Travel & Vacation: Riding Around Disney on Buses, Monorails, and Boats (Orlando, FL)
Relaxing on the monorail
While at Disney we spent time riding around on the various transportation systems. The girls had fun going on the boats, monorails, and buses throughout the week. At each location the girls had fun collecting the various transportation cards. All you have to do is ask the driver or one of the workers for them. Many times the driver would give them several trading cards at one time. The only place they didn’t always have the cards was on the buses. They did get some neat ones and have fun collecting them. I am not sure how many they collected throughout the week, however, they had quite a stack.
When we arrived at the hotel we parked the van in the parking lot and never went in it again until it was time to come home so we spent the entire week getting from place to place on the Disney transportation vehicles. It was a neat experience for the girls and we met a lot of great people throughout our trips to and fro. It was nice to not have to drive everywhere plus we saved on parking and gas.
Loved riding the monorail!
Relaxing and enjoying a quiet bus ride! Brina is awake now, but she figured out quickly that a power nap on the bus ride really helped re-energize her!
Having fun riding the boat over to Epcot
Sometimes there were lots of seats and other times you had to squeeze into a seat!
Brina found a seat on the life vests
Our last relaxing moment before hitting the park!
Waiting patiently for the monorail
Staying entertained while waiting for the monorail
Heart Reflections: Road Blocks
A tree across the road on my way to the girls school! As I was zipping along on the way to the girls school recently I came to a quick halt! There laying across the entire road was a huge tree. Thankfully I noticed it in time to stop. My first thought was this is strange…..glad I wasn’t driving by when it decided to fall since we take that road every day for school. My next thought was…….did someone cut it down but there literally was no one in sight and the tree roots were uprooted. The dilemma was I had to deliver goodies to the girls class in a matter of minutes, however, I had a road block. How was I going to get to their school (my options):
- Move it out of the road (I didn’t have a chainsaw or strength to do it by myself)
- There were no driveways behind me so I would have to back up the windy road about 1/2 mile, plus risk someone else coming down the road and us crashing
- Turn around in the road with narrow shoulders and risk someone coming around the bend and hitting me.
- Go around it (It had rained the day before and the tree covered the whole road, which doesn’t have a shoulder either)
What did I do? Surveyed the probability of going around the tree since the ditch wasn’t too deep or wet in that spot and braved it. I made it through, thankfully, otherwise Jake would have gotten another “help” call from me! The car on the other side of the tree had the same dilemma as I did but they decided to back up and turn around instead. I made it almost to the end of the road when I noticed a cop car heading the direction towards the tree I rolled down my window and waved to get his attention but he just flew on by me without hesitation. I figured he would realize why I was waving in matter of minutes. When I arrived at school I was able to let them know and they immediately called the bus barn to have them redirect the bus routes so they could get the kids home.
This event happened a couple weeks ago but has stuck in my head for several reasons. We often face road blocks in life. Even though the situation may catch you off guard or seem impossible to get past we all have to make a decision about what we are going to do about the various road blocks that appear. Are there areas in your life with road blocks? Here are some areas I have had road blocks pop up in my life (thankfully they haven’t come at once but sometimes I have to work on multiple ones at the same time):
- Health
- Financial
- Family
- Work
- Spiritual
- And More
I think the reason why this road block has stuck in my mind is I have come to the realization that there are several areas in my life and heart that I need to change. Taking time to change any area of my life takes time, energy and consistency. I want God to work in my life from the inside out. If I have walls put up around my heart how am I going to be an effective testimony for Him? If I don’t take the time to spend with Him how is He going to work in my life and in the lives of those people I touch. The choices I make today have a ripple effect on the people around me (family, friend, acquaintances, etc…) One other area that has come to my attention is my health. Growing up I didn’t have a routine exercise schedule because I got plenty on the farm and I never had to go on any diets but recently with my energy dropping I realized that I need to eat better and move more. The lack of energy is blocking me from doing more of the things I enjoy in my life. Another area I have been working on is making our family budget a priority. Thankfully my husband has always been very supportive because it really works better if both spouses are on board with it.
What will you do about the road blocks in your life? Will you allow yourself to discover ways to eat healthier and exercise? Will you get together with your spouse and work out a budget? Will you allow God to reveal your true heart so you can serve Him better? There are many areas in our lives that need cultivated. Every person is different. Examine your life and the areas you need to step up and go to bat for. Every day we have the opportunity to make choices in each area of our lives. Some days I do better than others while other days I seem to encounter one road block after another. The important part is that you pick yourself back up, dust off, refocus, and remember that you can get past this little bump in the road.
