weeks. We changed that by starting with an adventure that brought 16 Archambaults together under one roof. Our oldest niece is now 13 and our oldest nephew turned 13 while we were there. Their Grandmother had just retired and so the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all met in Orlando for a week in an 8 bedroom house with a pool that got a lot of use. We loved spending time in the house together as well as a few visits to the local attractions.

Sophia started the day at the Typhoon Lagoon water park like this:

And properly ended it like this:



A highlight in between was this:

Sophia and her next oldest cousin Anna (age 7) plotted out their time at SeaWorld with a map: 

  

And enjoyed watching several Shows:

 

 
Their grandmother got to take all of her granddaughters to meet the princesses at the Magic Kingdom:





We loved this very memorable trip and hope it isn't too long until we are all able to make our way from Colorado, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont to be together again.

Superheroes

The cape arrived the day before we needed it. 

Sophia's grandparents had packed a Halloween costume in their suitcase and were staying for a week while Joshua was in Michigan for a business trip.

The next day I went downstairs to move the laundry to the dryer and found smelly water pouring onto the floor from a pipe. It was 9:30 at night and I called my husband who encouraged me to call our pastor. I protested that "he is our pastor, not our plumber" but was reminded that he was also our friend (and knows quite a bit about plumbing). 

Not only did he come right over that evening, but he spent the majority of his day off repairing our plumbing, and entertaining our two year old in the aisles of the hardware store while I made purchases that he helped to inform. When we offered to pay him for his work, he insisted that it go to the Ugandan mission workers that would be staying with us that weekend (who would now also have working toilets thanks to him).

My friend Beckie moved to Uganda several years ago and met and married Ruudy there. They work daily with people in their country who continue to recover from decades of civil war. They joined us for our ten year reunion this past Saturday. Our first stop was to visit a favorite professor. She encouraged us to come back after we went to our reunion activities on campus. 

There was a crib for Sophia to take a nap and dinner when she woke up. I felt self-conscious when I began to smell the food cooking as I thought that we were imposing on their family dinner time...I had no idea she was making it for us. She never mentioned that she was expecting family from out of state that arrived moments later. She just kept on serving whomever walked in her door.

We are grateful for all of the superheroes in our lives that inspire us to 'love bigger' in the everyday opportunities life affords. The ones mentioned above each emulate the two goals we have for our daughter: to love God, and to serve others (no cape required).  

Pizza Making in Atlanta

We try to visit our friends Sarah and Ronnie every year at their home in Atlanta. 

This time a major happening was pizza making by Elisha aided by little brother Micah and Sophia.

Sarah gave these three true creative liberties with the result being a very delicious dinner.

Food is always an important part of our time together, but it wasn't the only adventure.

A trip to the Atlanta Zoo to see some animals and pretend to be them.

This was the first visit where all three little ones were big enough to start to really get to know each other. 

Sarah is one of my friends I have known the longest, and it is wonderful to watch our kids together.

Multiple playgrounds provided lots of opportunities for playing.

We look forward to getting these friends together again soon!