Life With The Stanfords

Home from Houston

Just got back from Houston on Saturday. My very fabulous in-laws gave Jade and me tickets to see Third Day in concert there. Highlights from our trip:

Thursday night - Ribs at Jade's Mama's house. Yes ma'am!

Friday - Four hours in the van all alone with my husband. Smashing conversation. Bliss!

Friday night - Third Day! Yeeah!!! Here's me and Jade with Mac Powell:

Saturday morning - Blueberry muffins at Cathy's house. Thanks for puttin' us up, Cath!

Saturday - Lunch with my friend, Amita, from high school, and her husband! I hadn't seen her in years and years. The last time I saw her was at her wedding. Amita is Hindu and her wedding was a feast for the eyes! So beautiful.

IKEA - That place is the devil! The need to consume almost overtook me. Jade was strong for the both of us.

Saturday evening - I got to meet Jade's pastor from when he lived in Hackberry under a bridge (great story there). Jade had talked about Bro. Gerard and his wife ever since I met him. They took really good care of him. He hadn't seen them in about 12 years. When we got out of the van at Bro. Gerard's house, he and Jade grinned from ear-to-ear. We went into the house and Bro. Gerard yelled, "Gail, our son's home!" I almost cried over the sweetness of it all.

Jade got the chance to tell them how much they meant to him and what a difference they had made in his life. I'm welling up again just thinking about it. They are dear, sweet people who love Jesus so much they look like Him. I want to be like them.

What a great trip! Good memories abound.

A little camping trip

So we decided to take our five kids tent camping last weekend. They'd never been camping. Since Evelyn is now almost two-years old, we thought we might just survive.

We took a little detour to St. Francisville on the way. (And this is where the post takes a little detour as well.) I've had my eye on a piece of property there for over two years now. We decided to go look at it. Why? I do not know. You know how dreams are. They're not usually rational.

Anyway, we drove 7 miles north of town into the middle of nowhere. We found the "For Sale" sign by a trail that no vehicle can go on. Jade took off running through the woods to see if he could see anything. I was so hoping he would come back and tell me there was nothing to see.

He came jogging back to the van a few minutes later. I asked if he saw anything. He said, "Yes." I asked if it was beautiful. He said, "Yes." Drat! We all headed off down a wooded trail.

We walked through a beautiful canopy of trees and then through a more cleared area:

Then I saw them - the bluffs. The property is bordered in the back by Bayou Sara. Wow.

Can you imagine having your own private beach? (Editor's Note:  No, I still haven't cut Ethan's hair. We've taken to calling him Cousin Itt.)

How about some bluffs to climb?

Well, enough about that. It's just a dream. Anyway.

We took the ferry from St. Francisville to New Roads to get back to the interstate.

I never cease to be amazed by the Mississippi River. It's just so massive and pretty much the center of the universe for all the states that border it.

So we got to Lake Chicot in Ville Platte and started unpacking. Baby? Check.

 

Tent? Check.

The kids were impatient to get the tent up. That was the highlight of the whole trip for them - sleeping in a tent. It was fun. My back only hurt for two days after we got home. The boys found baby frogs. We saw big banana spiders. We listened to the owls all night. You miss out on all that if you're sitting in the air conditioning.

Here I am cooking supper. Can you see the glistening film of sweat? Good times. At least, WE had a good time. I'm not sure about all the other campers arounds us. Evelyn screamed for quite some time before she fell asleep. Blythe aka Chatty Cathy had to go to the bathroom at 4:00 a.m. and talked loudly all the way there...and back.

That's where the pictures end. First, it got too dark to take pictures and then we lost the camera among all of our belongings. Ah well, you get the picture anyway. We came, we saw, we camped. And we're just crazy enough to do it again. Yee haw!

A few last pictures...

Sorry for the posting gaps! Sheesh, what's wrong with me? Anyway, a few last pics from the Hot Springs vacation.

When I was growing up, I always wanted to take a ride on one of those duck buses in Hot Springs. Do you know what those are? They're old military buses that can float in the water, hence, ducks! And, of course, when you have kids, you have the perfect excuse to do everything you always wanted to do as a kid and didn't get to do.

We all thought it was awesome when our bus drove right into Lake Hamilton! OK, I was a little nervous, but I got over it.

 

Here we are back on dry land. Cute kids.

My brother Eric was able to borrow a friend's boat, so the next day the kids and I took a cruise around Lake Hamilton with Uncle Jonathan.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm terrified of the water? I am. I took swimming lessons last summer to try to conquer my fears. I swam fine in water I could stand up in, but when I got in the big girl pool (13 ft.!), I panicked every time. This is a picture of a tense woman, about to be surrounded by water, fastening her life jacket securely. What a goober. 

