Driving

During our trip to Florida, the yougest accumulated several more hours of driving. It was her first long interstate experience, going across state lines (FL-GA), and driving through a major city (Jacksonville). It was scary to say the least, and we're thankful to be alive.

I decided to have her go through a car wash because it required that she align her tires just perfectly along the converyer belt.

Once aligned, she had to follow the guide's directions on pulling forward and putting her car in neutral.

Whew, success! Now to relax just a bit before having to pull into a vaccum space. 

Christmas

For the first time in many years, we spent Christmas at home. All the kids were here, too, and I cherished that so much. Our Little One was the last to wake up Christmas morning.

Ashlyn was already on her 2nd cup of coffee waiting to open up gifts.

Santa had come and filled the stockings with goodies!

Then we all headed to the tree to open up gifts!

Our Christmas meal was one of the best! We eat turkey & dressing 3 times a year (Thanksgiving, Christmas, & Easter) and never tire of those wonderful dishes. We all pitch in to cook and clean, then enjoy visiting, a nap, and family time.

Cocoa Beach

While in Florida, we decided to stay in a hotel along the beach. It was so deserted that we literally felt we had the place to ourselves. Very nice and relaxing!

The weather was a little cooler than we hoped, but it didn't stop us from enjoying some sun rays with a walk along the sand and waves. 

During the afternoon, the girls played a few games of tennis while the guys decided to watch a movie at a nearby theatre.

After tennis, I treated us to ice cream. It wouldn't be Cocoa Beach without a little chocoate, right?

The hotel had closed down much of their amenities, but they did have a hot tub and gym. This is where Luke spent most of his time when we were there.

Ashlyn tried to challenge everyone to jump in the cold pool for a swim. She's the only one who participated, however.

Our final day in Florida was finally warm enough to hit the waves. 

While Eric and Ashlyn enoyed the water, others preferred to relax with a book. Since we forgot to pack our beach umbrella, chairs, and towels, we had to improvise.

Eric rented a surfboard and taught Ashlyn how to catch the waves. She actually got up for a few seconds!

Eric then had to show off his surfing skills! 

Kennedy Space Center

With all the kiddos home for winter break, we decided to make a short 4-day trip to Florida. First stop, Kennedy Space Center!

The rockets on display outside were super cool. But that was just the beginning of the adventure.

My favorite place was seeing the Space Shuttle Atlantis. But first, a photo of how strong Luke is to hold it up. (ha ha)

Once inside, the shuttle was incredible! It's cargo bay was opened as it hung on display. We were completely in awe. So many successful missions!

Then we each had to play with the thousands of buttons in the floor models.

Little kids could take their shoes off and play in the clear tubes that mimic the space station. Our two girls fit in there nicely.

The Space Center had so many informational displays, like this one of the toilet. Ashlyn is demonstrating how it might look for real.

Their mission control room hasn't been used since 1962, and it's intact the way it looked back then. After that year, mission control was moved to Johnson Space Center in Houston.

There was a moon rover for spectators to take a picture. Eric thought it was silly for me to get on, but after that, other adults did as well. 

Launch control was pretty cool, too. These well-preserved spaces have such an historical significance for all of mankind. The Apollo missions were launched from these controls.

This replica of the Saturn V rocket gives you a real sense of the size of that thing. Eric kept looking at the engines as if analyzing their structure.

A replica of the moon landing "Eagle" was there, too.

Here's the deck where the public and media can safely watch the launches. There are three launch pads in the background, although only one is dark enough to see well without zooming in.

I didn't take any picture from the launch simulation, but that was definitely one of the highlights! Awesome day!

15 yrs

Our LIttle One celebrated her 15th birthday on the 15th. She reminded us of this special occsion quite a few years ago, and her whole day was planned out. She wore her favorite and super soft "beans make people happy" shirt to school while listening to Taylor Swift's "Fifteen" song. 

At school, she had MAP testing and her EOC (end of course exam). Once those were done, I got her out with early dismissal to drive her to the SC Dept. of Motor Vehicles for her permit. This is where the more difficult tests happened. 

The documents were all in order, including her school transcript showing her rank to be 1 out of 270! (Since that can easliy change over the next 3 years, I wanted to throw that in. 😊) But the vision test was the real difficulty. They had her look into the lens and read line 4. She squinted, hesitated, and slowly read out G, S, P, A. The lady then said, look again, they are supposed to be numbers. Luke and I are cracking up behind her trying to contain ourselves. 

Our daughter made a 2nd attempt at guessing and this time read alound numbers. The lady behind the counter started making faces of uncertainty, raising her eyebrows and squinting her nose. Then the numbers kept coming beyond 4. After our little one said the 12th number, the lady cut her off and said to go back to read just line #4. This time, the lady smiled as the correct numbers were called out. Success! 

Now time for the written exam. Students can miss up to 6 questions and still pass. Upon their 7th missed question, the program stops and the student has to come back another day. So the longer she spent in the computer room, the better sign she was doing well. Eventually she came out all smiles and announced she only missed 3! Whew, she did it! Now back in line for another hour to finish the paperwork.

When they called her for her photo, she was so excited! This was the moment of truth. Was her first driver's license going to look good? She had to show it off to all her friends at school and it needed to be great.

The picture turned out cute, but she forgot to practice her signature. That part didn't look as good. Oh well, the picture was the most important thing. Now for her first time on the road as she drives us home. It was at this point that Luke revealed it was the real reason he tagged along. It wasn't for moral support. It was to see how bad she drove her first time. 

The drive was quite slow to where at one point I put on our hazzards. That made her mad. And even though we were on back roads, there were obstacles requiring her to change lanes. It was a little nerve racking, but we all got through it. Next, we had her pull into a restaurant lot to practice parking. This was her first attempt.

We then had her turn around in the lot and back reverse into the parking space. Not too terrible, and she will improve over time. 

Once home, we were celebrating more than just her birthday...we had survived her first drive. It was great to have all the kids home together, too!

For her "home cooked meal", she wanted all appetizers. But for her birthday cake, she wanted to make it herself. Let's just say that without a recipe, it was actually edible. She did forget things like baking powder, oil, sugar, etc., but no worries. The dense cake was complimented with delicious frosting.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday cards and gifts!

Italy

From Thanksgiving until January, Ashlyn had time off from her medical school rotations. This time is supposed to be used for research and interviewing for residency. However, with an ease in travel restrictions, Ashlyn was quick to book a discounted flight and grab her backpack for Italy. 

She convinced her Aunt Angela to join her as well, since the rest of us still have school and work to attend. So while she did not research on medicine, she did do “research” on cappuccinos, pizza and Italian tourism.

Their trip started in Venice where they saw canals, bridges and toured the famous Piazza san Marco (also known as St Mark’s Square). 

They then traveled to Cortina d’Ampezzo, a town in northern Italy, to snowshoe and hike the impressive Dolomite mountain range. 

Florence, Pisa, and La Spezia were next on the itinerary. A major highlight of their trip was hiking along Cinque Terre, a string of five fishing villages perched high on the Italian Riviera connected by an 11km footpath. 

Finally, their trip ended in Rome where they explored all the major tourist sites, including a tour through the Vatican museums, climbing 512 steps to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica, and seeing the Pope give an address at St. Peter’s on the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

It was a wonderful trip full of prayer, adventure, and beauty.