Stinson Vacation 2010: Part 2

So much to tell, but oh so sleepy. What a day!



Disney's All Star Sports Resort



We arrived at the Disney All Star Sports complex this morning, got our tickets, then headed into the park. The boys were so excited. As soon as they saw the Disney signage, they began to light up.





Gavin & Ethan, at the Disney All Star Sports Resort. 



Today was Animal Kingdom day. We saw tons of cool things and rode some great rides.



Kristi & Ethan on the bus en route to Animal Kingdom.



The first thing we did once in the park was rent a double stroller. It costs a pretty penny for a 7 day rental, but very worth it. The only time I heard "Pick me up Daddy!" was while watching the parade.



Ethan and Gavin chillin'. While I strive to look as much like a tourist father as possible. At least I didn't have a fanny pack.



Here are just a few great moments from the day...

1 - From Gavin, while waiting to ride the Triceratop Twirl after realizing he could control how high it went."Daddy, we can make it go up up and away, and down down and away!"



Gavin waiting to ride the Triceratops Twirl.





2   - From Kristi, while discussing how weird it is that everyone just leaves their strollers, cameras, and other assorted stuff left unattended outside of rides. "It's not like someone's gonna steal it. You know everyone pays so much money to get in. You don't pay that kind of money to thieve."

3 - We did have a couple small meltdowns during the day. Gavin decided he didn't much like the Bug's life 4D movie "It's Tough To Be A Bug".  As soon as he saw the bad cricket, tears started to flow.



Gavin & Kristi with their 3D glasses being honorary bugs.







Ethan and a stranger digging for fossils in the boneyard.









Me & Kristi at Disney almost 13 years since we were last here on our honeymoon. I love this lady.





Those tears then reappeared a little bit later as we rode "Dinosaur". I thought everything was going to be ok because the ride malfunctioned half way through for us and stopped, so we were able to see how it was all fake, but Gavin didn't care. The dinosaurs freaked him out too much even if they were fake.  Ethan went back and rode it two more times.. I rode it once more. I guess I was a little scared too. =)

 

Me, Natalie, and Ethan ( They're almost hiding in the floor) on the "Dinosaur" ride, for the 3rd time.





4 -  We'd been noticing how Disney goes the extra mile with everything. Kristi even noticed that their random bathroom at Animal Kingdom had an attendant to help at the baby diaper changing station. She exclaimed as she exited said bathroom "If you have a good experience in the bathroom, you know it's gonna be a great trip!" Well said, Kristi.



 

You're not going to believe who rode this.



5 - One of the highlights of my day was riding Expedition Everest with Gavin. That's right. With Gavin. We were very careful not to call it a roller coaster. I just kept telling him it was a cool ride that was like a very fast train that goes up and down hills. He loves trains. He totally fell for it. He says it was his favorite ride, but he's not sure if he wants to ride it again. I was so proud of both him and Ethan for riding it so bravely.

Tomorrow takes us to Disney's Hollywood Studios. I'm looking forward to it!

Stinson Vacation 2010: Part 1

It's not about the destination. It's about the journey. No wait, this time it's totally about the destination.
We've been planning this trip for years, and it's finally here.
Today we began our Journey to Disney World in beautiful Orlando, FL.

We left our house at 7:05 am and arrived in Orlando at 7:45. Yep almost 13 hours.
To most folks this would have been a 10.5 hour drive, but with a 4 & 6 yr old, things never go as quickly as one might hope.

Here are just a few of the memorable moments from our day of travel...

1 - 1 hour break at a Ruby Tuesday's in North Florida to watch the first (and best) quarter of the Iron Bowl.



Gavin being very serious about watching Alabama football and enjoying his Ruby Tuiesday's Salad Bar (Ham and Cheese.)

 2 - Pointing out oddities along the road to the boys.  (tanks, helicopters, large chicken sculptures made of pans, etc.)
3 -  Stopping along the way to ship an item I'd sold on ebay and meeting the most talkative postal counter worker I've ever encountered.
4 - Seeing the billboard for the Sea World Christmas spectacular, because nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a killer whale jumping over a floating Christmas tree.

