A little visit to the Mouse

On our way home we had to stop for some medical in HK, so we decided to visit Disneyland! I don't think you can ever get tired of Mickey!

Toy Story Land has opened in the last year, so we were happy to check it out.  It was so clever, everything was amazingly done!

 From the RC car race track , to the green army men parachute ride....it was so fun!!

 And forget princesses, he wanted to pose with the green army man.

This is really just for my scrabble-playing family.  Toilets, spelled in scrabble letters!

 And there is the castle.

 Teacups that I take no part in. Especially because Rob spins the cup sooooo fast.  I just opted fo the picture taking.

And yes, it really is a small world!  I love this ride!

Of course we stayed to the end. Here is the castle at night all lit up

 And while we waited for the crowd to thin, Rob took cool pictures.  Here is Main Street at night.

On the subway taking us home from Disney.  Such a fun day together!

Waterfalls, Elephants, and Rafts, Oh My!

 One of the most fun days we had in our travels was our family day.  We decided to drive to a waterfall and swim around in it for a while, then ride bamboo rafts down the river.

Hudson.....about to conquer the waterfall!

And then he realized how COLD it was!!

Jill, who is one of our adopted family member joined us for excursions!

Look really close....there we are just to the right of the waterfall.  It was a lot like swimming in a glass of ice water, but so totally worth it! If you ever have a chance to hike up a trail to a natural waterfall and swim in it....you definitely should take it!!

And of course we saw the ELEPHANTS up close and personal!

We also took a trip down bamboo river rafts.  I have no pictures, becasue everyone was falling in the water, it was wet, and we didn't bring the camera. Howevr, it was super fun.  We had elephants walking by and spraying us with their trunks, Rob throwing everyone, but me, into the river. Hudson splashing everyone on the boat, and all the locals laughing at us!

Such great memories!!

The Beautiful, Sunny, Land of Smiles

After exactly one month of being home, we left.  Destination? Warmer Weather!  The kids and I left first.  We had a home school meeting to attend. 

Trying to be the frugal person that I am, I scoured the internet for the cheapest plane tickets I could find.  Finding them, and feeling pleased with my purchases, I set off with my children for our trip.  Problem: the plane from our town was late.  So, I missed flight # 2.  I found myself at 9pm in a major airport, with my two children and no one was helping me.  Why? I booked my tickets seperately. No one had to take responsibility.  After a few tears and a call to my husband, I booked 3 new (last minute) tickets for 11:50pm that night, insuring I wouldn't miss my flight the next morning. 

With that kind of start, I was glad to just arrive and begin my week!  The kids and I stayed in a beautiful place with tons of trees and beautiful gardens.  It was wonderful! But the best part was seeing friends who I hadn't seen in years!  One of the good and bad things about our homeschool meeting was it was moms only.  I had hours and hours of girl conversation with some of my most favorite people, one of which has been in my life for almost 20 years!

It was such a great week of learning. I am always inspired by these moms who have been homeschooling 10-15 years.  They have so much knowledge and experience and GREAT ideas. My kids tested and hung out with some new friends.  And then there was the daily swimming! One of the best parts of warmer weather.  I think Hudson swam somewhere every day that we were traveling.  It was such a great reprieve from the cold.  This was the only picture of Hudson I could find. He has his hand on his hip.  Most of the pictures I took were of the "splash" after he jumped in.  Obviously, Rob was not with us!

More to come......Rob joined us in the Land of Smiles a few days later.

In Memory: Grandma

My Grandma Veta passed away on Wednesday.  To say it was unexpected would be untrue, but who is ever ready for the phone call telling you a loved one has passed away?

My Grandma was one of the greatest prayer warriors I have ever known.  She was up early every morning praying and studying the Word.  She and her last husband, Jerry, had a large world map above her kitchen table and would spend time every day praying over those who lived all over that map.  They taught Sunday School classes until they couldn't anymore, and faithfully took their weekly Sunday School lesson to shut-ins and nursing homes all over Lawton.  She prayed faithfully for her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren, and I am sure she even had the opportunity to praise Father for the new great-great-grandchild she met a few days before she went home to Heaven.

