Kennedy Space Center

Yesterday, our good friend Uncle E went with CP and the kids to Kennedy Space Center (I had to work).  They had a nice time, but GW and TJ weren't that impressed.  I'm not surprised since neither one of them enjoyed the air show that CP took them to shortly after we came home.  AT absolutely LOVES KSC - he says he wants to be a fighter pilot when he is older.  The rest of the crew enjoyed their time, too.

Our Last Day Together as a Family of Six

pToday started with a Pancake Breakfast.  The girls helped mix the batter and AT handled the griddle. JA was snoozing! I then had to make a last minute run to the bank to wire our funds and then came home and did our last minute packing.

SG made a special request of a picnic for lunch so we went to a nearby park and ate Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches and Rice Cakes. We then just wandered around the park. The kids found some mussels in sea shells and we saw two sting rays. Then the kids played at the playground.

We came home and just relaxed. We are going to church tonight - our last chance for a month!

Camp No Limits

Sorry I've been MIA the last few days.  Our family had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer at the Florida Camp No Limits this past weekend from Thur to Sun.  This camp is for families of kids who are amputees.  Soon, we will be one of those families - as DJ is a congenital amputee.  We met some great kids and families who are pretty normal - no "disabilities" here. 

During camp, the kids swam (some with their prosthetics, some without), climbed rock walls, played soccer, rode bicycles, and played baseball.  One kid even played guitar!  We also had the opportunity to go to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and visit with Winter - a dolphin with a prosthetic tail fin.

We even met a dog who was born without a front paw and had a prosthetic leg made for him!
Our kids made some great friends and so did CP and I.  I'm sure we'll be meeting up with them again at next year's camp here in Florida.  By then, DJ will be home and he'll be able to meet the kids too.

Here is my GREEN hair.  Unfortunately, I've found out the hard way that getting dark hair GREEN (or much of any other color) is very challenging.  On a positive note, I am getting people to ask questions just by wearing my badge encouraging them to ask.  So, the end result is what is important!

Sunday Snapshot - Radically Show Hope

Last night we got to serve with Show Hope at the Steven Curtis Chapman concert in Ft. Pierce.  We had a great time and met some wonderful families who are either adopting or are serving orphans in other ways.  The boys went with me and they wore "badges" encouraging people to sponsor kids like their soon-to-be brother. 

And just to prove that I DID color my hair white for my Radical Challenge  - here are the pictures.  (If you look closely, you'll see that JA had his hair white for the concert last night also)

Unfortunately, the "white" just makes me look pre-maturely grey.  Even with a badge on that said "Ask me why my hair is white!" only one person did so last night.  So, in order to generate MORE interest in my wild hair color, I'm switching from white to GREEN for the rest of the month.  Pictures to come!

Hontoon Island

Last weekend, the state of Florida was offering free admission to all state parks with a library card.  So, we decided to visit a park we had never been to.  Funny enough, the one we picked doesn't charge admission!

Anyway, this park is an island in the middle of one of two northward flowing rivers in the world (the St. Johns).  We had a nice drive up there and a picnic under the huge oak trees.

 We saw a Great Blue Heron that landed very near our picnic table.  The kids followed it for a ways until it finally flew off again. 

 We then decided to rent a canoe and venture out around the island.  We had a nice time paddling along. 

 We saw a turtle sunning himself on a log,

 waterwalkers, two deer, three buzzards,

and a red shouldered hawk. 

Near the end of our canoe trip, we decided to let the girls have a try at paddling.  This was a first for both of them and they both did terriffic! 

After our canoe trip, we went in the visitor center and saw an exhibit of all the different animals that are native to Hontoon Island, a video about conservation of our natural resources, the composition of the island (it has an old Native American midden on it), lots of Native American tools, and some about the industries that existed on the island over time.

Shhhh!!! Don't tell the kids, but I think they might have learned something!

Bok Tower

Yesterday, we took a family trip to Bok Tower Gardens We had a nice time checking out all of the flowers, the carillon, the swans, and the hillside.  BTW, I must give credit where credit is due - most of the following pictures were taken by JA (with some coaching from me). 

This picture is of the kids in front of a PVC sculpture located in the gardens. 

This is the end of a fern as it is "growing out".  I love how it is curled up like this. 

Who knew peppers could be so pretty?  We saw many ornamental (and edible) pepper plants and have decided to try and plant some for our garden this fall.

A grasshopper that CP saw on a tree while sitting down for a rest.

 This is a shot of the entire Bok tower and the reflection in the "reflecting pool" in front of it.

We celebrated our 18th anniversary on Sunday!

In another pond, there were these HUGE lily pads!  I had never seen lilly pads this huge before!

One of the two swans swimming in the reflecting pool (along with a bunch of Koi).  You could buy food to feed the swans, but don't get too close.  They were very protective of their pond and would snap at you if you stood too close for too long.

The tower has 60 bells in the carillon. The smallest one is 16lbs and the biggest is 2 tons! (I think).  Anyway, the shape behind the kids is the actual size of the largest bell!  Just to give you an idea, JA (the oldest) is 5' tall!

The kids decided to take a long run down the hill!

Cousin It decided to join us for part of our tour!

Oops, it was HJ!

Earlier in the day, we took a break and had a picnic under the big oak trees.  CP said it reminded him of The Sound of Music while watching our four kids run around crazy-like under the trees.  Later in the day, we got caught in the rain and found refuge under a porch at a house on the property.  The kids started singing/humming, etc, so I proudly present to you

The Von(thunder)Clap Family Singers