What I did on my Spring Break Vacation

Here's a look at what we did on our recent Florida trip...

Took the new van on its maiden voyage
Ate a picnic lunch at an old Florida rest stop

Bought (and ate) road-side beef jerky…seriously!
Stayed at Grandma & Grandpa’s house
Fought over the air-conditioning
Ate at Sonny’s
Played tennis
Went swimming
Saw an alligator near the pool
Got out of the pool
Hung out with Uncle Billy & Aunt Marlene
Ate an awesome Easter Brunch
Went on an Easter egg hunt
Climbed an old oak tree

Checked out Aunt Marlene’s new Land Rover
Went to Bass Pro Shop
Bought Air Soft Guns
Went to the world’s smallest lacrosse store
Went to the world’s cheesiest sports store
Bought Heelys
Ate at the world’s biggest McDonalds which was the world’s biggest mistake
Saw our friends Bev & Chick
Ate at Carrabba’s

Stayed at the Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Villas
Went on a water slide
Chased a duck in the pool (I know..it was weird)
Saw a geyser in Florida
Did some pin trading
Saw a light show on Bay Lake
Rode a boat
Rode in the drivers compartment of a monorail
Rode a bus
Made the best of a rainy day
Ate at the Rainforest Café
Kissed a frog

Met people from Africa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
Toured models of Disney’s newest resort rooms
Saw something funny in the toilet
Went to a Luau
Had FUN
Rode a 4-person bike
Got in trouble for parking it in the wrong place
Bought sunglasses
Went to Hard Rock
Saw a girl with a mohawk
Saw Eddie Van Halen’s actual guitar
Ran into Coach Fuller and his family
Played Land Shark guitars

Bought a Margaritaville T-Shirt
Saw a volcano explode (in Margaritaville)
Ate a Cheeseburger in Paradise
Learned some bad habits from Uncle Billy
Went bass fishing in Disney’s Seven Seas Lagoon
Caught a lot of bass
Caught a 5.25 lb bass
Caught a White Heron, not sure how much it weighed
Released the White Heron

Went to Medieval TIMES
Saw a joust
Cheered for the bad knight
Wanted a real sword
Mom said no
Shot Air Soft guns in the room instead
Went to EPCOT
Learned EPCOT stands for – Experimental Profitable Community of Tomorrow
Saw the big golf ball

Rode the ride
Saw the future
Piloted a spaceship
Hit 65 MPH on Test Track
Stood in line for 90 minutes for Soarin’
Renamed it Snoarin’
Found Nemo
Got shrunk
Chased water
Saved the world (with Kim Possible’s help)
Ate the world’s largest rice krispy treat

Walked through 10 countries in two hours
Saw the Ventures
Saw the Beatles (at least they looked a lot like them)
Saw a baby bunny
Found a golf ball in a British telephone booth
Sang the Sham Wow song for five days straight
Next stop…Adventure!

Respect the Van

We did something that we had to do, but it was still a little sad. Yesterday, we traded in our 2000 Toyota Sienna mini-van for a 2005 model. Sure, we needed it. We had close to 120,000 miles on the old van and there were starting to be a few issues. But, we've had a lot of memories with that old van and it is still a little sad. We purchased the old van in January of 2000, when Zach was 2 and Jake wasn't even born yet. We've lived in 3 different states since then. We've driven from Maine to Florida and have been to countless football, soccer, and basketball games and practices. We've been on many vacations, including a 3,000 mile tour of New England. It has been our dining room, our changing room, our living room, our warmth on cold days, our air conditioning on hot days. There were a lot of conversations in that old van that we will never have again. The boys have grown from car seats, to booster seats, to sitting in the front seat. While it is sad, I am so happy that God has kept us safe and allowed us to have so many great memories in that old van over the past 9 years. I pray the new van will give us many more years of great memories...

Welcome to our family!

Defense wins Championships!

Jacob's team played an exciting game today. For the first time all season, his team really played as one. In the first quarter, with some great offense, they got ahead 12 to 0 but the other team was determined to fight back.

For the next 3 quarters, the other team kept edging closer, but Jake and his team fought to keep them from scoring.

With two minutes left, Jake's team was only up by 2 points. They needed to be tough on defense to get a victory.

It was an exciting ending with multiple time-outs to plan strategy and take a breather. In the end, Jake and his teammates held them off for an exciting victory! It was a great game to watch!!

Zach Scores 12 - Wolfpack gets a big W!

I don't know if it was Friday night or the fact that his Grandparents were in the crowd, but Zach was on fire last night. The Wolfpack has been beat up pretty good all year, only winning one game but that changed last night. Zach lead the way with 12 points and a bunch of assists and rebounds. Four of his points came from the free throw line where he was 4 for 6, which was his best game. The Wolfpack won 26-20! Now all we need is for his CCS school team to win next Tuesday night!!

It's All About the Goggles!

Back when we used to live in Lake Mary, Fl, I used to love to follow the Orlando Magic. Those were back in the days of Shaq, Penny Hardaway, and Horace Grant. They were a great young team that ended up making it all the way to the NBA finals in 1995. Grant was famous for his trademark wraparound blue protective eyeglasses.

When I was watching Jake play basketball this morning, I suddenly had a flashback to my days of watching the Magic. I can't really understand why.

The most beautiful tropical place in the world is...

I was reading through a friend of mine's facebook entry titled 25 things about her. #14 on her list was, "the most beautiful tropical place in the world is...Trunk Bay on St. John's." That brought back some great memories! In September of 2007, while on a Disney Cruise, Valerie, Zach, Jake, & I set out from St. Thomas on a day trip to St. John's. Our plans were to spend the day at a place called Trunk Bay. What I didn't know at the time is that day would be one of the most enjoyable days of my life. Spending the entire day with my family on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world was simply awesome. The picture above I took with a low-end HP digital camera on the road overlooking Trunk Bay. (click on the picture to see more details) Yes, it is really that beautiful!

Thanks Pam for bringing back that memory!!

Hack-a-Zach

On Tuesday night, we travelled to Goldsboro to watch Zach's school team (Christ Covenant) take on St. Mary Catholic School. This was only their second game of the season.

Zach plays center, and like most centers (think Shaq) he took a lot of fouls. Out of the 9 fouls that St. Marys had, I think 6 were on Zach. So he got to spend some time on the free throw line.

The Spartans played a lot better than their first game. They passed a lot, took a lot of shots on goal, and played as a team. Zachary played his heart out. Unfortunately, St. Mary was just a little better than them.

St. Mary ended up winning 28 to 6, but the Spartans have come a long way in their inaugural season. The kids had a good time...but I think they are ready for a victory...maybe next game?