I'm gonna skip the cruise blog today and write a quick note about a very special day, July 14 2001. On this day, 10 years ago to the day, Kelly Renee Hoffart married David Elliott Carlson. 10 years, 3 kids and a lot of great times later we arrive at today. To celebrate this great occasion, we went out for dinner at Carabbas and then went to watch And Then There Were None at the Alley Theatre (live action Agatha Christie play). It was a great night and a great time with my wife of 10 years.
I wanted to blog very quickly and just let everyone out there know how much I cherish and love my beautiful bride. God brought us together, and we are now one. I can't imagine my life without this amazing woman of God in my life, and I am so excited about the years to come. We have come a long way, but I know God has a lot more in store for us - and it will only work as long as she is by my side.
Kelly, I love you with all of my heart.
Come back on Friday for Day 5 of the cruise blog - Roatan ....
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Cruise 2011 - Day 4
Day 4: Roatan, Honduras
(sorry it took so long to post this .... got busy having fun with the family and then work hit me)
We had a time change overnight on the boat to sink us up with time in the countries, so we actually got an extra hour of sleep on the boat. Hurray!!! Now, Ken, the over-the-top-lets-see-how-drunk-we-can-get-the-entire-boat, cruise director did remind us on numerous occasions the night before that we should not do the sensible thing and actually get rest with the extra hour, but instead we should party even longer! Oh yeah, baby. So, since it is so apparent that Ken totally has our best interests at hand, we decided to ..... do the opposite and actually go to bed at a decent time.
The result, I woke up an hour early - lol. But at least the weight room room was less full. I guess all that partying did me some good - haha. So another beautiful morning in the Caribbean. I could get used to this working out and seeing a whole different country coming into view every morning.
Now, Roatan. What a beautiful island off the coast of Honduras. We were actually a little discouraged with the Costa Maya stop, but Roatan completely flipped us. This little island, looks like, from the boat, a tropical paradise. There are green hills, the port is really cute (see pictures below) and the water is once again beautiful.
Our planned excursion in Roatan was to go zip-lining on the canopy top of the jungle. When we got to the booth, and because we are really wanting some beach time after seeing such beautiful water, we upgraded the package and got a zipline/beach combo excursion. We were not disappointed with either. The zip lines were awesome!!!! My pictures won't do it justice. Basically, once they got us all geared up. We loaded up on a truck, did some off-roading up some pretty steep hills. When the truck couldn't go any further, we got out and hiked up some more through the jungle. The trees were beautiful and there were huge iguanas all over the place ... ranging from 12 to 18 inches long. We finally got to the first zip platform (after climbing some more stairs up the tree), they gave us the run down and Kelly was on her way. Then I followed. Some zips were short, some were long. Some really high, some low. All of them were over this lush jungle. It was awesome. I got some quick video that I will try and post too. Also, our guides were really good. They did a good job of keeping us safe, letting us know what to expect and helping us out when we needed it (like when Kelly didn't make it to the end of one of the lines :) ).
We finished the zips and headed to the beach. After a little confusion on if we were allowed into this one beach park, we finally got to the beach on our cruise and this beach, Tabyana Beach, was phenomenal! White sands, crystal clear water, good food, chairs. Stick us in those chairs with a book to read and we are livin' the dream, baby! We had a great time sippin on pina coladas and wading in water, chillin on the sand, and we even stumbled across this huge beautiful star fish that was at least 12 inches across.
After a couple of hours at the beach, we headed back to the ship, do some souvenir shopping at the port and then got back on board with plenty of time to spare. Then we listened to some of the Caribbean music from the band on the boat called Flex. Another relaxing night of fine dining and enjoying the fresh sea air and then we were off to bed. Tomorrow's port of call is in Belize City. We have to start our excursion early, so we turned in early, even with the voice of Ken in our head reminding us to party party party (aka, buy our drinks, buy 0ur drinks, buyour drinks).
