Indiana Beach

So last Saturday morning, even though it was bitter cold out and overcast, we headed to Indiana Beach from 11am-2pm. Elijah worked very hard this year in reading books to win a free pass for two guests and 1/2 priced passes for up to 4 guests to Indiana Beach. He accomplished his goal and won his pass. The down side to this is that they give you TWO weekends(saturday and sunday) to use it otherwise it expires. The first weekend we were not around and the second weekend we were busy as well and it was COLD, but we went ahead and squeezed it in since Elijah was so excited to go. The boys got to ride all the rides they wanted to at least once and then they each got to pick their favorite and ride it again. As we were standing in line for the Cornball Express Rollercoaster(Caden's favorite) the Indiana Beach Mascot came up to us. Caden was super excited and kept touching him and rubbing him. It was pretty funny. Here is a picture of the two boys with the Mascot.
While we waited in line for the huge ride that drops you(forget the name), they have this little frog hopper ride next to it. Anyone can ride it as long as they can sit up alone. So on we all went(minus nick) to see how Liam adjusted to his first ride. He wasn't so sure about it as the bar came down, but as we went up in the air and then it dropped us he had the biggest open smile he could have. No TEARS, just excitment. I was so glad he enjoyed his first "big" ride. If you notice...I barely fit....tight squeeze for sure. Here is Liam getting buckled into the ride...a bit unsure of it:).

Im sure we will go to Indiana Beach many more times here this year since we live 15 minutes from there. They boys sure do love it, but man, it doesn't compare in ANY way to what we are use to and that is Dollywood and Splash Country in Knoxville, TN!!! (I miss that place:))

Videos

Here are a few video's from the last couple days. Liam enjoyed his first ride in the jeep driven by Caden and also Liam is definitely a walker now:). He is probably walking about 75% of the time. Its a lot of fun!!

I just LOVE spring!!

I just love our crabapple tree....so pretty in the spring and fall.
Some of the beautiful flowers that are springing up around our house.

Even the boys get to "drive" the old tractor around the inlaw's farm. Fun times!!

Enjoy these beautiful spring like days!! Its so neat to see God's creation spring forth each season.

Happy 1st Birthday Buddy!!

Can it be?? My little buddy turned 1 year old???? How time flies...Im not one for newborn stage, but this time around it went so quickly and a little part of me actually misses it!! Shocker I know!!
Even though Liam's actual birthday is March 20th we celebrated his birthday this past saturday as this is when most all the family memebers could join in on the fun.
We love you Liam Nicholas and pray that you grow up to serve the Lord. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Liam at the hospital March 20th, 2009!

Liam sporting one of his favorite toys March, 2010!

Here are some pictures of his birthday party on saturday! Not sure he liked the hat...it lasted a whole minute!! (note to self...do not buy party hats...noone wears them:))

We served Haystacks for dinner. Went over really well and everyone brought a topping so it was super easy for me:)

The "big" boys eating at the bar area. (ok, so the hats did get worn for a little while, but not worth buying them).

One of the tables full of guests. Austin and his girlfriend Karis, Joy, Jayla and Jason, Liam's great grandparents, AJ and Raquel, Grandpa and Grandma G. and not pictured was Joan. The other table had Grandpa and Grandma W., Kelli, Alivia, Great Grandpa W., nick and I.

Thanks mom waibel for making the AMAZING cakes!! The hat was liam's play cake:)

Let the fun begin!!! After many tears were shed while we sang happy birthday to him...poor boy...we scared him to death. (next time we need to sing prettier), he began to touch the cake. I soon picked up the cake and proceeded to put it in face reach...he just took a bite and I absolutely LOVE this picture....It almost looks like he is looking over at me and wondering if he is going to be in big trouble for getting so messy.

Yummy yummy....I had to hold the cake up to him in order for him to dig in.

Finger lick'in good:)

Time for presents...its was the paper he was most interested in...so once he got a piece off, Id have to quickly take it away so he would grab another piece.

