another cycle is finished!

EOE Project 2013

 

Another Acts 1:8 cycle is finished!  Wow!  Three years has gone by fast.  This year's trip was to Costa Rica.  I love these group pictures.  They are so good, especially the silly shot!

Next summer: Judea Project!

It begins again! 

 

 

Ryan brought us all gifts from Costa Rica:

Mercy got a doll.  She named her Maria.

Some short-bread cookies with chocolate!

Some vanilla for me!

A Costa Rica baseball-type ball.

A maraca!

A REAL fossil for Josiah

Ryan got me a shirt, and the earrings I am wearing in this picture.

Josiah with his maraca and some real wood pencils with lizards on top.

Ryan bumped into one of the teenagers playing soccer.  And by bumped, I mean ran into extremely hard.  Black eye for him! :(

 

Sporting a Reese cup shirt for Father's Day.

 

An upclose shot!

Mercy's first baby-sitting job

Vivian let Mercy babysit her baby, Bingo, while she was in Costa Rica.  Mercy is such a good little mommy.  She did a great job taking care of Bingo.  She changed her clothes, held her, rocked her, and put her to bed.  Mercy even sang to Bingo every night before bed.  She will miss Bingo when she goes home to be with Vivian.  Here are some pictures of their week together:

 

Bingo in her infant carrier
Their first night together!  Mercy is so excited!

Bingo and Mercy at Chick-fil-a together

going for a ride

making sure Bingo is sitting safely

playing with Bingo

Bingo is ready to eat!

Mercy and Bingo

an afternoon snack together

Sometimes Bingo wanted a better view in the stroller.

Good night, Bingo!  Sweet Dreams!

silly girl

a morning at the park

 I took the kids to the park this morning.  They had a blast feeding all the ducks and geese.  The ducks (and geese) were super hungry so they were flocking to us like crazy.  I think, too, for the very first time ever, none of the kids were really scared of them at any point.  They boys were cracking up at the ducks (as you can see in the above picture).  Josiah and Aedan tried to feed some fish after feeding the ducks.  I think Aedan attempted to attach some bread to a stick to feed them.

the many ducks and geese

 a bunch of feeding pictures:

even Mercy wasn't afraid of them being close to her

looking for fish to feed

the boys together
Aedan has his stick to feed the fish.

 We went on a walk in the park after feeding the animals.  We just did the short loop today.  They said they wanted to do the long loop, but since I didn't have the baby jogger, I figured the shorter loop would be wiser since I didn't want to carry Mercy.

walking

posing for a picture

spotting more fish

and Aedan throwing a rock

Josiah found a feather!  Actually, there were lots laying around.

Mercy and I
(taken by Aedan)

After our walk, we went to the playground for just a little bit.  It started to get too hot, and the kids were ready for their water bottles in the van! :)

pool days

We had two pool days this week.  On Tuesday we were at the pool for about 5 1/2 hours!  The kids had a blast and enjoyed seeing their friends.  They swam, swam, and swam some more!  They were completely pooped by the end of the day.  Here are some pictures of our day.

 

Joshua, Aaron, and Mercy

Aaron and Mercy

I think they were on misson to save a frog.

Go Charis!

Mercy laying out!  She is such a girl!

Go Aedan!

Toward the end of the day, the kids were playing a great game together riding noodles throughout the pool.

Aedan and Charis

Joshua

More of the noodle swimming game.

Aaron fell asleep on Bethany.

 

On Thursday, we had a CBS get together.  It was just a couple hours, but the kids got to swim even though we weren't sure what the weather was going to do.  Aedan's friend, Ezra, and his brothers were there so he was happy to see him.  I only took one picture actually at the pool, but we took some out in the yard before we left.

The kids
Josiah and Aedan are wearing their new rash guards from Gigi.



Aedan going down the slide.