Atlantic Ocean, here we come.....

Some nights, I lie awake remembering the fun things we've done over the last few days or weeks which gets me to thinking about posting a blog.  It's funny how witty and clever the narration in my head sounds, yet when I wake up in the morning, what actually gets put here on this blog is a far cry from what I "wrote" in my mind the night before.  Such a shame.  So here goes yet another attempt to keep everyone interested as well as documenting our interesting travels.  

School was rough this week.  Isabelle and Sarah took the beginning of the week recovering from a cold, but as you can see a few rays of sun and they were all feeling much better by the end of the week.  This is how we home school in Florida.  Yeah, right. 

The truth is most of our fun happens on the weekends when Mike is home playing with us.  We have a short list of things we would like to do while we are here in Florida.  One of those things is visit the Atlantic Ocean, so we decided to head East this weekend.  

We were given some advice on a few family oriented beaches near Cocoa Beach, so we ended up at Port Canaveral, just south of where the huge cruise ships head out to sea.





The sand here was very fine and soft.  When we walked down to the water's edge, our feet sank into it just like if you were to walk into Mission Bay.  As icky as that may sound, it was clean and nice and firmed up once you got to the actual water.  The water also tasted saltier.
 





This is just a fun picture of our happy feet.  With the small surf, Mike and I were able to relax and let the girls play in the water while we lay on lounge chairs and dozed in the sun. 










Here are the girls hitting the 79 degree water...burrrr! 










As you can see, our time relaxing on the sand didn't last long.  I spoke with the lifeguard before we got in the water to be sure there weren't any wildlife that I should beware of (an yes beware, not be aware).  Other than the occasional sting ray and jellyfish, it was just like being in San Diego.

Here are Mike and Sarah coming in after a nice long swim.  Sarah was thrilled that she could actually swim in the ocean without being knocked over by the waves. 

Believe it or not, the girls are actually pretty good friends when they don't realize that they are acting like friends.  I found out later, they were busy making up their own language as they sat at the shore looking and not fighting. 

More wave hopping!

I love taking pictures together at all the fun places we go. 

Sarah's impression of a dolphin. 

A wonderful end to a fun filled day.

The girls and I picked up a floating chair for Mike this week so he and Sarah tested it out on Sunday afternoon after church.  I can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday.

The Fourth and Final House...

This next week we spent really trying to get some good school work done.  We had plans to head down to Miami and celebrate a Dobbin's birthday. Will was turning 6 and a there was a big Chucky Cheese's party planned.  However, on Wednesday night, Mike and I realized that we had to move out of this House #3 and move to House #4 on Sunday afternoon!  So I wasted no time in organizing all of the stuff we have accumulated.  By Friday evening, all of our personal things were packed and ready to move.  The only rooms left to pack up were the kitchen and classroom.  So, early Saturday morning, we got in the car and headed South.

It was wonderful seeing the Dobbins.  We played and played at the party and then got some good catch up time Saturday evening. 









The girls always love goofing around at Chucky Cheese's. 







I forget that all kids love running around like crazy collecting tickets to trade in for candy and prizes. 









Since it takes a bit over 3 hours to drive down to their place, we couldn't stick around too long Sunday morning because we had to come back and pack the remaining rooms for the move.  Timing worked out perfectly.  On the drive home, we passed House #4 and the cleaners were just leaving, so we were able to start moving over right away.  House #4 is only 1/4 mile down the street from House #3, so after 2 trips with 2 cars, most of our things were moved.



We have settled into House #4 nicely.  It's a little smaller, but we still have a whole bedroom that isn't really being used.    The pool in our backyard is bigger and we have a nice view of an open wild life area. 






We see a lot more of that wild life here and they have attempted to get into our trash cans more often.  It's amazing how strong the creature wanting our trash can be.  We have found the can tipped over a few times, but more surprisingly, we found the trash can housing (it's a deck box that two trash cans fit into that has two doors that fit together in front and a lid that locks the doors in place) opened with the cans knocked over.  I closed the housing myself, so I know it was secure.  Of course there was one fast food bag with Chick-fil-A trash inside the otherwise empty trash cans, so I can't blame the thing.
 






We did have one surprise on the day we moved in.  The girls were quick to test out the new pool, so in they went.  A few minutes later, they came tearing in the house saying there was a snake in the pool.  Sure enough, Mike got in and pulled out this little guy.  Believe it or not, it is a snake although a worm may be closer in size. 