How will you react to a friends warning? Sometimes it takes another person tapping you on the shoulder you to get your attention. You could be the like the cop in the story above that just flew on by and ignored me as I tried to wave him down to warn him about the danger ahead. OR You could be like the secretary at the girls school who immediately called the bus barn to alert them of the road block in their routes so they can correct their route before hitting a road block. It is important to have close family and friends in your life that are kind enough to speak graciously with you if they see an area in your life where you are struggling. Those same people can also provide a lot of accountability, prayer, and encouragement as you journey through that road block.
It is amazing how much that tree across the road captivated my attention! Even though it was an inconvenience at the time I am thankful for a very visual representation of a road block because it has stuck in my mind. Take the time this week to identify and start removing the road blocks in your life so you can focus more on those areas that really are important to you.
“Heart Reflections” is a series of thoughts and encouragement that come directly from my heart. Life has a way of throwing us extra challenges and when our focus is pulled away from what is truly important we tend to feel the pressure of stress in our lives. This series is created to remind us that we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves. We don’t have to face the pressure of life on our own. We can trust that our prayers are being heard. He alone knows what’s best for us and gives us the appropriate strength to get through each day as it is set before us.
Vacation: The Beautiful Island of Dominica (Part 2, Pictures)
We recently had the opportunity to go to the Caribbean Island of Dominica.
Here are some of the pictures from our adventures throughout that day!
Jeremy & Amber wanted us to take a picture of them behind the bars at the end of the port, ha! Too funny! Per their request we took a picture of Jerm and Amber reaching through the bars on the end of the pier. It was a pretty funny sight to see as we were walking down the pier, they crack me up. If you notice to the left you’ll see the barb wire on the outside of the bars. Always an adventure.
One of Dominica's oldest and biggest churches! Dominica had several beautiful churches on their island. This one was the oldest and largest. It had a lot neat flowers around, an iron fence with crosses on top along with several other neat features.
Local school girls blowing us kisses, super cute! Dominica is well known for their schools, some of the surrounding islands will send students to Dominica to study. All the kids wear school uniforms to school. Above is a group of girls from school blowing us kisses as we drove by. Cute kids!
This was a huge tree in the park! You can actually walk through the vines inside the tree! Above is a large tree we saw in the park. The tree was so big you could walk through part of the tree at the openings. We noticed a lot of neat trees during our time in Dominica.
This large tree dropped onto a school bus (and flatten it) during a hurricane. Thankfully, no one was injured! A few years ago during a hurricane this tree fell onto the parked school bus. Thankfully the kids were in a safe shelter during the storm not riding on the bus.
A house made out of trees and vines, the black spot is the door opening to the house! In the middle of a park they had a “tree house” literally. It was a spot with a lot of dense trees and vines that they made into a hut. It was pretty neat. The black hole in the middle is the doorway. If you are looking to have an “on the ground” tree house this is a great idea, no more falling out of the tree house!
Volcanic lava rock along the hiking trail in Dominica! A large volcanic rock on a railing as we were hiking through the rain forest. Dominica has active volcanoes although it has been many years since an eruption on the island. Thankfully!
An orange fresh water land crab right next to our hiking trail! I honestly did not know that there were fresh water land crabs! We saw a couple on our hike but this guy was pretty courageous, he came right out in front of us. He didn’t run and hide when he saw us either, he just moved to the side. I would say he was about a 4 inch land crab which from the couple we saw was pretty big.
Dominica's rain forest had a lot of huge beautiful trees, vines, and flowers. There were parts of the rain forest that was more dense. Here is one area that we could see up to the clouds. The line across the middle is a vine, the vines were so think you could swing from them and everywhere. They had amazing foliage, trees, flowers, ferns, plants, etc….and everything was big due to all the rain they receive.
One of the Trafalgar waterfalls in Dominica! One of the Trafalgar waterfalls at the end of our part of the hike. You could actually bring your swimsuit and towels up to go swimming at the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. It was gorgeous!
Another waterfall in Dominica! This is the second waterfall, they call the two falls “twin waterfalls” because they come out of the mountain almost side by side. There is only a little bit of greenery from the rain forest and lava rock between the two waterfalls.
Crew at waterfall in Dominica! Here is our crew that went on this excursion. We had fun hiking, looking at the amazing creation, and learning a lot of interesting facts about the Dominica rain forest.
