Day 5 - Sea World

We completed the Disney parks and moved on to Sea World. The weather calls for a 60% chance of rain. How perfect to add to our experience of a ‘water’ park. By the way…did you know for a $20 deposit you can rent an electric scooter for $40 for an entire day? I do. But today, either I have managed to kill all nerve endings in my heals OR I am finally getting used to the pattern of ‘walking for 5 minutes and standing for 15’ routine.

Sea World has a ride called the ‘Kraken’. The Kraken is a legendary sea monster of gargantuan size. I have posted a You Tube video someone did while on the ride, below. Jon, my Dad, Sheila, and Jake went on the ride. I was going to go on it with my son, but there was a little problem. They didn’t make the seats for ‘big boned’ people. No, I am ..really. There was a test seat at the front entrance. I fit in the seat but to get the shoulder restraints down with the belt strap, it would have taken two guys to stand on top and to pull down on the straps until my eye balls popped out. And I like to breathe so I decided to take pictures of the others on the ride. Jake love it and wanted to go again, except the rain started. We then tailed it over to the sea lion show under a big canopy and watched sea lions and the pouring rain. The rain was coming and going the rest of the day so we made our way from shelter to shelter and show to show. The Shamu show was really good. I got a bunch of great pictures that I will have to share later sometime.

We ended the day at the park at about 5pm and then went out to Johnnie’s steak and seafood. We are now back and packing up for the flight home on Friday. Hard to believe the week went so fast. What an awesome time with the family and we only almost lost Abbie 3 times. Next time you come down here to Disney, bring the right walking shoes and you won’t have to count the steps between benches.

See you all back in sunny, cold, South Dakota.

Part of the Kraken

Day 4 - Dr. Scholls

Day 4 was a double Park day… 1/3 at Disney Hollywood Studios and 2/3 at Epcot. To make sure I was prepared for this marathon trek, I called upon my personal chiropractor and Dr. Scholls. We started out at the nearest Walmart. They were out of the ‘prescribed’ heal supports. Hmm…guess I’m not the only one in town with their heals on fire. We did find the next best thing and we were off to Hollywood Studios.

It was my kind of crowd today…small. We had almost no wait times at several rides and shows. One ride we did go on was the Rockin Roller Coaster. The picture below says it all. It was indoor and fairly dark so you couldn’t see what was coming…which was probably a good thing. After being launched from 0-FAST in mere seconds, the next thing I noticed was my chin pressed against my chest and spinning around like a cork screw. It was an exhilarating experience. Jake went on it twice and even my mom went on it.

We then watched the Beauty and the Beast show. Abbie and Julia just loved their ‘twirling’ dresses and costumes. We left the Park after about 4 hours and went over to Epcot. A Disney Park about 3 times the size of Hollywood Studios, but with Dr. Scholls holding me up… so far so good.

The weather now is around 82 degrees, minimal wind, with 2 clouds in the sky….little ones….thin ones. Once again Aaron had the map and plan down to the nearest minutes. We went over to the Test Track ride. We all went on it. Julia sat with Aaron and Sheila and proclaimed that she was going to do the steering. Well there was no steering wheel but she absolutely loved it. The thing about Epcot is it is a learning center. After every ride or show there is an area of additional things to see, read, and experience…who does this? I mean the offering is nice but with 3, 5, and 8 yr. olds, it’s all about the rides.

Several rides later, it’s getting dark and time to prepare for the laser light and fireworks show but first it’s dinner time. We now start to make our way around the world showcase of the different countries and Dr. Scholls is starting to show signs of fatigue. We started at Canada and decided to eat there. As we got closer to the door we noticed a lot of Canadians standing outside. Apparently the restaurant was booked for the night and nothing available. Didn’t know the Canadians had such good food. So we carried on and ended up of all places…the American Adventure. We had authentic American bacon double cheeseburgers and chicken strip meals. They were delicious. The Americans sure know how to make a burger. If you are ever in America, you have to try their burgers.

The light show was fantastic with a lot of special effects and sounds. It makes you happy and forgetful of your plan to chop your feet off when you get back to the condo. So now we are about 8 miles from our van. Okay maybe one. But by now I’m ready to fire Dr. Scholls and start crawling back to the van. But wait..my precious 3 yr. old looks up at me and says..”Daddy…I’m tired and I want up.” So I hoist her on my shoulders while thanking the Lord that I know I have feet to carry my daughter. What an awesome day.

Rockin' Roller Coaster

Beauty and the Beast show

Epcot

Day 3 - Serenity Now

Day 3 we took a break from the Disney parks to travel east to the Kennedy Space Center. We took a 2.5 hour bus tour around the launch complex and was an amazing site to see. My feet never enjoyed a bus ride more than this. The kids enjoyed seeing several wild alligators all over the place in the ditches. Space Shuttle Discovery was out on the launch pad and preparing for lift off in a few weeks.

