Flaming Arrows

Tuesday evening was Wesley's crossover event marking the change from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts for him and three of his buddies from Webelos. Here's our three Scouts all spiffed up before the event.

We met out by Fountain Lake on some property owned by a family that is involved with Scouts. Parker's troop had been out there the night before to create the bridge.

When it was Wesley's turn he went forward and got the opportunity to pass one last test as a Cub Scout - to shoot a flaming arrow into the lake! How cool! He did great. Then the Troop Leader Rob Parish invited them across the bridge to Boy Scouts.

Once they all made it across the bridge, they got to recite the Scout Oath for the first time as Boy Scouts. 

Here's Wesley and his three buddies getting congratulated after their crossover!

He earned his Arrow of Light and he is all official now! 

Afterwards we went out as a family to celebrate with dinner at Chili's - surrounded by all these handsome boys in their fancy Scout uniforms. They made a big impression on our waitress!

Relaxing

Monday night after staff retreat and dinner we got to spend some time outside with Roger and Mona on the back porch relaxing. We tried to light a fire in the pit, but everything was too wet. So tiki torches and "dry" Smores as the boys called it were the thing. 

Staff Retreat

Monday we had our annual Staff Retreat with the folks from church that we are blessed to work alongside and share life together with. We met at the Life Enrichment Center in town. We shared in fellowship time, some spiritual direction with Beth Kight, reflected a bit on the book "On Holiday with God," and discerned our staff word for the year as well as reworked our Staff Social Covenant. 

Family Time

Uncle Roger and Aunt Mona arrived for a spell on Saturday afternoon and we have all been thrilled to have them here and spend some good quality time together.

On Saturday we ended up at Eaton's Beach on Lake Weir for a great dinner - and even a small spill by the server at our table ended up with a couple of souvenir shirts for our folks from Kansas. Can you tell that it was a little windy on the lake that day?

And then in the evening Uncle Roger made popcorn for the kids - teaching them the method his grandmother taught him when he was a kid! They were impressed and it was good!

Love Run

Saturday morning we got up early to be at the Love Run. This is the City of Fruitland Park's annual 5k near Valentine's Day. The proceeds go to local food pantries and this year it benefits Community Church. The boys ran and Daryl and I walked. The start and finish was at the field in between City Hall and the new library, that should open next month. 

The view of Mirror Lake along the route.

Wesley finished 9th overall and first in his age group (ages 1-14) with a time of 25:02! Parker finished in 28th place with a time of 28:27. That's only his second sub-30 time! And Davis finished with a time of 42:43. It's the very first time he's run one all by himself! Daryl and I both finished walking it in 54 minutes. Because Davis finished ahead of us, he got to go over to the coloring table and made us a picture. And we got new medals to commemorate this run. 

Then we headed over to Community Garden's Harvest of Hope where there were several church volunteers working on the garden beds today. It's looking great - and they are even growing some strawberries. 

Grandmommy Visits

Thursday evening Grandmommy came up from Tampa to watch the boys play basketball at church and then she spent the night. We all loved having her here - and Bella was no exception! She found a new snuggle buddy!

Dinner at ChikFila after the games. 

Hanging out at home. 

After she went with Daryl to drop the little boys off at school, the three grownups got some nice time to visit over breakfast and even a little window shopping. Fun times and so thankful! 

Backyard Relaxing

We've been working in the backyard recently getting it ready to enjoy for the spring and summer. Loving how it's turned out!