My Trip to New Orleans

Today I went to New Orleans. Here are two Pictures I took with my new camera that I got for Christmas. I had fun. I saw the Mississippi River.

New Orleans Fun

I had a wonderful Christmas with my family.
Today was great too. I went to New Orleans with the girls. We ate lunch at Cafe Maspero, and then after walking around in the French Market we had coffee and beignets for dessert. Latter we had oysters in the French Quarter. (Me and Hannah did at least.) We got drenched in a down poor as we ran to take Kristina to see the Mississippi river. That's why we look so wet in some of the pictures. But the rain only added to the fun!

Some Funny (and Embarassing) Things My Kids Have Said and Done

http://religiouscontemplations.blogspot.com/2007/10/some-funny-and-embarassing-things-my.html

Boating

Today I went boating with my family. We saw some alligators. We went swimming with big fish. We also saw gar fish . The water was freezing; I could barely get in. My dad kept telling me to jump in, but I did not want to. He tried to drag me in and my brothers kept scaring my sister. My mom was taking pictures. My grandma and grandpa came along with us but did not swim.

Another Encounter with Nature

I was sitting in the living room and out of the corner of my eye I noticed something on the fence in the back yard.

Anyone seen the cats lately??

Uncle Troy Would be Proud

I caught Samuel teaching Hannah to ride a skateboard today. It made me think back to my Vans wearing brother who lived on a skateboard at about the same age. These are for you, big brother!

A Wing and a Prayer

A small movement caught my eye on the way out the door Thursday morning. On the edge of the lawn was a small bird flailing in the grass. Its panicked chirping broke my heart. I called for Robert who brought a gardening glove to secure the bird so that he could examine it. An infant female Red-headed Woodpecker, it appeared to have a broken wing and puncture wounds from an animal attack. It was early and we weren't sure where we could take it, so we placed it in a pet carrier to protect it from predators. By the afternoon, the rangers at Lake Lotus park agreed to deliver her to a bird rehabilitationer who would nurse the bird back to health.

Saint Paul's Church Youth Pontoon Boat Trip on the Saint John's River

It was a Saturday morning and we were going on a boat trip and my dad was driving one of the boats. There were 12 girls and 5 boys. each boat had a super soker watergun. Three times we got scared because the boat tipped into the water and we all ran back to the back of the boat to level it so we wouldn't fall in with the alligators and get eaten. then we got off the boat the boat and went to the picnic tables to eat our lunch. after lunch we went to the springs nobody wonted to get in because they knew

how cold it was. So one of the girls pushed me in to the water. It was colder than i thought! and my feet and toes became numb. Then every body started to jump in to the water. Then we went up stream were it was a little warmer and we got into the water. We saw a big tree that had fell in the water a long time ago. And we started to climb it. i was the first one up the tree and the farther up we went steeper it was and pretty soon we reached the point to we started to see fire ants heading towards us i was allergic to fire ant or any other ants. And then we all started to jump off the tree. I was first one to jump

of the tree. i was holding my breath while i sunk to the bottom of the river I almost hit a log but i got closer to it and saw that it was a root! Then it was time to leave the river, but that wasn't the end to of the trip. We are now going to the island park. and we got something to drink there and we got to explore there too. Finally we got to the exhibits and looked at all the different animals there. My favorite animals there was the snakes, they also had a coral snakes. The one they showed was a dangerous poisonous snake there. Then we went back to the boats and had a water gun fight. Then we left for home.

No More Summer

It is the end of summer school is starting soon!

Our Weekend

Friday night we ate at the pizza buffet. This Saturday we broke our biking record. We road twenty miles! Hannah was always bringing up the rear in the past. We did not realize that she had outgrown her bike. We all had to apologize to her for dragging her along on our rides. She is on a bigger bike and dishing out a lot of pay back. Joshua is the youngest. At age nine he road twenty miles. He is a trooper.
Sunday we heard Don Kistler preach at Saint Pauls again. Afterwards we ate at Red Lobster. Yummy! And while Hannah was at a birth day party I took the boys swimming in the pool.

