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!!

Golf on the Beach

By Eric: Ryan, Matthew and I had a great time with the girls - swimming, shelling, playing games, playing in the sand and in the water. But one thing we did as boys was play golf on the beach. Every day, at low tide, we would have lots of beach to work with. So, we would dig a hole and with our golf clubs try to make a par (3) with plastic golf balls. On the last day Matthew wanted to "design a golf course". He drew his design in the sand, went over the plans with me and we got to work. He wanted it to be a combination of a sand castle and and real golf hole, so we dug the hole and he put the castle mounds and walls together while I worked on the "out of bounds" wall. This hole was also a par three. Below is a picture of Matthew playing his hole and a video of Ryan getting his par on Matthew's first golf course design. (By the way, the water isn't out of bounds and no strokes were assesed if the waves moved the ball!)

Myakka River State Park

On Friday, we went to Myakka River State Park. It is one of the largest and oldest state parks in Florida. We took a tour on a airboat across the Myakka River. We saw alligators, egrits and turkey vultures.

This aligator was hanging arround the boat before we
started the tour.

the pilot took us to the "Alligator Nursery" where the

alligators lay their eggs. This alligator is laying in the

"Alligator Nursery".

By Rachel Hughes

Florida

We arrived in Florida Monday afternoon. The trip went well and seemed to go by quickly. We didn't leave until almost three Sunday afternoon and made it just past Jacksonville to a hotel by midnight. The kids watched a movie on Eric's laptop but we mostly listened to Taliesin by Stephen Lawhead.

After such a long drive the adreneline kicks in as soon as we go over the bridge to Lido Key. Here's a pic from the car of Sarasota Bay. It's not the best shot but going over that bridge brings a feeling of being transported into paradise.


After driving down John Ringling Blvd. and going around St. Armand's Circle we head down the road that runs along the gulf to the condo.

Here's the kids playing games. They've been playing everything from checkers, chess, Clue, Jenga and today we all played the CSI game Eric found at the thrift store (eric and I always visit local thrift stores when we travel).

A view from the pool deck looking south at Siesta Key.

The view looking north.

Turn a 180 and there's the pool - and the kids.

The condo up on the fourth floor. We get a great view of the water - I'll try to post a pic of that too.

After getting here Eric took the kids to the beach and I did the usual immediate trip to the grocery store. If I don't go right away I won't want to go at all. Then we went up to the circle for pizza. While walking around Eric saw Dick Vitale eatting dinner with his wife at the Columbia. He went over with the boys to say hello. I had no idea who he was and if you don't either he is an ESPN sports announcer.

So the past few days we've been going to the beach, pool, shelling, long walks and just enjoying being on vacation. Yesterday, Rachel, Sarah and I went up to the circle for our traditional lunch at the Columbia. Rachel and and both had the 1905 salad and black bean soup - it's soooo good. Sarah just had chicken tenders - I guess black beans at home once a week is enough for her.

St. Armand's Circle is such a pretty place - very tropical with palms and hibiscus and lots of other foliage all over. There are a number of restaurants that all have outside eatting and there are lots of other upscale stores to window shop. John Ringling (yes the circus guy) was very influential in the development of this area and designing "the circle". He was also really into art and statues. On his estate down the road on Sarasota Bay he even had his own art museum. Thus the statues all around the circle. These are the only ones Rachel wanted to take a picture of - the rest were nudes.

Yesterday afternoon we stayed at the beach until sunset.

Hopefully I'll post more pics soon. My goal was to post everyday but posting for me is like a chore and well...I'm on vacation.

Intelligent Design vs. Darwinism

No, this post isn't about my thoughts on such a controversial topic - I just want to send you to another blog by Carolyn McCulley- solofemininity.blog.com. Her post today is about the new documentary "Expelled:No Intelligence Allowed" narrated by Ben Stein. I had no idea that this was out in theaters and am grateful for the news and also the trailer clips and interviews on her blog. I am eager to go see this movie and would urge anyone else to see it and be informed. Yes, as a Christian we undoubtedly believe that God is the creator of all but I know for myself I can then be ignorant of anything else that wouldn't be truth and seems idiotic but anti-God is huge and very sad. I know I said this post wasn't on my thoughts and intellectually I have no place to stand up on a soap box but after watching the trailer of the really, really smart men share their beliefs on science, religion and God I was very grateful to be able to teach my kids science that has God at that center of it all (a little plug for Apologia science curriculum).

Our new friends.

Every day we feed two ducks which I named Violet and Millard. They are
so cute when we see them waddling across the street back to the
lake.
They come to our house every day for bread. Violet is very greedy. She used to snatch all of the bread before Millard could get any. Now only Violet comes to our house. Yesterday, Violet came into our backyard by sliding under our

picket fence. She came very close to me and Matthew. We hope

she has her ducklings in our yard.
By Sarah Hughes