Katie sings “Rudolph The Red Nosed Na-na-na-na-na-na”
December 21, 2011 in
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Observations From A Theme Park Visit
I believe more than anything, that the one of the most important things we can do for our kids is create good memories. Stuff doesn’t matter. Memories do.
Noah and I went to Busch Gardens (Williamsburg, VA) at the weekend for a little (early) birthday treat for Noah. He’ll be ten years old on November, 21st. He’s a bit of a thrill seeker, so it wasn’t a hard decision for him when selecting where he wanted to go.
We had such a great time, with many great memories cemented in his little head. I look forward to going back with the whole family.
Here are some observations I made from our 2 days in the park.
- Finger print scanners for park access are a nuisance.
- We discovered early on, carrying a back pack is not a good idea.
- Theme parks are not happy places for every family.
- Turkeys have big legs.
- On wet days, people from the south turn up in hunting gear because it’s the only waterproofs they own.
- Funnel cakes are like some kind of failed attempt at making a donut, but they are pretty amazing.
- People are so diverse. I mean really diverse. Our churches need diversity like this. I’m not talking specifically about racial diversity, but that is included.
- Some people like to ride coasters in their bare feet (see diverse comment).
- Some theme park employees hate their job.
- Some theme park employees would take convincing that an outside world exists.
- Reminding everyone on board the roller coaster, as we are climbing, about a scene in Final Destination is not cool.
- We kept bumping into the same people in a park of 30,000 people, which is weird. We ended up giving them names. For example, we always heard “Mister Dude” start his sentences with “Dude…”.
- Wearing only a wife beater in < 40 degrees, makes you look stupid, not tough.
- Every time I walked through the Irish themed village, I wanted to hike up my trouser legs and do a wee jig. Seriously.
- If you don’t mind getting wet, rainy days make for really short lines.
- The more people on board your roller coaster, the faster it goes.
- I was thankful I did not buy the queue pass ticket. My organs needed the time between rides to find their way home.
- Spending one-on-one time with each of your kids is so important. They love it.
- Letting my kid hear his dad scream like a girl is a good solid memory made.
- Protecting my kid from the monsters made me feel like a hero.
Photos from UK: London
Liz’s immediate family all reside in London these days, so we always spend a few days here. After driving here for the first time, I’m definitely in favour of public transport. You can get anywhere you need to go just as quickly, and sometimes even faster than trying to fight the traffic in your car.
Most of the photos are from when we celebrated Nathan’s 11th birthday in Kingston. This is the first time in a couple of years I have managed to be around on Nathan’s birthday. I was usually back in the States while they stayed on in London.
We went to the cinema to see Diary of a wimpy kid 2 – which was really good. After than we went Ten (10, Miriam) Pin Bowling and then to Pizza Express for some food.
From London (July 2011), posted by Alastair Vance on 7/05/2011 (14 items)
- “Mummy, mummy, look at the lovely house…”, says Katie.
- This is so funny.
- Before
- After
- Gourmet Burger Company.
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Photos from UK: Ireland
This was probably the busiest trip to Ireland we have ever had. The main objective was to clear out some storage items that were stored away for 4 years. From those items we had to sell a load, dump a load and from the remainder arrange to have shipped out to the States. On top of all that I had to be in the office as much as I could and visit family and friends in whatever time we had left.
It was great catching up with Brendan and Claire, and Sam and Trish. It was also good to finally meet David and Diane – our long time Twitter buddies and visit their church in East Belfast – Exchange. Thankfully the rioting stopped just in time. 
It was a nice surprise seeing James Toal there too at Exchange. James used to drum in the band when I led worship in Lisburn Christian Fellowship. My brother used to give him drum lessons many moons ago.
We visited our old house, which is now on the market – and thanks to Yvette for doing our energy certificate, it was nice to catch up with her.
It was so cold the first couple of days we arrived, but started to heat up. Liz and I stayed a night in Belfast at Duke at Queens (highly recommended) and got a chance to visit the Victoria Square shopping center which we hadn’t seen yet. Fairly impressive I have to say. Liz doesn’t think it’s as good as Southpoint in Durham though. I’ll tell you something – you don’t have to pay $15 for a couple hours parking at Southpoint. I was a bit shocked at that.
Some of the photos below are from a trip to Dublin to see Arul, Liz’s cousin. We need to make sure he’s still behaving himself and eating properly.
Catching up with family was precious. Seeing how fast little Will Thomas is growing is amazing. Katie had great fun playing with her little cousin.
From Ireland (June 2011), posted by Alastair Vance on 6/28/2011 (18 items)
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Photos from UK: Mark, Leanne and the Lake District
I’d never been to the Lake District before. So, the plan this year was to head up there for a couple of nights to check it out. Liz and I left the kids with Aunty Miriam and Anna and took the longer than expected drive up to Ambleside in Cumbria. It truly is a lovely part of the world. The villages and surrounding countryside are very picturesque.
Even though I’d updated my maps on the GPS, it still managed to take us to a quarry before we finally found our hotel. Mobile phones weren’t much use there either as a signal was hard to come by.
Mark and Leanne drove out from Manchester to stay in Ambleside and spend some time with us on the Saturday. It was great to see them and I really appreciate Mark driving most of the time.
The weather was fantastic while we were there. It’s a real hikers paradise and we didn’t get a chance to go walking. So, we’ll have to go back again in the future.
From Lake District (July 2011), posted by Alastair Vance on 7/03/2011 (40 items)
- Just LOVED his wellies!
- Just like a Cumbrian Ikea. Except more expensive.
- Lovely cakes and buns.
- Chesters Coffee Shop
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Photos from UK: Visiting Dave and Abi in Luton
Here’s some photos from when we went to visit Dave. I shared a house with Dave while we went to university in Luton. I drove past our old house and the town hadn’t changed very much at all.
Apart from the drive down from Stanstead Airport, this was my first experience of driving through London. Flippin’ hectic. I had a sore shoulder from gripping the steering wheel so hard.
Dave lives in a nice part of Luton and behind his house opens to the English countryside where you can go for long walks.
From Visiting Dave (June 2011), posted by Alastair Vance on 7/04/2011 (13 items)
- This reminded of me when I facebooked Jon James’ mum.
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