One of the greatest blessings on this trip is the fact that the girls have adjusted so nicely.  They have slept in a number of different beds, and at least 5 different rooms a piece with different noises, yet they sleep great and have rarely gotten up with a complaint.  It makes me wonder what the Lord is preparing us for.   

Never a dull moment...

As I look back at the weeks that have passed, I realize that there is always something going on and that we have had very little time to be bored. 

Since we have settled into a more regular school routine, we decided it was time to get the girls involved in a sport of some kind.   About 20 minutes up the street is Brandy Johnson's Global Gymnastics, so all three girls now go to gymnastics on Tuesday afternoons.  They have all taken gymnastics in the past, so they felt right at home and fell in love with their coaches.

This week we were blessed to be invited to attend a field trip with the home school ministry at church, so on Thursday morning we loaded up with lunch in hand and headed about an hour east to the Wycliffe Discover Center.  This was an amazing place. 

A little background:  John Wycliffe was a man born in the 1300's, 200 years before the reformation.  He was a professor at Oxford and he believed that the bible should be translated into the "common" language, English, so that every one could read the Word for themselves; not just those that read Latin.  The Church at the time thought this was absurd and did everything it could to prevent him from doing so.  However, God had a different plan and in 1382 he was the first to translate the Bible into English at the expense of his teaching position.

Jump ahead now to this century and a young missionary in Guatemala was surprised to find that the Guatemalan people could not read a Spanish Bible.  So this man, Cameron Townsend, made it his life's mission to not only translate the Bible into other languages, but actually develop an alphabet and written language for those people of the world who had none.  This led him to found the Wycliffe Discovery Center in 1942.

Here are several pictures from our day at this very educational center.  The kids learned about the Bawaki people who are in need of a written language and bible translation.  They made prayer reminder cards that they have hung in their bedrooms.






Anything crafty is right up Sarah's alley.









They followed a trail around a map of the Pacific islands that Wycliffe missionaries visit and bring many, many different translations of the Bible to.














They also got a chance to dress up in some traditional clothing that one might find on any one of the Pacific islands. 







Later in the day, the kids were let loose on a scavenger hunt through the center's hands on exhibits that took us to many different parts of the world and showed us what our names looked like in 12 different languages, let us hear that the Mazateco People can actually whistle their language and taught us that people actually describe that living without the bible translated in their native language feels like living in the dark. 

This was definitely a highlight of our time here. 


The week ended with Mike flying to Albany, New York for his company's yearly get together and the girls and I laid around the pool and ended up at the Magic Kingdom.  This picture shows the new Fantasy Land that is being built and due to open sometime next year.  You can see the progress on Belle's castle.  Very exciting.

It's been awhile...

Mike and I play a game, when someone speaks a phrase that happens to be lyrics of a song, the other quickly sings that lyric along with a few that follow.  "It's been awhile", is one that we often sing.  It seems rather appropriate for this blog because the month that has past since I last posted AND the fact that I should get big points for working lyrics into a blog! 

To pick up where I left off, we had a wonderful time with Mike's parents.  The night before they caught a flight home, we had dinner at another themed restaurant in Downtown Disney.  This place was called T-Rex and I may have enjoyed this more than the Rainforest Cafe. 




This place had animatronic dinosaurs everywhere, but what I thought was unique was an entire room designed to look like it was carved out of an iceberg.  The walls, floor and ceiling were white, but lit up from the inside with different colors that cycled through neon pink, blue and white.  Then during the occasional meteor shower, the walls would change color and all the dinosaurs would move and roar.  It was very entertaining. 


You can see the walls behind the Woolly Mammoth in this shot.

The next night was just as exciting.  The Softley family was visiting family in Florida and after they enjoyed a day at Universal Studios, they met us at a nearby restaurant where we were able to have a quick bite with our dear friends.  The photo is fuzzy, but it was so nice to see them that I had to include it.  We also got the pleasure of meeting Andy's sweet nephew. 



Too soon after we sat down to dinner, the girls and I had to rush off for their first night of Awana at the church we've been attending.  This is such a fun program and the girls love it!  If you are not familiar with Awana, it's an amazing program designed to encourage kids to know God, memorize scripture with patches and trading card rewards for incentive and just have fun and socialize.  I think because my girls have been a little light on the socializing since we've been here, this was a wonderful mid-week opportunity to get some good "kid" time in.  They have been on fire ever since. 


The week ended without too much excitement.  I had been sick with a cold that didn't seem to want to go away, so we took it easy and just lounged around in our pajamas.  I know it sounds rough.











So until our next chat, may God keep you and bless you.