Friends & Family |

Honeoye Lake

This spring Leslie and her siblings rented a beautiful cottage on Honeoye Lake for a week. I headed down one evening with the kids and we enjoyed dinner, some card games and a campfire on the lake.

As our last summer adventure (before school and life responsibilities start) we rented a beach house with 8 other families in the Outer Banks. We knew some friends from church but others we were meeting for the first time when we arrived. It was SUCH a fun week of sun and sand!

Hover over images to see their captions – I’m trying a new way of doing galleries on here :) Click on the image to open larger.

On the way down we stopped to visit friends in VA. We hadn’t seen Curtis and Eileen or their kids in several years and it was so nice to catch up.

We were in Waves, NC and spent most of the week at the beach with trips to the sound side of the island, a visit to Duck Donuts and popping into various touristy shops. The kids wore life jackets any time we were at the ocean as the waves were pretty intense (best for body boarding too!) They’ve both become more confident in pools this summer and swam really well back at the beach house. Each family pretty much did their own things during the day and came back together for dinners or an outing.

Andy enjoyed fishing and bumming on the beach. I loved the slower pace and down time, I even finished 3 books! One had a terrible ending though :-P

We headed home after one week at the beach. Longest drive ever, but we made it. Kitties were so snuggly when we got home and we even had a few days to recover before real life caught up with us.

I’m so thankful we had the chance to hang out with friends (some old, some new) and rock the end of our summer. Ironically when we got home, the temp was 54* and when we left the Outer Banks it had been 94* Never the less, beachy memories will keep us warm as we head into fall. Best family vacation ever!!

Cassidy’s K Graduation

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We celebrated Cassidy’s Kindergarten graduation last week! Such a sweet day of making her feel special.

We let Ben pick out flowers for her, he was quite proud of his bouquet.

My dad and Leslie were able to join us. Actually, nobody knew my dad was coming (he’s working in Pittsburgh at the Air Force base these days). It was a really nice surprise!

Congratulations afterwards from grandma and grandpa Honecker.

Cassidy’s class had two teachers this year, Mrs. HB and Mrs. Burse

Andy’s parents gave Cassidy her first set of Pokemon cards, she was SO excited.

Oh my goodness little girl, how far we’ve come. From the baby (and toddler) who wouldn’t sleep to the spunky almost 6yo. You love school, are such a good friend and creative little lady. Congratulations! I’m looking forward to the summer with you (if we both survive, kidding…) and on to more adventures!

Ben is 8 (and a half)

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So, these aren’t super late or anything…but we celebrated Ben’s 8th birthday in October. Haha, as of this week he’s now officially 8 1/2! We enjoyed cinnamon rolls that morning for breakfast.

Then had family over to celebrate that afternoon. Ben’s party theme was Lego Ninjago. I found this awesome costume on the Buffalo craigslist and Andy’s parents were kind enough to grab it for us. The mask was a perfect addition to decorations and the little hanging legos we actually reused from a previous party ;-)

Opening presents with friends and cousins!

Ben loves his cats!

And Legos, lots of Legos!

Paul even gave Anna a guitar stringing lesson while everyone enjoyed cake.

Happy birthday buddy, you’re the best!

Sylvia Graduates

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Sylvia graduated (almost a year ago!) and I’m finally getting to the pictures! We first met her at church, as she was going to Elim Bible College and was assigned to work with our kids ministry. Sylvia is an International student from Uganda and has a huge heart for serving, helping and loving on little ones. We got to know her over several years and hosted her for breaks, holidays, American birthdays and family dinners. We’ve shared stories over campfires, gone thrift store shopping together and introduced her to snowmobiling and venison. She received a scholarship to attend Roberts Wesleyan College and is up studying in Rochester these days.

The campus is beautiful with several historic buildings. We had fun walking around and enjoying spring together.

Later that evening some mentors and teachers put together a graduation party for Sylvia.

That year I had the chance to work with students in Residence Life to develop their yearbook. It was a really neat opportunity and I love how the cover art and theme came together.

We love you Sylvia and are so glad you’re in our lives :)

Sledding!

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Our friend Kevin invited us over for sledding and a cookout today. It was such a beautiful sunny afternoon to share with friends, I almost didn’t mind it was still winter. We enjoyed some hot cocoa and smores afterwards too, so much fun.