Happy Birthday to Me, 2013

We had another wonder week in Winter Park with John and Susan skiing, relaxing and enjoying the beauty of winter in the mountains.  We hung out with Chris, Susan, Katie and Stella on Saturday evening.  The girls spent the night with us.  After their baths they stayed up for just a bit.  Susan was working on one of her many baby blankets she knits and Stella was very intrigued.  But then Stella is very intrigued with most any and everything.

We spent Sunday  skiing with all the Ingles.  The girls have made a lot of progress skiing from last year.  We watched them mostly this year head down the mountain.  Little ski bunnies.

It was colder this year than previous years....but we had to remind ourselves that it was February in the mountains and the snow was beautiful.

For my birthday dinner we tried a new resturant for Hal and me, Tabernash Tavern in Tabernash.  It was outstanding.  For dessert, we had cinnamon roll bread pudding!

My goal for 2013 was to make 13 runs down the mountain....success!

 

Granny Camp - Part 4

Another part of Granny Camp is to do a Service Project(s).  Part of ours was making cookies for Austin Street Shelter.  However, when we were at church Sunday, Pierce ran over to the board that displays our military men, women and their families and encourages us to write to them.  Pierce loves the military and jets.  He found the man he wanted to write to, however, there were no addresses in the envelope.  Just then, Marcus Walters father walked down the hall and meet us and said let me get it for you.

This is what Pierce wrote:
We met your dad.  Thank you for protecting us.  I love jets.  Jesus loves you.  God always gives you the tools to open your heart.

From Pierce (6  years old)


This is what Marcus wrote to Pierce:
Dear Denton Family (especially Pierce!)
Thank you so very much for the note y'all sent. I am glad to hear you enjoyed CCPC - I grew up in that church & have many fond memories.  Thank you also for the kind words of support.  It is very nice to know one is appreciated.  As for Pierce - if you love jets, I say go for it!  I am enclosing a picture of the jet I fly in the Navy.  It is called the E-6B Mercury.  It has four engines and is over 150 feet long.  Pretty cool stuff, huh?  I hope we can meet some time to talk about planes - I still love jets!  I wish you all the best, but keep those grades up!  To be a pilot you need to take math seriously.  I hope you had a great holiday season & wish you the best in 2013.
Sincerely, Marcus Walters LT, USN

Pierce got me some beautiful flowers for his appreciation for Granny Camp!  A success for sure on our first Granny Camp and I look forward to many more.

Granny Camp - Part 3

This was our special day that we made plans to take Pierce to the Perot Museum downtown.  The museum recently opened and is a great place for all ages.  Hal wants to take Harry with him during a week day....go figure!  There are many pictures here so I hope you enjoy a climpse of our wonderful day.

 It was tough to get Pierce to stand still with me as there was sooo much to see.

 He loves his dinosaurs....and knows them all.

 He enjoyed telling me all about each and every one of them.  No need to read.

 This is a magnetic wall that allows you to make your own dinosaur.  Way cool.

 This was Pierce's look most of the day.  All in awe and taking it all in. 

 There are many interactive places for the kids.  For this one, you wore the 3-D glasses and soared like an eagle.  Here Pierce was soaring down through the valley.

 Another cool thing to do along the way is to make a bird.  At the first stop you selected the type of body.  The next was type of beak.  The next, were feathers and then sound.  At the last station you saw a picture of your bird and named it....this is Swift Zipper!

 Now we are on the geek floor and GP is loving it.  Pierce is too.  This has something to do with a light beam.

 This picture is taken for Blake...something for everyone.

 Mom and dad...fyi...Pierce stayed at this station forever.  Long enough for GP & GM to have a seat. It has something to do with electricity.  He was fascinated over it.

 Again, in geek world so not really sure what this was about other than I know Pierce got to create something with his initials and then spun a wheel and it was displayed on a screen.  Ask Pierce.

 As I mentioned, there are many things to do as well as see at this museum.  I took a video of this but there were too many moms giving instructions to their kids.  But I think you get the idea.

 And last of all were not one but two 3-D movies.  Great way to wind down the day.

We are starving by now...so off to the Fish Shack for dinner...yum.

Granny Camp - Part 2

Camille loves Starbucks Soy Chi Tea Latte and GP loves to go get it for her and take Pierce.  Remind you that it's December outside and not really as warm as it looks, but it does look cool!

 The day was lovely enough to get outside and get some fresh air.  I just love this picture!

 We took Pierce to a park near by.  Guess the first thing he eye spied?

