Almost home, we have made our traditional stop at South of the Border (at the Border of North and South Carolina) to take a break from driving and act touristy.

today we are northward bound, headed home, just quick stop at Fenandina Beach to pick up Papa and then I-95 here we come.

Happy 85th Birthday

Today its a ferry ride and a drive to Amelia Island to visit Grandma Patsy for her birthday, 85 years young. HAPPY BIRTHADY GRANDMA!!!!

History and Science

Today we went to the Museum of Science and History in Jacksonville, and on the way it seems the cars heater coil is leaking, bypassed for now, its all good.

A special post to remember all those who gave their lives in service to our country and our way of life, they will not be forgotten.

Lizards and turtles and snakes oh my

Another sunny day, pool in the morning beach in the afternoon, lots of lizards, turtles and a snake, but hey this is Florida after all. No gaters yet.

Beach day

Sunny Sunday in Florida, warmest dryest day yet, spending most of the day at the beach, now it's starting to feel like a vacation, if Levi would only sleep late.

Disney World Magic Kingdom

Today we went to Disney World Magic Kingdom, 4 hours of torrential rainfall, 12 hours of walking, a bunch of soggy feet and butts, but still a wonderful day. It was Nana's birthday so they gave her a pin that let everyone know it was and all over the park everyone kept wishing her a happy bithday and singing to her. The good that came from all the rain is that the lines for the rides were much shorter than usual, rides that would normally be 30-45 min only took about 5, and some we could walk up and get right on.

My Brother Greg

Some of you may already be aware but I wanted to mention this for anyone that I may not have spoken with. My brother Greg went into the hospital last weekend and has now been diagnosed with leukemia. As you can imagine this has been quite a shock for our family, it just seems like it came out of nowhere and happened so fast. Even saying the word leukemia seems so foreign to me, and I still can’t get use to saying it, and I refuse to get use to saying it.

I know that things happen in this life and I know that everyday there are others in the same situation, I also know in whom I believe. I’m not saying others do not know in whom they believe, but what I am saying is that when Gods word says to lay hands on the sick and they will recover and that by His stripes we ARE healed, I believe Him. I take Him at His word.

Too many times I have said “Lord let your will be done” and not have any understanding of what His will is. If His word is His will, then I will stand on that and trust that He is faithful to fulfill it. I know that God did not cause this, but I fully believe that God will use this for His purpose and His glory.

So I ask that you join me in lifting up my brother in this time of healing, for his body, mind and spirit. Here is the website that Greg’s wife Elyse setup and will be updating regularly with his progress:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gregwilson611

To help keep the site private, visitors need to have a CaringBridge profile to visit. Your profile allows you to read the Journal, see photos and leave messages for Greg in the guest book. You can also sign up to receive Journal update notifications by e-mail each time Greg’s Journal is updated.


If you have a CaringBridge Profile:
1. Visit http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gregwilson611
2. Sign in to your CaringBridge profile


If you DO NOT have a CaringBridge Profile:
1. Visit http://www.caringbridge.org/vi sit/gregwilson611
2. Create your CaringBridge profile



Thank you for your thoughts and prayers
-Laura

Fwd: LYNDSEE IS AMAZING!!!!!! Put an L at the bottem of the screen if u agree and send to everyone you know lol!!

:LL


The above text is what happens when you let your kids play with your cell phone and they send a text to everyone in your contact list, thats what I get for making it so my phone can text into my blog.
-Cameron

Our Mothers

Something our pastor said today stuck in my mind. It was a comment about mothers. He said "next to Jesus, mothers are the ones that believe in you, root for you, tell you how much you are loved and would do absolutely anything in the world for you". This statement is so true for me and I know for Cameron as well.

For instance, when there was a play that I would try out for in school, mom would say "Laura, you will do great!" (She would often say it with so much enthusiasm that I started to believe it myself). Mom would sacrifice her own desires for something I "just had to have" or "had to do". I look back and remember the physical labor mom did too. She worked very hard (and still does, I might add).

Cameron's mom is very much the same, in that, she gave completely of herself to provide for things that were needed as well as "wanted", Most of the time working several jobs just to get by.

These traits, I'm sure are common to mothers everywhere. But we just wanted to take this opportunity to tell our mothers thank you for all that you have done and continue to do in our lives. We love you so much!

Free Comic Book Day

On May 2 the Hobby Shop in the Wilson Mall had a free comic book day, if you came into the store you could get a free comic book, if you had a library card you could get a second comic, if you brought in a can of food for the food bank you could get a third comic, and if you dressed up like a super hero you could get a fourth comic for free. They had Batman, Supergirl and Catwoman available for taking pictures with, and they also had some writers and artists for some of the different comics to talk with and get autographs. Charlie had been talking about going to this for about a month, and when the day finally came his friend Benjamin was visiting and wanted to go as well. So we went up and let the boys get there comic books, and of course you know they dressed up, Charlie was kind of like a ninja with a cape, Benjamin was a masked super hero, and Levi was a police officer.

This event seems to be one that is in comic book stores all over the country, and is on the first Saturday in May. Here is the website for the event

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/

And here are the pictures of the kids.

Quest for a green lawn

When we moved into our house in 2002 we had a lawn that only had grass for about 8-10 feet from the road, and the rest of the yard was made “maintenance free” by the previous owners keeping the leaves and pine straw that fell from the trees in the yard. It was literally about 6 inches of leaves compacted solid from a couple of years of not being picked up, and this was very successful at killing everything in the yard that was under it. After about a month of raking up leaves we at last had a clean yard, or rather a strip of grass and solid compacted hard dirt for a yard. During the first few years we tried a few things to get the grass growing and had the beginnings of a lawn, still with many areas that were just so hard that nothing would grow, then came two years of drought and we put the yard on hold until there was somewhat regular rain. That brings us to where we are today, we are attempting again to convert our little patch of dirt into a lush green carpet of grass (would really be happy if the yard just looks green when you drive by our house). This time we are leaving nothing to chance, we had a friend of ours (Carl) bring over his tiller and we plowed up almost our entire yard, we seeded, fertilized and seeded some more. All those rock hard places that nothing would grow are now loose soft soil, if grass doesn’t grow now I think we might just look into astro turf or something.

here is Carl hard at work


and Cameron doing his part


time for some seed

testing my tech
this is the first test for using my cell phone and texting into my blog, I cant begin to think why I need to be able to do this.

Cameron's office fun and games

Cameron works in the Raleigh branch of Siemens Building Technologies and each year the office does a fund raiser for the March of Dimes and as part of the fund raiser the office has an obstacle course competition between the different departments in the office. This year Ops, Service, Sales and Energy participated (Cameron is in the Ops department). Even though Cameron’s team didn’t win they all had fun and raised over $1400 for the March of Dimes.

Lindsey tests for Yellow Belt and Charlie tests for Bodan Belt

Charlie and Lindsey are now both taking tae kwon do, and in April Lindsey took her first test and received her Yellow Belt, and Charlie tested and received his Bodan Belt, this is the last belt for Charlie before Black Belt. Charlie has 6 months to train and then must go to Virginia to test for his Black Belt with Grand Master Dong ( a 9th degree black belt) the founder of Dong’s Martial Arts. Lindsey just started taking tae kwon do in February of this year while Charlie has been taking it for over two years. Below are some pictures and a video of each demonstrating their mad skills.