Life With The Stanfords

Weird Science

Maybe it's the homeschooler in me that planned an educational trip during our vacation. At any rate, I think this was the most fun we had on our whole trip. We went to the Mid America Science Museum. What a cool place!

We watched a laser show and then we went and watched the "caged electricity" exhibition. I have an electricity phobia. When I was growing up, none of our outlets was grounded (Is that how you say it?). Almost every time I plugged something in, I got a good jolt. To this day, I hate Winter - mainly because of all the static electricity shocks I get.

Anyway, this thing was fascinating. When the guy cranked it up, "lightning" filled up the cage and it was SO loud! I think he said if the cage was not containing the electricity, it would shut down the entire city. Wicked!

 

Here's Blythe building an earthquake-proof structure. This was part of the Museum's "Engineer It" exhibit. Lots of fun.

 

Owen and Claire worked together on their "skyscraper".

 

Even Jade got in on the act. He did great; his building didn't even shake very much during the earthquake he made.

 

The Museum had an airplane simulator ride at the end of our tour. We rode it with our kids. We had to work really hard to convince them that the machine we were in didn't take off out of the building. They kept asking how it got through the ceiling. Kids' imaginations are beautiful.

Outside of the Museum was a nice creek. We had a great time wading around and throwing rocks.

 

Here's my 12-year old. Family vacations are hard at this age unless you have a friend with you. She's six years older than our next oldest and has to endure a lot of "kid stuff". She's a trooper, though. Lovely girl.

 

Tomorrow: boats and ducks.

Not So Magic Springs

We went to Magic Springs the next day of our vacation in Hot Springs. It cost our family $236.00 to get into the park for the day. It hurt to pay that. The more I pay for vacations the more I understand my Dad, who always made us share a drink, eat bologna sandwiches at rest stops and rarely bought any souvenirs on vacation.

The pain was worsened when we realized that half the park was closed. Because I have four children six and under, the kiddie pool area is a big draw for us. It was closed. We ended up hanging out in the entrance area to the Lazy River. Here's Claire, AKA Miss Teenage America:

 

Evelyn loved the water. She splashed and played and didn't complain once about the closed kiddie pool (I did it enough for both of us).

 

Here's Owen. I mean, it's really Owen. This is the picture of his personality. He's excited about everything. He's just really happy to be alive and gettin' to participate, you know? I'm trying to be more like that.

 

Here's Paw-Paw, uh, I mean Ethan. Ethan's my thinker. If he can find an innertube somewhere and lay on it for a few hours, he is happy. No splashing, no horseplay, and no swimming, please.

 

And here's my Olympic swimmer, Blythe. It was hard to find a picture of her. She swam most of the day. I'm so proud of her, because she's not a big chicken in the water like I am.

 

Can you imagine a day in The Lazy River laying on an inntertube just peacefully floating around soaking up the rays? Really? What's it like?

  

Magic Springs had an extremely strict height requirement for all of their rides. There was one ride that Owen (4) couldn't ride because he was too short, and Ethan (6) and Blythe (5) couldn't ride because they were too tall. Huh?

Here's Evelyn looking longingly at one of the kiddie rides. So sad.

 

Here's all the grandkids, ages two to 12, riding the really exciting train. Choo choo! Woo hoo!

 

We finally found a ride for Evelyn. She loved it! It was hard to get her off of it. Sweet baby girl waved to her Papa every time around.

 

Our kids had a great time. They didn't even notice that half the rides were closed. They weren't worried about not having enough money either. I'm so glad. There's plenty of time for them to become cynical, grouchy grown-ups later.

Looking up, down, back and forward...

After Owen's birthday, we took our kids to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. You know, I wasn't real excited about paying money to ride to the top of this tower (boring). However, sometimes I have to go back in my mind to what it's like to be a kid. When I was a teenager, we came here with my youth group and we rode to the top. Even then, it was kind of fun to do, so I knew my little ones would think this was really cool.

 

Here's the view from the elevator. As expected, the kids loved it.

 

It's funny how dark everything is when there's no quarter in the telescope. (I still struggle with being a cheapskate.)

 

Here's me and my man. I don't think I've told you that we came to Hot Springs on our honeymoon. Here we are on the same tower almost nine years later - still loving every minute of it.

 

This is my own version of Abbey Road. This picture started me thinking about the last time Jade and I were here.

 

I dug through the Stanford Archives and pulled out this picture of Jade from our honeymoon. We were at the top of the tower and it was really cold. We were not prepared for the weather because it was 90 degrees in south Louisiana. He looks a tad younger and a tad unfettered by the cares of the world, doesn't he?

 

Almost nine years ago, I was sitting here in Hot Springs on a really hot Suzuki Intruder, weighing in at about 130 pounds. I was so very much in love and so very happy.

 

All that love's gotta have someplace to go. Here's me and number five of all that love. And there's more of me to love now, too.

 

Last picture. I took this one of Claire looking out from the same place I was sitting almost nine years ago. I began looking ahead in my mind. Then the opening lines from a soap opera ran through my head, "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives." So true. A picture is worth a thousand words, huh? 

Happy Birthday, Owen!

June 1st was Owen's fourth birthday. He is a Star Wars: The Clone Wars fanatic (but he's never seen even one show). We were on vacation so I brought all my cake-making stuff with me. Long live the homemade birthday cake!

 

Lots of children wearing the same Clone Troopers mask. Cute or frightening? You be the judge.

