Photographs of Relaxation

We are camping and it’s such a chill trip. The weather has been warm, but really perfect. The bugs have been few. The kids are having a blast. My husband has been able to fish and catch a lot. I’ve been blessed with friend chats, awesome walks and time to think.
Here are some photos (below) I’ve taken this far. We still have two more days to be here.

Galveston

Here in Galveston, TX. I LOVE THE WATER…I love the sound of the waves. I do not like sea weed that takes over the beach like Hitler and smells like rotten tuna sitting in a hot car on the 4th of July.
Here’s the view…

Random Sky

Pictures of the awesome sky today…

I call this one MEET AT THE POLE:

Here’s a vintage look:

Some other great shots:

And here’s the sun!

On the road…

We seemed to be on the road A LOT today, but we are here for the STATE VASE (visual arts scholastic event) competition. We find out tomorrow if our student made the gold seal show. It’s going to be a long day, but it really is worth it all. Here’s our pic from what seemed like the ENDLESS road today…

Collages from the Day

Took lots of pictures today. Below are collages of some of them. I love spring break. It’s a time to just do whatever makes you smile and don’t think about what you have to do next week!

SKIPPED YESTERDAY! (1 OF 2 for Today)

After traveling and playing and somehow hanging on to a chest cold, when we came home from our little weekend trip, I went to bed.  Therefore, no blog entry for yesterday.  So, here is the first of two for today.  Yay!

We had a great weekend just hanging out a little in Dallas. There was no agenda or list of to do’s—we just did whatever. The main thing the kids love to do is be in the pool. I remember this growing up and I still enjoy it myself. My husband and children, I think, decided that next year, we are getting a pool. ha! Anyway, I’m going to include some pictures of where we stayed below. We were downtown Dallas at the Omni Hotel and Restort, stayed on the 23rd floor–the views were beautiful.

The views at night from the hotel window were so … (you decide)

The pool was on the fourth floor.  We hung out in the mornings,

because from about 11:00am on, it was mostly packed with patrons of the bar.  (Some in SPEEDOS!)

Love seeing my kids have fun.  Here they are in their fave chair from our room…

AWESOMENESS

Awesome people are so awesome! They are happy and smiley and NICE. Nice is so important. Is it really hard to be nice? I mean, I know we all have those days where we are just tired and worn out, but is a SMILE so hard to muster? I think NOT! You can always smile –at the very least. Just think of a happy thought and BAM–THERE COMES A SMILE! Simple, right?

I had the opportunity to come in contact with A TON of people this last week. From the airport, to the resort and on to the many different locations we ended up going, PEOPLE WERE EVERYWHERE! Literally, no where I looked was there an empty space which did not contain another human, well, besides the bathroom stall, I guess. SOOO MANY PEOPLE! And I’m gonna let ya know—some were not so nice or happy or even the least bit content with their current situation. I prayed for one in particular that had what seemed to be a permanent scowl on his face. I admit, I do not know what was going on in his life and totally uncertain of the reason for his discontent, but I did and do know prayer can’t hurt it! So, there, in the airport, I prayed for this man. I prayed that something would make him happy. I am sure God did something for him. Who knows if he recognized it as such, but I know it happened, because my GOD is a mighty God and He makes things happen!

God especially makes AWESOME PEOPLE AWESOME…He put in our path so many people who were glad to help us and guide us and make us feel comfortable. He sent nice people who weren’t afraid to share their space or moment in life with us. Brief moments of pleasant conversation or even just a smiley face sprinkled our trip. I caught myself thanking God many times for those moments.

I even verbally thanked a few of our new brief moment friends for being so nice. One man even said, “Oh, I try my best to do just that.” How AWESOME?!?!! That right there is the AWESOMENESS I’m talking about.

We should all do our best to be awesome. It really isn’t a huge task. We just have to remember to keep things in perspective. An attitude of gratitude is important, and most of all, with the grace and the salvation we receive from GOD, being awesome isn’t hard at all! Don’t just think of a happy thought to make yourself smile like I said above, think BIGGER—> ALWAYS keep in mind —He allows us a daily DO-OVER (wipe away the past), the gift of every day (right down to the air we breathe), salvation from anything that has ever held us down (AMEN!) and the constant knowing that He has us in the palm of His hand (CUZ ONLY HE IS IN CONTROL). If we can only do this, life isn’t hard to keep in perspective and we can find it easy to be AWESOME.

Below, I’m sharing the front of a thank you card we received in the mail this week. It made me smile HUGE and reminded me that we should all thank those who have that AWESOMENESS more often, but most of all, thank GOD for putting them right where you need them.

Pool Memories

There’s something about a pool that brings back years of memories.

I recall being excited about going on a trip only because we got to go swimming! The swim suit was the first thing I packed.

When we got to whatever the planned destination was, the pool questions started. “When do we get to go to the pool!?!” I didn’t care about the actual vacay itinerary–I cared about THE POOL.

SO, here we are at Disney World where there are seriously a million different rides, events, shows, restaurants and attraction—my kids are loving it all, but I think they most enjoy this pool we are sitting in front of right now.

Ha! I know the feeling. I remember the feeling. Even the smell of the chlorine makes my face happy, my mind go back and my body even feels a bit of the refreshing part a dip in the pool gives ya.

We are having much more fun than just hanging at the pool this trip, but just wanted to share the pool memories.

Remember the Alamo!

Do you see me???

REMEMBER THE ALAMO!

Girrrrl Time!!!

My daughter and I get to have a weekend together. I’m not sure this has ever happened. We got to spend a whole 6 hours in a car together today. It was great actually since usually she is not much of a rider. She usually asks about 100 times if we are there yet. That did not happen today. BIG SMILE! Thank You Lord! Yes, I give HIM the credit! It was, I believe, a total DIVINE intervention! Amen.