Second Spring Break

 When Victoria made the dance team at BYUI, we didn't know if we'd see her again until the end of July when she performs right here in Michigan and some other places nearby for their Midwest tour. Happy day for us when she discovered she could come home for spring break, the break between winter semester and spring semester. She didn't have any practice for dance, so we got her a ticket and she came home!

She arrived on the evening of the 11th and it was raining pretty hard, so Erik's soccer practice was canceled and Austin and Kade were already back from their destinations. When we realized that everyone would be home for dinner together and that it was Victoria's half-birthday, Erik decided to make a cake to celebrate! He put in 19 1/2 candles. Guess what? She can still blow out all the candles in one blow! I don't think I've seen anyone blow out that many in one blow.

Everyone was so excited to see her, they ran out onto the wet grass in the rain!

Austin's very proud to be taller than her now. 

Here's how the line-up is now.

She had run out of a lot of her make-up products, so we shopped for those after I returned from work Friday. She has expensive taste. We went to the track meet on Saturday to support Susie and Austin (his first invitational where he ran a medley with 3 other freshmen. They got 7th out of 15th and their opponents were all juniors and seniors- go freshies!)

Look at Austin drafting off that guy!

Saturday evening was our ward fundraiser for youth camps. We invited Susie's family so that they could get more time with Vicky. Kade was represented by an amazing cake he made and donated for the function. I'm still receiving compliments for his delicious and beautiful cake. 

The Bishop's family won it at the auction and shared.

We supported Erik after church at his soccer game as a family. His coach specifically asked us if he could be at a couple of Sunday games if they were after church, so we agreed. After the game, the Kish's come over to play games. I knew Victoria would want to spend as much time with Susie as she could, but I wanted her home, so my plans worked!

Throughout the week, Victoria was able to go to work with me as a sub for a coworker at Red Bell, which was so fun! We watched Gilmore Girls together a few times and went to lunch with Jason. She saw various friends when they were out of school and went to some track and dance practices just for fun. Last night, Victoria, Kade, and I went to see the high school play Anything Goes with friends. It was fantastic!

Downtown Plymouth

Big Moe's Kitchen- delish!

Target shopping!

This morning was very early as we had to leave at 5am to take her to the airport. After her two flights and then a bus ride to Rexburg, she'll make it back tonight to start Spring Sememster and more training for Dance Alliance!

Eclispe 2024

 We didn't plan on going to see this eclipse because we had seen the last one in 2017. Not that it wasn't the most amazing thing and we didn't want to see it again, but the timing wasn't good and Victoria was not with us, so we just figured we'd see the 98.9% here. 

As the time came closer and there was more talk about it, I learned that it was going to be a little longer than the one we saw and maybe a little better because of the solar flares. Then I started to learn about how unprepared our schools were for this amazing natural phenomenon that was to be seen at 100% totality just an hour away from our home.

For instance, our spring break was two weeks earlier, I think they should have changed it for this event, or just given us a half or full day off, regardless. Austin's track coach had made a mandatory indoor meeting for them to be at. The high school was going to be out of school just in time, but they didn't want students who were still at school (including those still at middle school and elementary) to risk looking up and hurting their eyes. Supposedly, if they were still in school, they would have had to have parental permission for the students to go outside and have provided eclipse glasses for every student. Erik's middle school did provide glasses for everyone, but they got out of school just before the eclipse reached totality, so they were excused just in time anyhow. Some families went somewhere and missed school, from what we heard from our friends. A large number of people drove the hour to Toledo, OH. at some point so see 100%. I know at Red Bell, most of my students went somewhere to see it and weren't at school.

I decided that I wanted to drive as far south toward Toledo as I could after work before I hit too much traffic, and just see what I could. I ended up somewhere in the very southern end of Michigan near a river where a bunch of people were looking up at it, so I pulled over to see how much they could see. I was there for about 5 minutes and Jason told me where I was at was 99.77% totality. When I got back in my car to see if I could go further, the traffic was horrific, so I went back to my spot and enjoyed it there. 

Now I can say that truly, 100% is the way to go and is so much better than just 1% less than that.  I enjoyed what I saw still because I could imagine the rest of it. It still got dark enough for the street lights to turn on, the creatures started making their evening noises, and it definitely got cooler. I could see the diamond part of the diamond ring that the eclipse makes, but not the ring. Also, pictures aren't as good without totality.

