It's an Irish root thing

Sam's saying the last few days when he spots anything green that could be associated with St. Patrick's day, was "It's an Irish root thing right?".  We do have Irish roots and we are quite proud of them.  This year I shared more of the history of the day with Sam and Zeke and it made the day even more special.  So, I will share with you what St. Patrick's Day is all about from the perspective of our four year old.  For most this is common knowledge, but it's still a really cool story.

See, St. Patrick wasn't born in Ireland, he was kidnapped and taken there to work as a slave.  He escaped and went back to his home in Britian and later returned to Ireland after becoming a priest.  Back in Ireland he taught the Irish people about the love of God.  As he shared the his faith and more people listened, the snakes in Ireland (aka the poor choices and bad influences) where kicked out.  This is why you often see snakes in pictures of St. Patrick.  To help the people understand better about the power of God, St. Patrick is said to have used shamrocks to represent the trinity (most shamrocks have 3 sections on the clover)...the Father...the Son...and the Holy Spirit.  Sam thought this part was really cool, because, as Catholics, we make the sign of the cross in reverence before and after prayers.  You see it really is "an Irish root thing" because St. Patrick brought our faith to Ireland and our ancestors came from Ireland and brought that love and trust in our God with them.  It's a blessing to be Irish in our eyes and a day of much Catholic celebration. 

Now the little leprechauns and pots of gold are just some added fun to celebrate the luck of the Irish.  A little leprechaun visited our house and sprinkled it with green and shamrocks....and got in a little mischief along the way.  We made some thin mint puppy chow to celebrate the day and tried the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner.  I am the only one that likes corned beef I discovered, but Sam enjoyed the cabbage (brussel sprouts) with me.  And, our Zeke, turned 1 1/2 on the day of green, so it was extra special.

An Irish Blessing

 May the road rise to meet you,

 May the wind always be at your back, 

 May the sun shine warm upon your face,

 May the rains fall softly upon your fields,

 And until we meet again, may God hold

 you in the palm of His hand.

Great Wolf, Great Fun!

A perk of being military is that once in a while they offer retreats for couples.  The thing is you have to ask the right people and be really quick to sign up.  Thankfully, we were on the ball and hounding the right people.  We ended up being able to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge for two nights on the Army and had lots of family time and some great information to pour over as a couple.  Plus, we were given childcare hours so our friends that were also attending, Hans, and I could all go ride the big-kid slides at the waterpark without the kiddos.  I have no pictures of these slides, but they were AWESOME!  No words can describe that stomach dropping, think I made a big mistake going down this thing, but man is this great kind of feeling.  Just imagine a roller-coaster on water, and no belts holding you in. 

Aside from the handful of hours they spent in childcare (which both boys very much disliked!), our boys had a great time swimming in the pool and relaxing in our room watching movies and eating popcorn.  Sam decided he really likes wave pools and even likes going all the way to the deepest part and floating on the waves.  His mama thinks this is great fun, too.  Maybe next time he'll conquer a slide or two, that just was not on his agenda this time.

Check out these identical profiles.  They look so much alike....definitely brothers.

Who needs money to ride these things when you have a steering wheel and buttons for free?