Life goes Marching on...

Well it seems I'm barely posting once a month in 2017! Life doesn't feel too overwhelming but I guess we must be busy! We started out March picking up grandpa Bob from the airport. He came in for a quick 5-day visit mostly to see Grandma Alice but we were also lucky enough to spend some time with him and he came to Maria's date at the SSA auction which was very nice for her!

 He came with lots of goodies including this Pokemon shirt for Paulina!

 Isabel and I worked the auction again. 

Here she is with friends/classmates and the coveted "auction puppy"

 Grandpa and his date, the alumni speaker this year! She was a natural!

 Mrs. Blaney and I are the check-in and check-out queens :)

After grandpa left we had quite the windstorm! Lots of people went without power but luckily we weren't one of them! Still after winning the SCA Trivia Night on March 11 at the high school I went out to the condo to check on it since we knew they had lost power and I found the screen on the back porch had ripped open. I completed by accomplishment for the day by getting out the ladder, drill and tools and fixing it! It's not pretty but it'll keep the birds out because that was definitely not my most favorite condo accomplishment the year I had to collect them and get them out!

  Just some silly fun with the Snapchat filter during our visit!

The last weekend in February I was double booked to see an old high school friend and with a baby shower for my friend, Amy, but since lots of kids were sick, it got bumped out to the second Sunday in March so I got to go do both things! Doesn't this look like a lovely gathering? 

That's a real wood burning fireplace, it was so cozy!

 Amy's daughter Katie made these adorable peg dolls for Paulina...
Pocahontas, Moana, Sophia the First, Ariel, Elsa and Anna!

Maria had already been to Ave Maria in Florida but I really wanted to check it out and have her get the opportunity to tour the Nursing program and meet some faculty so we made a two-day trip to check out the town and university.

 The town is nestled in the middle of nowhere and the university is in the town.

 The chapel is the center of the town. It was freezing as you can see by Maria's face. She was very disappointed but it really only got into the mid-60s during our visit.

Tropical Smoothie Cafe was our first order of business!

Below is a picture of Michelle, the senior nursing student who was kind enough to have lunch with us. She is part of the first graduating class...of 3!

 We got to stay in the dorms for free! Which was a nice treat. Here we are after our jam packed day. Airport by 5:00am, arrived and got rental car at 9:30am. Got to campus by 10:30...walked around the town and checked out some stores, met Admissions and then headed to meet a nursing instructor and see the facilities at noon. The next big expansion at Ave Maria will be a new building that includes new nursing classrooms (keep in mind the current one is less than 10 years old!). Then we had lunch with Michelle. After that we met the Honors Director and toured campus some more. Then on a tour of the Mother Teresa museum. After that we met with financial aid. Then Mass at 5pm and back to check our dorm room. Here we are taking our 1 hour nap before dinner (Maria was wiped!) We had dinner with another alumni and then went back to our dorm and crashed (we skipped a lecture and praise and worship). The next morning we had breakfast at their dining hall and said good-bye to hit the beach!

 We spent the first part of Thursday walking the beach and looking for shells and then resting in the sun at a state park in North Naples. Naples is the closest city but we didn't end up going into that area.

 A little snapchat exchange from home while at the beach! 

While we were in Florida, Mike's family was going to his Aunt B's funeral.

 I had to snap a selfie with this little Piper who was digging for the mussels just like the short before Finding Dory. Maria and I stopped further up closer to Fort Myers and couldn't believe the fine sand!

 I found a goofy touristy place on the water for lunch.

 We drove over this series of bridges by Lovers Key State Park about 5 times. It was gorgeous - not a cloud in the sky!

 These are just a few pics that also happened to be in my phone. I loved the expressions on the Mason girls faces and this is Peter and I playing LIFE with Mateo. (I let him think he won...)

 Late night movie, Beauty and the Beast - very good!