Trafalgar Falls A picture of the twin falls. It was hard to get a good angle to take a picture of the falls and it was raining. The picture is pretty but the look, sound and everything was even more amazing.
Rain forest in Dominica! Greenery in the rain forest. There were a lot of beautiful plants and greenery on our hike.
Fresh fruit in bloom in the rain forest of Dominica! It was not uncommon to see fresh fruit hanging from the trees in the rain forest and all over the island. Some of the fruits I recognized while others I did not.
Dominica Sulphur Springs bubbling! The sulphur springs hike was pretty quick and we didn’t spend a lot of time hanging out once we arrived. If you don’t know anything about Sulphur Springs then you will be surprised by the smell. It was neat to watch it bubbling for a few minutes but we were glad to get away from the stinky smell it creates.
Sugar cane field in Dominica! On the way back down from our hike to the Sulphur Springs we noticed several sugar cane patches. This patch had been picked and some of the stocks were laying down in the water.
Sulfur Springs in Dominica! Here is a picture of the water from the Sulphur Springs running through the island. It was a beautiful sight with the springs bubbling down through all the rain forest greenery.
Dominica coast line! Dominica had a clean coast line. This location had a sidewalk next to the road with some green grass and palm trees. It was close to the port as you can see from the cargo crates in the background.
Village in Dominica! Here is a picture of one of the villages on Dominica. This one was built into the mountain where other villages closer to the heart of the rain forest were actually built in the valleys due to all the rain.
Fishing boats off the coastline. Dominica has a lot of private and family fisherman. The small boats in the picture above go out daily and catch fish and seafood right off the coast. The ones not on the water are placed under a tin roof as shown in the picture above.
Interesting sign at the beach! There were several signs on Dominica (and other islands) that made me laugh. In case you cannot read it says “Management is not responsible for drugs sold to visitors. – by Vendors They are not part of management.” I think they maybe had some problems with this issue in the past. Kind of sad they have to put out a big sign.
Amber and Jeremy at beach. Amber and Jeremy swimming at Mero Beach in Dominica! Amber, Jeremy, Jake and I swim for a couple hours while Mom and Dad relaxed on the beach. It was fun hanging out, swimming, and relaxing for a little bit. Although Amber never did get her dreadlocks done.
Beautiful Mero Beach! We stopped at Mero Beach for a couple hours to relax and swim after we took our hikes to the waterfalls, rain forest, and Sulphur springs. The water wasn’t as turquoise as some of the other islands because of all the volcanic rock and black sand beaches. The was a little less salty here due to the all the rain forest water that dilutes the salt in the ocean.
Dad and Mom at the beach in Dominica! Dad and Mom relaxing on the beach under the shade of the palm trees while we went for a swim.
Beautiful beach at Dominica! It is hard to see from the picture but Dominica had beautiful black sandy beaches. The sand really sparkled in the sunlight. It was neat to see and I had a couple cups worth of sand still on me when we got back on the ship, seriously, ask Jake, Amber or my room attendant! I had a little stash of black sand that came out of my sandals once I made it back to our room!!! I had a lot fun exploring Dominica, it is a beautiful island!
A Vacation To Remember series is a reflection on our recent trip and ways we relaxed. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Go with a good attitude and looking for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Life’s a CIRCUS!!!
Sometimes every day life begins to feel like one circus act after another. As a family of four there is always plenty of fun happening around our house. Even though life has a way of getting busy it is important to take some time to relax and just have fun! Go to the circus and let yourself laugh!
I had the privilege of chaperoning my girls kindergarten class to the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus. It had been years since I have been to the circus and the girls had never gone. We had a blast! It was a challenge keeping all the kids together especially since a bunch of other schools were attending the same day but we managed to keep track of our troops and everyone made it home safely. Here are a few pictures from our adventures.
Karlie and Brina at the Circus! I could NOT pry their eyes away from the circus long enough to take a picture, it was that much fun! 
The clowns were a big hit for both of the girls! 
So much visual stimulation! Always a lot of fun stuff to watch! 
The beautiful horses captivated the girls attention! 
The kids were impressed with the strong men and swings! 
A couple of the kids had their eyes covered because they didn't want to see the lady fall! 
The "Donut Wheel" bike was a big hit with the kids! 
The girls were glad to see the Tigers caged at the circus & loved their "tricks"! 
The elephants were a huge hit with all the kids!
