February

 On Sunday, January 30th, my dear friend and co-worker, Whitney, passed away suddenly from a brain aneurysm. You can imagine the shock, disbelief, and intense sadness that not only her current and previous students' were feeling, but also teachers and staff as well. I decided to bring Lacey to work with me as a "therapy dog" to bring some smiles and much needed laughter. 

She spent the morning going from class to class, meeting students and getting lots of love. My friend Whitney LOVED animals and letting her students play with Lacey would have made her so happy.

Throughout the afternoon, anytime students were feeling overwhelmed, they were free to come to my room and play fetch with Lacey. It really helped them to feel better and take their mind off the grief, at least for a little while. I was SO proud of Lacey- she was friendly and couldn't have done any better! It was just exhausting... 

Lacey loves her off-leash walks down to the point!

She runs up and down the shore line, barking at waves and grabbing sticks out of the water. While she still won't swim, she will wade leg deep to grab sticks.

We went down to the Keys for a quick getaway the second weekend of February. 

We stayed at the boys' favorite hotel in Marathon and just had the best weekend.

ping pong battles 

Caleb took his drone, and while he couldn't fly high because of the small airport nearby, he still got some awesome shots.

The next day we went bridge fishing

and Caleb continued to impress us with his drone photography.

We also spent an afternoon on Sombrero Beach since it is just a couple of miles from our hotel. 

While we were away, we found out that our bonus room was finished! 

We got the beds put together, and while we still need lots of other furniture, the boys were thrilled with it. 

Luke's buddy Tey spent the weekend at the lake with us and they went hard all weekend! They explored, played down by the lake, had Nerf gun wars, played hide and seek outside- basically just had a blast.

The week of Luke's birthday, he found a big surprise at the door- Hallie Girl! 

On February 25th, our Lukey Babe turned 11 years old. 

Luke requested a French toast birthday brunch, and Grandmom and Grandpa were happy to oblige.

For his birthday dinner he requested Papa John's, and he ended his day playing games in the bonus room.

The lake level went up quite a bit over a week's time, which meant Lacey had plenty of sticks to clear out. 

The Pointer in her came out when some geese swam by.

January

 We had our first snow of the season at the lake on January 3rd. 

And then on the 6th, we had our first snow at home. 

However, we didn't stick around to play in the snow- we had to catch our flight to warm and sunny Florida that afternoon! We spent a long weekend visiting Mark and Cathy at their new house in Cape Coral and had the best time. Their home is simply stunning and I felt like we were staying at a resort! They are the best hosts and we can't wait to go back!

As soon as we got to their house, the boys dropped their bags and jumped in the hot tub!

The next morning we enjoyed the pool. I can't imagine waking up to this view everyday!

Later we took a boat ride to an island to have lunch and soak up the sunshine. Luke loved having Piper, their puppy, tag along.

Caleb took his drone and got some amazing shots.

And, the boys again ended their day in the hot tub!

The next day we took a boat ride down to Fort Myers and ended up having lunch down there. It was another sunny and hot day- perfect for January!

On the way back up we stopped and fished for a bit.

Again, we ended our day with a beautiful sunset and some pool and hot tub time!

While we were away, Creed took a quick trip to Aspen to get in some ski runs. He had beautiful weather and excellent conditions!

To our surprise, we have enjoyed winter at the lake almost as much as the summer! 

January 16th was another snow day at the lake!

And, we woke up on the 17th to even more snow! 

The following weekend we got even MORE snow. :) 

They took turns surfing the sled down the driveway, which is why Creed was coming back up limping!

The following day the snow had melted so Lacey and I walked the trail down to the water. It was such a beautiful day.

Creed and Caleb took the bass boat out and Caleb got some cool drone shots as they were running.