Spring Camping Trip

A couple of weeks ago we took our bi-annual camping trip with several families from church. The Perkins are our wonderful planners and make everything so easy for us all to get together. Most of the pictures that I took are from Friday afternoon...that's because the weather was beautiful on Friday...and then the rains came...and the cold front came through. Basically it poured for about 2 hours on Saturday morning. We huddled up under the tarp covering Kendall built over our picnic table and Nathan made pancakes while we all tried to stay dry and convince ourselves we were not that cold. By about 10:30 then rain stopped, but the never came out and the temperatures stayed in the 40's all day. The kids still played and the adults huddled around the campfire most of the afternoon. We all managed to brave it until dinner and then we packed up and headed home since the temperature was suppose to dip around freezing that night. That is all of us except the Best family- they braved the cold and stayed the night. It was a good trip despite the cold. We definitely have memories and stories to tell, but I have to say it was good to sleep in my own bed on Saturday night

Kite Festival

One thing we love about Austin is the annual Kite Festival held at Zilker Park. This year, after postponing it a week due to rain, they could not have picked a better weekend. It was beautiful! The downside to that is everyone is Austin comes out to enjoy the festival and the weather, so it is VERY crowded. After waiting in line about a half an hour to park, we finally made it in. Although Tucker was tired and not really that excited about all the kites, griffin of course had a great time. It helped to have his friend John Paul come as well. While we did not do much kite flying ourselves (not for a lack of effort- it is hard to fly a kite) we enjoyed the festival and the weather and we are always glad when we go.

A Picnic at the Park

A few weeks ago it was a really nice outside on a Friday and I decided to cash in my Valentine's present from all my sweet boys- a picnic at the park. Nathan planned it, he and Griffin went to the store and got the groceries and made sandwiches, fruit, and potato salad and off we went to Zilker Park to eat and play. The weather was beautiful and the food was great. The boys played in the water, rode bikes (Tucker pushed his toy) and played baseball. We had a little meltdown by Griffin at the end, but all in all it was a fun afternoon. It is nice to have Fridays to spend as a family.

Thoughts on Heaven

Griffin has been very curious lately about dying and heaven. I am writing this blog for my own purposes, in an attempt to record his questions.

On our walk the other day, Griffin told me he did not want to go to heaven when he was 14 because he wanted to be 15 and then 16...

When we were camping last weekend, we were talking about the danger of getting too close to the fire and how it burns things. Somehow that led to a discussion about our bodies and how we will get new bodies in heaven. Today at breakfast, Griffin told me he did not want to get a new body yet.

Today at lunch Griffin said, "I can't hear Mema". I said, "Why would you think you could hear Mema". He said, "Cause she's in heaven". He also asked me several questions: Why can we not hear Jesus and God? Why do they have hearts?

The other day in the car, Griffin asked me why God did not let people come back to earth after they died. This led to a discussion about what God can do and why he chooses to let us go to heaven and not come back to earth. Then he asked me, "When Jesus died on the cross, why did he have all that blood". He then wanted to talk about him coming back and raising from the dead. If these questions get any harder, I am going to need to start studying first :)

Rodeo Days

Griffin had a rodeo day at school. He had a blast. Here are some pictures from the day

Snow Day

Yes...it snowed...in Austin, TX. Last Tuesday began with freezing rain that slowly turned to sleet and then snow, coming down all day long and sticking to the ground...at least for the day. By Wednesday afternoon it was all gone and 60 degrees again, but the kids got out of school and Griffin got to play in snow for the first time in his memory. Tucker was not so sure, but all in all it was a fun day.