Trek 2017

Jessica, in her first Trek experience as a leader. Here are the photos. She can caption them later.

LATER

My dad was in charge of Trek again this time.  He was absolutely amazing.  From the planning that started 4 months ago to the last day packing up portable toilets and tarps, he did it all.  And he's just so dang funny, too!  Trek won't be the same without him.  Did I mention he walked the entire trail with us? 

Me and the Dread Lord of Trek

Some of our lovely big brothers and sisters...

Me and my counselors, who are amazing

Here are few pics from the pioneer festival...

Pioneer selfie  (that was totally a thing back then)

I'm sure the pioneers got bored and tried to benchpress the cart, right?

One of my favorite pictures from Trek.  Brigham, the roaming gnome, magically appeared on the Holmes' cart.  I think those ne'er do wells the Baileys, had something to do with it...

Morning devotional...

Rusty Weaver told my dad that the only way to eat the sausage egg burritos from McDonald's is with the strawberry jam that was in the bag.  Dad tried it.  And then spit it out and almost died.

Ahh, the magic of Brother and Sister Cox :)

Sister McKendrick giving a great devotional to the girls...

I went from being totally terrified of having anything to do with Trek, to absolutely loving it.  I would do it again without hesitation.  To think, Cindy AND Luke with both be on Trek next time around.  Excuse me while I go cry my eyes out.

What's been going on?

This blog is not as current as it used to be and that tears me up. I really enjoy the memories it captures and feel we are losing too much by letting it go.

I have tried to encourage everyone to blog as often as possible, but even I don't remember to do it. Plus, keeping social media up to date is hard enough. Transferring files and pictures to a computer to upload are even more of a pain. But I really want to stick with this.

Here is what we have been up to since our last post Nov 3rd-ish.

The high school soccer season has picked up and it's been a good year. 

Next was Thanksgiving. Brian and family came down to visit. We stayed right here in Lakeland. I'm kinda cheating here but this is the fastest way to store these memories. 

Then there was the impromptu Sanibel trip courtesy of FYSA and ODP.

And Cindy's chorus concert.

Christmas 2017 (Jacob)

I have no idea when anyone will blog about Christmas 2017, but just in case no one else does here are a few things.


Today we started with stockings, then Swedish pancakes followed by opening presents. Then we needed to play with those presents, which included a new PS4, a mini-drone, See's candies and a STAR labs hoodie.

Sweenish pancakes

One of the two hammocks we ended up with...

We got the game "Googly Eyes", which is like psychodelic pictionary.  Pretty fun!  AND you get to look just like Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter.  Bonus!

Next, we headed to the Grandparents Bingham for more presents some dinner, and games.



 Nathan and Linnley also got us this awesome BB-8 droid, who Tigerlarry was pleased to meet.

 The picture on the wall was also new this year.  Thanks, DeAnne!

Halloween Everything 2017

Halloween definitely seems to be the holiday around here that just keeps on giving.  This year it started early with me giving in to the kids constant requests to carve a pumpkin.  Cindy carved her Superman pumpkin weeks ago, so Luke had to get in on the action.  Cindy was a champ and helped Luke with most all of the legwork and some of the knifework as well.  Turned out pretty well, Barry Allen.

Next up was the Bartow Halloween Parade, one of our family's most time-honored traditions.  This time Luke decided to wear his costume.  For the longest time leading up to Halloween, he wanted to be Black Panther from the Avengers. I was adamantly against it.  BOR-ING!  It was basically just a black costume with a mask that might kinda tell you who he was.  Thankfully, in a twist of fate, I rented Spiderman: Homecoming last weekend and Luke changed his mind soon after. My spidey senses told me I had dodged a huge bullet.

Yes, those are real muscles. Grandma checked.

This is the literally the best picture we could get of everyone.  Ridiculous.  

Cindy did not have a bag to collect any candy she could get her hands on, so she turned her hoodie around backwards and used it as some sort of low level food trough.  

Take the picture so I can hurry up and murder you.

Fun fact: Spiderman is afraid of clowns and will use his mother as a human shield when he sees one coming.

 

Please don't see me, Please don't see me...

And now the winner of "The Float That Didn't Quite Turn Out the Way You Envisioned" Award...

It's Winnie the Pooh falling in a beehive. Duh.  

The next day was Fall Festival at the church.  And here is how I felt about that....

Whoo-hoo!  Cindy did a group costume.  Alvin and Chipmunks with Charlotte and Maddie....

I went as a strawberry.  I knew Carmen Stanley would be expecting a fruit costume and I didn't want to let her down.

Pay no attention to Luke's crazy eyes.

Halloween day was actually kind of exciting for me this year.  I decided to participate in the school's teacher dress up day.  We had to be a book character.  So........ Behold! The Magic Tree House!

 I was pretty proud of this little costume!  It didn't take me too long and the kids seemed to really enjoy it.  Yes, I did wear this in car line and during lunch duty.  No, I could not really open doors or Gogurts.  Yes, I was amazing. 


Halloween night we went to our friend's, The Baileys, house as we usually do.  It's such a fun tradition.  I look forward to it every year :) 

This year's crew

My crew

The best part is always the house that gives out full size bars.  Spiderman went with the 3 Musketeers.  Hershey bars were not available this year apparently.

Finally! Something worth stealing from Luke.

And the second best part is returning to the Bailey's to pig out on candy and watch someone play Xbox while Cindy and her friends go around the neighborhood for a second time.

And another Halloween is in the books!  I gotta start thinking of a costume for Luke now.  We can't let a Black Panther situation happen again next year...