It turned out that Ausin's coach canceled that meeting and they all got to go home so he could see it, along with Kade, Erik, and Jason who all had the glasses. They all enjoyed it and could imagine the rest of it as well, from when we saw it before. 20 more years til the next one, right?

Easter

 This was our first significant holiday without Victoria here, but it seems like a lot of people were traveling during Easter weekend and weren't at their homes, so it was okay. I know typically college students don't go home for Easter either, but it was still odd not to have her home. We talked to her a couple times and FaceTimed as well. 

Since we had gotten home from our vacation Friday night, Saturday was mostly getting things put away, though we also prepped some food items since we had invited friends to come over for Easter dinner. Our friends, the Remingtons, whom we ate Easter and Thanksgiving dinners with last year, came over as well as two other families, the Farnsworths and Angels. All of them have boys who are Deacons and we have been friends with the Farnsworths for about 17 years now. 

Kade and Erik helped make resurrection rolls.

We colored eggs.

I'm getting ahead of myself though. First, Austin, Jason, and I went to choir practice to prepare for our 1 hour special Easter service. Our music turned out beautifully, as did the other musical numbers during the program. There was one speaker and she gave a meaningful talk. After church, there wasn't a lot of time, but we still got to hold an Easter Come Follow Me lesson and the kids even did a quick Easter egg hunt. They wanted me to hide their baskets, which had nothing special in them besides some favorite candies, and then eggs. I think I hid them in around 10 minutes and they found them in 5 or 10 minutes- 29 eggs each! 

Austin was the speediest.

He was done in 5 minutes!

I forgot we did put Erik's new goalkeeper gloves in his basket, but he was there when we bought them.

Everyone pulled their weight and helped set up the tables, chairs, and set the tables. We served ham, roasted potatoes, peas, raw carrots, and rolls. Our friends brought deviled eggs, roasted asparagus, a fruit plate, and lots of desserts. There were 19 people in total! We had a great time and enjoyed the good company. I took pictures of the kid tables, but of course, I forgot to take one of the adults. I seem to never get pics with my best friends- I'm always having too much fun! Kade said it was the most fun Easter!

A bunch of Deacons, +1.

The high schoolers and the little girls.

I read some touching messages about the Savior and His atonement and am grateful for the knowledge I have regarding His gift to us. 

Happy Easter!

Spring Break

 For a couple of years Kade has been talking about going to see the Pine Barrens in New Jersey which is a special ecosystem that is marked by acidic, low-nutrient water and soils. It is the biggest pine forrest of its kind in the world. That's not the only thing it's known for though.  Those who are into the paranormal are really interested in the area. Not only is it known for many sightings of the Jersey Devil, but for other haunted areas and sightings of ghosts. 

Kade follows a YouTube channel of guys that check out many of these types of places, but this is one that caught his interest.  Since we couldn't fit it in easily this summer,  we decided to go for spring break. The only problem was that we couldn't go camping since the campsites don't open till April 1st and the weather was a little cooler and wetter than we would have preferred,  but we're from Michigan,  so we sucked it up.  (I did pack my winter gear because I seem to not be able to get warm anymore 🙃).

On the way out all we heard from Google maps was that there could be coastal flooding in the area. We knew it was going to definitely rain one of the 3 days we'd be there, possibly even rain for 2 of them, so we planned accordingly. Actually,  Jason did. He's an excellent vacation planner!

We drove out Monday and enjoyed the 10 hour drive together.  Our Airbnb was cute and nice,  though a little chilly.  It was in Somers Point and a five minute walk to the beach. 

We realized at a rest stop tht these 3 repped our college favs!

Our Airbnb

Tuesday was our day for the Pine Barrens, when we knew it would be clear. 

Driving by the Pine Barrens.

We started with Weymouth Furnace. They manufactured munitions for the war of 1812. It's now abandoned and was actually closed to the public, so we just took pictures from outside the borders.

Then we went to The Blue Hole where some people think the Jersey Devil lives. It's 50 degrees year-round. It never freezes. The hike was beautiful and we could see how sandy the soil is. Because of all the rain, part of the path had flooded, but we were able to get around. 

Some water holes on the hike that demonstrated the iron desposits very common in the Pine Barrens.

Water that blocked this part of the trail.

The Blue Hole

Kade maade it!

Signs of a beaver's work.

More red deposits and more flooding.

