Orlando Florida Vacation 2008

We took our family vacation to Orldando, Florida.  We thought it was about time we did the Disney thing before our kids got too big!  Disneyworld was a bit of a disappointment but Universal Studios was a hit and so were the great beaches.  The first week we stayed at the Orange Lake Resort in Kissimmee and then we spent the rest of our time at the Hilton Seaworld Resort.  We did so many things while there that I'm having a hard time remembering it all!  We went to Clearwater Beach, Daytona Beach, Disneyworld MGM, Universal Studios, golfing, swimming,  putt putt golf, Disney Interactive, rented a boat on Orange Lake and relaxed at the pool and lazy river.  The only complaint was that it was so HOT and humid!  We are not conditioned for that kind of weather here in the northwest!  We had a great time and enjoyed the break from our busy lives.    Here are some photos of the trip.

Britton and Jordan being difficult about smiling for the camera (what's new)!  They say most of the photos I take are of Maddy.  Well, that is true because she is the only one that will actually let me take a photo of her and not be difficult.  The next photo I took after this one (I didn't post it) is of Jordan doing the same thing with his mouth as Britton is in this one and Britton laughing!  I can't win!

Maddy, Craig, and Cameron in the pool at the Hilton.  Cool waterfall!

Miss Maddy swimming.  

Britton and Jordan at Dayton Beach on the 4th of July.  There were races going on at the Daytona Speedway and they wanted so badly to get tickets and go in.  We weren't feeling that spontaneous though and all they got to do was hear the race cars from the outside!

Cameron and Maddy playing in the sand at Daytona Beach.

Maddy and her Daddy at the Hard Rock Cafe, Orlando.  Biggest Hard Rock in the world!  It was huge!  We were so tired after our long day at Universal Studios.

Craig and Jordan having a father-son moment.  I know Jordan loved getting a big kiss from Dad!

Maddy at the kids play area at Universal Studios.

Family photo outside Disneyworld MGM/Hollywood.  It was so hot and humid.  The lines were so long!  I guess I should have taken an after photo because not long after this we were wondering why we had spent the money on Disneyworld!  The stunt show was pretty cool so I guess that made up for some of it but poor Maddy was close to heat exhaustion.  She doesn't do well in the heat!  We had a great time as a family and are bummed we have to come home and go back to real life.

Maddy went to Grandma and Grandpa Benson's house to play with her little cousin Clara.  Grandpa B got some cute photos of them together!

Rainbow House of Hope/Uganda

I am so excited for this new post!  One of the places we spent lots of time at in Uganda was the Rainbow House of Hope in Kampala.  It helps orphaned and disadvantaged children.  One of the kids we met was a ten year old girl named Angela.  She was orphaned when her parents died of AIDS.  Each day we went there, I was drawn to her.  I didn't know at first that she was HIV positive but when I found out that she was, I knew that I could do something to help her.  One of the directors was this young guy named Timothy.  I loved him the minute I met him.  You just knew that he was someone special as soon as he spoke.  He takes care of all these abandoned, disadvantaged kids.  He makes sure the kids have food, medicine, clothing and whatever they need.  He runs the programs that they have in place and sleeps there with the kids that have no where else to go.  He teaches the kids how to play the trumpet and has a brass band that played for us each time we came to visit.

I spent some special time with little Angela where I learned more about her.  Each day we went there, she had the same dress on and it was pretty ragged.  I asked Timothy what she needed and he said money for food and medicine would be much appreciated.  I gave him $200 and told him to go and buy her some new clothes and shoes and get her whatever she needed.  He also said that there were some others who needed clothes as well so I told him to use the money to get whatever he needed for these kids.

When he told Angela that I had given him some money for new clothes, she dropped to her knees and kissed my hands and said thank you over and over again. It was very heart wrenching and made me cry!

Here is a photo of my sweet Angela in her ragged yellow dress.  I showed her and her cousin how to color and she made me a picture to bring home to my family.

I was so excited when I opened my email today and Timothy had sent me a photo of the kids he helped with the money I gave him dressed in their new clothes.  I was so happy to see them with their big smiles and new, clean clothes on!  The other kids are cousins of Angela's.  Angela is the girl on the right standing in front of the RHH.

Jordan wins Wrestler of the Year

Jordan's 8th grade wrestling season turned out to be a successful one.  He started wrestling last year in the 7th grade and showed great promise. He found something that he's really good at and has become quite passionate about it.  He was 11-2 for wins/losses and won the district tournament for the 108 weight class.  At the wrestling banquet, he won Wrestler of the Year as well as the Most Promising award.  He also was chosen as by his coach for the Coaches Award but the coaches figured they better give that to someone else since he had won so many awards.  He was pretty excited. He worked so hard and gives it his all so it's so great to see him rewarded for his hard work and commitment.  Way to go Jordan!

Poor Maddy!

