Easter/Vacation

Well, it had to happen sometime. So many plates spinning... so much to do... sleep to be had. The blog dropped by the wayside. Sorry! I have lots to talk about and we'll see how much I get said because the kids are playing happily at the moment, but I will probably be up late tonight trying to finish this. Ugh. I just can't do that anymore because the lack of sleep is vicious.

All winter, Dan and I planned a vacation to Florida. We planned it for the first week in April, mainly because my wonderful parents and aunt Marie volunteered to have the babies for a week in Gillette. It was spring break, but I don't know how much of a break anyone got! But, it sounds like they had fun while we were away.

Dan and I spent a week in Florida. We had three days down in the Keys and three days in Orlando. It was a gloriously relaxing and rejuvenating week. Leaving the kids was a big decision, but not a hard one. We knew they were in great hands and didn't really worry about them at all. We missed them and were ready to see them after a week, but Aria wasn't so sure about seeing us! She cried and threw a fit when she saw us. It is still up for debate whether she was mad at me for being gone or (more likely) mad at Dan for picking up both the boys first. Levi just stared at Dan like he couldn't believe what he was seeing and David just seemed pretty happy - as usual.

Our first day in the Keys, Dan went deep sea fishing for mahi mahi and they brought in quite the catch. He brought home a portion and had it cooked at local restaurants for the next three meals. He claims it was delicious. I am not really into seafood. But, my pastas, burgers, and salads were delicious too!


My favorite part of Florida was just all the time we had to relax and spend quality time together. I loved our snorkeling trip, but my time in the water was cut a little short by some unexpected sea-sickness. We were taken to a pristine coral reef that seemed untouched by humanity. There were only six guests on the boat and one captain. Dan and I snorkeled together and enjoyed the emerging sea life as it swam in and out of the corals. We were shocked when a very large eel stuck its head out and bared all its gruesome looking teeth at us. Needless to say, I was out of there. I think I screamed a little in my mask and kicked as hard as I could with my flippers, hoping the commotion would warn it not to follow me and I would easily become an early lunch. Later, we learned that they are pretty harmless, easily tamed, and opening their mouths is how they breathe. It was still too freaky looking for me.

Here is me after my entire day of relaxing and sleeping while Dan was fishing. Don't I look refreshed?

Here is the view from our room. Yes, that is the beach and the ocean in the background there.

That's me in relaxing in the hammock on the beach. We really had it rough!

Dan and I spent one evening after dinner in the hammock. The moon was shining through the palm tree above us and the cool ocean breeze was refreshing. I would like to think we didn't talk about the kids. :D


The view from our last restaurant in the Keys.




While we were in Orlando, we were able to meet up with our good friend, Aaron and meet his new bride, Natalie. Aaron is the head of Shepherd's House Ministries which is building a new orphanage in Haiti. This is the orphanage Dan designed for two summers ago. We've been keeping up with all the progress since then. We will be praying about putting together a mission team from our area to go down and help once the building process starts. I believe the ground breaking is in May, so that is very exciting.

We had a day at Universal Studios and another day and a half of relaxing fun. We played putt-putt golf and had some fierce competition going. I had the lead on the front nine, but Dan pulled out a win on the back nine. I had a hole-in-one on the last hole. It was awesome. We hit the outlet malls and got a few summer clothing items for the kids.

Here is the M&M store we found and we actually coordinated with the characters! I'm corny, I know.



Our final day there, we made the short drive over to Cocoa beach and soaked in the last of the Florida sunshine. There was a "surfing" competition going on, but I almost can't call it surfing. There wasn't much to speak of for waves, but I guess they were giving it a try. The beach was quite crowded. We didn't stay long as our flights were being changed throughout the day. We had to get to the airport.

I should really have my mom, dad and Marie write a little blog post about their week with the kiddos. Hmmmm.... any takers?

We made it back to Gillette the day before Easter. We have some attempts of Easter picture Sunday afternoon. I wish the kids were as cooperative as they were cute, but we did our best.

Our first attempt at pictures was a flop. Levi was SOUND asleep! Even Aria throwing a fit right next to him didn't make him stir.



We laid Levi down for a nap and caught a few pics of the other two. Then we changed them and waited for a photo opportunity later in the day, when everyone would be a bit more cheery.






Here are the two best family pictures. Not too shabby, if you ask me. You would never know how smiley of a baby Levi is by the pictures. I don't know why his face goes flat in front of the camera!



Finally, the babies got to open their Easter baskets from Grandma and Grandpa Rigsby. Their favorite part was feeling the grass.



We left that evening to make the long drive home. We stopped in Rapid City at our good friends, the Suomalas. They have a lovely new home that they let us invade and their boys shared their toys. It was a nice break and place to do "bedtime". Dan volunteered to drive first once we got going again. I was shocked when I woke up and we were pulling into the driveway at 3:30am! The trade off to my nice long nap was letting Dan sleep in in the morning. It was my pleasure!

Well, hope this quick summary of the past month suffices. I will add some pictures and get this thing posted. I will try another day to tell of the past week's events. Thanks for sticking with us!

I'll leave you with a couple pictures of the trio playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house!