The Beach!

Now that John is raising this girl full time, we took advantage of a business trip I had to Ft. Lauderdale. John had never flown so this was quite an adventure for us all. It was so worth it and I am amazed at how lucky I am to have this family, this life.

 

Emmy is completely confident in traveling. Perhaps even without us.

 If you have to rent a car, you might as well really rent a car!

John had heard about a BBQ place owned by the band Iron Maiden. He was smitten and it was just on the way from the beach to Orlando.

 

Easter

We had an early Easter this year because the Jacksons were out of town on the actual day but it was lots of fun. Solomon was at a friends house so he didn't hide eggs with us.

Dean was closing his eyes so we could hide them again.

 

Back at home, we dyed lots of eggs.

Our  church has an Easter egg hunt each year and our cousin Carson goes to daycare there so he attends. We only see him at this event. A couple of weeks later, he was at a restaurant with his mom and grandparents and Emmy said, "there is that little boy from the egg hunt that I took my picture with!"

 

 

John really thought he was going to wear this tie to church.  

 

We were so glad Beth and Tim came with us to the service on Easter Sunday.

Safari Park

We visited the drive through safari park a couple of hours from Memphis over spring break. We have been saying for years we would do it and finally did. I thought Emmy would be all over it but she was a little frightened of the animals. Mild surprise:) John was not!

Of course, every fine dining establishment has a grabber game and we must try it. She finally won and was de-lighted!

On to the safari!

I think this ostrich nibbled a little on John's thumb.

 





 

 

After driving through, there is a walk through petting zoo that she enjoyed more. She chased peacocks, I fed a giraffe and John got to pick up a baby goat. Could we be any happier?



 

 

Burton's Birthday

It was the big 40th birthday for John this year. Because he is the youngest, everyone has built up his big day and Jorge was determined to cook a pig. And so we did. Emmy was quite distraught and put up a sign in the window reading "LET HIM LIVE". Obviously it was too late for him. Bless her heart, she didn't eat meat for almost three months afterwards!