vacation 2010

So just got back from Orlando, Fl. Three days in the car with three kids!!! Seriously I never want to see my van again and neither does Calvin, but all in all it went better than I expected. I wanted to recap the vacation while it's still on my mind. Highlights:
Watching Lucy watching Blue Horizons at sea world. It's a dolphin show and it has acrobats and birds. It is really awesome, way better than the whale shows that sea world is famous for. Anyway Lucy loved it and watched it twice. She now pretends to be a dolphin trainer. There was one trainer dressed in pick that she said was a princess and she insisted on meeting afterward, of course she got shy when we went up there but it was so precious!
Rideing kid rides at Sea World with Jack. After riding the carousel he threw a fit to ride it again. Of course you don't want your kids to throw fits, but sometimes you just have to laugh and I did. On one ride he screamed like he was on a roller coaster, it was hilarious!
Floating on the lazy river with Calvin. I kinda felt like Calvin was in the background this week but the last day I got to spend some extra time with him floating on the lazy river. He sat on my belly so peaceful and just chatted with me. Mainly we just said "Dadadada". It was quite the conversation.
The overall highlight was stopping to see the beach on our way home. We only stayed for about an hour and a half, but it was such a sweet, fun time with just my little family that I will always remember! All three kids loved the sand and were covered in it when we left. But Calvin really liked the water and I would hold him with his back to on oncoming wave and when it would hit him he would laugh and laugh. If you know me very well then you know I LOVE swimming, so standing there holding Calvin and him not being scared one bit I just thought "boy he is my child"!
Also Busch Gardens has a great children's area with lots of rides and Sesame Street characters and shows. I really wish we had more time to spend there.
On the last night me, Bryan, Dane and Heather (and baby yerton, yes she's preggers) went to Downtown Disney which was awesome! If you go to Orlando I would say go to Downtown Disney. It's not actually in Disney World, it's free to go there. It has shops and resturants and lots of other attractions that's great for families.
So Orlando gets a 5 star rating from me, but if you plan to go there pick what you really want to do and leave yourself at the minimum 10 days there, because there is TONS to do and a week is just not long enough!

So it's been a while. I tend to loose intrest in things quickly and I am trying not to do that with blogging because it's a nice outlet for me. but after the kids go to bed I just like to spend time with bryan, so that is why I haven't made any time. Anyway changes that have occured since my last blog, Calvin is crawling quite proficiently, Jack is really starting to talk a lot more, and Lucy continues to get more and more like me everyday. I have always said how much she is like her dad, which she is, but this year I am seeing so much of me in her. She is really starting to play games like a big kid. She will watch a show and then pretend to be characters from the show. The other day she even played the Duggars. Hilarious! But the quality that I see in her that saddens me is my anxiety. As a child (and still) I had a lot of fears and worries. I see Lucy going down that path of fear over lies that satan feeds her. Sometimes she is totally controled by irrational fears that I can't talk her down from. The other day we went to the park and a little boy was blowing spit bubbles. Lucy became convinced that this boy was mean and was trying to get her with his spit bubbles, she spent 20 min. not playing and wanting to sit in my lap. I finally had to take her over to the little boy and let her see that he was fine, she still didn't really play until he left. I know this may seem kinda silly but I take her fears very seriously. Fear is a powerful tool of control and I do not want her surrending to fear. I still feel that there is a stronghold in my own heart regarding fear. I need my Jesus to fill me with courage in the knowledge of His inevitable victory over anything bad and scary. That is what I want for my little girl too. For her to hear Christ's precious voice of reason, calling her to safety and peace. He is such a protective savior, He will not fail in keeping me safe from harm. So my pray for Lucy is that for every time satan fills her with fear, Christ and His sweet spirit would fill me with words from Him to her until the day that His spirit comes to dwell in her.