Uncle D is here!

So Grandma, Uncle D and Aunt Ricky made the 1000 mile journey through snow and ice.....to see baby Cora!  It stinks to be so far from family but on weeks like this when it'll be 9 degrees in the IL and 59 in FL, I think most of ya'll understand.  The kids are looking forward to playing with Uncle D over the next week and I'm sure we'll get plenty of pics.  This was one of the calmer moments of the night ;-)  Did I say the kids were excited to see Uncle D?

Uncle D is my (Dale's) little bro and just turned 16 a couple weeks ago.  He is a volunteer Jr. Firefighter in the small town of Amboy, IL.  He's been through basic EMT training and went out on his first house fire call a couple nights ago.  I don't know if I'd have volunteered to go out at 12am, in freezing temps, to fight a fire.  At 16!  And then..... to hear on their way down today an old timer fell asleep at the wheel, just in front of them on the interstate, and crashed pretty bad.  Uncle D was the first on the scene checking vitals and making sure everyone was ok (I think they were).  Pretty impressive.

It was a long run...

But illness has hit Hasting house. It's been months though, so eh, we'll take it. It's just colds in Amelia & Nick for now. Amelia is great....she knows how to enjoy a hot bath and chicken soup. Sick Nick is.....whew, a 24 hour a day test of patience and parenting endurance.
I don't know about posting a pic of the family watching tv (sound of music on TiVo delay) but it's pretty cute to look over and see Nick cuddling his baby next to Brooke and Cora :-) btw, we noticed the name Cora Baird in the opening credits to Sound of
Music. So, there really are (or were) other Coras out there.

Winter's here!

The berber carpet just didn't flow well with this one.

Fishing over on the intercoastal waterway, facing Ono Island.

Went out a few times over the last week but still no fish.

Nick is the only one that'll go out sailing EVERY time I ask :)  We had some great weather this week and with the new boat, we stay dry!  Lookin forward to getting you out there mom.  Think the dolphins have left for warmer waters, but it's still pretty darn fun.

This one really showcases my photo taking skills.  That advanced photography class is really paying off.

Weekend fun

I suppose citrus fruit picking. Our buddy Jim has a bunch of fruit trees that are ready for picking. Talk about the juiciest, tastiest oranges I've ever had.










Me and Nolan rode bikes over to the intercoastal to do some fishing today. Didn't catch anything...... And we ended the trip with an hour of attempting to the brand new reel to work. Fishing is one of my favorite things!



Nick and Cora from a few days ago .



Cora from one minute ago in my arms.

Happy birthday Mark!

Hope you're having a great trip

Chrismas Sailing

Christmas Village

Last night the kids put on a Christmas play for us with the help of our neighbors.  Nolan was the director and Nick and Amelia were the actors.

Here is the Christmas village at Dot and Mark's house that they worked on all week.

The night was finished off with refreshments.  A fruit platter and of course, Christmas cookies!
Thanks for your help, Dottie...the play was a lot of fun!