JenMoVal Weekend

This past weekend I got to spend a delightful weekend with two of my favorite people on the planet - Monica & Valerie. Monica & I have been friends since kindergarten. (That's Worthy's age now!!! - crazy. ) And Valerie and I were once bitter junior high enemies and evolved into treasured friends. The three of us have been tightly knit since then. In high school, we won the "Best Friends" award and we've only grown closer since then. As they live in Nashville & Columbus, it's difficult for all 3 of us to get together. So as our departure for Vienna approaches, we thought this would be a great time to "make it work". We all met in Columbus and had a wonderful weekend together.

Valerie (with her 2 kids), Me (and just Calvin) and Monica (with her 3 daughters)

We had the unique experience to all get married the same year and this past year we all had babies within 2 months of each other...
Charlotte, Calvin & Isabella
And I just loved this one with Cal eating his toes...

With all 6 kids (our oldest 2 stayed in Akron with Dan), we even got out for an excursion, otherwise known as an outing for the older kids to burn off some energy.

And this was just a fun picture of Calvin

There is no blog long enough to capture and explain how dear they are to me. They know me and my history. We can say one word and we all conjure up the same memories. I'm so thankful that God gave me these two women. (And I'm also thankful to Valerie - these are her pictures...)

LeBye

We've been home in Akron, Ohio during the LeBron James free agency announcement. It's been a huge buzz around town and quite exciting to see all the press Akron has been getting. I join the throngs of other Ohioans that were saddened to hear his decision to head to Miami. However, I must say I've been embarrassed and a bit ashamed of other Ohioans that have burned jerseys and have trash-talked him. I'm so grateful for what he's done for this city. I wish him no ill-will and on the contrary am thrilled we had him as long as we did. I hope he continues to thrive vocationally in Miami and call Akron "home".

These are billboards you see around town.

Cedar Point

We're currently up in Ohio doing Support Raising for Vienna. This visit has allowed us the opportunity to spend some quality time with friends and family. This past weekend we spent the day with my family at Cedar Point. This has become a Woofter Family tradition that usually happens around the 4th of July Weekend.

We joined my parents and brother and his family for an action-packed day of Thrill Rides. Actually, with three young kids the most thrilling ride we rode was Woodstock Express.
Will was rather intimidated by the rides. But all it took was one ride on the carousel to change his mind.
and eventually he progressed to Dodgems...
Worthy really enjoyed himself. He was 46", so just 2 inches short to do some of the minor coasters, but that didn't stand in his way of having a blast.
He & I did this crazy balloon ride in Snoopy-Land. I got total Nosh - which does not happen easily.
Dan & Worthy on Junior Gemini

More fun times

Will & Calvin did GREAT. I wasn't sure how well they'd sleep on the go - or if they would at all. Fortunately, they both got solid naps, which enabled us to stay till 9pm!
What a wonderful day!

More MTI photos

Here are some more pics from MTI. Worthy still talks about his friends there and the fun things he did. I'm so glad he had such a wonderful time.

the awesome playground...

They took some field trips too...

They also ate a meal as if they were in another culture...

and did some dressing up as well...

Daytona Beach

This past week we took a long overdue trip to visit my grandma, GG, in Daytona Beach for a couple days. We got to enjoy two of God's great gifts - the Beach and GG. The boys enjoyed playing in the sand, getting sand on our blanket, getting sand in their eyes, getting sand in their mouths and getting sand in the van. I was quickly reminded of how much I dislike the combination of sand and sunscreen. Other than that, we had a really wonderful time. Dan & I were both able to do some peaceful reading. Actually, it wasn't so peaceful - we're committing a Cardinal Sin in marriage - reading the same book at the same time. Well at least no one got sunburned :)

We're super-fortunate that my aunt & uncle live next door to my grandma, so we got to see Bo & Greg quite a bit too. Bo loves to give the kiddo's cotton candy and they loved eating it!
The boys and their Great-Grandma

Swim Lessons

This past week Worthy finished his swim lessons. Mainly, he worked on floating/swimming on his back and using his "big arms" instead of doggy paddling. He worked on diving as well. However, his favorite thing was to run and jump off the diving board.