The Big Big Boat

Finally getting some pictures up of our cruise, which I will have to do in a couple posts.  This is us pulling into Miami after 16 hours in the car.  We left after church on Easter, and drove and drove and drove.  We made it to Miami around 7 am with plenty of time to spare for our no-later-than-3 boarding time.  The girls were AWESOME in car.  They slept and played and watched movies and did super super great the whole way.  

Since we did arrive early and had to wait for Janet and Kemper and Uncle Ben to arrive (they were driving from San Antonio and left right after church on Sunday too), we drove around and by accident found our "big big boat" as we now refer to it.  It wasn't the biggest at the port but with all those flowers, it was the prettiest :)

We headed to the coast (passing by the big big boat on the way) and found.....the beach!  The girls were thrilled to be out of the car and it was a BEAUTIFUL day.  It was also Joni's first time in the ocean.  

Hadley could barely contain her excitement...well there was actually no containing, she was super excited.  Joni on the other hand was a little skiddish of the waves coming at her.  She preferred to stand right at the edge and watch.   

Getting on the boat was quite the process but we were all so excited to be there it didn't matter.  Some crew members greeted us with flowers and a band was playing....super cool.

So first things first, check out the big big boat and see what kind of awesome fun things there are to do.  Naturally the Hubers needed to get a couple of golf swings in....never too young to learn.

The first day always includes a practice run for if some reason unbeknownst to us, we need to ditch the big big boat and get on the lifeboats.  There are designated spots for everyone (note people outside the window) but since we had young children, they told us we could wait inside.  Hadley and Joni took that to mean: playtime in the big window.  It does make a decent slide I suppose.

  

One of the decks has a walking track....we stood here when the boat left the dock.  The terminal was a glass building and if you looked really closely you could see your reflection.....

Setting sail....saying goodbye to Miami, hello awesome vacation!

Our housekeeper guy (I'm so sorry, I know there is a nice word for him but I can't remember it at the moment), we will call him Steven (because that was his name), really went out of his way for the girls and making our room nice everyday.  Every night he would come in make them some animal out of towels...this was our first night so they each got one...Hadley's was a bird and Joni's was a hamster.  More of Steven to come.... 

The crew was amazing too.  This guy just cleans off the table but here as Joni was eating her watermelon, he decided to cut it up for her too.  I was appreciative, as was Jo.

The first full day on the boat, Nana and Papa and Ben went scuba diving so Andy, the girls, and I hung out on the boat.  Here is the Kid's Zone.  They have this area for kids and their parents to come and play anytime during the day.  They also had an area that was a "Parent Free" zone where you can drop them off. 

Hadley and her books.....fun tents and tunnels?  No....books.  We didn't stay very long because we were on our way to the pool!

....and since we were docked, there was no one on board the boat and we had the pool almost entirely to ourselves.  This is the kiddie pool (and hot tub) which the day before was a mad house.  For those of you who have never been on a cruise, you sail mostly during the night so that during the day you are docked at a port....we stopped here (Freeport, Bahamas), then Nassau, then our cruise line's private island.  The idea is that you get off the boat and pay extra for "excursions" or shopping or site seeing.  We opted for swimming and playing and having the boat to ourselves :)

Sometimes, we would come back to our room, and Steven would have placed Gigi (Hadley's monkey) and Joni's sheep in fun places.  So cute.  The girls got a kick out of it!

One of the on board activities was family pizza making.  Hadley picked her toppings out....  

then we waited while they baked....

then we enjoyed.

More looking around our big big boat.

There were 2 restaurants and 2 buffets to choose from for all our meals, plus some other places to eat too.  We mostly ate at the buffet that was located on the back deck (below) but we also tried the restaurants.  This cruiseline (Norwegian) is known for its freestyle dining...you could eat whenever and wherever you wanted...and we did ;)  

This is actually the last morning so I have Miami behind me but we loved eating outside, but in the shade.

Joni coloring (with Papa's help) waiting for our food one night.

This was my dessert one night and so sorry Mom, the only picture of food we got the whole time!  

A giant rabbit? from Steven.

And an elephant....note Gigi on the pillow in the background.

