A very busy week

The first week of May is one of our busiest weeks of the year.  This is when we host a senior banquet and take about 18 juniors/seniors to the beach for the weekend.  This year we decided to have the banquet at Laytn's Land N on Wednesday night.  This is a place that is about 30 minutes away and is out in the woods with a huge barn to have the banquet.  We had Olive Garden cater our dinner which made it much easier on us and of course everyone loves Olive Garden.  We had about 100 people attend the banquet and thanks to a few other Sunday School teachers who helped serve and clean up everything went smoothly.

Our wonderful group of seniors

Ever since our co teachers the Thompson's and Jason and I started teaching the senior class and putting this banquet together, we have also put together a slide show video with pictures of them growing up.  There have been a couple of years where I have been up to 1AM or 2AM several nights in a row working on the video.  I have tried to get things done sooner and this year I think it was just one night up until 1:30AM.  Thanks to a Mac, making a video is easier.

After decorating for the banquet that Wednesday morning, Trevor passed out in the car.  He was such a trooper and helped carry supplies in and then just played around

Julie and I also have lots of food shopping to do for the week because after the banquet on Wednesday, we took 18 juniors/ seniors to a beach house for the weekend.  We filled 2 huge shopping carts at Sam's and one had Julie's grandson Gannon in there along with some food.  We were quite a sight to see.

Julie and I packed up my vehicle Thursday morning despite the nasty weather and headed to St Augustine.  We try to go a couple of hours before everyone to set up the house before 18 teenagers invade it - it helps us keep things organized.  This house sleeps 22 people and is our favorite of all of the houses we have stayed in.

It is 3 stories and the guys usually pick the top floor because it has individual beds in the wall with tv/dvd within each one plus there is a pool table up there.  We were very thankful for the pool table this weekend because the weather was definitely not beach weather.  Check out the wind

St Augustine received 9 inches of rain that weekend and the wind was almost unbearable.  I only walked down to the beach once and that was Saturday afternoon before we left to come home.   We played lots of games, lots of pool, watched movies, and stayed up really late (except me - I used this as a time to get some sleep).

Now some went to brave the waves on Thursday when we got there  but I'm not sure that was such a smart idea - but they made a memory.

Friday afternoon we always go into St Augustine and have our version of the Amazing Race. The kids love it and look forward to it every year - they are pretty competitive.  Most of the girls were in their running shorts and tennis shoes - they meant business this year.  We weren't sure if the weather was going to let up this year for us to play, but the kids really didn't care they still wanted to do it.

We decided to go bowling first and then see how the weather looked.  Jason bowled his best game EVER - didn't leave an open frame.  He was pretty excited.  His is the 3rd J - 210

The rain let up some and we decided to go for it.  Julie and I were let out near the fort and we couldn't believe the wind - it was difficult to walk straight.

While the kids were running all around St George Street, the five of us adults went and enjoyed ice cream and waited to see which team would be first.

The winning team with their prize money.

Despite the nasty weather, we had a great weekend away with a wonderful group of juniors/seniors.  They were so much fun to be around and of course were very well behaved - which is always a plus.  Love these guys and pray they will always seek God's will for their lives as they move out of our class.