Reid and Stefani Adopt

For Isaac's official "friend birthday party", we allowed Isaac to plan the party.  He reached out to his friends on his own, and set up the time and place.  When his friends were 45 minutes late, he was ready to go home feeling defeated.  But finally everyone showed up, and those 5 boys had a good time in some rough waves.    

The first summer vacation of 2024 was thus: biking in Bentonville, AK.  Except that Bentonville got hit by a series of tornadoes right before we got there...and most of the biking trails were closed.  So we had to invent a few other things to do besides biking.  Here are a few of them: This is a chapel built as a memorial for Mildred B. Cooper.  It is super pretty there.  Right after this picture was taken, we got kicked out so that a wedding party could start practicing for the wedding. The Crystal Bridges Museum of Art was another place we ended up visiting.  We got into their special exhibit for free because of the tornadoes. One of the exhibits at the art museum.  This was part of the special exhibit we got into for free. Showing off the loaves and fishes at the Great Passion Play area in Eureka Springs, AK. The giant statue of Jesus at the Passion Play area. Jaydon enjoying the full sized truck we got to carry our stuff and bikes. Literally eating junk food, or as Trash Ice Cream

Isaac is graduating from elementary school. The school had a 6th grade dance, where everyone dressed up fancy. Isaac took his dad on a wild goose chase at every goodwill and second hand shop to look for a tuxedo or a vest he could wear. Alas...there were none to be found. So he just went in his sunday best. And all that so he could stand around talking to the boys about soccer and Fortnite. He told me that he would have NEVER asked a girl to dance. Besides that, apparently no 6th grader actually knows how to dance. But he tells me the food was good. So in a few months, Isaac will be entering West Shore Jr/Sr High school, which I am pleased to report is a nationally acclaimed school. Here is a link to a web article about it and other schools in Florida that are highly sought after. We'll see how he does there. I'm excited to have him there with me. I'll have a driving buddy to and from school every day. Florida Today: Top Brevard Schools

Reid and Stefani went to iFly in Orlando to try indoor sky diving. Reid was awesome at it.  Stefani was not.   Dad and the kids outside the restaurant we ate dinner at for his birthday. Reid cake choice was "dirt cake" which consists of pudding, crushed Oreos, and gummy worms.  

  Ready for the Egg Hunt.  This may be Isaac's last year of doing the egg hunt.  Next year he graduates to helping hide the eggs. Esther examines our cement pile carefully for eggs.  The cement pile is remnants from us taking down our fence. Jaydon find one of his eggs in the tree.

 This Spring Break we stuck around local Florida and visited the Florida home of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, who were good friends and bought summer homes next to each other.  The kids were overwhelmingly bored with the historical site, even though Jaydon and Isaac were the ones who decided to visit that site in the first place.  The next two days, we went biking.   The water line post mark showed how high the water got during the last hurricane.  It came near to taking out these historical monuments. Thomas Edison summer home.  He had two built mirror imaged from each other.  The third house in the back was Henry Ford's house.  He also had two houses. Mom and the kids in front of the statue of Thomas Edison at the historical site. The Banyan tree, which grows roots down from its branches, is the main attraction at this historical site. Reid enjoying the pre chilled beer mug which he filled with water in our Air B'n'B.   Esther doing what Esther does best, finding reptile