Sea World in Orlando, FL

On Saturday, August 17th, Stephen and I went to Sea World in Orlando. On this trip, my sister, Ronda, and my sweet niece, Madeline got to with us! We has so much fun, even though it rained on us and was very humid. We got to see Turtles, Stingray, Penguins, Sea Otters, Dolphins, Sharks, and Manatee. Stephen and Madeline were able to touch the Stingray! Below is a slide show of the animal pictures from Sea World.

While at the Penguin encounter, Madeline wanted to show all how Penguins walked. It was so precious!


Due to Ronda being pregnant, she was not able ride with Madeline on the rides at Shamu's Happy Hour. Therefore, next in line was Aunt AE! We rode the Shamu Express (a pretty rapid roller coaster for a 3.5 year old). As soon as I sat Madeline in the seat and got her lab bar down and locked, she raised her hands high in the air and yelled "Go Shamu Go!" I was laughing from the get go with her on this ride. To my surprise, she kept her hands straight up in the air through out the entire ride and was also laughing! After the Shamu express, we rode the Jazzy Jellies. This ride lifted us straight up in the air in a "egg" and spun around the middle pole. And of course, she kept tell Aunt AE to spin it faster! The last ride that we rode was The Flying Fiddler or as Madeline called it, the Crab ride. This was a giant, bright red fiddler crab that took us 20 feet up in the air. It then begins to jump in a vertical descent in a quick series of short drops. During each drop, she just giggled! Riding these rides with Madeline was so much fun and I know that I have made my other sisters, mom, & dad very jealous of having shared such an experience with Madeline! Sorry Family! Below are the pictures of Madeline and me on the rides at Sea World.

Busch Gardens Africa in Tampa Bay, FL

Stephen and I went to Busch Gardens Africa today while we were staying with my sister in Rockledge, FL. Rockledge is about bout 45 mins southeast of Orlando. (We came to visit Ronda and my niece, Madeline, for our anniversary). Stephen decided that we would go to Busch Gardens because of the animals at the amusement park. He said what better combination: Safari animals, roller coasters, and water rides! But, little did we know when we set out for Busch Gardens that Tampa Bay was 2 hours from Ronda's house. But, at this point, we had already purchased the tickets online so we buckled our seat belts and told "Lucy" (the Garmin) to get us to Busch Gardens.

While at Busch Gardens, we took a train ride through a scenic habitat of hippos, hyenas, meerkats, vultures, a Nile crocodile, giraffes and oh such much more. We also walked through the Jungla where we saw Monkeys and Tigers - Oh My! Below are some of the pictures of these animals.

We rode the Montu - one of the tallest and longest inverted roller coasters in the world. It had the thrill of an inverse diving loop and a 60-foot vertical loop while we were enduring speeds of over 60 miles per hour and a G-force of 3.85. Wow what a ride! We also rode the SheiKra and the Kumba. The SheiKa is a one-of-a-kind experience: 200 feet up, 90 degrees straight down, traveling at 70 mph! It has a true 90-degree drop, an Immelmann loop and a second vertical dive into an underground tunnel. Oh, and did I mention that it was floorless? Kumba has an initial 135 foot drop, plunges from 110 feet into a diving loop, spirals 360 degrees, and also has a vertical loop.

We encountered the swift-flowing white water of the Congo River Rapids. And, of course, our side (me and Stephen) spinned through a geyser and face an ominous waterfall. So, as you can see from the pic below, I was not a happy camper and I did not like Stephen at this point! This was the only reason that I did not want to ride this ride.

But, besides being soaked on the Congo ride, we had a great trip. It was fun and a great adventure with Stephen! Tomorrow, we are going to SeaWorld..... I'll keep ya'll posted (hehe) on how that adventure turns out for us!

My Silly Niece and Nephews!!!

Below are video clips that a some girls record of my niece and nephews this summer. These 2 girls were staying with Kristin and Ken this summer in efforts to help Kristin out with them. As you can tell from the clips below, they had their hand fulls!

Joshua with Daddy's guitar and cackling!


Weird mask that Elizabeth got for her birthday!


Joshua and his monkey bread with his broke arm! Sugar makes him very hyper!!!


Story time with Elizabeth and Corban. Be prepared - you never know what is coming out of their mouths!!!

Happy Anniversary Baby!

Well Baby, we have made 3 years and they have been wonderful! Over the past 3 years, I have learned what love really is and each day, I love you more and more. I have learned that Love is not always easy, but that it is AWLAYS worth it when it comes to loving you. The Lord could not have blessed me anymore by putting you in my life.

