Williams Family Lunch

(From 12/23/16)

This morning we went to do our annual tradition of delivering Christmas gifts and food to families through City Union Mission.  As I mentioned last year, this is an important value in our family.  But this particular event has increased in popularity, so this year they only had one bag for us to deliver, and unfortunately that family wasn't home.  So we said a prayer for that family and dropped off the gifts and food back at the main office.

We then headed home briefly before going to lunch with Meghan's extended family. Mark and Barb are in town for Christmas, and Michelle is too.  We met with all of them, along with Eric and Christine, at Chapala for a nice lunch.  We'll see them all on Christmas afternoon at Eric and Christine's house, so thankfully this wasn't our only chance for interaction.  But it was great to see everyone, and we're looking forward to the main event on Sunday.

Dinner With My Mom and Christine

My mom was in town to visit her mom and also to spend some time at a retreat with her best friend Deb, and she was able to stop by on her way home. So today Christine and she came over for dinner. The kids really enjoyed seeing her, and of course it was nice for me too.

Since she was here and won't see the kids again this fall, my mom took advantage of the timing and gave the kids their birthday presents. They really enjoyed their gifts.

Almost as much as Christine enjoyed her free new hair style.

Hannah was exhausted by it all. It was really great to see both my mom and Christine and we are glad they could stop by.

A Day at the Pool

Today we took advantage of the nice day and went to the pool. There really aren't any pubic pools in Destin or near my mom so we went to the base pool. It reminded me of the pools from my childhood, but the kids still loved it because all they really care about is that they can jump off the edge. They actually are not huge fan of the new zero-depth entry trend because they are basically like, "Why would you remove a jumpable edge?!". They had a lot of fun and it was a nice afternoon.

After dinner, we went to the park near my parents' house. It was a good night for Joshua because we rode bikes (or in his case, a scooter) there, which always makes him happy AND he learned to do the pole for the first time ever. He was super proud as he pretty much thought this was the funnest thing to do at the park ever.

A Day at the Beach

Today we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go to the beach.  Even though I prefer the beaches of Destin, the kids are small so prefer no waves so we went to a beach near my parents' home which is in a protected bay, so has no real surf. This was perfect for the kids and they had a great time. They really liked playing with Grandpa's boogie board too. We had a fun time.

Picnic at the Shore

Today I had hoped to go to the beach, but Joshua woke up with a fever and feeling awful. So we decided to stay home. My parents got a kiddie pool for the kids to play in, so the girls had a lot of fun with that.

Later on, Joshua rallied after some advil and also had a good time playing out there.

That night for dinner, we had a picnic in the park and also got to play at the playground. Joshua still wasn't feeling great so his heart wasn't exactly in it. But we still had a nice time by the water. The kids were kind of mad I didn't bring the swimming stuff as there is a beach area at this particular park, but the conversation was ended when a brief but strong storm came through at the end of our meal.