Trip to Florida #3

Before we left Canada, we told the kids we wanted to plan a half-day fun stop. We talked about many possibilities and the kids finally decided on going to the zoo. We found a small little zoo in Richmond, Virginia that was perfect for a 3 hour stop. Before heading inside Patrick received a call from a preacher in Florida! Yay! On our trip he got a total of 3 preachers calling about scheduling meetings. God is so good and always right on time! The zoo had many animals and it was a stop enjoyed by all 7 of us.

The White Tiger

Watching the cute black bear sleeping.

Brenna and her favorite animal...the turtle. Or is this a tortoise?

Feeding the giraffes. It was actually kind of gross! They have long, slobbery, black tongues, and we were feeding them right before lunch! Yuk!

During lunch we were attacked by bees. I think they need to open up a new exhibit! This was also our first day of HOT! I think we're already starting to miss our 60 degree Quebec weather!

We took a train ride to see some more animals. Poor Callie cried the whole time. I wonder what that tour guide was actually saying? I don't think anyone was really able to hear her. (how embarassing)

The kiddos loved feeding all of the animals. My Bethy has always loved Bambi, she was glad to finally meet him!

It was a perfect stop to get some fresh air, stretch our legs, and make some memories together. We left the zoo at naptime and we were able to get in lots of afternoon miles.

Trip to Florida #2

Back to our trip! We enjoyed the drive through the Adirondacks. It's so beautiful! Patrick and I lived in Plattsburgh when we were first married, so it brings back lots of memories to come this way.

We had a "fun" time trying to get hotel rooms each night. We wanted to be able to drive as far as we could each day, so it was hard to tell in advance where we would be. Once Patrick (and Silas!) started to wear down, I would use my Streets and Trips program and plot an hour down the road. Then, the "fun" calling began to find a hotel room that was cheap, cheap, cheap, and clean, too! As one lady put it, "You want to house 5 children in one hotel room!" There was only one hotel that let us all sleep in the same room. (Josh had his sleeping bags for him and Silas, Callie had her pack-n-play, Patrick and I in one bed, the girls in the other). This hotel was really neat and had 3 beds. I had never seen anything like that and it worked perfect for our family!

We also resorted to the old faithful PBJ's for lunch. A little messy for a road trip, but we fed ourselves lunch for $6 a meal! Wow!

Plus, it was good for my kiddos to get out and enjoy the fresh air at a picnic table, then run around a little bit, too.

New Jersey

The portable DVD player worked very well to use when the kids were finished with school.

Delaware

Maryland

For some reason, my trusty Streets and Trips took us through downtown Washington DC before we realized what was happening. I thought it was great! Patrick, my I'd-rather-stay-on-the-interstate-no-matter-what husband, didn't actually agree.

Virginia

Last "Official" French Class

I know these posts will be out of order (I'm supposed to be posting about our trip back to Florida) but, I wanted to post about our last class. Of course, Madame Claire was in on our secret to come home a month early. She told us for our last class she wanted to prepare a huge breakfast! Wow! It was amazing. She had every breakfast food imaginable...croissants, french bread, crepes, homemade fruit compote, eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, cheese, muffins, coffee, tea, juice, milk...it was unbelievable!

It was definitely a feast and an excellent breakfast, but it was very hard to say good-bye. God gave us the perfect professor. I've said many times before, Madame Claire is so patient and loving to our family. She treats our kids as her own grandchildren and she is a friend to Patrick and I. We will surely miss Madame Claire. She has such a servant's heart and it's so amazing how God works. She put a lot of effort and work into our family learning the language of french. Thanks, Madame Claire, we will miss you! Come visit us in St. Barthelemy soon!

Surprise! We're in Florida!

Our original plan was to leave Canada the end of October. After looking at our support and talking with Pastor Strange, we decided to come home early and try to schedule some meetings. We also decided we would surprise my family! How fun! It was so hard not giving away clues and hints to them, but I think we successfully surprised them, and no one knew! Yay! I have several pictures from our trip, so I'll divide them up in in the next few posts.

We got our U-haul trailer Saturday morning. It was chilly and in the high 50's. Wow! I'm going to miss that weather! The kids were so excited as we were packing up our trailer and cleaning out our house. They were also a little sad, too. They loved our home. We left Saturday morning around 11.

We drove an hour and a half to Trois Rivieres to the Hamby's church were Patrick wa scheduled to preach. The church put us up in a gorgeous hotel and we enjoyed resting up. When it was time for us to leave after church on Sunday, Patrick asked, "We do have all of the passports, right?" I said sure! Then I realized that when we were putting our passports aside in a folder to have in the van with us, Patrick said to get all 6 of them. I said, okay, I've got all 6 of them. WE HAVE 7 PEOPLE IN OUR FAMILY! OOOPPs! What a way to start our trip! We had to unload about 1/3 of our trailer to find little Callie Grace's passport. I'm just glad I knew what box to look in!

Silas had a lot of fun playig with Luke Hamby while we unloaded and reloaded.

Here's Callie Grace, all ready to go. She was such a great traveler! She loves to sleep in her carseat.

After we left church we ran to A & W to get some quick lunch on the road. I had to get one last meal of Poutine. It's my favorite Quebec cuisine. Bye, Poutine, sniff, sniff, you'll be missed!

My kids travel very well, I'm so thankful. They love to read, sing, play, sleep, anything to pass time on the trip.

Silas sang most of the way. He has a french song stuck in his head! (Jesus te confie)

Bye, Bye, fall colors. The leaves were just starting to turn. I don't think we'll see any of that in Florida!

Almost to the states!

We made it across! This is Callie's first trip to the US!

Hello New York!

Little House on the Prairie in a Tent

The girls were very excited to show me a cool tent they made for Silas in Brenna's bed. They set up our DVD player with Little House on the Prairie playing. Silas camped out in there for a while. He loves watching all the horses and will "neigh" at them. And he always like to watch Little House with his hat!