Wakulla Springs and Gulf Specimens Lab - Feb 8

Although the morning started out cold, it warmed up quickly. There was hardly anyone at Wakulla Springs. We watched divers go into the crystal clear waters in the deepest spring in the US. Not only could you see the mullet in the water, they were jumping like popcorn all over the spring. We saw lots of birds, fish, gators and other wildlife on the Riverboat Tour. At the Gulf Specimens Lab in Panacea, we enjoyed live salt water creatures of every variety (some even Samuel did not know the name of) and a lot of them you could touch.

Christmas in P-Cola

We took Gramps and Mimi out to Cock of the Walk to celebrate their 64th Wedding Anniversary on Christmas Eve!

We spent time with Bob & Deb, Nicholas, Natalie & Nicole

We celebrated Christmas at Grandma & Grandpas including Jim & Denise, Paul & Jeanne Marie and Jamie.

A Tally Christmas

Lindsey did a great job playing the flute in the Homeschool Band's Christmas recital. She is even teaching the cat to read. The church youth group had a Redneck Christmas celebration with wacky games, lots of moon pies and RC colas! And cold water could not keep Lindsey and Samuel out of the pool. Old lady Ginger is enjoying her new place.

Moving In To Our New House and a Birthday right before Christmas!

On December 9th we closed on our new house and started moving in with Grandma & Grandpa's help (See November blog for "before" pictures). We had tons of help from our church family over the next couple of days moving everything. Samuel had his room set up first and is the first to jump in the frigid pool. Lindsey wears herself out but has a bed to sleep in.

The next day, the first morning in our new house, we somehow cook Samuel a "Cracker Barrell" style breakfast for his birthday. He gets lots of gifts, but his favorite is the 55 gallon aquarium and accessories. He celebrates with his youth friends from church at Moes and at Logans with the family.

Disney World Trip

We had a great time in Orlando for a few days, Novemeber 13-16. We pack it full with one day each at three of Disney World's parks: Epcot, Magic Kingdom & Disney Hollywood Studios. The weather was perfect, except for one downpour and being unseasonably cold on the last day. Almost no lines to wait in on all the rides and if there was a line, a fastpass came in handy. Tower of Terror, Rock & Roll Roller & Space Mountain Coasters, Splash Mountain and Toy Story Mania were some of our favorite rides. We loved the Illumi-nations, Indiana Jones and Fantasmic shows. And we were chosen as the Year of a Million Dreams family for the Car Stunt Show! Lindsey also was chosen to carry the banner in the parade.

New Home

God has blessed us! Not only did He sell our house in Mississippi in four months, He led us to this house just 1.7 miles from the church. It is a great location and in a great neighborhood. We have several families from our church that we know of that live there. We hope to close and move in mid-December. We are soooo blessed and thankful to God!!

Staff Family Day at St. Teresa Beach

Staff Members and their families enjoyed a great day at the Chason's Beach house in St. Teresa. The sad part is that Lindsey had been sick with a virus for seven days and could not go. So it was just Samuel and Doug enjoying the day. Samuel stayed in the water throwing his cast net all day long and bringing back a lot of new specimens for his salt water tank. Doug enjoyed the boat rides and tubing. The Chasons were very gracious and treated us to shrimp & scallops and of course cheese grits!

Fun 1st Weekend in October

Great weekend that started off on Friday with us visiting Al & Laney Wise at their campsite in Destin. We enjoyed going to the Destin Seafood Festival and going to the beach acouple of times. And of course Samuel brought back a lot of "specimens!" including a "permit" and a puffer fish. Al & Laney followed us back to Tallahassee so they could see and stay at our home and go to church with us Sunday morning. That evening Lindsey had a Middle School pool party at which she was a "bobbing for apples in the pool and swim back with it" champion.