Week in Cincinnati/Week with the Grandparents

Last week, Jared and I dropped the kids off to spend the week splitting time between Grandma Terri & Pop and Grandma Karen & Grandpa.  It was tough saying goodbye for the whole week, but I knew they would have a great time and we would stay very busy.  We went with our church youth to Cincinnati for a mission trip.  It was a great trip where God moved through a lot of hearts!  We took about 130 students and adults!  When we got home, 14 of those students were baptized!!
Jared's was in charge of a group who worked on several urban gardens.  I never made it to their site, but I know what he looked (and smelled) like every afternoon after a morning of work :)!  He worked very hard and ended up with gardens ready to grow lots of yummy food and beautiful flowers!
My friend, Emily, and I were with a group of high school girls at a church outreach.  The church we went to ran a summer camp with some academics and LOTS of activities!  We were put in charge of planning activities and games for the 1st-8th graders who attended the camp.  We were so proud of our students! They did a great job and loved on those kids like crazy!  Here are a few pictures from our time in Cincinnati (sorry for the poor quality...phone photos aren't the best).

 In the afternoons, we did a VBS in a few Cincinnati neighborhoods.  Ours happened to have a splash pad.  We had a good turn out of kids for the VBS.

Splash pad fun!

We ran some games for the kids at our work site.  They ran out of water...so we improvised!

Thirsty Kids!

Playing water balloon toss

We stayed on the campus of Xavier University and all of our worship times were held in the Cintas Center...where Xavier plays basketball.  It was pretty cool to see the huge arena and court.

Stealing a little time with this scruffy guy!

Our group, like I mentioned above, was very big.  We had around 130 students and adults.  It's quite overwhelming...check out the sea of blue shirts :)!

FCC Cincinnati Mission trip Group!

After we completed our week serving in Cincinnati, we drove a short 30 minutes to Great Wolf Lodge.  It was a fun day and I even got to go on some of the water slides :)!

Jared is a big kid...this place confirmed it :)!

We were kept informed and in the loop with pictures and texts while the kids were having a great week in Salem.  They started and ended the week with Grandma Terri and Pop and had some Grandma Karen, Grandpa time in the middle.

Rural King, popcorn, chicks and Pop!

Playing outside with Pop

Monkey boy at the "big park"

Lunch with Pop!

Sweet girl with a sweet smile!

Ethan doesn't nap anymore...but he must have been worn out.  This is how Pop and Grandma Terri found him during "rest time."

Grandma Karen took the kids to the beach at Carlyle lake one day, and they had a blast!!

Playing in the sand

Fish in the lake!

Silly, messy hair Nora

Fun in Grandma Karen's pool!

Our kids are so blessed to have the 4 grandparents they have.  They were all excited about and looking forward to their time with the kids!  Thanks for taking such good care of our kids while we were away!