I want to take a quick aside and mention one thing about this cruise that we were surprisingly pleased with. When we first got on the boat we noticed the ship had its own photography crew, and on day 2 we noticed the photo area, where the pictures from the day before were all available for sale at a fairly high price. We kinda laughed about it, but also went ahead and posed for some pictures with backdrops behind us throughout the cruise. It was kinda fun doing all these photo shoots :) The phot staff were awesome. They were everywhere all the time. The staff looked like one of the smaller crews on the boat - maybe 10 of them - and they took pictures, lugged their own equipment around, set it up broke it down, they had to work the area where they sold the pictures, they were on the boat at the parties, on the boat in the main atrium for the backdrop photos, and they were off the boat taking pictures in the port. And they always had great attitudes. AND the pictures that we took were REALLY REALLY good. So good, in fact, that we decided to get a couple of the pics and we are so pleased with them. I am gonna try and get those pics posted, too, at the end of this trip blog.
Next up - Belize!!
The port from our ship
Ziplining
Tabyana beach
Chillin on the boat
more pics of the island
Chillin on the boat
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Cruise 2011 - Day 3
Day 3: Costa Maya
So we wake up and we are all of a sudden in a different country. This cruise thing is pretty cool. :) Today is Costa Maya, Mexico. I started the morning out in the weight room again. Then we ate breakfast in the buffet restaurant, Raffles. The activity on the ship this morning was a lot more hectic than yesterday. I guess everyone is up and about to get off the ship and do their exursions - or whatever else there is to do in Costa Maya.
Costa Maya - what can I say about it. No one has ever heard of it probably. That's because it looks to be a town that the cruise industry fabricated just so they can have another stop. The port was nice and clean and the buildings seemed new. There were a bunch of shops that were willing to 'deal' with you - yeah right. There was one little thing we wanted and they would never give it to us for the price we wanted - and we could have found it in Wal-Mart for even less. I can't complain, though, because the one souvenir I wanted, I got here today - a Nacho Libre luchador mask - yeah baby!!!
There was one good thing at the port, and it was one of the highlights of the whole trip for us. There was this dude painting these really cool paintings with nothing but spray paint. His pictures were cool
- i don't really see how you could safely transport them, but that is beside the point. He had this sign above his little booth, and when you read it like Nacho Libre - it is stinkin' hilarious:
Kelly and I can't stop laughing everytime we read this - lol.
Our excursion in Costa Maya was to visit the Mayan ruins of Chacchoben. It was rainy on us, so that kinda put a damper on this excursion, but these ruins were pretty cool to see. The most impressive thing to us about these ruins is how everything was built up. This whole area of Mexico at Costa Maya was basically marsh lands - it was kinda like a Mexican version of Louisianna, but all of a sudden 60 kilometers inland there are hills???? We think we heard the tour guide say that the Mayan people built the hills and then also put these temples and their village on top. There were some pretty impressive sights from the top parts that we had access to. Also, I got to summon my eagle powers for my match against Satan's Cavemen later on that night (major Nacho Libre reference).
There were some more shops at the ruins as well. Again - no one wanted to deal with us. Poor Mexican families my rear. They were selling mini cans of Off for $10.00!!!! Overall, the excursion was cool. How often do you get to see Mayan ruins? They were awesome :)
We got back on the boat on time - this is something we were very mindful of. There is no way we want to be left behind. We had another great dinner, and then we watched a Cirque de Solei type show. It was 2 aerealists and the girl was very bendy. This was was awesome and we were amazed at some of the things that this pair was doing. Absolutely stunning.
Overall, we weren't too impressed with this port because it felt so fabricated. Tomorrow is Roatan. I hope this port is better.
Here's some more random pics of the day:
So we wake up and we are all of a sudden in a different country. This cruise thing is pretty cool. :) Today is Costa Maya, Mexico. I started the morning out in the weight room again. Then we ate breakfast in the buffet restaurant, Raffles. The activity on the ship this morning was a lot more hectic than yesterday. I guess everyone is up and about to get off the ship and do their exursions - or whatever else there is to do in Costa Maya.
Costa Maya - what can I say about it. No one has ever heard of it probably. That's because it looks to be a town that the cruise industry fabricated just so they can have another stop. The port was nice and clean and the buildings seemed new. There were a bunch of shops that were willing to 'deal' with you - yeah right. There was one little thing we wanted and they would never give it to us for the price we wanted - and we could have found it in Wal-Mart for even less. I can't complain, though, because the one souvenir I wanted, I got here today - a Nacho Libre luchador mask - yeah baby!!!