 

My kids, so far, don't share my terror. They kind of look like a bunch of drunken sailors, don't you think? Party on! Yeah!

 

Goodbye to vacations for another year...

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? 

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.

The Vacation (Part 4)

Tuesday was our last day of vacation. We left for home Wednesday morning. I thought I would share a montage, of sorts, of my favorite things from our vacation. Look at those faces. That's my treasure. Seeing them smile makes my cup overflow:

 

I'm so glad we can buy cute boots for our kids. This picture just pleases me for some reason:

 

Do you see those birds? That's a flock of wild turkeys! Ethan spotted them one morning outside our cabin. We were all so excited.

    

This picture makes me think of snuggling up with my kids and watching Star Wars movies every night. And it makes me think of roasting weiners and marshmallows because it was too cold to go outside to do it. 

 

My kids caught the jigsaw puzzle fever. They worked so hard on those puzzles, and they worked together! They were fun to listen to while they were helping each other.

 

This place was right down the road from our cabin. We passed it going and coming every day. It is picture postcard perfect. I wanted to go lay in the middle of that "picture".

 

Here's Jade and me at Grandfather Mountain (freezing to death). I just love him, that's all.

 

And last but not least, the journey. We had as much fun in the van as anywhere else. Our budget is tight at home. We were just thrilled to be eating fast food for every meal. It was such a pleasure for us to be able to do that!

 

No pictures or words can properly express the beauty that we saw on our trip. Mountains, rivers, turkeys. Oh, and snow! God is so good. He let the kids see some snow on the ground before we left. We had such a good time together. Thanks for letting me regale you with stories from our trip. Back to normal now...whatever that is.

The Vacation (Part 3)

Monday we visited Grandfather Mountain. It's the tallest mountain in North Carolina. The winds were so high that they wouldn't let anyone go to the top or go across the swinging bridge. I confess I was glad. I was not looking forward to the heights or trying to get five kids across that thing safely. We ended up just eating lunch there. Jade snapped a few pics of the kids outside. Ya'll, I cannot take that kind of cold. I'm a Southern belle through and through. My body says, "Just say no to cold." It was bone chillin' cold (14 degrees wind chill) and I stayed in the van.

Does this pictures strike panic in anyone else's heart besides mine? It just scares me. Who knows how long the first rock's been trying to hold up that other rock? Anyway, I'm glad I wasn't there to see this:

   

I am glad, however, that I got to see this:

 

Is this the cutest pumpkin ever? (the one in the middle):

   

This is an unretouched photo of the coolest tree. I've never seen anything like it. It was just brilliant:  

 

After we left Grandfather Mountain, we went to a place called Mystery Hill in Boone. This is another great place for small ones because it doesn't take long to go through and the optical illusions are lots of fun. The best thing about Mystery Hill is their sideways room. The floors are at a 45 degree angle. It seriously messes with your head. Balls and water roll upwards (not really, but it looks that way). Here's me trying not to throw up and fall down in front of my kids:

 

And a fun day was had by all.

The Vacation (Part 2)

After a glass of wine and a good night's sleep, I had forgotten the previous night's trauma and was ready to forge ahead with the rest of the vacation. Being the "super spiritual" family that we are (heh-heh), we decided to go to church in the mountains Sunday morning. And this is where I leave this subject because it deserves its own post.

We decided to chillax (a new hip blend of the words chill and relax for you people still trying to be cool and pretend you're not almost 40) Sunday afternoon at the cabin. Jade decided it would be a great idea for the kids to put on their swimsuits and rubber boots and check out the creek. That sounds really sweet until you realize it's only 60 degrees outside! I protested greatly and then threw up my hands to do a jigsaw puzzle:

Adore my work. It only took me about four hours to finish this baby! When was the last time you had four hours to do a jigsaw puzzle? That's what I call a vacation. (Editor's Note:  Jade had to finish the puzzle for me. I couldn't do the sky. More humility for Jennifer. Thanks, God.)

Meanwhile, back at the creek:

 

Here's my kids freezing their "tah-tahs" off (I don't actually know what a "tah-tah" is). The picture is grainy because our camera doesn't do zoom very well. What this tells me is that my husband was about as far away from the ice cold water in this creek as he could get. He says no, but the picture tells the story, don't you think? Mmmm-hmmm.

 

I'm going to reserve comment on the cheesy, supermodel pose my four-year old is sporting here and talk about the fish on this van. The Robinsons have four kids; we have five. So I photo-shopped in an extra fish on the van for this picture. I just wanted to see if I could. And I did. Yeah, me.

 

OK, that's all I have to say about that day. I promise only a couple more posts and I'm done with the vacation. Next time, we'll go bungee jumping or skydiving or something. OK? Yes, fine then.