 Oh he is soooo going to love tomorrow's adventure.

 I have a picture of Pierce in my lap swinging when we visited Singapore.  Oh how he has grown.

 Love this little boy with all my heart.

 Who knows what we were doing here....but we are doing it together.

 Sweet.  Happy GP & GM.

Granny Camp - Part 1

Susan Ingle's granddaughters attend Granny Camp with their other set of grandparents and I've always loved to hear their stories when they return.  It reminds me of growing up with my grandparents and the wonderful memories spending time with the grandparents and cousins.  Anne Dierks even worte a book on "How To".  One of the rules, yes there are rules, is that you have to be potty trained to attend Granny Camp.  On My what fun we will have in a few years.  Because of logistics and time, Granny Camp had to be modified to one day, however to me, the entire holiday visit with Pierce was Granny Camp and I loved every minute. Just a few pictures of one of the sweetest boys.  His kindness towards others, the love he shares and the genuine kind spirit shows in these pictures.

 

 

 

Grandma loves you Pierce.

While Mom and Dad are Away

Keith and Elysse left on a Saturday for a wonderful vacation to Hawaii to celebrate their 5 year anniversary.  Good news / bad news....This means we get to play with Anna for a week however Keith came down with the flu while in Hawaii!  Julie arrived Friday night after leaving Camille and the boys at the airport (boo hoo) so she could get the routine down.

After church Anna went to visit Nanna...I just love this outfit.

I had Monday off so went to Gymboree with the girls.  It was a blast.  However,the babysitters didn't really realize until later that evening that Anna had an ear infection.  She was a trouper and showed us what to do.

We got Anna on Thursday evening.  GP took her to Mother's Day Out Friday morning.  I had to run home at lunch on Friday and GP warned me the house was a little messy as he didn't have time to clean up before they left.  Wished I could have been a fly on the wall to watch that morning.  Friday evening we went to Pappasitos and then shopping at GP's favorite place, Micro Center. She loved all the TVs.

 One of her favorite new shows is Yo Gabba Gabba.  Oh My Goodness this show is crazy.  But she wakes up saying YO!!  YO!! YO!! and wants you to sit with her.  Of course, no problem, would love to!

Passion 2013

We started off the year in Atlanta serving at Passion 2013 along with Julie, KW, John and Susan.  This has become an annual event the last few years and one that I have to say starts my year off in a wonderful way. My words can not do justice for all that happens during the week with the kids, adults, the organization and Jesus.  This year we arrived New Years Eve day.  Just in time to stroll down the sidewalks with our suite cases during the LSU / Clemson parade.  For those who travel with us...it was like being in Rome.  We took the time to watch the parade which was fun.

We had to wait for a bit to get checked into our rooms so we stopped for lunch at Hooters!  This was John's 1st visit to Hooters...probably not his last!

One fun thing that happened, I thought anyway, was that we got to have a slumber party with John and Susan New Years Eve.  We could only get 1 room, at a decent price, for the night.  We watched the LSU/Clemson game that was being played just blocks from our hotel, had our wine and champagne.  We certainly did not invite KW over for a glass as we picked it up at the local wine shop across from the hotel.  They had all of maybe 3 bottles to select from.  We had fun.

We were fortunate again to get to serve as Community Group volunteers under the direction of Julie and KW.  Again, we had a wonderful group of kids in the "Silver" Community Group.  This year the kids gelled together very quickly....another God Thing as Susan would call it.

We served lunch each day to the kids in the Georgia Dome.  Amazing how efficiently this worked.  One day we served the 60K kids in 15 minutes.  They would come down from their seats, out into the corridor, pick up their Jason's Deli box and file back in the other door way and up to their seats.  This was repeated for every other section.  And then we gave them trash bags and collected all the trash so with in a hour they could get back to the sessions.

 The music was held before the kids came to us so on occasion we could attend.  It was way cool.

On the last night we all gathered outside with our candles.  Once we were all there, there was a beam of light shooting 5 miles into the sky as we shouted.  The kids and adults raised over $3M for Human Trafficking.
"Live for Jesus and free the captive".

On our final day in Atlanta, we got to hang out with Chris and Melissa.  They took us to a really neat restaurant near their new home, Canoe where we met up with Bill, her dad and girlfriend, Suzann.  It was very relaxing and peaceful with great food.  Afterwards we headed to their house and just hung out for a few hours for our flight.  All of this while the other half of the family we gathering at Jerry World for the A&M vs Oklahoma game.

A few pictures of their beautiful home.

A lovely way to end a wonderful week!