An an owl I'm guessing.  Note the pacifier that is now no longer with us!!!  We thought it would be much harder than it was.  She has been using it only for naps and night for probably a year now but no more no more!   

So since Nana and Papa and Uncle Ben don't get to see the girls that often, we didn't take them to the Kid's Zone except for one time.  Joni was too little but they were doing face painting and I thought Hadley wouldn't mind being away from us for one hour.  All I had to say was the word PAINT and you know it, she loved it!  She came back looking like this.

Waiting in the dinner line one night....twirling in her own little fun world.

More swimming....the water was actually pretty cold and this day we were going going all day and by the time we decided to go, it had cooled off quite a bit so we didn't stay in long.

The night life on board was fun too.  They had a big show every night and always something going on....trivia contests, live music, dancing, games, etc.  One night they had Dancing with the  Norwegian Stars (Norwegian crew member and a guest) and this night was Friendly Feud.  Kemper was picked to play...hehe.  

It was such a great trip!  Thanks Ben so so so so much for everything!  I know we can say thank you over and over and it still won't be enough!  So happy we got to spend the time with you....in the Bahamas no less!  After we got off the boat, we went to a park for lunch before we had to take Ben to the airport.  

Sad sad days....saying goodbye.

The rest of us didn't have to be back right away so we got to enjoy some more time together.  I think the trip was a success.  Sleeping like little angels!

We found a small Children's Museum and made it our one last fun fun thing before heading home.  They had a touch tank...

And lots of other fun things for the girls....

More fun cruise pictures to come......love to you all!

THE LORD IS RISEN!

.....BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!  We had a blessed Easter season this year with remembering our loving Savior's redemptive sacrifice, all the joyous celebrations, and preparing for a wonderful vacation.  Courtney and I used to do this as kids....I remember that space being a lot bigger.  

 Coloring eggs....Joni really got into it this year.  These are special Q-tips with paint in them.  Easy for decoration, messy for cleaning up.

 A family affair.   Hadley loves her stickers.....she went to town.

When our family decorates eggs, we compare the colored eggs with the plain ones and remember that when we believe in Christ and what He did for us on the cross, He makes us a New Creation (2 Thess. 5:17).  In God's eyes we're no longer like everyone else, but we're beautiful and set apart because of Christ's righteousness.

 Every morning the week before Easter, Andy would teach the girls about what Jesus was doing that lead up to his death and resurrection.  Here we're remembering Jesus' triumphal entry, fulfilling the prophecy that the coming King (Jesus!) would humbly ride a colt into Jerusalem (Zech. 9:9).  The girls each took a turn riding their "donkey" and the other was yelling "Hosanna!" and putting coats on the ground (Matt. 21:8-9).

 The next day Jesus went into the temple and saw all of the people there who were only concerned about making money rather than worshipping God.  Jesus declared His authority over God's temple by driving all of the people out and preventing them from entering except for worship (Mark 11:15-16).  Andy set up a table for the girls with a bunch of money on it and they took turns flipping it over and shouting "My Father's house is a house of prayer!"  (This was probably a little more fun than it should have been :), but they definitely won't forget the story!)

Before his arrest, Jesus celebrated the Jewish Feast of the Passover with His disciples.  During the supper, he got up, took off his outer garment and washed his disciples' feet (John 13).  He told them that this was an example of humility for them (and to us!), so that they would remember that, since was willing to give up everything for their good, so they should do for others.  While Andy washed the girls' feet, he told them about loving others by doing what's good for them even if it's hard for us.  Since Jesus gave his life to save us from sin and death, we should give our lives telling other people about Him.

At the Passover meal, Jesus also taught His disciples that the wine and the bread eaten at the meal would now represent His sacrifice for their (and our) sins.  He taught them that the cup of wine (or grape-apple juice :)) would now represent the blood He would shed as a payment for the sins of His people.  The bread would represent His body that was broken as he suffered God's judgment on their behalf.  Those who put their faith in Christ partake of Christ's body and blood through faith in His atoning sacrifice and are to remember and proclaim His death for their sins whenever they share in the meal together. (1 Cor. 11:23-26)

Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of what we did on Saturday and on Easter Sunday, but we talked about how sad Jesus' friends were when He was murdered on the cross.  He was dead and they didn't know what to do.  They took Him down off the cross and buried him in a tomb.  We made "Empty Tomb Rolls" on Saturday night using biscuit dough, some cinnamon sugar, and big marshmallows.  We "put Jesus in the tomb" by setting the marshmallows on the rolled out dough, "put spices on his body" by sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on the marshmallow and "buried Jesus" by wrapping the dough tightly around the marshmallows.  The girls went to bed and we baked the biscuits so they'd be ready for the morning.  When the girls got up, we looked inside our rolls "to see if Jesus was still in the tomb" and (since the marshmallows had melted, leaving the rolls hollow), "the tomb was empty"--Jesus is alive!

The Rec Center on campus has a Resurrection Celebration every year and this year it was big.  They had games and face painting and bouncy houses, then someone told the Easter story, and then there was an egg hunt.  Definitely what Hadley would call a "fun fun place."

Joni wanted to be a kitty.

Looking for eggs.

So Hadley, if you remember, is totally into painting.  She asks everyday if she can paint.  After the Resurrection Celebration she thought it was would be fun to paint faces instead of paper (a new medium, why not?) and asked so nicely that I couldn't say no.  Note to self:  watercolor does not mean that it removes easily with water!  I had to bust out the nail polish remover, dish soap, and scrub brushes to get this off for EASTER the next day, but she thought it was fun!

The girls were VERY excited about eating their Empty Tomb Rolls on Easter morning and it definitely made us ready to go to church and celebrate Christ's resurrection with our church family.  My sweet Easter girls dressed in their Sunday best.  We left from church to drive to Miami for the cruise but we did get a few Easter pictures before changing into comfy travel clothes.  They are getting so big :( *sniff*

I know this isn't the best family picture we have ever taken but it was windy and we were in a hurry.  Many, many, more to come in the next post about our awesome cruise with Nana, Papa, and Uncle Ben!

Happy Easter all....we love you!

Short and Sweet

As I write this, we are packing up the last couple of things to head to Miami in the morning.  Bahamas here we come....but first we get to celebrate our RISEN LORD!  We have been doing lots of fun Easter things but I will save those pictures until we get back from our cruise.  We hope you all have a blessed Easter and remember that we celebrate it, not because a bunny hides eggs to be found, but that a loving God, who came to earth to live as a man, took the punishment for our sin and in doing so, defeated death.  Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord!  

Here are the zoo pictures I was telling you about.  We went with my dear friend Paige and her son Owen (and his new brother Ethan).

 This guy works at the zoo and was in the monkey house.  Hadley asked him what he was sitting on and then he asked her if she wanted a ride.  

 This guy was letting people hold his snake but Hadley was totally fine with just touching its tail.  And that is all she talked about the rest of the time....how she touched the snake's tail.  :)

 You don't get to see these monsters very often because they like to hide.  That is one giant snake and I am always thankful that they don't live where I live (that I know of).

 Strutting his stuff.

 Sweet friends.

 This is a big water feature they have right inside the zoo's main gate.  The girls love playing in it but they always leave soaking wet when I say its ok.

 The seminary was having a free dental screening one Saturday and we thought we better take the girls to see if all is well.  They passed with flying colors and each got a new toothbrush which they were pumped about.

 So for those of you who don't follow college basketball (don't worry if you don't, I don't either) we live in Louisville, KY, home of the University of Louisville.  About 1 hour away is Lexington, KY, home of the University of Kentucky.  These 2 teams are HUGE RIVALS.  And when I say huge, I mean bigger than UW and CSU, bigger than the Coyote and the Roadrunner, bigger than Moses and Pharaoh (maybe not that big) but.....HUGE RIVALS.  When we first moved here, a cashier at Walmart asked us as we were checking out, "Are you blue or red?"  We said we were brown and gold fans :)  Well this year, these two teams happened to make it all the way to the Final Four where they played each other, something that has never happened and if it did once upon a time, no one my age was around to see it.  It has been rather crazy around here.  Kentucky is blue and Louisville is red.  I'm not partial either way since we live in both Louisville and Kentucky but I guess since U of L is here, we were pulling for them......they lost and Kentucky went on to take the Championship.  

Love to you all!  Happy Easter!