Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Last chance Florida activities

We had a great last full day in the Cape Canaveral area. 1st stop was Kennedy Space Center to hear from the astronaut of the week at Astronaut Encounter. After some final shopping in the Space Shop we went up to Titusville and had lunch at the World Famous Dixie Crossroads. (Check out their recipes.) I had some delicious Indian River mullet, like I had seen jumping out of the river on my kayak trip, and Rock shrimp. We felt like we were having desert before (and after) the meal when they brought out their 'bread.' It was really the delicious Dixie Crossroads Corn Fritters. When we left they gave us each a small container of fish food. We stood out on the bridge and were amazed at the number of fish and turtles in their pond who loved going after the food.












Then we did our last visit to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to watch the 20 minute introductory video, walk the little trail again and get some things at the gift shop. The kids got to pet a live snake, wash their hands, and the park ranger also gave them some activity books.









Our last stop was the Astronaut Hall of Fame to check out the exhibits and ride the simulators and play the games one last time.





We beat the storm home, but didn't have too much time on the beach before the clouds become too threatening. Over 4000 lightning strikes in less then an hour is pretty impressive to me.

On the way out of Florida we stopped by Lego Imagination Center. This Lego store has more pieces and sets then any other. The kids enjoyed the play/build area. Elizabeth used pieces to tell the 3 Little Pigs story. A great feature about this Lego store is that you can build your own mini Lego person: three for $10. It included head, torso, legs (with springs - something I had never seen), hair/hat and an accessory. Our accessories include things like a veterinarian bag, small green frog, flaming thing, etc. While driving home after leaving Lego World there was an unusual request from the youngsters in the back to turn off the music. They were using their Lego people to play and tell stories.












Here is a link to an interesting connection between building with Legos and and the Kennedy Space Center.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Florida Lord's Day #1

This morning we drove to Orlando for church. We enjoyed singing Psalms and celebrating the Lord's Supper with that like-minded congregation. The sermon was titled "Exam Time." As we examined the 1 Corinthians 11 passage and considered our communion with Christ through this sacrament, I also thought about how our communion is with more than just the people in that building, but with millions of other believers throughout the world today and with untold numbers of those who trust in Christ alone throughout all generations.

You may recall the Country Inn library story. Today, after the service we discovered an even better library in their church basement. Since we plan on coming back for a few more weeks, we were able to check out some books and a video, "Treasures in the Snow" based on the book by Patricia St. John. With this reading material, it made the hour commute back to Cape Canaveral even more delightful. Although, all but perhaps two of our children, used that travel time for a Lord's Day nap. When we arrived back "home" we enjoyed a nice warmed up freezer-cooked meal. (Monica didn't really cook it in the freezer. What she really did was cooked most of our meals for this month before we left. Then she froze them. No freezer burning.)

We are looking forward to next week. After the service in Orlando this morning, a nice lady talked to my wife about scheduling us to come over for lunch after service next Sunday. This will make it feasible to stick around for the evening service and fellowship.

So after cleaning up the paper plates from lunch we watched that video. Then it was time to dig into those books we borrowed. We also got to stay connected with our congregation at home by listening to SermonAudio.

My oldest daughter, with the help of some of the others and Monica, made some homemade pizza before we went for a nice Lord's Day walk. We started out by traveling a couple blocks West, then two blocks North, were we found this sign.
Then we went East, and finished the loop by walking along the beach as we delighted ourselves in the Lord.

Isaiah 58:13-14
"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the LORD,








and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.