Backyard Happiness | Spring Break 2015

Our first day in Florida was spent recovering from our drive by spending a relaxing day at Aaron and Tracy’s house – My brother Aaron taught Ruby how to catch chameleons, which kept her occupied for most of the week.

On Sunday we had Jeremiah’s Italian Ice and celebrated Easter at Summit Church. The worship band played what has since become my favorite song, “You Brought Me Back To Life” by Citizens and Saints. Also loved running into so many of my Floridian friends at church.

Aaron has an amazingly beautiful Kampfer Tree in his backyard. He hung swings and created the most magical backyard imaginable. I wish I was there right now swinging the day away.

Tracy and Aaron’s backyard was the perfect location for an easter egg hunt. This was the first year Charlie was old enough to run around collecting eggs in his basket. He loved it!

Clara loves her Aunt Tracy.

This inflatable pool was the perfect hangout for the kids. Little did they know that after they were in bed Aaron, Tracy, Ryan and I parked ourselves out there in the corners of that pool for hours.

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Food. Food. Food.

We had some delicious food and got to sit around the table with some incredible people while we were in Florida. Our first stop after landing at the airport was lunch with Aaron and Tracy at 4 Rivers Smokehouse. It’s amazing. We literally drove straight there from the airport. Ha!

Saturday night after going to Summit Church and hearing my cousin Isaac preach, we met up with my cousin Joel and his wife Lizzy, Rob and Kristy-Lee, and Sterling and Rachel at Tibby’s New Orleans Kitchen. This place is all the rage. I had some kind of delicious sausage po’ boy type thing.

My face hurt from laughing so much at that dinner. Ryan was on fire with his story-telling. Joel is one of the funniest people on the planet. Joel and Ryan sat beside each other and entertained the rest of us. We laughed and laughed. Whew. It was awesome.

Sunday Ryan and Aaron fired up the grill and created a feast of BBQ and Buffalo wings. They were perfect. Seriously so so good.

Can’t forget our evening at Seito Sushi!

After fishing on Tuesday we ate an early dinner at the ShipYard Emporium (which I mistakenly called the Boat House all week)

Thursday morning I got to have breakfast at First Watch with my Aunt Becky. Spending an hour with her is like a refreshing jolt of rejuvenation. Whenever I am with her, I want to be more like her because she is seriously one of the most instinctively encouraging people on the planet. You will gain wisdom for living from my Aunt Becky’s blog. Check it out.

Also, her book “Why Her” will help you be the Daughter-In-Law you hope you’ll have / Mother-In-Law you wish you had. Read it!

Thursday night Robbie and Kristy-Lee came over for more grilling. We have annual pics of Rob, Aaron, and Ryan grilling. You can see last year’s classic grilling pic here. This year they each picked their own meat from a store called “The Meat House“. Doesn’t it sound super-manly to buy your meat from the meat house? After grilling all 3 pieces to perfection they cut them up for all of us to share. It was really great – I can’t decide which cut of steak was my favorite.

Friday afternoon we met my cousin Josh and his son Noah at 4River’s for more smokehouse deliciousness. I love getting to spend time with my florida cousins. So thankful for my family – near and far.

Pretty much we ate like it was going out of style. Ah, vacation.