There was one good thing at the port, and it was one of the highlights of the whole trip for us. There was this dude painting these really cool paintings with nothing but spray paint. His pictures were cool
- i don't really see how you could safely transport them, but that is beside the point. He had this sign above his little booth, and when you read it like Nacho Libre - it is stinkin' hilarious:
Kelly and I can't stop laughing everytime we read this - lol.
Our excursion in Costa Maya was to visit the Mayan ruins of Chacchoben. It was rainy on us, so that kinda put a damper on this excursion, but these ruins were pretty cool to see. The most impressive thing to us about these ruins is how everything was built up. This whole area of Mexico at Costa Maya was basically marsh lands - it was kinda like a Mexican version of Louisianna, but all of a sudden 60 kilometers inland there are hills???? We think we heard the tour guide say that the Mayan people built the hills and then also put these temples and their village on top. There were some pretty impressive sights from the top parts that we had access to. Also, I got to summon my eagle powers for my match against Satan's Cavemen later on that night (major Nacho Libre reference).
There were some more shops at the ruins as well. Again - no one wanted to deal with us. Poor Mexican families my rear. They were selling mini cans of Off for $10.00!!!! Overall, the excursion was cool. How often do you get to see Mayan ruins? They were awesome :)
We got back on the boat on time - this is something we were very mindful of. There is no way we want to be left behind. We had another great dinner, and then we watched a Cirque de Solei type show. It was 2 aerealists and the girl was very bendy. This was was awesome and we were amazed at some of the things that this pair was doing. Absolutely stunning.
Overall, we weren't too impressed with this port because it felt so fabricated. Tomorrow is Roatan. I hope this port is better.
Here's some more random pics of the day:
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Cruise 2011 - Day 2
Day 2: A Day at Sea
Well, we are on the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. I woke up promptly at 6:00 (Thanks, AonHewitt!!) and got up to walk around the boat and check out the views. We never imagined the vastness of the waters would be so awe-inspiring. Once again, we are blown away with God's creation. The breeze and the water completely woke me up so I decided to go work out. Working out on the boat, looking out at the water was pretty stinkin' amazing.
Once Kelly was up and we were both ready for the day, we ate breakfast in one of the main restaurants on the boat called Windows. It was a very elegant restaurant in the aft (back) of the ship, and it had these huge windows that looked out over the back of the ship. The wake that this boat made was huge and that was a pretty cool sight to see too. The breakfast was awesome!! Fresh fruit, omelettes and coffee. Yummy, yummy, yummy.
The rest of the day was basically just chill time. I got an anniversary package that included two 25 minute massages, so Kelly used one of those and loved it. We found a quiet spot on deck and read, we chilled at the pool, ate lunch in the buffet restaurant called Raffles. More good food! It was just an all around relaxing day.
We ate dinner in the other main free restaurant called The Garden. Again, very delicious. I am starting to see a trend in the quality of food - lol, and can I just say - coffee after dinner with dessert is soooooo good.
This boat has a theatre in the back of the boat that takes up two levels. They have shows and stuff there every night. This night was a Broadway revue show, so we decided to go. The show was actually very good. The singers were very good and the dancers were pretty good too. They did songs from Wicked, Jersey Boys, In the Heights, Movin Out and Mamma Mia. Even though we didn't know all the songs, I was pretty impressed.
One thing we were not impressed with was Ken, the cruise director. We actually first saw Ken on the television the night before. Apparently, all the main shows in the theatre get recorded and they show them on the room tvs later on. Well, late on the night of Day 1, we caught a glimpse of the opening show which was really just a big commercial of perfomances to come. Ken was over-the-top-I'm-gonna-do-whatever-it-takes-to-get-you-excited-about-this-show guy. I can already tell that this guy is going to annoy me. Ken opened the Broadway revue and introduced the show to us. He also apparently likes to promote evey passenger to get liquored up as well. Maybe he gets a commission on the alcohol sales on the boat?? My guess is every time he gets a mic in his hand he is going to ask everyone if they are having a good time - no one is going to respond to his liking, so he will ask again and everyone will finally chime in just so we can get past that routine. I'll let everyone know how that goes. :)
All in all, a great day at sea. Tomorrow is Costa Maya. We are excited about something different, and our excursion there is to go look at some Mayan ruins.
