Thanksgiving Vacation 2015

November 25th, we left for the first family vacation we've had in over 3 years!! I have been to PA a few times without Dan and he and I went to TN this summer with my family, but without our kids. It's been awhile since we ALL took a vacation together!

We traveled to SC and spent the Thanksgiving weekend with Dan's family! His brother and family flew down from IN and both his sisters and parents live in SC. 

We had a lovely day, on Wednesday, to travel! Beautiful skies and pleasant temperatures!

We were all together for brunch and an early supper on Thanksgiving Day!

Grandma bought a disposable tablecloth that the kids could color....or adults, too! :)

Esther helps Sophia hold the newest member of  the family, Miriam's little Lily!

It was so nice out, so we set up a table and chairs and played games outside all afternoon!

Since we won't be together for Christmas, we exchanged a few gifts Thanksgiving evening.

4 redhead cousins.....Tamara, Kenan, Sophia and Mara! :)

Sophia and Mara 

Friday morning Tim took Danny out hunting.
 The rest of us spent the day at Dan's parents, working on projects outside!

Raking leaves was a big part of the project!

The granddaughters had fun playing in the piles and getting rides on Grandpa's trailer! :)

Feeding the chickens....

There was time for wagon rides....

and even rides while we worked! :)

Saturday, Tim cooked a pig and invited our family, his family, and some of their good friends!

While the pig was cooking, our kids were target shooting. This was Tamara's first time and she actually liked it and was a very good aim!! :)

At supper time, the back yard was full of family and friends! Lots of good food and games. 

Cornhole

The evening ended with watching football! :D

Sunday was our last full day to be together and we spent a good part of it at Grandpa's house!
Mara and Jayde were watching short video clips with me. Kept them entertained for awhile! :)

We left for home Monday morning and traveled to Hephzibah to see Dan's brother Jon and wish him a Happy Birthday.
 Then, because we were driving by, we stopped in at the farm Dan worked at when he was a teenager! This farm was also neighbors to the house he grew up in, and he went to church with this family!

We stayed and visited for about an hour!

We had a good trip but were ready to get back home. After we got home, we had less than 24 hours till we were getting company!!
I'll add a second blog post about that! :) :)



While we were in SC, we had family pics taken! These aren't real clear because they were saved off Jennifer's FB page! I'm hoping my CD will come in the mail today!! :) :)

The Henry clan (minus Jon)

Grandpa and Grandma with all their Grandchildren

Danny, Kenan holding Sean, Sophia, Grandpa, Grandma holding Lily, Mara and Jayde in front of Tamara.

2015-2016 School Begins....

So we started school on Monday...had to take that Back to School photo!! :)

Cannot believe they are both in High School already!!

Danny is a Jr. and Tamara a Freshman!

Looking forward to a good year!

National Aviation Museum

Our plan was to start school on Monday, August 24.

That day, Dan didn't have to work because he had two volunteer and mentor training's to do for work,  in Gulf Breeze, FL, out close to Pensacola. We had discussed me riding with him since he would be getting in around Midnight. He thought it would be good to have someone to keep him awake, or drive for him.

After thinking about it some more, we decided to ALL go! :) So we looked up some fun things to do and found the National Aviation Museum. It came with high recommendations and we were glad we went!

The kids took their school books along and did their work while we traveled. We had a 2 1/2 hour drive!

We found it!! :)

This is where the Blue Angels practice!!

Tamara peeking in on President Nixon as he reads the paper while waiting for take off! :D

This plane made me laugh.....it had a face! :)

An awesome, awesome car!! :)

"The Squadron Car" Has a neat story (below)

 Danny found his nickname on it!! :)

Too bad the barber wasn't in!! :D

I liked this display! :)

Pensacola Lighthouse

From here, we ate supper at Chick-Fil-A and then we drove to Coastline Calvary Chapel where Dan was going to be doing the trainings.

We dropped him off and then the kids and I went and did some shopping....mostly window shopping! We had a few things we were looking for, with no success!

I got to see my first Walmart Marketplace. It's like a grocery store with a few other essentials!

We had a fun day! After stopping for coffee and Turkey Hill ice cream* we got home around 12:30 AM!

*Turkey Hill ice cream was a favorite when we lived in PA! We have found it at Tom Thumb gas stations, none of which are near our home. We rarely buy ice cream since it would melt till we got home, but this night, we bought two pints and shared them! Mmmmm!!

Back To School Bash

With Riverbend Home Educators

On Friday, August 21, we celebrated "Back to School" with our homeschool group at the Skate Inn in Tallahassee. We had a good turn out!

Doing the "Hokey Pokey"!

Dan enjoyed hanging out with his little buddy, Royal, again! :)

The DJ had the skaters skate and then when he stopped the music they had to hit the ground....it was a competition between the boys and girls. 

Girls won! :)

Group Photo!

This is how the professionals do it! :) :)

After leaving the roller rink, our family headed across town for the ribbon cutting at

The Living Harvest

Check out the website to learn about this awesome ministry to men (and soon women) who are re~entering society after being incarcerated.

There was a nice size group in attendance!! 

Dale White (in white) :) is the founder of this organization! He and Dan learned to know each other through prison ministry and their paths cross often in their Re-Entry work.

Cutting the ribbon!! :)

It's neat to see other people who are also working towards helping men and women be better equipped to re-enter society after being released from prison! This kind of ministry makes a big difference in the percentage of inmates who will not return to prison!

 If you are local, check out their new thrift store soon!! :)