 

I had to throw in a picture of my dear, old Dad, Hot Dog Maker Extraordinaire.

 

This may be the best birthday present Jade and I have ever bought for one of our kids:

 

This boy loves his guitar! He plays it every day. I made sure to take lots of pictures so when he's a rock star, he can include them in his autobiography. When we came home from vacation and we were at church, Jade and the band started playing and Owen whispered, "Mom, we need to go get my guitar!" He really expected to play with his Papa. That's pretty darn cute.

One last birthday picture:

 

Oh my goodness, I love that little boy. He melts my cold heart of stone every time. He still snuggles me. He runs into me at full-speed and says, "I love you, Mama," all the time. When he grows up he wants to be a workerman, a fireman, and a rock star. He also told me when he grows up he's going to win the battle (???). I don't understand, but he's very adamant about it. For almost anything, he tells me, "I love dat, Mama!" Oh yeah, he told me he's going to save up and buy a dirtbike like Uncle Nathan. Yikes.

Happy Birthday, Oh-ee, Woh-ee, Boh-ee. Your Mama's crazy about you, sweet ol' thing.

Hot Springs! Cool!

Wow! Summer's been a whirlwind. I've just now been able to slow down enough to tell about it.

My family takes a vacation together every year. By family, I mean all 18 of us - 8 adults and 10 grandkids! This year, we chose to go to Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, AR, instead of Gulf Shores, AL, (or the Redneck Riviera as it's affectionately called) like we usually do. This is one of, maybe, 10 houses in the U.S.A. that can hold all of us at one time.

Here's a view of Lake Hamilton from the boat slip:

 

Our first night in town, we all decided to play a little pool. I really like this game because I get to knock stuff around, kind of like bowling. This is what I look like after traveling 7.5 hours in a minivan with five kids. Pretty? No. Comfortable? Yes.

 

My brother, Eric, and I won this match - no thanks to me. I don't think Claire is going to be a pool shark anytime soon.

 We went to church Sunday. It was a traditional church like I grew up in - lots of hymns and lots of destroying contemporary songs trying to make them sound like hymns. Let me just say that you cannot sing "Trading My Sorrows" like "Onward, Christian Soldiers" - it's bad. Here's how much Ethan enjoyed church: 

He was not appreciating spiritual training on vacation. Did I mention that Claire was taking pictures during church? Ack! Embarrassing.

I saw this picture and busted out laughing:

That's my brother, Eric, and his wife, Janna, in the hot tub with a gazillion kids. I love the looks on their faces. I thought of several captions:

"People Soup"

"Is it just me or is it warm in here?"

"Hot tubs. Sexy, no?"

Got room for one more?

 

Tomorrow:  Birthdays and towers.

Resolution response

It's taken me awhile to post. I've been vacationing and adjusting to summer. As for my New Year's resolutions...

Balance - This is going pretty well. I have NO summer activities scheduled for the children - not even Vacation Bible School. That means we have a ton of time-margin. It means when someone says, "Hey, you wanna...?", we can say, "Yes!"

Priorities - This is not going as well as I would like. God still gets crammed in between lots of other activities, and I frequently pray as I drift off to sleep...always working on that one. I'm glad He doesn't treat me the way I sometimes treat Him.

Jade and I are doing pretty well. We have to work really hard on making time for each other. We just have a lot to do - work, kids, church, life. Our dates are usually spent on the couch curled up in front of a good movie with some baked goods and cold milk. Catch as catch can, you know? I sure love him, though, and when we are together...hot stuff!!!

The kids are not getting enough of my attention. I have visions of trips to the library, reading under the trees, playing at the sprayground, and eating snowcones in my mind. Why is it so hard to make those plans materialize? I am easily preoccupied.

I think I'm doing O.K. in the friend department. My friends know my home is always open. I'm not usually the one visiting since I have five kids at home, but I look forward to that season of my life. I always enjoy coffee and a good talk with my friends. They are sweet, sweet, sweet.

Say "No" and say "Yes" - It's hard for me to say, "No", but I'm getting better at it (My kids think I'm very good at saying, "No"). The tough thing this year has been to say, "No", to homeschooling my two oldest kids. Claire and Ethan are going to a private school next year. I'm hoping this will be a God-glorifying choice and not the opposite. It's a bittersweet decision for me. We'll see how it goes.

We seem to be getting more consistent with our family devotions at night. This is one "Yes" that started out being difficult and is now something we look forward to. The boys especially love hearing about all the adventures of King David. We will find out tonight what happens to the handsome, rebellious son, Absalom.

All that to say, "I'm working on it." I'm happy to report that I see progress and maturity in my life. It would be very disheartening to look back and discover I'm exactly the same. I AM better. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Resolution checkup!

In January, I issued a challenge to my friends and me:

"Here's my challenge to myself and my friends: Post it forward. I challenge you to schedule a post for June 1, 2009, that lists your resolutions for the year. After the resolutions, report your progress. I want to be able to say that I've come a long way and that my life is even better than I thought it would be. Who's game?"

These were my resolutions:

Balance - Everything in moderation, keep margin in my life, do one less thing than I have time for instead of one more thing than I have time for.

Priorities- God first (read God's word, memorize it, pray), husband second (shave every once in awhile, have sex - How's that for keepin' it real?), kids third (QT, homeschool, laugh), everyone else (send cards, make calls, check in, have coffee).

Say "No" and say "Yes" - No to the things that don't matter and aren't good for our family, yes to the things that glorify God and enable me to enjoy Him.

So, how am I doing?