We're back!

Wow, June has been a busy month! We were gone for 15 days out of the 30....and the other 15 was spent getting ready to go or recuperating from going. =) We had an AWESOME mission trip to South Dakota! I'm so thankful that we had the opportunity go. The trip went extremely well and God really worked in the life of each team member. But before I share all the details from that, I have to tell you about our vacation. (Hopefully I'll have some pictures to show you soon. Blogger is being crazy and won't let me upload pictures...I've been trying for several days!)

On Saturday evening we drove up to Virginia and stopped in Roanoke. We had told our friend Pastor Mark Manning that we would be coming through so he asked if Steven could teach Sunday School and help out with the singing on Sunday. Bro. Manning was extremely generous to us and even offered to put us up in a hotel on Saturday night so we didn't have to leave so early Sunday morning. The church there was so kind and friendly and we really enjoyed being with them. After the morning service the Mannings invited us to eat with them and another family at a Chinese restaurant. We just had a blast! There were several little girls so Lydia really enjoyed herself too. And to top it all off, they gave us a very generous love offering check just for teaching Sunday School. They were just so encouraging to us!

After lunch on Sunday we hopped back in the van and headed up to the Massanutten Resort in McGhayesville, Virginia. Want to know an interesting fact? McGhayesville is not pronounced like it seems. It pronounced "McKackeysville." During the Civil War, the pronunciation was changed to "McKackeysville" so they would know if somebody was a spy. Pretty nifty, huh?

The Massanutten Resort was very nice and it had everything you could possible want to do. There was an indoor/outdoor waterpark, several pools, playgrounds, golf, miniature golf, skate park, family fun park, go karts, arcade, restaurants, movie theatre, stores, tennis, volleyball, fishing....you name it, they had it! Yet, it was very secluded and you felt like you were just hiding away in the mountains. We saw deer all the time!

There was an indoor pool near our condo, just a little ways down the mountain. It was a really nice Olympic sized one that had a kiddie pool as well. We always went as soon as the pool opened every morning because not a soul would be there except for the life guards! And then if by chance somebody did come, it was a grandma or grandpa who had more sense than to be walking around half naked. Lydia and Caleb loved the pool so we went everyday.

On Thursday night we decided to eat out because our anniversary was that week. We went to a Japanese Hibachi grill restaurant where they cook in front of you. Lydia and Caleb thought it was so cool! The chef was so crazy and made it a lot of fun. Our favorite thing was when he made a volcano out of an onion and the flames shot waaaay up high. Oh my goodness, we got the biggest kick out of our kids and the chopsticks that the waitress brought to them. Lydia just couldn't get the name right, she kept calling them "porkchops" and Caleb kept calling them "Chapsticks." They were hilarious! Then when we got home they were turning on lights with their "porkchops" and just doing everything they could with them. One time I heard Lydia saying, "Caleb, just hold still!" And he's saying "No Wydia...weave me awone!" and when I walked in I saw Lydia with a chunk of Caleb's hair and she was pretending to cut it with her "porkchops." Too funny!!

On Friday morning we had to take the dreaded timeshare tour. Actually we didn't have to, but they said they'd give us $100 if we did. It was hilarious because we rode around for 3 HOURS looking at this place. And then the salesman sat there and basically tried to tell us for an hour that we could afford to buy a time share even when we kept telling him we couldn't. So that was even more hilarious. Lydia and Caleb were so good the whole time but by the end they were starting to lose it. Then this man who was a manager came over to try to convince us and he took Lydia's water away from her. Can we say "meltdown?" Thankfully it was a minor meltdown and the torture was soon over. Hey, I suppose the 4 hours of torture was worth the $100 in our tire fund! =)

I don't know about your family, but when we are on vacation we just like to relax. Or as Lydia says (she picked it up from Brian in our youth group), "Chillax peeps." =) Pretty much all we did was go to the pool, play games with Lydia and Caleb, go to the park (which was also at the resort), and just hang out. It really was so nice to just to be together. You don't have to spend a bunch of money to have a good vacation. Just sit on the floor, talk and be a little crazy and you'll be surprised at how those are the best memories you'll ever have as a family. =)