Our Weekend

It is a little late but we have not made a post lately.
Last week end we visited St. Paul's and hear Don Kistler preach on the "tongue." We also saw the movie Shrek III. I am glad we waited for the dollar movie! This morning all six of us road our bikes four or five miles. Hannah was lagging behind and Joshua being concerned about her, kept looking back to see how she was doing. Not realizing that he was approaching a curve; he ended up in the hedges. I did the best I could not to laugh as I untangled him from the hedges, and his bike. We got him dusted off and he was okay. He is a good sport and he hung in there till the end of the ride.

Construction in Florida in July

For the past few days I have been taking my two oldest boys to work with me. I have taken all of my kids to work at one point or another on jobs that would allow it in the past just to let them have the experence of being at work. They like to "paint." But this time it is different. My boys are almost teenagers and they are getting big enough to actually be productive. I think that I can begin to train them in the painting trade.
They helped me unload and load equipment, trim hedges off of the house, move drop clothes pick up trash, get things, and even move some tree frogs that took up residence on some columns.
I may not be able to take them on every job this summer but next summer I think they will be old enough to work the whole summer.
They were not to happpy about all of the spiders and various bugs that painters encounter. And the heat is almost unbearable. But I am impressed with them.

Our Vacation

We left for a visit with the grandparents in Mississippi on Wednesday. This is a ten and one half hour drive (this trip at least). Leslie brought some "occupy my mind, but don't have think literature." So after listening to twelve sermons on eschatology by R.C. Sproul I thought I would give it a try. I rapidly went through three or four of these magazines and came to the conclusion that they are the biggest waste of time and space on the planet. There are a few divisions of topics that all of the magazines have in common: who is in the spotlight; who is getting together/breaking up/or single; who is skinny (anorexic), perfect, fat (another eating disorder) or curvy; who is going into rehab or getting released or leaving early; who has/had/ or is getting cosmetic surgery; who got into legal trouble, and you get the point! What a waste of time. It worked for about an hour though. And I am up on enough gossip to keep me in purgatory for a very long time.

Upon arriving in MS we visited with family. Joshua, Nathanael, and I rode the four wheeler. All of the men went to see Transformers. Leslie and I ate some Cajun food; a food that we love and miss since being in FL. I have mostly been doing nothing but watching the outdoors channel on T.V. (we don't have cable at home at this time). We are having a great time!

Our Weekend

Thursday night we saw the preview of Ratatouille. Leslie got us free tickets from a Disney radio promotion! Sunday we went to church. Then we went to International Drive and had lunch at Fuddruckers. After lunch we went to the Bass Pro Shop where we bought our fresh and salt water fishing licenses as well as a few fishing lures. Yes, we are getting ready! Due to rain, however, we are sitting on a rain check. On the way we stopped at the Mall at Millenia where Joshua bought a game for the Play Station.

Last weekend

We went to see "Evan Almighty" and to Sea World last weekend. We did not last long in the heat at Sea World but we managed to see a few things--the penguins, sting rays, and the shark exhibit. We have been grilling almost every evening out in the front yard. This is fun for everyone. Joshua likes to turn the meat. Hannah holds the umbrella because it seems to rain every time we fire up the grill. The boys like to circle the block on the bikes while the grill does its work. Sometimes they turn the meat too. Everybody likes to hold a skewer in the fire to catch it on fire. And the cats lay in the yard or on a car doing their part.
After dinner me Samuel and Joshua rode our bikes to Blockbuster to exchange a movie. We have a lot of fun together.

A NEW FRIEND

I started doing camp 2 weeks ago and I thought it might not be fun.

I went though the morning with puppet shows. Then I met a kid named

skyler. ''We talked and he said whats on your thumb''? Then we talked about what happened to my broken thumb. And I just found out that he broke his thumb during basketball.

Today

Early this morning Leslie and Hannah road their bikes for five miles. And tonight we grilled chicken in the rain. We all had a good dinner together. I love having dinner with everybody at the table.