Yesterday my sweet Mom called and asked if she could take Maddy and Cameron to Dumas Bay for the afternoon and then do a sleepover with her and grandpa.  Of course, I was game for a little break from having all four kids out of school so I met her and handed off the kids to her.  They headed down to Dumas Bay in Tacoma for the low tide and were having a great time until Maddy slipped on a big rock and cut her leg open.   My Dad called and said they thought she needed stitches so I drove towards Covington and met them there so I could take her to the Dr.  Well, sure enough, she needed stitches.  I felt so bad for her!  She SCREAMED so loud when they gave her four shots to get her numb.  When they were putting the last stitch in, she screamed again as that part of her leg wasn't numb.  I about passed out. I'm very squeamish and should not have looked down as they were pulling the needle hook thing thru her leg.  Uugh.  It was not fun.  I'm not good at this kind of stuff.  Craig is so much better in this department.  He came to the urgent care but he had to leave to go coach my soccer practice for me since Maddy wanted her Mama!!  She's doing better today and I hope she doesn't have too big of a scar.  Poor baby!

Stephanie & Mike

Here we are at the M's game with my good friend Stephanie and her new hubby Mike!  She got married a few weeks ago in Hawaii.  I'm so happy for her and Mike!  She's been thru a lot in the past 4 years and so I'm glad as can be that she has found someone so great to share her life with!  I told Mike that I love him almost as much as she does because he treats her so great!!  Congrats to them and I wish them all the happiness in the world!!!   Aren't they so cute??

Living Room Furniture VS. UFC Fighting

If someone had told me 20 years ago that I would have three boys, I would have laughed at them.  I always thought I'd end up with a herd of girls, not a herd of boys and only one precious girl!  Then, if they had told me that my boys would be into UFC fighting (I still don't know what UFC stands for!) I would have really laughed!  Then, if they then had said that instead of taking the money I had set aside for new living room furniture, that I would take it and allow it to be spent on plane tickets to Sacramento, a rental car, hotel rooms, and tickets to a UFC fight, I would have told them they were smoking something!

Well, that is exactly what happened and I'm not sure how I got blind sided by the boys.  Must have knocked me out in the third round of discussions regarding this subject and then somehow talked their (dumb) father into it!

Jordan, my 14 year old and second boy started wrestling last year and did quite well.  Being that I'm a "real" soccer mom (meaning I play and coach, not just drive my kids to soccer practice!) I didn't know anything about wrestling except that I thought it was a little on the gross side.  The sight of a bunch of guys wrestling around in those retarded outfits (I guess they are called singlets?)was never something that I wanted to be into. Well, leave it to kids to get you into something you detested as a cheerleader.....(roll them over- lay them flat, pin their shoulders to the mat.....Jr. year HS cheerleader.....oooh the memories....YUK!).  Okay, so on with the story.....Jordan's wrestling coach is the brother of a world famous UFC fighter Jens Pulver.  Mr. Pulver, the coach told Jordan he ought to get his Dad to take him to the fight in Sacramento.  Jordan lives and breathes Mr. Pulver (Mr. Pulver this, Mr. Pulver that.....)and his brother Jens.  Just so you know how bad it is, my DVR is filled with endless UFC fights, the background on my blackberry has a picture of Jens Pulver on it (he got ahold of it during sacrament meeting and downloaded a photo of Jens and now it's on there.....didn't even know you could do that so how can I get it off!)  He has t-shirts that he's ordered off the internet and now he not only thinks he's going to be the next world champion UFC fighter, but he also wants to take up Jujitsu and Boxing since they are part of the fighting along with wrestling.

So, off the boys went to Sacramento with my furniture money and they had the time of their life.  It ended up to be a great weekend.  Craig, who never imagined himself getting into this sort of thing actually had a great time.  Because Mr. Pulver was there, the boys got to "hang" with Jens and his group.  They had dinner with them at a Thai restaurant (oh yeah, Mr. Picky won't eat fruits or vegetables Jordan, ate thai food and now he pesters me everyday to go out for thai food since Jens and Mr. Pulver eat it??)  They got to meet the other fighters and me and the little ones watched the fight at home "live" hoping to see them in the crowd on TV.  

Craig said that he thought he'd go to the fight and be disappointed with the type of atmosphere it was but was pleasantly surprised.  The Pulvers were very gracious to the boys and treated them like gold.  They were part of the Pulver team.  They even posted a photo of Jordan and the Pulvers on some UFC website!  These Pulver guys grew up in an incredibly difficult situation and they are now role models to lots of people and bring class to a sport that is coming into it's own.  I still don't want Jordan to be a UFC fighter as I don't think I could stand to see him get beat up (he said he would win every fight....so much confidence!)  but I guess I'm glad he's got a great teacher and coach with Mr. Pulver and that he, Craig and Brit got to have a fun weekend together rooting Jens Pulver and his team on.......with my furniture money.........