Looking at the past 3 years, I could not have asked for a better adventure. And I do mean an adventure. Each day with you is a new adventure and I never know what that adventure is going to be :) But this is one of the many things that I love about you. I love the fact that you can make me laugh and you always know excatly what to say when I am down and out. I love that you keep me on track and focuses on the important things in life. These only begins to scratch the surface for why I love you.

I love you baby and I do thank the Lord daily for placing you in my life. Thank you for being the leader of our relationship and family. You have kept us grounded in our Faith and I have truly loved serving the Lord with you over the past 3 years. But, I do know that this is only the beginning of a wonderful lifetime together. And I am looking forward to each hour of the lifetime ahead of us! I love you Stephen!

Love,
Ollie

Oh, yeah - Thanks for watching the Olympics with me every night and all afternoon when we are at home! That reallys means alot to me!

PaNaMa CiTy BeAcH '08 with Calvary Youth

Well friends, we have survied another youth trip! This past week, we took 8 youth from Calvary to PCB for the week. Lucky for us, we surived this trip to the beach with zero pending lawsuits and no one from our group having to be rescured from the ocean! So, as most of you know, that is an improvement from our last 2 trips to the beach.

With this trip, we took 3 8th grade girls, 2 8th grade boys, 1 9th grade girl, and 2 9th grade boys. Stephen and I chaperoned while Nick Mobley lead the sessions. Nick brought along his wife Courtney and their 2 year old son Samuel.

All was going well on the drive down to the beach until about Montgomery, AL. This is when Nick and Courtney began having issues with their van. So, we pulled into Stephen's Garage in Lurverne, AL and let the mechanics take a look at it. They determine that it was an issue with the thermostat and therfore decided to replaced it. Below are pics of the girls trying to pass the time on the van while waiting on Nick's to get fixed and pics from the Park where we spent time while waiting on the van. Look close and you can see Breanna laying under one of the seats - Yes, laying under a seat and not between two seats! The perks of being little!

Fun Fun in the Sun Sun @ PCB

We stayed at Laguna Beach Christian Retreat, in the Levi House.


During the week, Nick talked to kids about the single most important relationsip in our lives: Me and G-O-D. He did a really great job and I actually saw the kids paying attention! The kids would actually respond to questions that he would ask them during the sessions and outstide of the sessions! That is a huge improvement for our kids :)

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we took the kids to the beach in the AM. The water was rough both days and on Tuesday, they put up a double red flag. This meant they could only enter the water ankle to right below the knees deep. During the afternoons, the girls went to enjoy the sun at the pool with the boys stayed inside playing XBox 360! Even though no one had to be rescued from the ocean, we did have one girl that was attacked by a jelly fish. But fear not, Luke was able to capture one of the many jelly fish around. This jelly fish did not make it back into the ocean - it was chunck'd (like my spelling, huh?) over the fence of the Levi house to behind one of the other dorms! Poor Luke - he was trying to do a good thing and did not relize that was one of the dorms that belonged to Laguna Beach. Below are pics from the beach and pool...

One Tuesday night, we took the kids to ride go-carts. But as you can see from the pics below, only the boys plus Stephen and Nick enjoyed the gocart riding. The girls were to busy playing around in the arcade and in the photo booth! I love my girls - they are such a mess!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Putt Putt Golf, Zero Pending Lawsuits, and Only 1 Injury :)

On Wednesday night, we took the kids to play Putt-Putt golf. Yes, we did play 18 holes without any pending lawsuits! But, we did still have one injury - one of the girls forgot about the rule of NO RUNNING! She was running back up to the top of hole 17th (from fetching her ball off of hole 18th where it some how landed when she was on hole 17) when she tripped over the hole for the 17th hole. She landed flat on her face - I was really expecting a bleeding nose if not a broken one. But, luckily she only hurt her ring and middle fingers on here right hand right at the fingernails.

My Hubby and Our Crazy Kids @ PCB '08

But, the true entertainment for the week was from our new friend, Samuel Mobley! The kids were great with him and truly enjoyed hanging out with him. They played chase, toot toot tain (choo choo train), Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Soccer, etc. Samuel was such a good kid, then entire week! Stephen even told Nick and Courtney that if their next one turned out like Samuel, that we were taking him! He is all about taking the good kids :) Below are random pictures of the many adventures with our Samuel, pictures of the girls being crazy, and Stephen beating up on the kids!



As you can tell, we did enjoy our tip to PCB but I am thankful for us returning on Friday! I have been competely lazy today! We slept till 11 am this morning and I have only gotten off the couch to cook a pizza for lunch, to wash cloths, and then to fold them! It was a nice vacation from work but it never fails that now I need a vacation to recover from the vacation!