Land of Make Believe

What an incredible day today was! We had so much fun!!! Every year Uncle John and Aunt Karin give the kids tickets to The Land of Make Believe in Hope, NJ. I LOVE this gift, because it causes no clutter in my house and gives us a wonderful time as a family!!! We usually always go the Thursday after our staff meetings because we are in the area and go with Andy's parents. For those who do not know about this place it is a small amusement/ water park - and I mean small! It is basically built for families with kids 12 and under. There are a handful of rides - some Matt and Sarah love, like the Tilt-a-Whirl and The Twister, and others that Daniel loves - like the cars and carousel. The water park is also small, but has 3 great tube slides, a lazy river, a pirate ship in a shallow lake of water with mini slides for little ones, and a couple of other great water rides. Matt really likes a ride called "The Sidewinder". It's this huge V shaped slide. You sit in a tube and are pushed off the edge and go straight down 75 feet!!! You feel like you are going to fall out of the tube! I really love it, too! We got to go on it twice! Sarah managed to conquer her fear of tube slides and even went down one by herself! That was a great feat for her! She loved them so much she now can't wait for next year!

It was such a perfect day - the weather was just right, everyone was happy and it wasn't terribly crowded! Daniel was a riot as this was his first experience to actually do anything. He has gone the last two summers - at 6 weeks and 13 months, but this year he LOVED everything about the park. He cried every time we had to take him off rides and ran around in the water like a nut! We didn't attempt any of the tube slides, even though he was technically tall enough for them. We thought we would give him another year - though he is so adventuresome, I'm sure he would have loved them!
I have to say that the best part of today was spending individual time with each kid. After having all three by myself for about a week and a half, I was starting to go a little crazy and didn't care to spend any time with any of them!! But today renewed my heart for them and my desire to have their company. I spent the first hour in the water park with Daniel walking around the pirate ship and doing the mini-slides. Then I spent the next hour helping Sarah with the tube slide fear and then the last hour with Matt doing all the crazy water rides. We all ended our day on the lazy river, pushing each other under the different waterfalls and getting each other soaked! As we were leaving, my ten-year-old son held my hand and walked to the car with me! I will always cherish that time!! I realize more and more as he grows into a young man those days of our hand holding are few and far between and someday soon he will be holding another hand. I can only hope and pray that she will be a wonderful, Godly woman.
Tomorrow will be our first official day to do NOTHING!!!!! Our summer has come to a close and I am so thankful! This has been a hard, exhausting summer. One I am thankful for in the fruit it has produced, but it has taken a toll on our family. We are praying that as we go on our vacation in the next few weeks (we save most of our vacation days for September) that our family will be renewed, refreshed and revitalized for the coming ministry opportunities. We will also be evaluating priorities and schedules and trying to figure out how to make life work in Philly. Please pray as we make various decisions in the next month.