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Fun in the Sun!!! June 17th through June 24th was our 3rd Speers Family reunion. We made the 9 hour drive to Destin, Florida to start our adventure.
The car was loaded and the kids did amazing on the drive. Channing did ask every so often how much longer, but she was just so excited!
We left at 6:30 a.m. and got to Destin at about 4:00 p.m.
This was our rental home for the week of vacation. It was a great home with a short walk to the beach. Saturday night the kids jumped in the pool and played and then we got settled in. Sunday we went over to church and then we relaxed and played games and later in the afternoon/evening we took a stroll on the beach.
The sand was white and beautiful. The water was much prettier than the Galveston ocean by us, but it wasn't near as blue as I expected. Likely due to the storm that had come through and was again brewing.
Our family was pretty excited to be there!
On Monday morning we headed to the beach to play!! We got to play in the water and the kids got to experience the big waves. It was a fun morning. In the afternoon some of us went over to jet ski for a little while.
Cavin and Ella took a turn with Ragnar and then I took Ella out. The instructor gave me plenty of comments about me driving. As if a girl can't drive!! I showed him! HAHA
We had a really fun time!! If I had known that Monday was going to be our only day to get in the water I would have brought the two youngest kids to.
Monday night the rain came and the tropical storm Cindy started rearing her ugly head! So because of the rain and wind, Tuesday we headed over to the Air Force museum.
Deacon loves planes so he thought it was pretty cool!
Our family on board and ready to go! :)
It was a fun museum. That afternoon we went with all of the rest of Destin to the movie theatre to see Cars 3. The kids enjoyed it and we had a nice time.
Wednesday we played bingo and Minute to Win it games with the family. I think they enjoyed the prizes and I know our family loves games.
Bingo, Bingo!!
The storm brought lots of wind, we tried to just play on the beach and dig and look for sea shells.
Madi, Ella and Channing
Marisa and her cute family went for a dip in the pool!
Ragnar did several tricks with the boys to keep them occupied. Many slow mo videos were made ;)
That evening the girls who are about the same age, Channing, Emma, Charlotte, and Aubrey had a sleepover. I probably should say a "talk over" since it took a while for them to fall asleep!
Aunt Chira was sweet and read them a bedtime story!
Some of the older kids watched a movie in their bunk room.
Thursday we took some pictures as a family. Here are just a few I snapped. We were hoping to take family pictures on the beach but with all the rain it wasn't going to happen.
Here is the whole crew.
All 16 grandchildren.
The grandkids with their grandparents.
We went over to the beach and got a shot as a family ourselves. It was super windy, grey, and the waves were pretty high!
Me and my lovely mother!
After some pictures we went over to the Destin Fishing and History Museum. It was a very small museum but we had it basically to ourselves.
The shark didn't get us!
After the museum we walked over to the boardwalk and checked out the stores.
We came home and jumped back in the pool, we spent a lot of time in the pool since the coast guard wouldn't let us in the water.
Marisa gave herself some awesome George Washington hair!
Madi and Ella had a great time hanging out together all week. She was so excited to have a girl cousin around!
After our pool party, we watched a movie together and then waited for the fireworks to start. They were super short, but we had a great view from our porch.
Friday was our last day and THANKFULLY tropical storm Cindy had mostly left by then. We were able to see the sun! We went over to the beach and played in the sand!
We had a private beach, so it was usually pretty empty! It would have been awesome if we didn't have to just stare at the waves!!
We dug and played in the sand and made the best of it though!
Two cute beach babes!
I love these 4 kids of mine! They did great on the trip!
It was nice to have Ragnar with us all week!!
Cousins are the best!
I was so glad I got to be with my 2 brothers and 2 sisters this week. I love them and the time we get to be together!
My sisters and I!
I like this picture of my dad! He is a great man!
The twins endured the craziness all week! Some of the girls went shopping in the afternoon and we just relaxed and enjoyed the last evening together and the rest of the icecream ;)
We really did have a great trip, despite the very unfortunate weather. It was a major bummer to have to cancel some of our boat outings and the dolphin watch, but I am glad we had the time together and everyone was healthy and safe! I truly have a wonderful family and I am so grateful for each and every one and for the memories made! We have a lot to be thankful for and I am so so grateful that my parents make these reunions every 2 years a priority. We really look forward to them! Until next time, peace out Florida, I hope you bring better weather to the next vacationers!