What I remember most about my Grandma Veta was that she was always fun and full of life. Her house was full of suprises and treasures and lots of fun things for a child to do.  Her car always had butterscotch candy in it and it was such a treat to indulge in Grandma's car.

 One of my earliest memories of my Grandma was as a five- year-old, when my tonsils were removed.  She stayed with me during the day while my mom taught school, and together we made miles and miles of paper chain.  I thought it was the coolest thing! She was always creating and making something beautiful.  Her home in Ardmore had a craft room, where she was always working on creations and would let me go in and paint at times.  She taught me how to cross-stitch and sew, not that it took, but I have the knowledge.   When my brother, Ryan, was born she brought me a gift of a beautiful waterfall project that would take me years to work on.....in fact, she finally finished it for me when I was in high school because it just sat year after year, unfinished.   When we moved out of the house I had grown up in,  she gave me a beautiful painting of my childhood home, that she had made just for me.  Grandma always had time for us, played with us, fed us, and even played video games with us. Her best was Atari River Raft, where she would contort her face, arms, legs, and anything else just to win!  I remember some summers with my cousins at her house and we had such fun mowing with her, being outside with her, climbing down into the scary cellar, and fishing in her pond.  Of course the countless games I played of Skip-Bo with cousins, brothers, uncles, aunts and my own children will never be forgotten, nor her simple way of saying, "your time" when my turn finally came around.

More then the fond memories I am so grateful for the Godly heritage she has passed on to me, our families, and those who knew her and loved her.  From the time I began to understand the fruits of the Spirit, I knew several in tangible ways, from the life of my Grandma.  I had seen her gift of mercy time and again as she cared for ailing relatives, children who needed her, and numerous people in her church and community.  She also displayed the gift of service, always willing to do more than was asked of her, working and serving those around her, never seeking the spotlight, never seeking accolades.  And her quiet gift of encouragement, her letter writing.  I know my brothers and I all have long letters we have received at times in our lives that are beatifully written and express love and encouragement from our Grandma.  I am sure my mom, her brothers, and my cousins all have similar letters as well, for this was who my Grandma was.

I once heard someone talk about how it is necessary to at times "get your hands dirty" in peoples lives as they walk through difficulties.  Grandma Veta was never afraid to do this, and for this example in front of me I will always be grateful. 

Grandma, you will be missed. I pray I can follow in your footsteps considering others as more important than myself, and loving Jesus until the day I go Home.

Cutting

I am a pretty laid-back girl, but there is one thing that irritates me more than anything......cutting in line.

Today we flew internationally out of Bangkok.  Word to the wise, if you are ever flying internationally from Bangkok you will have a very long immigration line, get there early.  First we waited to enter the immigration hall.  Finaly we passed through a little opening and the world, literally, was waiting.  (SEE ABOVE VIDEO)  Everyone you could imagine, wall to wall people. We waited over one hour and barely moved, people continuing to press into the hall, pushing, sweating.....GROSS!!!

As I stood there and waited with my family, I noticed 4 people looking shifty (I won't tell you which country they were from but they weren't American, Asian, or Middle Eastern).  They entered the immigration hall well after my family and started moving there way up through the gaps in the lines when people weren't paying attention.  One of the guys actually went all the way to the front of the line and then called his girl to join him at the front.  His friend did the same thing in the neighboring line.  I was furious! How dare they cut!!  It wasn't fair because I was waiting politely in my line, minding my own business, keeping my son from bumping into others in line with his backpack.   As the cutters kept inching forward trying to mesh into the line, I caught the eye of one of them and glared.....letting them know I knew what they were doing.  It didn't matter. They glared right back at me as they sailed through the immigration line a good 15-20 minutes before I did.

While fuming and sweating in line, I thought about what made 4 people cut in line and thousands more, stand still and follow "rules".  It wasn't the slow lines and poor planning of the immigration hall employees that made me upset, but the 4 people who did it their way and just ignored what was right and didn't get caught, justifying in their own minds that they were smarter than all of us in the crowded room.