Here's some pictures from today:
Well, we are on the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. I woke up promptly at 6:00 (Thanks, AonHewitt!!) and got up to walk around the boat and check out the views. We never imagined the vastness of the waters would be so awe-inspiring. Once again, we are blown away with God's creation. The breeze and the water completely woke me up so I decided to go work out. Working out on the boat, looking out at the water was pretty stinkin' amazing.
Once Kelly was up and we were both ready for the day, we ate breakfast in one of the main restaurants on the boat called Windows. It was a very elegant restaurant in the aft (back) of the ship, and it had these huge windows that looked out over the back of the ship. The wake that this boat made was huge and that was a pretty cool sight to see too. The breakfast was awesome!! Fresh fruit, omelettes and coffee. Yummy, yummy, yummy.
The rest of the day was basically just chill time. I got an anniversary package that included two 25 minute massages, so Kelly used one of those and loved it. We found a quiet spot on deck and read, we chilled at the pool, ate lunch in the buffet restaurant called Raffles. More good food! It was just an all around relaxing day.
We ate dinner in the other main free restaurant called The Garden. Again, very delicious. I am starting to see a trend in the quality of food - lol, and can I just say - coffee after dinner with dessert is soooooo good.
This boat has a theatre in the back of the boat that takes up two levels. They have shows and stuff there every night. This night was a Broadway revue show, so we decided to go. The show was actually very good. The singers were very good and the dancers were pretty good too. They did songs from Wicked, Jersey Boys, In the Heights, Movin Out and Mamma Mia. Even though we didn't know all the songs, I was pretty impressed.
One thing we were not impressed with was Ken, the cruise director. We actually first saw Ken on the television the night before. Apparently, all the main shows in the theatre get recorded and they show them on the room tvs later on. Well, late on the night of Day 1, we caught a glimpse of the opening show which was really just a big commercial of perfomances to come. Ken was over-the-top-I'm-gonna-do-whatever-it-takes-to-get-you-excited-about-this-show guy. I can already tell that this guy is going to annoy me. Ken opened the Broadway revue and introduced the show to us. He also apparently likes to promote evey passenger to get liquored up as well. Maybe he gets a commission on the alcohol sales on the boat?? My guess is every time he gets a mic in his hand he is going to ask everyone if they are having a good time - no one is going to respond to his liking, so he will ask again and everyone will finally chime in just so we can get past that routine. I'll let everyone know how that goes. :)
All in all, a great day at sea. Tomorrow is Costa Maya. We are excited about something different, and our excursion there is to go look at some Mayan ruins.
Here's some pictures from today:
Monday, July 11, 2011
Cruise 2011 - Day 1
Well, Kelly and I are back from our 7 day cruise. I thought it would be fun to 're-live' the cruise, so I am going to try and give daily updates on this blog as if we were on the cruise. So that means up first is ...
Day 1
We are finally here on the NCL Spirit!!! It is pretty cool. We have never cruised before, so I don't really know how to size these boats, but it looks and feels pretty stinkin' big. We couldn't snag any really good pictures of the boat at the port in New Orleans, but I'm hoping to get some pics at our first stop on Costa Maya on Day 3.
When we first got on the boat it was pretty overwhelming how big it was and how many people were running around like little ants trying to make reservations, book excursions, find their rooms, find their luggage, etc ... We were one of those ants and had no idea how to get anywhere. We finally found our room. Nothing fancy, just an interior room with no window. It was small, but we are able to move around in it nicely.
Once we got situated in the room and started to get our bearings on where things were on the boat, we had a quick safety drill and then it was a Bon Voyage BBQ party at the pool on the top of the boat with live music from a Reggae style band. They called it barbecue. Let me just say this. If there ain't sausage and if there ain't brisket then it ain't barbecue. The food was good, don't get me wrong, but it was not barbecue. It was burgers and dogs and grilled chicken with some sort of bbq sauce on it. Very yummy, just not BBQ - lol
We spent the rest of the night getting more acquainted with where stuff was on the ship. We found a live jazz band called the Spirit Orchestra - a bass, drums, keys, sax, trumpet and trombone. This music was awesome and I think we will try and find where they are playing and go listen as much as we can. We also used the rest of the night to watch the boat coast through the Mississippi River. Who thought it would take so long to get from NOLA to the Gulf of Mexico.
