A Good Kind Of Busy

After writing a post on learning to be still, I've spent the last almost 4 weeks completely on the go. We had a church conference in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. The only picture I took were these silly pictures. The hotel was less than swanky, but it was right on the beach and it had a waterfall pool that the kids really enjoyed. We had a really good time as a family. Guido returned to Alabama after the conference and I took the kids to see their grandparents in Jacksonville.

From Jacksonville we headed south for 2 days in Orlando and tried Disney's Typhoon Lagoon. I brought the camera but didn't once take a picture. My mother and SIL and nephews all went down together. While my mother watched the two younger ones, I went into the water park with Xavi & Onica. They loved the wave pool and the ride along the lazy river. (My last memory of Typhoon lagoon is going down with Scott and perhaps Tavia (1991). We were floating down the lazy river when a snake in the water caught my eye. It was floating behind Scott and I freaked out. He of course just took the snake out of the water calmly.) So with that history, I kept my eye out! We did have an adventure on the lazy river, you'll have to ask me about it because it's pretty hilarious! My SIL took a lot of great pictures, so until she shares...

We spent the rest of the week with friends and family, fun outings to a children's museum and two nephews had birthday parties. I did not journey home alone but with my mother-in-law (MIL) my SIL and my nephew and niece. Six small children 5 and under. It was an extremely fun yet exhausting week. We spent time at the zoo on Tuesday when it was half off. The kids had so much fun feeding the birds, the water park, and all the animals. The new African display has a playground with a huge termite mound for the kids to climb and a set of African drums that all the kids enjoyed playing.

Our week followed with a trip to the local library for story time and music.

Our 4th of July weekend started at Oak Mountain where we spent the day at the lake. There was lots of swimming, eating, and sand castle building. The kids went to bed well tired that night.

We found a dollar movie theater in town on Saturday and took the family to see Rio. Then some fun at Chik-Fil-A. On Sunday night our small town had a huge fireworks display. It was so humid that night, but the fireworks were brilliant.

4th of July found us in Calera at the American Village. Threat of a rainstorm had us in the village for free! The Colonial history of America was all around us, making the celebration of the 4th so much more special. The kids enjoyed themselves immensely as they explored all the houses and saw all the different Colonial displays.

There were lots of folks in period costumes. I love Olivia's expression in the last picture. She really felt she was standing next to Cinderella.

Guido and I were so glad we got to spend the week with our nephew and niece. To sit and read stories, to brush beautiful curly hair, to whisper love in their ears. It was so sweet. How much we miss them already even if it was chaotic and exhausting, it was family time, memory building time, cousin bonding time. I never really had that growing up and I want that most for our children. It amazes me that God can expand my heart to love other children who are not my own with a love like I have for my own. We will be learning to Skype with my in-laws. The nephew and niece miss us and want to see us and their cousins. I think we'll be doing this every summer for the rest of our lives, at least I hope so!