Next, we went to the Quaker Bridge, where one of the first sightings of the White Stag was, which indicates a warning of danger. The best part was the old abandoned railroad tracks that we walked along for a while,  just for fun. The bridge it itself was anticlimactic,  partly because it wasn't the original. When we left the bridge is when things got really interesting. We had driven on a very bumpy dirt road to the path for walking to the bridge. Our plan was to visit Batsto Village next and Google maps thought the road she led us on was meant for driving. Well, maybe if you're driving a dirt bike,  which was the only vehicle/person we saw for most of the day. We had quite the adventure driving down a 6 mile extremely narrow road, surrounded by trees and encountering enormous pot holes in the ground filled with water. One we had to completely avoid and drove through a clearing in the trees, which also included driving through water. The kids and I pulled back some branches so they wouldn't scratch up the truck. Austin got out at one point to run ahead and make sure we weren't going get to a point where we'd just have to turn around.  He also tested out the holes to see how deep they were before we chanced it in the truck.  It was the last hole that was a little too deep,  but I don't think any permanent damage was done. 

We loved these railroad tracks!

The Quaker Bridge.

This is the only picture I took of the huge holes in the ground and you can hardly see them due to the reflection of the card in the window. If you look closely, you can see 3 of them in  row here. These were at the end.

We were relieved to finally see a few cars when we came out near Batsto Village, which is a historic village dating back to 1766. The 2nd floor window of the mansion is said to have sightings of a ghost in it. To me, the whole mansion itself looks like the ideal haunted house.  I think it's where all haunted houses get inspiration from. At Batsto Village have been the most sightings of the Jersey Devil. Batsto is from the Swedish word "batsu" which means "bathing place".

The ideal haunted house!

After our adventures,  especially the off-roading, we were tired, but after our dinner our boxed jambalaya with fresh andouille sausage, peppers,  and onions (thanks Jason!) we enjoyed games and a movie. 

The steam from the food fogged up my lens!

The next day wasn't as rainy as we expected,  thank goodness,  but that didn't mean we didn't get wet! Well,  Jason and I didn't,  but after we arrived at Cape May, at the very southern tip of New Jersey, the kids didn't care that it was 50 degrees.  They played tag with the waves and lost. Austin took the biggest loss when he jumped off a rock to avoid a big wave and it was deeper than he thought on that side. Since he wasn't hurt or in danger of being washed away,  I was laughing way too hard! The look of shock on his face was hilarious! We got him warmed up and enjoyed the little museum and the lighthouse. We went to a WWII lookout that was closed, but spent about 30 more minutes on the beach looking for Cape May diamonds. They're just quartz washed into the ocean by rivers, getting tumbled along the way to shine them up. People actually make jewelry with them. After the visit to the museum,  when we saw them on the beach we had to collect some. 

They were trying to touch the rock and move back before getting wet. 

We were cold!!

The rock that got Austin was the big one on the far left.

An old WWII bunker.

Looking for Cape May diamonds.

The smaller clear ones are the "diamonds".

Out in the ocean is concrete ship they were tesing during WWI.

WWII lookout

We ate dinner back in Somers Point, at a place called Grilled Cheese and Crab Cake Co, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives 2 times. We had some delicious crab sandwiches there and fries covered in crab soup, crumled bacon, and Old Bay. I'm not a fries person, nor a bacon person, but it was really good! A super fun hour of charades followed by an amazing movie Grand Turismo is how we ended the day.

The next day was the rainy day. Our plans to drive to Dover,  DE, 2 hours away where we bought our first home,  was perfect. The kids appreciated it, even though Victoria was the only kid who lived there. We showed them around including the Dover Speedway track,  downtown Dover which it quite quaint, and then the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover AFB where Jason was stationed. 

Our old home!

Dover Motor Speeway

At the Air mobililty museum Erik was captivated by all the maps, his interest.

Austin ws captivted by the gagdets and STEM, his interest.

Jason was our private tour guide.

We went to the lookout tower.

The C-5!

Jason, captivated by the C-5.

We warmed up taquitos and rice and had a bagged Mexican salad with it before grabbing some ice cream in the rain, after we returned. The movie we saw the night before was so good that we didn't want to watch another that would definitely not be as good, so we just played some more games, including charades. 

It rained all day in Somers Point, except for this one moment when the sun waaas setting and I caught this beauty.

Before we left on Friday morning we walked down to the beach to take a peek. Erik and I went the first day,  but the rest didn't have a chance with our other activities and the rain. When we got in the car to leave,  we all agreed that it was the perfect vacation.  Enough relaxtion, fun, working out, good food, education,  and great company!

5 minutes from our Airbnb.