I thought I'd try posting a picture from within the Picasa photo editing program. I really like the program but I don't like how it compresses the images way too much.

Reminiscing

I was thinking today that it's been about a year ago today that our house was about to sell. I don't recall the exact date that someone put a contract on it but I do know that we closed on June 13th. We must be pretty close to the year anniversary by now.

I'm just amazed at how fast time goes by. I'm also amazed by how awesome God is. He worked out something that I was really afraid would not work out. By now I should know to trust him and not worry.

The main reason I was writing today was because I was going through some pictures on my flickr site that didn't have tags and I ran across some that I took of our yard sale last year. I remember it being really hot last year when we moved. Miserably hot.

It's kind of bittersweet looking at those pictures of our house. On the one hand, I'm super happy that we were able to sell our house and move when we really needed to. On the other hand, I really miss our house. These apartments are great but I really do miss our house.

Who knows what the future holds? So many things in my life I've wished could've worked out differently only to see later that if I had gotten my way, things would probably have been a disaster. Again, I'm glad God's in control, not me.

Well, today is Mother's Day. I hope all you mothers out there have an awesome day. We got to spend a lot of time with Mom and Dad yesterday which was great. They are truly fun people to be around.

I'll post more later. Right now, Sophie is in my lap and it is very difficult to type.

Later!

Just a Test

I'm just testing how photobucket might work out for me. I'll only be using it for ebay stuff so I'm just trying to find out how it's going to work. I could use flickr for that but I'm really not supposed to. They could technically delete my account if I got caught using flickr for selling stuff.

Anyway, here's the test.



I guess I'll work on how to get a slightly smaller image size.

Oh well!

Just a Picture From Disney World

Just thought I should post a picture of us from our trip to Disney World. We had this picture taken by one of the Disney "cast members" as we were making our way deeper into the belly of the Magic Kingdom. I kind of wish the sky wasn't so washed out in this picture but, overall, I'm happy with it.

The Disney Journal That Never Was

While we were staying at Disney, I decided to write down what we did for a couple of days. I almost made an effort to post this while on vacation but, I just was unwilling this time to pay for the internet connection at the hotel.

Anyway, here's what I typed up while sitting in our All Star Movies Hotel room.

Tuesday, March 31^st, 2009, Disney World Day Four

We spent our day yesterday at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park and had a great day. About half way through the day, we decided to come back to the hotel room so the kids could play in the pool and we could get some laundry done.

Anyway, at the park we rode the Tower of Terror, Star Tours, and the Great Movie Ride. We were able to get Caleb to ride the Tower of Terror and he liked it. He even rode it again with Joy when she was doing the “ride swap” with me. Later, he told me that he took the Tower of Terror off of his “favorites list”. I didn't even know he had a list going!

In the evening we rode Star Tours and, once again, Caleb started to get upset and say that didn't want to ride it just before we were actually boarding the ride. I felt like a mean dad making my son ride and strap in while he was fighting back tears.

Riding the Great Movie Ride was an experience. One that we may not have to repeat again. There was nothing really bad about the ride, it's just that it's kind of... boring. I mean the environments that you ride through look very nice but I'm afraid some of the older movies are beginning to go over the heads of some of the younger visitors to Disney World. I'm not saying they need to update the ride but maybe a little “enhancement” wouldn't hurt. They've obviously already “enhanced” the movie that you watch while waiting in line. It now includes scenes from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Our plan for today was to go back to Hollywood Studios but since there is a greater chance for rain later this week, we have decided to go to the Magic Kingdom today. The Saturday visit to the Magic Kingdom was just a quick visit. This time I think we'll try to hang out a little more.

I'm personally looking forward to tomorrow when we go to the Animal Kingdom which is my favorite park.

Well, it's about 10:00am and we are getting ready to head downstairs to have a little breakfast. Can't wait to blow some more cash on eating. Ha ha.

More updates later.

Yesterday, we spent the day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. We really enjoyed ourselves. Although, I really forgot just how big the park is. In other words, there is whole lot of walking involved.

Our first ride of the day was Kilamanjaro Safaris which is basically a cool zoo tour with a little bit of a story about poachers involved. Excellent ride. Two years ago when we came, we loved it and it is still a very cool experience to ride in an open air vehicle right beside animals like giraffes and other African animals.

After the safari ride, we made our way over to the Bug's Life 4-D show, “It's Tough to be a Bug”. It was pretty fun but I got a little ripped off. I mean the only “4-D” experience about it was when I was sprayed with water and some short air blasts. There's a scene where a stinkbug comes out and sprays the audience but I didn't see what the big deal was; I didn't even smell anything. Does that say something about me? I don't think so. I just think the seat I had was a little messed up. At the end of the show, your seat is supposed to buzz or vibrate so as to simulate lots of bugs crawling under you but, I didn't feel anything. I mean, I heard lots of other people laughing and screaming but I felt nothing. Joy said she felt it, too. Oh well.

After the Bug's Life thing, we headed over to the Asia area of the park to ride Expedition Everest. We did the “rider swap” deal so Joy could ride after I rode with the kids. I have to mention that waiting in line for Everest and the safari ride was pretty cool. They have so much presumably authentic stuff to look at while you're waiting that the wait goes by really fast. It's almost like visiting a mini exhibit.

Anyway, while we were waiting an announcement came over that the ride might close if the thunderstorm that was looming in the distance hit us. Fortunately for us, they didn't close the ride before we got on. Unfortunately for us, it started to rain as we rode. It didn't just feel like rain though. I'm not sure how fast the roller coaster goes but I do know that it felt like little pebbles shooting me in the face. It stung. After we rode, they closed the ride. After about an hour or so, Joy was able to ride.

After all this, we went to the Dinorama area and rode a triceratops ride. The Dinorama area is like a carnival area with all the typical games and short rides. After that little ride, we ended up going on the Pangani Forest walk and then Camp Minnie Mickey.

The forest walk was very cool. There was a little viewing area connected to the pool where the hippos are. We came in at just the right time to see a hippo swim right by the window. Twice. I was able to get two pictures of its rear end. Oh well.

No, we didn't do too much at the Animal Kingdom. But it was still very cool. In my opinion, the Animal Kingdom is more of an atmospheric experience. So, with that said, I guess it is an actual “theme” park.

Today, Thursday, April 2^nd, is our last full day. Right now, I have some clothes in the laundry room. After we eat breakfast and get our clothes, we're probably going to go to Downtown Disney and possibly the Magic Kingdom.

Hopefully, I'll update later. Probably after we return home.