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A friend of mine is going to borrow the #onebighappyfamily sign, and use it on their family vacation!  I'm so excited for them!  Everyone should have a family picture with that sign!

I have so much to share.  So much to say.  Instead I spent the day lounging in the pool.

Tomorrow I will fill you in.

Life is good!

One big happy family?

In all of our wisdom, Gunner and I decided that it would be a great idea to take the kids to Disney for Spring Break 2014 (March).

We head off after I get of of work on a Thursday, you know, about a week after I start my new job.  We definitely know how to plan things.  We finally get out the door hours later than I had planned, and we stopped just over an hour away at a Cracker Barrel, to have dinner.

I could tell you how the dinner seemed to be one calamity after another, but the most important thing is I saw the most beautiful sign.  While wandering around the store inside Cracker Barrel, I saw a black sign, with white lettering which read "one big happy family".  

I pointed it out to Gunner, he laughed.  Em laughed.  Abs laughed.  Jr. laughed.  I bought the sign and declared that we would hold it up in every picture from here on out!

I can't say that my children shared in the enthusiasm, but trust me, they saw a good thing.  I could imagine them showing their therapists later the pictures of us together holding the sign, and them declaring it the root of all evil.  How could I say no?

While growing up, my mom once received as a white elephant gift, a small snow globe with an elephant holding a sign saying "Joy to You!"  We made fun of the present, but the running joke in our family was to say "joy to you" in almost every situation, and the white elephant gift would often appear in someone's spot before dinner time.  Eventually the snow globe lost its water, but we still continued to use it.  Even today, 30 years later, that same white elephant gift is a topic of conversation, and if one of my siblings is feeling down, a gentle "joy to you" will at least have them smile for a bit.

Thinking of this story, is why I had to buy the sign.  So over the course of spring break, we posed with this sign at Disneyworld, Legoland, roadside attractions, state lines, and much more.  Just the other day we took the girls to camp, and as we posed for a family picture in the car, I realized we had forgotten the sign.  I tried to convince Gunner to go back, to no avail.  We were left with this picture:

Not the same, but from now on, the sign travels with us....and so....#onebighappyfamily......

Moving Over

So I blogged several years over at Army Blogger Wife, but after Gunner retired, I felt like I had nothing military related to contribute.  Of course most of my stories were about my three beloved children, that allow me to never have a dull moment or experience.

For new readers, the cast of characters are:

Gunner--husband of almost 20 years
Em--16 year old daughter & newly licensed driver
Abs--13 year old daughter & reads too much
Jr--8 year old son & always dressed up and paving his own way in the fashion world

There's me--teacher, campus tech, blogger, triathlete, crossfitter, and perpetual student.

Gunner and I recently returned from a trip around Europe, filled with crazy stories of hotels, sleeping cars, trains that ran over someone, a dead body, and more.

The girls are off at camp, so hopefully I will have a chance to catch up and fill you in on the latest in #onebighappyfamily!