The last month of fifth grade is no joke at our school! They have SO many activities. They had two field trips, manners banquet, the living history museum, super kids day, a picnic, talent show, a choir concert, a musical, an awards ceremony and etc! It was such a busy month for Ella! It was so fun to see her elementary years come to an end and see her perform in so many things.
In her living history museum, she was Sacagawea. She did a great job memorizing her speech.
She then performed in her 5th grade musical and got the part of the wicked witch. She has been staying after school for a while for it and did a great job learning her lines.
Isn't she adorable?!?
She did her parts well and sang her songs with grace.
She acted like a natural actress up there!
She was so proud of herself for getting the part as they only had a few parts to give.
I am really proud of her for trying out.
The day after her musical she made the school talent show and performed the song "How Far I'll Go" from the movie Moana.
Partway through her song the music cut out for a couple seconds and then came back on. With it cutting out she got off for a couple measures. She recovered well, but I think because of that she didn't place. She was super bummed. She really sang well and I felt like much better than many, but sadly it didn't turn out how she hoped. I was super proud of her though. She can just get up and perform and it is a gift!
Finally was awards ceremony. She cleaned up there! She got 9 awards! She got two awards for choir. A participation award, and a trophy for being in it for 2 years, a safety patrol award, the bibliophile award for her class (love of books), the Einstein wanna-be science award for her class, perfect attendance, S.O.A.R award for always making good choices, the A/B honor roll (she had one 89), and an award for her performance as the wicked witch in the play. She was constantly going to the stage and I was proud to be her mom.
She can hardly hold all her awards!
Proud mom!
And her proud father! I was so glad he had the day off and could come.
Naturally Deacon wanted a picture with his big sis!
Mrs. Reynolds was her teacher this year and she really liked her. I am grateful for good teachers. She was able to stay at Eagle Springs Elementary all of her Elementary years and it was such a good experience for her. She had amazing teachers who really helped her love learning and school. She is not always the best or the smartest, but she tries so hard and always wants to be involved and participate and I love her for that!! I look forward to seeing what wonderful things this young lady will accomplish.
Memorial Day was supposed to be a rainy mess. Thankfully it ended up just being overcast and we got to go out and play at my parents house. My parents bought kayaks and the kids were really excited about trying them out.
I was a little worried about Cavin as he tends to not have coordination on his side, but he did a great job! Ella also did awesome, but did end up falling out trying to get off, no worries, she thought it was hilarious :)
Ragnar is good at most of these type of things and had a fun time trying to beat me up the lake ;)
Deacon always wants to be with Grandpa and had a fun time sitting in his kayak!
The pool is right across from the lake and so the kids got to swim as well. Ella found a little frog who became her best friend for a couple hours!
We had a great time. Sadly Chris' family was sick so the cousins couldn't join, but we enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to having this fun option to do while at grandma and grandpas.
Ella has always loved music, a trait I think she got from her father. She has been playing the piano again this year and is getting better and better. We are still working on her taking time to practice, but hopefully that habit will develop. She had her piano recital and played two songs "Melody" by Ferdinard Beyer and "Ode to Joy" by Ludwig Van Beethoven. She did a great job playing and I am always impressed by her desire to get up and do her thing!
Ella also had her end of year choir concert at her school. She has participated in her choir for two years and has enjoyed singing.
They sang songs like "Sing", "Uptown Funk", "Don't You worry about a Thing", "The Composers are all on Facebook", and "See you again". Her choir teacher is Mr. Whorton. I enjoy listening to them perform and I am so glad she loves music.
Ella and Cavin participated in their church's pinewood derby. It was the first time for both of them. We went over to grandpa Speers' house and he and Ragnar helped cut the wood for their cars. They decorated and painted them there and were excited.
Cavin participated the week before Ella with his cub scout troop. He unfortunately didn't have the best time. He is so competitive and so when his car came in last almost every time, he left in tears. We will have to do our best to make sure we up our pinewood derby game! We definitely need to add weights!
Ella had a MUCH better experience. We learned a couple things from Cavin's and made hers heavier. She did pretty well. She was most concerned about how her car looked. She was hoping to get the award for the Cutest car and she did!! That made her night!!
Deacon and I have had a fun time with all our one on one time while the kids are at school. Before school got out we went over to the zoo with some friends to see the animals.
I sure love having my buddy with me.
He loves to make noise!
Can you tell who it is ;)
He was talking to the monkeys.
Then at the end he decided he was brave enough to go to the petting zoo and pet the animals there. It was nice to get in a day before it gets really hot. We always have to stop at the sea lions at the end. Those are his favorite, because he loves water!