My bike rides

Yesterday I rode my bike on a bike trail. It was 15 miles long! But we were too tired. We only rode 14 miles. That's still far! On the way there was a Panera. We stopped and got refreshed. The next day I rode my bike to Block Buster and Costco. That's 5 miles! So all together we rode19 miles! That's better than last weekend (15 miles)! In the morning we also went to church.

The Last of the Weekend

This morning we went to church and heard Dr. Sproul preach on the trial of Jesus. After lunch I installed a computer game for the boys. We each played "Red Alert II" for one session. We closed out the weekend by riding our bikes to Block Buster to return some movies. We road about five more miles making our way from Block Buster to Cosco for some cold drinks and then back home. I had a great weekend spending time with my family!

Bike Ride

Today we went 14 miles on our bike.

Our Weekend So Far

Last night we had a back home style seafood boil see Leslie's blog for pictures. As we were having the boil, we saw the space shuttle launch from our front yard. This morning we got up early and rode our bikes on the bike trail seven miles to Lake Mary, had lunch at Panera Bread, then road our bikes back totaling fourteen miles! That is quite an accomplishment for us and I am very proud of the boys and Hannah.

NO SCHOOL!!!!!!

YA SCHOOL IS OUT WE GET TO DO ALL KINDS OF THINGS LIKE GOING TO THE WATER PARK AND GOING TO DISNEY

school

Today I went bowling with my friends and scored two strikes and then we went back to school and watched two movies and then I went home.

my graduation

I have just graduated to 6 grade. We watched a movie all about us and we got certificates. We even won a birth certificate for being twins. And there was a dessert and punch. Then we spent time with my parents. It was a special time for me.

fun

Today we skipped school and went to a water park and then we ate at a restaurant and then we got ice cream and funnel cake .

memorial day

Today I went to McDonald's and got a chicken sandwich. Then I went to the pool and swam for two and one half hours. I made new friends and played with diving sticks. When we got home we did chores watched TV and waited for the new refrigerator. Then we went to the church cookout. I played water dodge ball.

Our Weekend

Our weekend started Thursday evening. Me and Leslie went to the president's reception and banquet dinner for RTS graduates. Friday I graduated and ate dinner at Applebee's to celebrate. Saturday we road our bikes to block buster. Sunday we went to church and heard Dr. Sproul preach on the deity of Christ. We then bought a new refrigirator at Lowes. We also bought Leslie a new laptop computer because she has been using the school's. Since she is not going back to Orangewood we had to get a computer. MAINLY I NEED TO BE ABLE TO BLOG! We then road our bikes adding up to a total of 15 miles for the weekend. Finally we got everybody set up to make blog entries. Hannah and Nathanael didn't post. I think they wete too tired.

my weekend

This weekend I saw pirates of the Caribbean 3 and rode my bike for 15 miles! We watched Tom Sawyer and went to Block Buster to rent the movie Magma.

weekend fun

This weekend we rode our bikes 15 miles from our house. And then we went to see pirates of the Caribbean. and then we went to my dads graduation at bible school and then when we got back it was 10:00pm.

As if We Needed Another Blog

How many accounts does the general population need of our bike ride to BlockBuster Video? Obviously six. Robert decided we needed a family blog that would allow everyone to post. Robert, Hannah, and I already have one (or more) blogs. So when Josh approached me last week and asked if I would make one for him, my knee jerk reaction was, "No!". He asked for a journal instead, so I thought I had pacified him by bringing one home from the store. Anyways, in two weeks we will be computerless (is that a word?) and I can't imagine six of us vying for computer time!

So why are you looking at this then? Unfortunately Robert knows how to set up a blog without me. I've created a monster. And now he's about to spawn four other little monsters. Can any good come of this???

Sunday Fun

Today we went to church at Saint Andrews where we heard Dr. Sproull preach on the last supper. We partook of the Lord's supper as well. Then we ate lunch at the Olive Garden. After that we road our bikes to Block Buster Video to return some movies. We like riding our bikes together. After that we went swimming at the community pool. We threw the tennis ball and miniature foot ball in the pool. We also had fun racing from one end to the other. Finally Leslie made dinner. Me and the kids made the dessert. I am making the first post because it is now getting late.