handsful

We had a great weekend trip to Orlando! We spent Saturday at Sea World and then decided to have a lazy day by the hotel pool on Sunday! Here are 10 things about our trip…

1. Pressurized water misters work really well on a hot day at Sea World.
2. Manatees are huge and move reeaallyyy sslloowwllyy.
3. Our kid’s suitcases are filled with more stuffed animals than clothes.
4. Marley should not look down while trying to climb a rock wall.
5. Mom can be talked into going down small water slides, but not steep roller coasters.
6. There are nice and not-so-nice parts of Daytona Beach.
7. Hotel curtains really encourage sleeping in.
8. Henna tatoos are fun and will eventually go away.
9. The “Soak Zone” in Shamu Stadium is named appropriately.
10. I’m a blessed Mom to have this kind of fun with my family.

More pics…

Ah….little help?

Ethan really “flipped” for Sea World.

The air is hot, but the water feels fine!

Payton slides, Abbey watches for pool rule breakers.

Marley and I gather Daytona sand for our collection.

The theme this month for my CCAI Secret Pal was “Something for Mom”. What a box full of cool things! The Bath & Body lotions are the EXACT scents I would have chosen…how did you know? The bathing suit cover-up for Lainey is just perfect, I can just see her in it. The bibs made me smile, and I know Randy will fight me on how often Lainey wears HIS bib over mine! The kids treats are great, Marley just came in and snatched her water balloons! Chocolate…always a hit with this Mom! Jelly Bellys will go in the jar…Randy loves that you seem to fill that up each month! Thank you!!

Ethan, holding his Mom’s hand, at Sea World

We have 2 boys, Payton and Ethan, both age 8. Payton is very sensitive to other’s feelings; very much at home snuggled in a chair, reading a book; content to let the other person win in whatever game he’s playing. Ethan is your typical “boy’s boy”. Loves sports; loves competition; hates losing. My boys have lots in common, and yet they are SO different. Two things I observed today:

Our church has Sports Camp this week. At the end of each day, all the kids (probably 150 or so) gather together in the gym, sit on the floor and have their last group bible lesson. Today, I was sitting in a chair in the back (parents had started arriving to pick their kids up), waiting for the lesson to start. The kids were all sitting, but hadn’t been “called to order” yet and so they were all talking, etc. Ethan walked up to me (in his typical boy “swagger”) and promptly sat on my lap. Now, how cool is that? My 8 year old boy couldn’t care less if it’s cool or not cool to hop on his mom’s lap in front of all his friends. I don’t know how long this will last, but it’s heaven to me.

Tonight, the kids were all in various stages of getting ready for bed. Payton was ready quickly, and sat down to read his bible. He started to read about Daniel and then heard me comment on the story of Joseph to Abbey…so he decided to find that one instead. After prayers, he told me he’d like to have a “lemonade stand”, only instead of selling lemonade, he’d want to sell bibles. He said he’d sell them for $5/bible. He smiled, and headed off to bed. Now, how many 8 year old boys have the idea of a “bible stand”?? He’s young, but he has a heart for God and for teaching others about Jesus.

It’s been a good day to be a Mom.

Yes folks, we’re this excited about rain. It’s been SO dry here lately. You could almost hear our poor grass complaining! Last night, the skies opened up and it rained ALL night. Then, it rained ALL morning today and off and on ALL day. Talk about catching up! Abbey and Payton just love swimming in the rain (as you can see).

My great friend, Janet, sent me some Canadian goodies today! She lives in Alberta, Canada…we’re about as far apart as we could be distance wise, but we’ve become very close via email and our China adoption email boards. She’s a Christian, homeschooling mom of 4 kids (2 girls, 2 boys). Sound familiar? Her site is http://www.tuiningaadoption.blogspot.com/ Thank you, Janet! The kids are already proudly wearing their new buttons, we’ll share the maple sugar candies, and the chocolate is mine. Allllll mine!! (insert sinister snickering here)