The ship is rocking (so don't come a knockin'???). We haven't felt any sea sickness yet, but that may change when we get on open seas and the boat is moving faster. Next up - Day 2, a full day at sea with lots of activities on the boat. Yippee!!
Here's some pics of Day 1 (you can click on them to make them bigger):
Sunday, June 5, 2011
The end to a good, long weekend
No new news on the lot front. Basically I go out there and hack down a ton of trees and it looks the same. But I guess one of these days I am gonna go out there and all of a sudden, we might have a clearing – lol.
We DID, however, have a fairly busy weekend topped off with an awesome performance by our daughter, the little flower. Ballet Excelsior had their annual recital this weekend. This year they did a really cute play/dance called Antshillvania – a cute take on the story of the prodigal son. Julia’s performance was Friday night, and I am one proud poppa. She always looks so pretty in her dolled up costumes and this year was no different:
Also, Julia recently had her ballet exams, and she mastered everything at the Primary level. Soooooo … she will be advancing to Grade 1. We are so proud of you, Julia, and look forward to seeing you learn more and more as you move up the ranks.
On a different note, we are on the home stretch with another successful year of home schooling. Jake has blown our socks off with preschool, and Julia is a reading machine even though she is drudging along through 1st grade. I think she needs more of a challenge. Which she will find in second grade – especially with us switching to a Classical style of education. Bottom line – she is about to get to read even more (which she loves to do). And while she reads, she will learn a lot of history, literature, grammar, writing, Latin, and spelling. Oh …. and math and science, too!!! Which I am totally stoked about because I will be coming in and helping Kelly with Latin and Science. Woohoo!!! The principal of our home school will get to teach some. Next year, Jake will be embarking on his Kindergarten journey, and we are excited about that, too.
But in 3-4 weeks, we will be done and resting in the summer. That rest will be kicked off with Kelly and me going on a cruise (BY OURSELVES!!!!) to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. I am SO the luckiest man in the world for snagging the most beautiful, most loving, caring, nurturing, tender woman in the world Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful woman that you have blessed me with.
OH!!!! I almost forgot (that can happen when I think about my wife). Some big news on the ‘mid-life-crisis’ front. I think I had one of these when Jansen was born and I stepped foot into Quick Weight Loss Centers (and eventually lost about 80 pounds in 5 months). I have decided to start training for a triathalon. We can just call this mid-life-crisis number 2. My body is gonna hate me for this one I think.
Anyways
More to come later, but I’ll leave you with one final picture of our little munchkins after their summer haircuts
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Easter Ramblings
Well, it's the night before Easter, and we've had a great weekend so far, and I felt like jotting it down. Sunday's gonna be a big day, and I might just kill over when we get home, so I wanted to get these ramblings out of my head.
We kicked off this extended weekend by reading to the kids on Thursday night during our family worship time. I read for them out of their Children's Story Bible, the story of Jesus being tried, beaten and crucified. This was the first time that I had read them this story. In previous years, their attention span was not able to handle a story that long and that deep, but this year Kelly and I were able to walk them through everything that was happening and explain the significance of the trial and the beatings and the crucifixion.
Let me stop right here and tell you, there is nothing more satisfying to me as a father than reading this particular story to my children, watching them intently listen and explaining the significance of Jesus dying on the cross. Explaining to these little ones that we deserve the full, entire depth and breadth of the wrath of God because of our sin - but the death of Jesus on the cross took the place of all that wrath and judgment that we deserve. AND THEY LISTENED!!!!! Needless to say, this is probably the start of a very important tradition in this family :)
Friday was a GREAT day. It started at 3:00 am with a call and text that our really good friends the Marusiks were in labor and their new bundle of joy would soon be here. Agatha Nola Marusik was born at 5:18 and it was a great beginning to a good Good Friday. I actually took the day off, so getting to stay home with the family is always great. We did yard work, hung out, had Homewood park day where me and Jake played disc golf, and Kelly and I got to go on a date. I had such a good time with her, and I still can't believe how I got so lucky to have her as my wife. She is amazing. Completely amazing and incredible in every way. Thank you, God!!!