We learned many interesting facts. Like the safest distance to view the lift off is 3 miles out. If you were to stand just 400 ft. away, you would be instantly killed from the heat. At 800 ft., your body would explode from the sound waves hitting you. A few of the adults and Jacob took a launch simulator ride. That was awesome. We went into the simulator with about 30 seats and strapped in to our seats. With large screens in the front, we were taken through the countdown procedure and were tilted backwards to a 90 degree angle looking straight into the sky. During lift off, the simulated violent turbulence and forces were incredible and when the last external fuel tank was let go, it felt just like a peaceful glide in space….and then all the lights came on with a women’s voice telling us to exit to our right and to watch our step. Watch my step?...I’m still trying to just stand up.

Another interesting moment was hearing about John Aaron. A distinguished NASA engineer who was credited for saving the ill fated Apollo 13 mission that Tom Hanks flew on. He was an EECOM with a responsibility for the electrical, environmental and communications systems on board the spacecraft. But a little known fact was that just four months earlier John Aaron had saved the Apollo 12 mission when, during launch, the rocket was struck by lightning—twice. The second strike knocked the CSM's fuel cells off line, sent the guidance system spinning, and scrambled telemetry to the ground. With warning lights blazing and alarms sounding, it looked like the crew would have to abort the mission, just seconds after liftoff.

Aaron was in the EECOM's seat for the launch, and as he watched the scrambled data ripple across his console, he was suddenly reminded of a ground test he had seen a year earlier where an electrical malfunction had caused a similar problem. The crazy pattern of the data on his console was something only he recognized. And, thanks to hours of research he'd put in after the ground test, he knew how to fix it. He uttered the terse command, "Set S.C.E. to Aux," to his flight director, Jerry Griffin. Griffin, like everyone else in mission control, had no clue what that meant. Nevertheless, trusting in his EECOM, Griffin ordered the command to be passed up to the crew immediately. The corresponding switch was flipped on board and valid telemetry was restored. With valid data, Aaron could see that the fuel cells were off line, and with a second command to reset the cells, Apollo 12 was on its way to moon. The incident cemented Aaron's reputation as a "steely-eyed missile man."

I was struck by this story of how the Lord still uses people in times of crisis. John was the right man at the right time with the only answer to the Apollo 12 crisis and he stepped up.

After the NASA tour, we moved on down to Coco Beach. The kids had never seen ocean water as far as the eye can see and had a blast. They were not impressed with the taste of the salty water though. The sand and cold water felt good to the feet.

Tomorrow another park…Epcot.

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

Day 2 started fairly early with arriving at the Magic Kingdom as the park opened. Aaron had the plan down out to maximize our time. The first ride we went to was the ‘it’s a small world’ ride. With virtually no wait, we walked right unto the awaiting boats with anticipation of seeing the world come alive with mechanized animatronics. As the classical ‘small world’ song started to grace our ears, it dawned on me that we were on another ‘water’ ride, that we did not have too good of luck with the day before. But the speed of this ride doesn’t even qualify as a walleye chop, so we were just fine. The kids loved it and the song stuck in my head for the rest of the day.

Following Aaron’s plan, we moved from ride to ride with minimal effort, hitting them before the crowds could overtake them. The key latter in the day was the ‘fast pass’. The fast pass allows you to go on a ride by bypassing all the other sorry saps in line, cutting a 45 minute wait down to 5. Anyone can get a fast pass…just wait in a different line and they hand a limited number out for a certain time period. We started to hit a wall about 3pm with the hot Florida sun beating down on us hardened, below zero, northerners, and walking several miles by now. We pushed through to the last couple of rides by 6pm with the Splash Mountain and the Thunder Mountain Railroad. Either some of the group did NOT learn the lessons of yesterday or the hot sun caused them to forget but Splash Mountain was another chance to get wet in the name of fun. I elected to stay off and ‘take pictures’ of them. Dad elected to stay off and ‘watch Owen’. Abbie and Julia went on it with Mom. They loved it and wanted to go again. The Thunder Mountain Railroad was a wild roller coaster that they went on as well. I think they are starting to love the bigger rides.

The day ended trying to make our way through the mass of people to find a spot for the nightly parade and fireworks. By this time it’s 8pm and I’m looking for a bench. But in the name of fatherly duties, I hoisted Julia on top of my shoulders and watched a great parade. Jacob and Abbie worked their way to the front but near us to enjoy it too. What a great day.

The Disney World motto is “Where Dreams Come True”…..I’m not sure my feet are livin’ the dream right now.

Splash Mountain

Orlando - Day 1

The flight down to Orlando was relatively uneventful. Left on time and actually arrived 15 minutes early. We could not get all 11 seats together so the kids played musical chairs between the adults for about 2 hours of the flight. The next task was to get the rental vans. While at the rental counter, the guy made a deal for a large 12 seater passenger van that ultimately would save us half the renal cost...so what would you do? So there we were, all crawled into the 'people' hauler driving around central Florida.

Day 1 was Animal Kingdom.

We took an African Safari around and saw a bunch of wild animals and did a few rides. The kids did great and the weather hung around 75 degrees...probably 70 degrees warmer than home. The best ride of the day was the Everest Expedition. A roller coaster that stops in mid trek and goes backward for about 10-15 seconds and then starts forward making it way down the 'Mt. Everest' mountain. Jacob, who seems to have no fear of these things, went on it twice. I rode it once as did Vicky and it was a very fun ride.

