Weekend Getaway – SURPRISE!

All children should get to experience the richness of visiting grandparents and going on outings together as a family.  At Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries, taking and making the most of those opportunities is just one more way that we strive to create a wonderful “Place to Be a Child.” Listen to our Home Parent Dad at the Zimmer Home, Charlie Marshman, talk about their recent outing…        [slideshow id=1 300=width 300=height]

 

My wife Jaimee and I came to Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries from Wisconsin. We decided recently that it would be fun to use one of our 3 day weekends to make a surprise visit to our parents back home.  We drove and drove after the kids got out of school on Friday.  Late that evening, after telling all the kids in the van to be VERY quiet so as not to ruin the surprise, Jaimee nonchalantly called her mom (who had just gotten off work.)  The kids almost blew it, as we drove by a Green Bay exit sign right at that moment and they all started shouting, “Charlie – that’s your Green Bay Packers!”  When we finally did arrive at Jaimee’s moms’ place…she was so surprised and excited to see us, even though it was 2 AM and she only has a two bedroom apartment to host all 12 of us!  We received a similar reception at my mom’s when we arrived at her place Sunday.  We had one of our young girls walk in first, and my mom just looked at her and said, “Hello…” and then, as realization hit her, with much more exuberance she shouted, “Wow – Hello!!!” She was laughing and crying…so surprised and happy to see us all.

Without really planning to, we turned the visit into a typical, fall Wisconsin experience for the children – with everything from eating cheese curds, venison and cheesy potatoes, to watching the Green Bay Packers.  We played in the leaves, visited Lake Michigan and a lighthouse, and drove through Milwaukee.  Also while there, I took the opportunity to show the kids where I proposed to Jaimee a few years ago.

The kids were amazed at the vastness of Lake Michigan.  After we had been driving for 45 minutes along its coast, they were totally floored when I told them we could keep driving another hour and a half to Chicago, and Lake Michigan would STILL be there. They couldn’t believe that a lake could be so big – they thought surely it was an ocean!

A fun (and funny) experience while at Lake Michigan was walking out along a VERY long pier, to get to a lighthouse.  It was freezing cold, but the kids were troopers and walked and walked without complaining – but the moment we got out there to the lighthouse, one young boy promptly declared, “I have to go to the bathroom.” Yup…a quick, long walk all the way back from where we’d just come…that’s kids for you!

It was a great trip, with lots of family & grandparent time, plus fun experiences for all of the kids.  ~~Charlie Marshman

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