New Baby Picture

Well, here is a picture of our little...

BABY!

We won't know the gender until July, but Sara wants a girl, so I am referring to her as she. If she ends up being a he, I'll just have to ask for forgiveness when the counseling sessions begin! Due date is 11/15/2008. We hopefully will find out gender in early July. She opened her mouth and kicked her legs for us during the exam. Pretty amazing that at only 13 weeks, you can see everything as clearly as this.

VACATION

It's Friday, and we are nearing the end of our stay in Palm Beach Shores. The weather has been a bit cooler than we'd hoped, but we've managed to hit the pool every day, and we've been to the beach twice. For pictures of our trip, click the title "VACATION" above.


We arrived in Orlando around 1:15 pm on Monday and the boys did very well on the plane. It was about 2:15 by the time we got all our luggage, rented our car and got on the road. The drive from Orlando to Palm Beach Shores is a little less than 3 hours, and we were going to stop off for something to drink and some fries, but both of the boys fell asleep less than 30 minutes after we got in the car (we might buy a Chevy Trailblazer if they sleep in it again on Sunday's drive). That afternoon, we went swimming in the pool, and Ethan made some friends (Luke and Jack).


Tuesday, we hung out at the hotel all day. We went to the beach in the morning, but it was a little breezy and cool. Ethan chased a flock of seagulls, and I wish I would have had the camera. There must have been 50 of them flying right past his head on both sides. That afternoon we went swimming, and Ethan made some friends (Sam and Max). After swimming, we went for a walk to Sailfish Marina and looked at the boats and the fish.


We went to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center (LMC) on Wednesday. It is a type of hospital that rescues injured sea turtles. The boys enjoyed watching them swim in their tanks and even got to see them eat. It was neat - and FREE! We went for pizza and came back to the playground in the park behind LMC for a picnic and some playtime. That afternoon we hit the pool, and Ethan made another friend (Noah).

Thursday morning we went to the Playmobil Fun Park. It is a store for Playmobil toys that has a huge room with different stations of their toys for the kids to play with. We arrived at 10:00 right as they were opening, and the boys were reluctant to leave at 11:30. We went to a Mexican restaurant, but apparently the type of play wasn't wiggly enough for Elijah and Ethan prefers Taco Bell burritoes to the real deal. So we got it to go. After lunch EVERYBODY took a nap. Then, we went for a swim. Ethan made friends with a little boy and girl who had also been at the Fun Park (Haley and Justin). We walked down to the beach for a bit, then back to the room for bed.

Today, we went down to the beach and it was warm enough to stay for a while. We dug and buried things in the sand (Ethan and Elijah both had their legs covered). Then we went to the pool. Sam and Max actually came over to say hi to Ethan on their own. We came up for lunch and naptime, which is when I am typing this. They both laid down around 2:15. Elijah just woke up at 4:10. Ethan is still sleeping.

Vacation - it's different with two toddlers. WE LOVE IT!

Spring Has Sprung

Don't you just love Spring! Flowers blooming, birds singing, the smell of fresh cut grass, and the sound of children playing happily outside. No more days of dreaming up activities to entertain the little ones inside (like building a couch cave). Apparently these things cause a condition called Spring Fever - the urge to spruce things up and make changes. Well, we've got the fever, and we've got it bad!

The first change we're making really won't be much of a change until around Thanksgiving, but we just found out a few weeks ago that Sara is pregnant. The ironic thing with this is that it couldn't have been two weeks earlier that I told her "I might be ok with just having the (2) boys." Having said that, we are very excited. We weren't planning this one just yet, so it has taken some adjustment. Sara is really nauseous all the time and had very little nausea with either of the boys, so we are wondering if it is a girl or possibly twins. We'll know more before long.

The second change is very temporary, but we are excited about it. We tried to rent out our timeshare week since we had been gone with Rick's surgery for a week not long ago, but we had no takers. So, we decided that with a little one coming, this year would be a good year for a family vacation. So on Monday we are heading to West Palm Beach, FL for the week. Ethan is excited about going to the beach and to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (we're going to try Disney World one day). It will be nice to take a vacation. We haven't taken one as a little family since Ethan was born. Stay tuned for upcoming posts with pics/videos of the boys on the beach and at Disney World.


As if that wasn't enough change for the year, Sara was hired by Spencer Christian Church to be the director of the newly forming weekday preschool (not named yet, but I'm guessing Spencer Christian Academy). It will be 3 days a week for 3 & 4-year-olds. She began researching the different models and the need in our area many months ago, and now she is officially the director. I guess with the lull in real estate, she decided we needed some money!!!

Ahhhh Spring. You gotta love it!

Easter Weekend

The boys enjoyed the polar bear club version of an Easter Egg Hunt again this year. Not quite as bad as last year, I think it topped out at about 42 on Saturday. Mom and Dad came to enjoy the festivities and provided the huge blessing of an impromptu baby sitting service while Sara and I set up the chairs for Sunday morning. Papa (Sara's Dad) preached on Sunday morning. You can watch his sermon at www.joshstarr.us/rick. Here are two video bits for you to enjoy.

4 Things Detail...

I apologize for the extreme brevity of the e-mail you received from me. I was sending the message through my online contact management system so that you could update your information. Since it is technically an invitation to join PLAXO, I only had 250 characters to use, but I wanted to cover all 4 things. So here are the details!



RICK:

Rick is doing much better. He still has a long way to go, but he was able to preach on Easter Sunday. You can see his sermon and get the latest on his progress at www.joshstarr.us/rick



TIMESHARE:

We own a timeshare in Palm Beach Shores, Florida that is incredible. We thought we might go this year, but with being gone for Sara’s dad’s surgery for a week, we don’t know that we will be able to go now. So, we thought we would give someone who would enjoy it a chance to rent it. The week we have is April 13-20. I know that is short notice, but like I said, we thought we might try to take the boys this year. Anyway, we would rent it for $750 (basically the cost of our taxes and maintenance fees). It is a 1 BR condo on the beach at a VERY nice resort. Find out more about Palm Beach Shores Resort & Vacation Villas here – http://www.pbsr.com/. The last time I checked rental rates at the resort it was like $2200 for a week. We’ve rented it out to friends twice before and both of them loved it. Let me know if you are interested.

FAMILY BLOG:

You are looking at it! I was inspired by the widespread communication that took place through the blog about Rick's health, so I created this site for friends and family to keep up with us.

UPDATE INFO:

I have wanted to update my address book for a long time, so I thought I would give you a method to do that in this message as well.



Thank you for taking the time to update your information, check out our timeshare, view our blog, and check on Rick.



God bless!

Welcome to the Griesser Family Blog!

After seeing the communication capabilities through a blog with Rick's site, I figured it might be an effective way for others to keep up with what's happening in our family. So here is a recent picture of the boys riding their elephant and giraffe around the world.