Saturday started with breakfast at IHOP and as we headed out, I realized that this was THE day. This is, what looked like to me, THE biggest day for all the churches in the area. It seemed like every church we passed was gearing up with their big Easter festivals. We even passed a church that had a drive thru prayer event going on (but that was only from 9-12, so I guess if the drive thru was closed they would have to just call KSBJ for prayer). When I see all the marketing in full swing and all the events happening, it just makes me think a little. I think and wonder if all this work that we do to get people into our churches is in vain. Is it really US who is getting people to come to our church. Did our Easter egg hunt really get little Johnny (and even maybe his parents) saved? Or was it God drawing them in? What would have happened if we didn't have an Easter egg hunt? Would God have been powerless? I know I am being a little shallow with this, and at times like this I feel so small compared to the vastness and hugeness of who God is and how He truly works. Don't get me wrong, I know God uses people and God uses these events - heck, I took the kids out and we had a grand old time at an Easter festival today. But sometimes I wonder "Are people getting in the way of God using people?" Then I realize that I have blown my mind and I have to just stop and that's where the ramblings begin - hence this blog.
K, that long aside is now over ....
IHOP was awesome by the way. I love IHOP pancakes in the morning, especially with my beautiful family. We continued this great day by attempting a trip to the mall with THE loudest 22 month old in the entire world. We survived it, but, well, let's just be happy that JC Penny wasn't that crowded. On the way into and out of the mall, we passed by the Easter bunny picture station with tons of people in line. I'm just gonna say it ... the Easter bunny scares me. There it is. I don't know why .... he just creeps me out. He ain't no Santa, let's just leave it at that. After the mall, I took the kids to the Easter festival and left Kelly at home in peace to commence with the baking of the desserts. Can't wait to enjoy those tomorrow!!! The rest of the day was just hanging out at the house. Now the kids are in bed and we've had another great day.
What's on the docket for Easter Sunday 2011???
- Easter at GCC
- Kelly and I are both playing in the worship band - I am very excited about this
- Julia and Jake are in the children's choir!!
- road trip to Rosenberg
- the rest of Easter Sunday with my family - it should be a blast with everyone there.
- going to the zoo on Monday!!!!
I might post some pics later.
Until next time ....
We kicked off this extended weekend by reading to the kids on Thursday night during our family worship time. I read for them out of their Children's Story Bible, the story of Jesus being tried, beaten and crucified. This was the first time that I had read them this story. In previous years, their attention span was not able to handle a story that long and that deep, but this year Kelly and I were able to walk them through everything that was happening and explain the significance of the trial and the beatings and the crucifixion.
Let me stop right here and tell you, there is nothing more satisfying to me as a father than reading this particular story to my children, watching them intently listen and explaining the significance of Jesus dying on the cross. Explaining to these little ones that we deserve the full, entire depth and breadth of the wrath of God because of our sin - but the death of Jesus on the cross took the place of all that wrath and judgment that we deserve. AND THEY LISTENED!!!!! Needless to say, this is probably the start of a very important tradition in this family :)
Friday was a GREAT day. It started at 3:00 am with a call and text that our really good friends the Marusiks were in labor and their new bundle of joy would soon be here. Agatha Nola Marusik was born at 5:18 and it was a great beginning to a good Good Friday. I actually took the day off, so getting to stay home with the family is always great. We did yard work, hung out, had Homewood park day where me and Jake played disc golf, and Kelly and I got to go on a date. I had such a good time with her, and I still can't believe how I got so lucky to have her as my wife. She is amazing. Completely amazing and incredible in every way. Thank you, God!!!
