Thank You!

Dear Betsy/Bill, Mom/Dad, Gram/PopPop,

We wanted to take a moment to thank you for an incredible spring break vacation. Sanibel was amazing! What a fun-filled week that absolutely filled a giant longing for a change of scenery (at least for one tired mom). We are so blessed with your generosity in giving us the opportunity to get out of town for a full week!

And we're happy to report that our "expect the worst and hope for the best" mentality for vacationing with young children was not even necessary. Both kids did really well, and we were genuinely impressed with the relative ease of this trip compared to others. There were so many great moments, but here are just a few of our highlights:

- Watching both kids, and especially Ethan, experience the ocean for the first time. Ethan loved jumping in the waves, and Eleanor was a big fan of seeing the water wash up over her feet, too.

- Seeing all four Meuer cousins playing together so well. Eleanor and Emily eating toys together on a beach blanket and Ethan and Jake building sand castles, chasing each other down the beach, and collecting shells to show Pop Pop.

- Pool time. Pretty incredible to see how much Ethan grew as a swimmer in one short week. He'll be swimming in Wautoma this summer no doubt!

- Sounds like...parades. Charades was oh so hilarious. Enough said.

- Temperatures over 40 degrees were oh so fantastic and a perfect bridge between winter and spring in Illinois.

- The photo shoot was actually a lot of fun, and the shots she got are a perfect memento of a great trip. We felt like celebrities on the beach, which Will sort of was, given the shout out he got from an old student.

- Dinners after the kids were in bed were great, too. It was nice to be able to sit down and only have ourselves to feed. Something simple, but lovely.

Really, there are too many individual memories to mention here. Thankfully, our camera captured so many! Thank you again and again for an incredible trip. We love you!

Love,

Will, Michelle, Ethan, and Eleanor

P.S. My pictures are far too numerous to catalogue here. I'll post a few of my absolute faves, but here is a link to my Shutterfly album for the trip if you have the desire to look at all 300+ pictures:

http://ethansantics.shutterfly.com/2295