What we came home to

When we got home from Florida at 9:30 on Saturday night, this is what we came home to. Our washing machine had somehow leaked and water had gone throughout the entire house, and then sat for eight days. It was a stinky nightmare. These are just a few pictures of the initial mess we came home to.

Garage Ceiling that had been dripping and dripping onto the car below.

Can you see the water line? And how it is so warped at the bottom that the wood is pulling away from itself?

When ever we took a step a well of water would erupt out of the carpet...

Those white things surrounding the buckets are pieces of the ceiling that were coming down

Water was literally pouring out of the ceiling fan

This is over our kitchen table.

Florida

December 30, 2010...I was wasting time, as I frequently do, looking up time shares. We were generously given a time share by Jason's Uncle Mike. While this was a fabulous gift, it has also been stressful. We can never use the actual week of the timeshare because it is the first or second week of March, and we are all always in school. With two weeks each year, it is truly hard to find the time to use it. Last March we went to Florida with mom and dad, using two weeks that were about to expire. This year we find ourselves with a week that will be expiring in March. There is no time in March that we can possibly get away.
That is when it dawned on me...I have 13 days on in January. I looked and the most perfect time share opportunity ever popped up. We went to dinner with mom and dad that night and told them all about this week. Asked if they had any desire to go with....
Fast forward two weeks and all seven of us are piling into the van and heading to Clermont, Florida.

We are staying in a single family home at the Summer Bay Resort. It is a three bedroom house with a one car garage. It has two master bedrooms, and a pool in the screened in porch.

16 hours of driving and we finally get there. It is even better than we imagined.

This is our visit with Jason's Grandparents Marmie and Pop-pop

This is the pool that was on our porch. With it's own hot tub!!

Can you see the lake in the back yard?

This is Herby the Alligator. We brought him home as a pet...just kidding.

New Year's Eve 2010

For New Year's Eve this year we decided to have an early ringing in of the new year. We had a countdown to 8pm. We each had a homemade hat, noise makers, and the little crackers present things. It was a lot of fun. We also played Austin's Christmas game You Build Monopoly. We really like the 30 minute version!! Just right for our family right now. I am thinking that next year we will invite some friends over for an early celebration. Anyone interested?

Christmas 2010

We had a marvelous Christmas. There were a few tears...some of them mine. Nothing is ever perfect, and I some how keep forgetting that. But it ended up well. We got up around 7am. Opened and played with presents until around 11:00. Mom and Dad Richards came over and we had a wonderful steak and yummy potato dinner. Then we put a puzzle together and just enjoyed being together as a family.