Saturday started with breakfast at IHOP and as we headed out, I realized that this was THE day. This is, what looked like to me, THE biggest day for all the churches in the area. It seemed like every church we passed was gearing up with their big Easter festivals. We even passed a church that had a drive thru prayer event going on (but that was only from 9-12, so I guess if the drive thru was closed they would have to just call KSBJ for prayer). When I see all the marketing in full swing and all the events happening, it just makes me think a little. I think and wonder if all this work that we do to get people into our churches is in vain. Is it really US who is getting people to come to our church. Did our Easter egg hunt really get little Johnny (and even maybe his parents) saved? Or was it God drawing them in? What would have happened if we didn't have an Easter egg hunt? Would God have been powerless? I know I am being a little shallow with this, and at times like this I feel so small compared to the vastness and hugeness of who God is and how He truly works. Don't get me wrong, I know God uses people and God uses these events - heck, I took the kids out and we had a grand old time at an Easter festival today. But sometimes I wonder "Are people getting in the way of God using people?" Then I realize that I have blown my mind and I have to just stop and that's where the ramblings begin - hence this blog.
K, that long aside is now over ....
IHOP was awesome by the way. I love IHOP pancakes in the morning, especially with my beautiful family. We continued this great day by attempting a trip to the mall with THE loudest 22 month old in the entire world. We survived it, but, well, let's just be happy that JC Penny wasn't that crowded. On the way into and out of the mall, we passed by the Easter bunny picture station with tons of people in line. I'm just gonna say it ... the Easter bunny scares me. There it is. I don't know why .... he just creeps me out. He ain't no Santa, let's just leave it at that. After the mall, I took the kids to the Easter festival and left Kelly at home in peace to commence with the baking of the desserts. Can't wait to enjoy those tomorrow!!! The rest of the day was just hanging out at the house. Now the kids are in bed and we've had another great day.
What's on the docket for Easter Sunday 2011???
- Easter at GCC
- Kelly and I are both playing in the worship band - I am very excited about this
- Julia and Jake are in the children's choir!!
- road trip to Rosenberg
- the rest of Easter Sunday with my family - it should be a blast with everyone there.
- going to the zoo on Monday!!!!
I might post some pics later.
Until next time ....
Monday, April 11, 2011
Lot/House Update #2
As of April 8th, 2011, the Carlson Clan now own .00000083699% of the great state of Texas!!! I guess, technically, we own more if you include our current house, but that will only up the percentage by .000000097068% - hahahaha. Yes, David is a big nerd. But it is pretty stinkin’ exciting that we now own land. Not only do we own land, but we now own a ton of trees, too.
Some worth keeping ...
… some are already hacked down ....
And we own a creek!!!!
Here's some more shots of the lot:
This is all a homeschooling families dream. And how did we celebrate this new acquisition?? We camped out … in our ….. backyard. The lot is way too thick to camp on yet – lol. So we pitched a tent in the backyard and had a good ole fashioned suburban campout.
We grilled hot dogs on our gas grill. Looked out at the stars. We saw one, and I’m sure there were more out there - we just couldn’t see them with all the street lights. We fell fast asleep to the sound of cars whizzing by on Spring Cypress and to the sound of air conditioners kick starting (getting the hint on why we wanted the land??). Then we woke up and had an all American breakfast of eggs and bacon. I actually cooked these on my new Coleman stove.
I love me some eggs and bacon in the morning.
Next up – lots of work days to cut some paths in our lot so we can get a better idea of what we’ve actually got as well as some major clearing out in the general area where we think the house might go. That basically means we are going to be cutting down a ton of yaupon. Stay tuned!
Some worth keeping ...
… some are already hacked down ....
And we own a creek!!!!
Here's some more shots of the lot:
This is all a homeschooling families dream. And how did we celebrate this new acquisition?? We camped out … in our ….. backyard. The lot is way too thick to camp on yet – lol. So we pitched a tent in the backyard and had a good ole fashioned suburban campout.
We grilled hot dogs on our gas grill. Looked out at the stars. We saw one, and I’m sure there were more out there - we just couldn’t see them with all the street lights. We fell fast asleep to the sound of cars whizzing by on Spring Cypress and to the sound of air conditioners kick starting (getting the hint on why we wanted the land??). Then we woke up and had an all American breakfast of eggs and bacon. I actually cooked these on my new Coleman stove.
I love me some eggs and bacon in the morning.
Next up – lots of work days to cut some paths in our lot so we can get a better idea of what we’ve actually got as well as some major clearing out in the general area where we think the house might go. That basically means we are going to be cutting down a ton of yaupon. Stay tuned!
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