Argentina mission trip

Chad is off again to Argentina for a week long mission trip. He and 3 other guys from our Sunday School class left on Friday and after a 13 hour plane ride, they arrived safely. It's winter down there, so they had to pack for temps of 30-40 degrees and leave the 90+ temps here. They will be busy doing construction and spreading God's word. Please be praying for Chad and his team!

You can follow along with their trip by clicking on the link below.

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/drpaulstl/argentina_2007/1185579780/tpod.html

We did it!

Okay, for our friends out there who read Harry Potter, Chad and I finished the 759 page book last night!! For our other friends--sorry, you could probably care less--although you do know what I am talking about, unless you have been hiding under a rock lately! Anyway, I mentioned before that we were debating buying 2 copies, so we wouldn't have to fight over the book, but I thought we shouldn't do that. Well, some very sweet friends told us to buy 2 copies and they offered to buy one of them from us once we finished!!! Sounded like a great deal, so we bought them Saturday morning and we were reading whenever Luke was asleep! I won't give anything away for those of you who haven't read it, but it was fantastic!! Stop reading this blog and GO READ Harry Potter! :)

**Also note that I put a poll up on our blog. I've been dying to try this new poll feature and I thought why not try a poll on Harry Potter since I'm writing about it! Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want!

new discovery

My friend, Sarah, posted something about a deal she found thanks to craigslist.com, so I thought I'd take a look. You've probably heard of craigslist because I'm sure it's been around for a while, but I just checked it out the other day for the first time. It has potential and it led me to a fun find for Luke.

There are all kinds of listings of items that people are giving away for free and for sale. There are also listings for garage sales. I saw a post that said there would be a huge sale down the street from me, so I stopped by the sale today and found Luke a couple of new toys (a firetruck--he's addicted to them and a xylophone, so he can bang around and make some music) for a total of $5! Yippeee!

My dad was so sweet today and offered to watch Luke for a couple of hours while I ran some errands. It's funny to me that while I was able to run the errands sans Luke, I still made stops because of Luke (ie the garage sale). It was nice to be able to blast the radio in the car and run in and out of places in no time flat, but I did miss my little shopping buddy! I doubt Luke missed me though--Grandpa took him to the playground!! :)

On another note, the last Harry Potter book comes out tonight!! It's about time! Chad and I will be fighting over who gets to read it. We even talked about purchasing two books so we wouldn't have that problem--but we decided against it. I'm hoping to get some reading in during Luke's naps--if my blogging starts to suffer, you will know why!

short but sweet

This past weekend we made a trip up to northern VA, to see Chad's family. We flew in Friday afternoon and came back Sunday night, so it was quick but fun too! The airport and airplanes produced HUGE grins and lots of excitement for Luke. Chad and I were pretty much done with the flight after being on the plane for 15 minutes with a rambunctious toddler, but all in all he was good.

This was our first time to see our new little nephew James who was born at the end of April. He is SO cute. It was so sweet to just watch him sleep! Jackson, Luke's other cousin, and Luke weren't too interested in the baby though. They were busy being silly, giggling and playing with the balls and trucks in Nana and Poppy's backyard.

For such a short visit, we managed to do a lot! We had good family time with Chad's parents, Kristen and Patrick (Chad's sister and bro-in-law) and our nephews and we even squeezed in a trip to the National zoo, and a park with a fun playground.

Sweet baby James

Jackson and Luke having the best time!

The boys anxiously awaiting our trip to the zoo!

Poppy and Nana and their 3 grandsons!

Fun in Florida (Part 2)

On the 4th of July after playing on the beach, eating lunch, and naps, we drove over to Baytowne (an area of Sandestin that's on the bay --hence the name) for dinner. The place is beautiful and quaint. There are all kinds of restaurants, golfing, shopping and charming condos and rentals. It has become one of our favorite places to visit while we are in Destin.

We had dinner at Poppy's where we enjoyed some of the BEST calamari ever made! After dinner we walked down the pier and checked out the scenery. Luke almost gave me a heart attack as he tried to climb over the railing on the pier while I was busy watching fish jump out of the water! After taking some pictures, we walked paths through Baytowne in search of some much needed ice cream! July 4th isn't July 4th without ice cream--plus, that seemed to be something we were craving every night! We found a little ice cream parlor and I so kindly used all of the register's ticket tape, that Elisabeth got her family's ice cream for free! Yippee--hey, anything I can do to help! Luke thought it was the best night of his life when he had both parents offering him bites of their ice cream! The coconut seemed to be his favorite. You should see Chad reinacting Luke's face when he took his first bite--it's hilarious!

So after Baytowne and ice cream, we headed back to the condo, put the kids in bed and sat out on the balcony watching a beautiful display of fireworks over the ocean! Talk about perfect. The only thing I can think will be even better, is when we can be down on the beach, watching the fireworks with the kids when they are older---listening to their squeals!

Aren't we all patriotic??!! Happy 4th of July!

Mommies and Babies!

Time to go get ice cream, Dad!

We love you Mills family!

That's all folks!

Fun in Florida (Part 1)

So in a previous post, I promised to write more often, and then we went out of town! Now, we're back and I'm ready to blog!

We headed down to Destin, FL for a week of fun in the sun! Our friends Ben and Elisabeth and their daughter Janie, left Michigan to meet us down there. We had a blast! Forget vacations of old, (where you sit and read and sleep for hours on the beach) and welcome vacations with toddlers (where you constantly have to keep an eye on them)!

Luke and Janie had lots of fun and became buddies right away! They had a great time playing on the beach and in the condo together. Chad and I also loved spending the week with Ben & Elisabeth. At night after the kids were in bed, we stayed up talking, playing games, reading and talking more! It was great to catch up. It seems like when we get together, it's like we haven't ever been apart! We took tons of pictures, as you will see below, but here are some interesting tidbits from the trip. . .

--Luke (and his parents) survived his first road trip. . .only 2 Baby Einsteins on the way down. . the way back was a different story!

--Chad and I were both stung by jellyfish! :( My sister called and immediately asked if we peed on each other (you remember the episode from Friends?

--My bathing suit top broke while I was standing on the beach holding Luke--yep, that's right, I flashed the beach!

--We learned that no matter how hard we tried to avoid it, if you bring snacks down to the beach--the kids WILL be eating sand! Janie and Luke ate Cheerios and Goldfish sprinkled with sand everyday!

--The sun wears the kids out! Luke and Janie took great naps (although they did wake early and were ready to face the day before we were)!

Okay, here are some of the pics. . .

Jackson family pic!

Luke and Janie--little models!

The Mills and the Jacksons!

Janie (in the middle of clapping!) and Luke smiling for the camera!

The kids busy playing on the beach!

I'll post a Part 2 of our trip later! Get ready for more!