It's Good To Be Home

It's hard to believe it's only been one week since we got home from Florida. It really is good to be back home. The thing we all looked forward to most was seeing Annie (our dog). A good friend, Mimi, kept Annie while we were away. After getting Annie Sunday morning from her we went back to her house for her 40th surprise party. It was lots of fun, yummy food (choc. covered apples dipped in oreo and heath), and lots of kids. And I thought we were the only family that did piniatas. Here's Sarah giving it a try. Matthew attempting to whack it.
And here's Mimi, what a good sport!! Please don't kill me for posting this picture.
You could also say that we're related to Mimi's family. Eric's cousin Joel is married to Mimi's neice, Kathleen. What a cute couple.
The kids were really happy to get back home to their friends and also to their toys. There was a bit of a Lego frenzy happening this past week due to their absence and also inspired by Prince Caspian.

We met the Browns and Williams to go strawberry picking. Here is Alexis and Sarah.

Rachel and Alexis. Here's the boys taking a break from throwing the strawberries at one another and actually picking them.

Ryan....... ......all the kids.......
......and all the strawberries. For dinner we had strawberry shortcake. I used a new recipe that Heather posted on her blog and it was delicious.

Rachel is a mommy's helper to Rebekah. This week we got to watch Avery at our house while Rebekah went shopping. Avery just learned to sit up. Isn't she so cute!
Friday morning was the Homeschool Enrichment's end of the year program. Rachel had been in drawing two and Ryan was in drawing two. They both did a great job.

Friday night babysitting/dance party.


And this is just what I have pictures of. Yes, it's been a full week trying to unpack, laundry, catch up on things from being gone and try to get ready for the next thing but I've enjoyed being back home in our house. I'm enjoying the weather, my front porch, gardening,being done with school, the kids being able to ride their bikes and play with friends, and looking forward to the summer ahead.

Florida II

Here's the last bit of our Florida pictures. Aren't they cute! One thing I love about our family vacation is the time our kids get to spend with each other without any distractions or any other friends - just them. They played games in the pool, on the beach and even all slept in the same room together.
Sarah would ask me to go out in the water with her but as much as I love the water I also have shark phobia so I usually didn't go out unless Eric went too. Here she is with her daddy.

Sarah trying to swim with the ducks. There were actually alot of pelicans. We would sit on the beach and watch them dive in for fish.

I called Matthew my "wave runner". He would go out and swim and then try to run in as fast as he could to beat the wave. So cute! Hours and hours in the sand.


Our vacation reading. Rachel read Eragon for the fourth time and then she found the Lord of the Rings trilogy at the thrift store. Eric finished This Mighty Scourge, a book about the civil war, and then read Leif Enger's new book, So Brave, Young and Handsome and is still reading Flyboys. I finished An Unsuitable Job For a Woman by P.D. James then splurged and bought the latest No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book and am onto yet another mystery by Dorothy Sayers, The Nine Tailors.



Peacocks on Longboat Key. These peacocks just run free around a neighborhood. Kind of random.



So we've seen peacocks, pelicans, herrings and alligators all in the wild then at Animal Kingdom we've seen elephants, lions, hippos, rhinos, flamingos, gazelles, giraffes, etc but the thing my kids are really into are all the little lizards around the condo. Every time we went down the driveway the kids were counting how many they could find on the walls 7, 8, 9, 10,.....

I suppose our kids played chess while we were there - I really don't remember but we did play the CSI game that Eric got from the thrift store. We played almost every night and now the kids are intrigued by the CSI characters and their jobs.

We spent the last day at the beach all day so yes, we are sunburned in these last pictures. Eric took us all to the Columbia for our last dinner and then we went to see Prince Caspian.

Johnny Cash

Okay, I just finished posting on Disney which just took me forever and my brain is becoming mush. While I've been trying to post pics in the right order, remember what we did, write it somewhat intelligently and thank God for spell check, I've been listening to some Johnny Cash. I know that sounds pretty random and odd but after Eric and I saw Walk the Line on tv a few weeks ago I downloaded some songs. Some are from the movie 'cause I actually like Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix version a little better like Jackson, It Ain't Me Babe and Wildwood Flower. But there's no replacement for Mr. Cash himself singing Folsom Prison Blues, I Walk the Line and A Boy Named Sue (a very funny song). I don't know how to put a song on the blog from itunes or I'd share.

Disney World

We took two days from our time at the beach and went to Disney World for the kids' first visit. It was a wonderful jammed pack couple of days. Here are some pics from our "magical" experience before the camera battery went dead on the safari in Animal Kingdom...oh well.

This was the boat ride over from the parking lot to Magic Kingdom. There's Cinderella's castle in the distance and I must say from the outset that I was on the verge of "magical" tears all day.
After entering into the park, Eric told the kids that there are surprises around every corner - and there was grandpa!! The kids and I were very surprised - and I cried.

Riding the fire truck up to Cinderella's castle.

At one point we looked up in the sky to see an airplane begin to write something. JESUS. I teared up again listening to the crowd muffle the name of Jesus.
This picture was on the Swiss Family Robinson's tree house. A personal favorite of mine. It was the first Disney movie I saw in the theater when I was four or five.

One of the family favorites of course was the Pirates of the Caribbean.

The parade.

Another family favorite was the Buzz Lightyear ride. There was a bit of a competition to get the highest score.

Not only were we happy to go to dinner and eat, sit down and sit in air conditioning but we also got to see Goofy, Pluto, Minny, Chip and Dale.

An outstanding fireworks show disney style - very magical.

Our family was blessed with park hopper tickets for another day at Disney so we started the day at Animal Kingdom in the morning then over to Epcot. This is the Mt. Everest ride.



The tree of life. It's hard to see in the picture but there are animal carvings all over. Really cool!

The Lion King show was a favorite - at least for Eric, Bob and myself.

Safari ride.... and then the camera went dead.

Eric was able to get one last picture at Epcot. The kids liked the ride in the golf ball looking thing - Spaceship Earth. Eric and Bob rode the Test Track and Matthew joined them for Soarin' (makes Rachel and I sick). We had dinner in Mexico and enjoyed seeing the 360 movies in China and Canada. A favorite was the movie in France - such beautiful countryside and villages. Then the day ended with a firework/laser show over the lake. And as if we didn't have enough adventure our van broke down on the way back to the hotel but thankfully Eric was able to cruise it into the parking lot. I am actually very grateful that the van died there and we were able to go to bed and then have it towed the next morning while we hung out at the pool. Not only was it an easy trial it was somewhat the icing on the cake for a great couple of days. Eric rode with the tow truck driver who was from Costa Rica and was able to share the gospel with him and attempt to answer a bunch of thoughtful questions the man had and about a brother who had been recently killed. John Piper has a saying "the answer is already on it's way". Eric and I thought the answer coming would be for us (and maybe a new van) but we were able to see that God used our broken down van for Eric to be a minister of the gospel. What a way to end our time!!