The ride that could have used a little more thought was the Kali River Rapids. Yeah...I said 'river rapids'. Looked like a great ride for the whole family to go on. Getting closer to the ride we saw people coming off with some wearing ponchos, some appearing to be dry, and others a little wet. Their was a guy selling ponchos for $8 each..."ah..how bad can it be" I thought. Again our party was too big to all fit in the circular raft so we split up. Abbie and I together, and Mom and Julia with Jon and Sydney in one and Jacob in the other with Grandpa and Grandma, Aaron, Sheila, and Ann and Owen in the other..behind us. Oh the ride starts out nice and 'flowing like' but soon you are dropped off in the Utah Green River and if you are sitting in the ultimate wrong spot....you are soon drenched and the $8 ponchos look pre-tty cheap! Just ask my Dad. I mean, I had my share of water down my backside trying to shield Abbie, but my Dad?...well, he just plain got a full drenching shower in less than a second. He was not too pleased either. Let's just say the contents of his wallet are now laying out on the kitchen counter..drying. Jacob got pretty wet too...but he loved it.

Crocodiles at African Safari

Everest Expedition

Kali River Rapids -before-

Kali River Rapids -After-

On to day 2....

Orlando Here We Come

Leaving the COLD for 6 days for Orlando! Our plane leaves in about 2 hours and the kids can hardly wait..neither can we. We'll post updates..hopefully daily.

Gett'n Bigger

Growing up with 2 brothers and no sisters, I often wondered what it would be like to be a father to a daughter, let alone two of them. Well, they are the sweetest things and just melt my heart everyday. It's an interesting feeling to be rough and tough wrestling with my son and then to switch gears to have to help a daughter feed one of her 'babies'. Some mornings I don't need an alarm as Julia comes in and crawls into bed by me to whisper, "Daddy, get up....Daddy, I like you". It's like a cub crawling all over her papa bear.

I always tease them to "Don't get bigger" and to "Stay little". Julia replies in a playful way, "I' gett'n bigger."

Julia's birthday is coming up in April and she'll be turning 4. She's been planning her party already with a big cake and a lot of friends to play games. She tells me that at her party she'll be getting bigger.

So tonight, we went out for dinner and a conversation went like this.

Vicky: "Julia has been eating alot lately and now she has been sleeping alot, she must be going through a growth spurt"

Me: "Julia, are you getting bigger?" "Can you feel yourself getting bigger?"

Julia: "Yes, I'm getting bigger"

Me: "No...stay little for Daddy"

Julia: "Don't you want to eat cake?"

Me: "Yes, why?"

Julia: "Then I have to get bigger"

Did You Know?

This video was presented at conference of Sony BMG executives last fall. I don't know if ALL the facts are accurate BUT it is a reality that our kids are growing up in.

SO...let me hear you....what do you think it all means?!

New Year Resolution

Goodbye 2008 and hello 2009. It is always interesting to tell what season it is by watching QVC. For the last two months, of course, they have been on 'all things' Christmas. Now, for the last week, they have been on all things 'new and improved 'you'. After all the holiday food we have been sitting around and eating for two weeks it is time to improve ourselves.

Right now they are selling the 'Angel Wings Super-Light Hairspray'. The designer is actually on the show spraying his 'super-light' hairspray on 3 different models. I don't know who he is but the models sure act like they do. He is wearing a red velvet jacket with a huge cowboy style belt buckle. What is up with that? Looks like he is ready to ride a bull and smoke a cigar at the same time. And this stuff isn't just 'light'..it's 'super-light'. He's fluffing the model's hair up like it's 1986 and when he is done, they look like they have been riding with their heads out the car window at 65 mph...and still smiling.

Anyway, the time for new year's resolutions is here. A time to reflect on the past year and ahead to what's in store with the new year. A time to look forward to redoing all of the seasons, holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries.

Two resolutions I have made for 2009 are:

1. Read the entire Bible through in a year.
2. Pray more for my kids.

The first one I have tried in the past with reading it straight through but usually hit a wall in Leviticus. This year I will read a plan that splits the Bible up and will read from 4 different sections each day. We'll see how it goes.

The second one was just enhanced when I received a recent Desiring God blog email update. John Piper put up a link to one of their past blogs on 'Texts to Pray for Our Children' The text is below and a link to the blog site is here. All Grandparents are welcome to join in as well. This will come in very handy to carry out my resolution and I'm quite certain it will do more good then the 'super-light' hairspray.


Texts to Pray for Our Children

That Jesus will call them and no one will hinder them from coming.
Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away. (Matthew 19:13-15)

That they will respond in faith to Jesus’ faithful, persistent call.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

That they will experience sanctification through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit and will increasingly desire to fulfill the greatest commandments.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39)

That they will not be unequally yoked in intimate relationships, especially marriage.
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

That their thoughts will be pure.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)

That their hearts will be stirred to give generously to the Lord's work.
All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord. (Exodus 35:29)

That when the time is right, they will GO!
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)