Always a good cold day adventure is to bring out the play-doh and watch the creation.  This day was no exception
   
   

Last week we decided the kids needed a day out of the house and burn up some energy.  So we kidnapped our friend Sarah and took the kids to Appleton Wisconsin.

First we met Julie’s grandma at McDonalds for lunch.  It is a great place for us to meet up with her as the kids can burn off energy after being in the van for a couple hours and the adults can catch up.

The museum has an actual firetruck and all the gear that the kids can put on and pretend to be a firefighter.  Here is Hudson showing off his new look.

The museum also has a golf simulator for kids and since Simon loves to watch golf on tv he wanted to give it a shot.

The museum has a cool water room, where the kids can put on raincoats and play in the water.  Even with a raincoat on by the time we left the water room, Alivia was soaked from head to toe.

After the museum, we finished the day with a stop for milkshakes and headed for home.  Everyone (with the exception of the driver of course) was asleep within a few miles of town.

A recent adventure in the Huffman household included adventures with our two favorite pirates, Brian and Sarah. 

Brian with Hudson

Sarah with Simon
Needless to say, Pirates love games and so do boys.

Many of you know that since last fall, Hudson and Simon (with Mom and Dad) have been praying about a puppy.  Hudson has had fascination with puppies for about 9 months and was starting to get out of control with how and when he asked for a puppy.  We wanted to be certain that this could be a life lesson for the boys so we began to use it as an opportunity to teach them to pray about something and wait.  So we started praying about it as a family at night.  Which of course turned into praying about it at meal times, at nap times and at random moments when it seemed fitting. 

Well as this was going, Julie and I had been looking for a very specific kind of dog, a Labradoodle.  We know they are hypoallergenic and we hoped it wouldn’t create too many problems with our good friend Sarah and her allergies.  Of course, wouldn’t you know it, Labradoodle puppies are hard to find and very expensive, so we had in the back of our minds ruled out getting a puppy of that nature and were back to square one.

A few weeks ago, on a Sunday night, Hudson told God at bedtime that he had prayed for a whole month and he didn’t think he could wait any longer.  Of course, we knew it had been like six months but we could tell he was getting anxious.  After putting the boys to bed, Matt came down stairs and jumped on the computer.  Having been searching for a car earlier in the day on E-bay he reopened a page to the Ebay Classifieds and what do you think was the first thing to pop up, a Labradoodle puppy near Madison, WI.  The price was amazingly low and we figured there must be an issue but called anyway on Monday.  Turns out the owner had 7 other dogs and didn’t feel she was giving it the attention that it needed. 

So by Thursday we were in Grand Marsh, Wisconsin to look at the new “puppy.”  The reality is that she is a year old and is amazing.  She looks more like a lab than a poodle.  No curly hair and certainly sheds, but isn’t allergenic with Sarah so that is what we were hoping for.  Her disposition is incredible and Alivia has already ridden her around the house.  She just lays down when she has had enough and lets Alivia roll off of her.  Simon loves to work with Julie on training her and isn’t afraid to get in her face and tell her to “lay down.” 

In the end, the boys are thankful and know that God helped provide them with a puppy that they love to have around and have learned that waiting, while it isn’t always easy, it is worth it, when God’s timing is involved.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls,

We crossed a major hurdle today with Simon and Hudson. They went to the dentist and allowed the dentist to do everything he needed to do.  They were really brave and really did a great job.  Sorry no pictures as Julie was afraid to go back and potentially create a problem.