5 - And of course, an endless barage of questions like "How much longer Daddy?" My favorite such comment came from Gavin at approx 7:20 in Sumiton, AL. "I'm tired of riding in the car Daddy. How much longer?". We'd been in the car approx 15 minutes.

I'm sure I'll have plenty of tales this week.
On the agenda tomorrow... Disney's Animal Kingdom. We can hardly wait!

Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly

I was encouraged by this scripture today.
Maybe you will be too.

Micah 6:6-8
6 With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly,
and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:6-8

Sunday Setlist 09-26-10

From time to time I post our setlist from our church's Sunday AM worship service This entry is part of the Sunday Setlists over at TheWorshipCommunity.com. There you can check out what churches are doing all over the country. Here's what we did today in our AM service at Westwood Baptist Church in the Forestdale community of Birmingham, AL (With my notes).

Prelude: Standing On The Promises (BH#339)
Southern style – have fun with it.

Announcements – Shawn

Standing On The Promises
1st, 3rd, & Last  - Upbeat, Southern style
Why: I chose this one cause, it'd be a good upbeat horizontal song to start with, also the lyrics fo the 3rd verse (which we hardly sing) mention living by the Spirit's Sword. (The focus of today's message.)

Days Of Elijah
V1, C, V2, C2x, “Who was and who is” ending.
Why: Favorite from years ago that people still request from time to time.

Welcome / Fellowship - Bro. Steve

The Battle Belongs To the Lord
As Written / V1, C, V2, C, instrumental, C2x
Why: Yeah, this is an old Petra song from the mid 80's. As I feared, very few of us knew it. But I think some people responded well to the chorus even if the song was very different than our normal style. Fit perfectly with the message.
Indescribable (BH#50)
As Written / V1, C, V2, C, C, C
Why: This song was requested by one of our students a few weeks ago. Been on my mind ever since. We haven't done it in years. Might be time to put it back in the rotation more often.

Offertory Prayer

Choir Special: “For All You’ve Done” (Don Moen - Let Your Glory Fall)

Transitional Chorus: For All You’ve Done - Made a change from singing Indescribable again to the chorus of this spur of the moment. The chorus just seemed to fit well with what we were about to hear about being prepared for battle. Nice to know God is on our side and that "all things work together for our good."

Message: Steve - AM “Stand Strong: Use Your Sword” (Ephesians 6:10-20; 2 Timothy 3:10-17)
Awesome quote from the message: Spoken by Bro. Steve while holding a toy sword and talking about the sword of the spirit - "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Invitation: In Christ Alone (My Hope Is Found) (BH#506)
Closing Chorus: Days Of Elijah (MISC)

Overall, I thought we had a good service. Attendance was way down. I blame the rain.
How was your Sunday?

Effective Communication

I saw this recently on my way to work.

I couldn't help but wonder about the thought process that led to the decision to communicate with the city using this method.

I imagine the concerned citizens (I'm assuming that it took two inspired neighborhood watchmen to create this message)  had a discussion that went something like this….

Concerned Citizen #1: Man, I sure am tired of that crackhouse being in our neighborhood. I wonder if there's a good way I can let the city know how I feel. Maybe I should write them a letter?

Concerned Citizen #2:  Nah, that'd take too long. And besides, who wants to have to go to the trouble of finding paper and pen then spending almost .50 on a stamp. No way.

CC#1:  Maybe I should call them?

CC#2:  Nope. That would require looking up a phone number and pressing at least 7 buttons on your phone.

CC#1:  I know, how about a twitter or facebook message?

CC#2:  You're kidding, right?

CC#1:  I got it! You see that can of spray paint over there? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

CC#2:  Aw Yeah!!!

Maybe it didn't go like that. We'll never know.

That will be left up to our imagination. Much like the answer to these questions.

1.)    Did they not have enough spraypaint for punctuation?

2.)    Are they saying, "Hello City, This is a crackhouse. Please tear it down."? Or are they requesting for the city to tear down all crackhouses?

3.)    Why silver paint? Was it all they had? Is there another color that could have communicated their thought more clearly? Like Magenta?

4.)    Is the owner of that house upset by the commentary on his wall?

5.)    Is this the beginning of a new way to communicate with city leadership? Will we see more messages to the city in the coming weeks?

If you had a can of spray paint, what would you tell the city today?