Halloween '14

As always, Halloween this year was full of wonderful sweets and treats. Ryley had a fun opportunity to plan and run the Trunk or Treat with other youth from our church. Every one of the Ballard's had a fantastic time enjoying that activity. Steven and I even rose to the occasion and dressed up as "Chicken Fingers" (look closely at his hands) and "a pig in a blanket". See, we're still hip and cool! On Halloween evening, Kadyn went downtown with a friend and her family and scored some major candy there. We might just have to follow that method next year. The kids once again had a great evening in our awesome neighborhood that goes all out for this particular holiday. Their favorite part of Halloween this year would be a toss up between handing out candy and the intense "exchange" that takes place later that night. It was another successful Halloween experience.

Disney Fantasy '14

You know it was an awesome vacation when it takes a full week to get back into the swing of reality. The Ballard family was present and accounted for in its entirety this year, as there was no baby to leave behind with Grandma, and yet, we got the bonus of Grandma joining us too! We so enjoyed these seven days in the beautiful waters of the Eastern Caribbean. We had a fantastic tour guide for St. Maarten who showed us all around his beautiful home. St. Maarten is an island that is peacefully split between France and the Netherlands. The two territories occupy the island and hold the distinction of being the smallest to exist separately on one island. That's just a small tidbit of the amazing history we learned. In addition to fantastic ports, we truly enjoyed the pools, activities, food, characters, clubs, and relaxation of this wonderful family vacation.