The bags were the easiest....just dig right in:)

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY LIAM NICHOLAS WAIBEL!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Haiti Mission Trip 2010

*warning...long post ahead:)*
In the van on our way to Chicago Airport.

Arriving at Chicago Airport....lots of luggage!

We had to stay overnight in Ft. Lauderdale on Friday night before our flight to Haiti on Saturday. We stayed at this very very MODERN hotel. Here is our room.

Arrived at Haiti and we are trying to collect all our bags before going out to find Uncle Jan.

My sweet cousin Alisha(known as lish to me:)). Love you girl and so thankful we got to be together for a week.

We had a 4+ hour drive from Port au Prince where we landed(this is the earthquake area) to Les Cayes where we were staying for the week. Here are just a few of MANY pictures we took of the earthquake devestation.

This was a 3 or 4 story building...completely colapsed...it was so sad to see all this. Tears flowed from my face as I thought of all they are going thru.

On our drive we stopped at a few places...one being a tent city. This tent city imparticular had 12,000 families living in it. All these are homeless haitians who lost homes in the earthquake. This is one of many tent cities that have been started up since the earthquake.

This is the presidential palace in Port au Prince....also hit by earthquake.

More devestation....it was basically building after building of rubble.

Here is one of the major quakes in the earth....my uncle Jan got out to show us the depth of this split....he was NOT touching the bottom of this split. It was sure eye opening to see how the earth literally splits open.

A view on our way to Les Cayes...notice to the right...fallen rocks from the mountain due to earthquake.

Here is our team that went to Haiti. Including Lish:)

This was Nick and I's room at the Guest House in Les Cayes.

This is where we sat many times and also had a few morning devotions here.

One morning us girls did some mending on the orphanage kids clothing. The kids loved to play with our hair as we mended.

A few of us went with Aunt Val to the hardware store to pick out paint for one of the projects we were going to be doing that week.

Here I am painting...I was doing the trim work:)

Nick, Ryan K. and Christoph(jan and val's haitian help) put together this swing set. The orphan kids absolutely LOVED it!!

U. Jan out having a little fun on his bike. We had to have a little time of play in the day too:)

Sunday Morning 2 hour church....it was hot, it was a bit long...but let me tell you what. These Haitian people are on fire for the lord!! Their singing beats any song service Ive ever witnessed. They have such joy and enthusiasm for the lord. Put me to shame!!

This is at the orphanage...we had made some brownies and had punch for the kids...then they sang for us. It was really neat.

We also made 7 dozen snickerdoodles to take to the hosptial and give to the patients there.

We loaded this truck 3+ times with boxes and boxes of medical supplies. Then we unloaded them at the hospital and made one very large pile. Here is Annaliese H. and I hitching a ride.

One of the evening meals we had at the guest house and Jan, Val and kids joined us.

One of the meals we had. Fish (with eyes still there:)), rice, cabbage slaw and some other breaded thing:). It was for the most part always good food!!

One day we helped with cementing. The Haitians mix the cement by hand so we didn't get to mix any, but we sure did get to supply them with dlo(water) and cement bags. Here we are down at the creek filling up the two blue barrels in the truck with water. We made this trip three different times.

Mel and I pouring out the cement bags for the haitians.

Here is the finished product of the cement that was poured. Made it so nice!! (it was just large stones before the cement)

The last day we went to Rainbow beach...but first stopped for dinner. Here we had lobster and fries.

Here is Rainbow beach. Such a secluded, beautiful beach. The water was so clean and blue and so warm. Unfortunently we weren't there for long...got stormed out!!!

On the airplane ride home...the necklace is from the orphan kids...they made each of us girls one to take home. I was exhausted and ready for SLEEP by the end of the week. So thankful my parents and Nick's sister Kelli and family watched our kids so we could go to Haiti. It was such a blessing for nick and I and we are so glad we went.