Congratulations on a New Baby...

Alicia and Ryan are the pround
parents of baby Cayden!

After a very long labor and a
c-section this 8lb 9oz
precious boy arrived.
See pictures of him here.

Congratulations to the entire
family...you know who you are!

♥♥Becky K.♥♥

On Living a Beautiful Life...Every Day....

Easy for me to say...
If you are reading this on
Friday the 27th of February
we are returning from two glorious
weeks of vacation.

We have enjoyed sand,
beach,
sun,


theme parks,
family,


friends,
new geography,
historical sites,
and good books.

We are an interesting blend of tired and
invigorated. Ready to return to those
things so precious and familiar...

Such as...
our two dogs


and two cats.





We have especially missed the people
who have cared for our beloved pets...
our Mothers.
Thank you, Moms!

We are ready to take our positions
of responsibility back at work, church,
in our homeschool co-op and in our home.

Our secret to living a Beautiful Life?
Knowing the One
who created beauty.



We see it in nature.

He made us in His own image...
try that on to boost
a sagging self image!

Our family returns enthusiastically to our
regular lives renewed and recharged.

Making each day beautiful in its own
right by staying connected with
our Creator,
purposefully caring for
each other
and taking the time
to do those things
that bring joy into the
lives of those around us.

Being willing to take the time
to be healthy and whole, in order
to be able to serve well.
This is admittedly my largest
struggle when it comes to enjoying
the beauty in life.

I look forward to accomplishing
some of my new goals this week.
I'll document them and be thankful
for being held accountable each week.

Enjoy your beautiful life...
It is so precious!

To see more posts about Beautiful Lives
see The Inspired Room Mr. Linky
by clicking here.

♥♥Becky K.♥♥

Shamu! ...and More!!!

On our first day at Seaworld we missed
the Shamu Show, Believe.

So, we really wanted to see it yesterday
on our second day in this park.

We got to the park just about noon, after
grabbing a quick lunch before entering the
park...we found the prices in the park to
be extremely expensive...so only the kids
ate lunch there on our first visit...yes,
Warren and I are that cheap! lol

For some unknown reason the parking attendant
put a preferred parking pass on our car and
sent us in. We don't know if she was new and
thought that our pre-paid parking pass meant
that we were in preferred parking or if she
was just glad to see us and wanted to give
us a special gift...but we were parked right
at the park entrance! Pretty cool!

First item on the agenda...dolphins!
I am in love!



I love the dolphins,



Our camera...



and underwater viewing!





We went above and the trainers were out playing with the dolphins.
They had these balls and the dolphins would play catch.
The trainer would toss the ball to the dolphin and it would
catch it in its mouth and throw it back to the trainer.
Very cool.
I have mostly video of this...Maybe I can figure
Vimeo out after we get home and post some.
Here are a couple of pictures, though...









While the rest of us were enjoying the dolphin antics, Mikey was going nuts over this little guy. They are very plentiful down here but not at home. We had an aquarium full of these when the kids were little. They are fun to watch but we got very tired of buying crickets for them...so we didn't replace them as they died of old age.
Seeing these little lizards brought back a bunch of good memories for the kids.



Mikey and I also enjoyed the beautiful flowers and scenery.









The Pets Ahoy show uses mostly rescue animals.
They are so wonderful.
It was great to see them perform.
The only mistake in the show...
was a skunk who did not want to do what
it was supposed to do...other than that
these birds, dogs, cats and pot bellied pig
were unbelievable.




Just for fun...


For our friends, Duane and Evan...
The Three Stooges-like Longshoremen...



We saw a show in the Nautilus Theatre.
The show was much better than the photos
I could get in there...so you are spared that.

Then off to Shamu.
We were first in line.
The boys were having fun at this show and
the one at the Nautilus being first and
feeling important. Funny!
So, we had great seats...just outside of the
soak zone. By this time the temperature was
cold!

As we were standing in line we could see the
trainers rubbing the killer whales and enjoyed
seeing this interaction.

Then the show began.
Again, here I took a fair amount of video
but here are a couple of stills.



We are now about to begin our last day in Florida.
It has been wonderful...
but we are also ready to see our
friends and our pets at home.

Have an awesome day...wherever you are.

♥♥Becky K.♥♥

Legos and Horses...Oh My!

We had so much fun in the Lego Store!
Who would have thought...but this is
an imagination starter...for real!



The things they have built with Legos!



Our boys have a friend, named Josh, who knows
all things Lego. They insisted on having their
pictures taken with these lifesize Lego creations
to show off to Josh.
Hmmm...wonder if I should have gone along with
that? Oh yes! Josh...eat your heart out!



Look Josh, A large magnifying glass so you can
see all of the little men.



Lego Dogs....



Puff, here!
Oh Josh it was wonderful...
too bad you weren't with us!
See you at home...

Josh is like a member of our
family...so we treat him like
one...teasing and all.




Next, quite by accident we found something
that made Warren's heart go pitter-patter!
An open electric panel!!!!
Whew! It was out on a dock and he
couldn't get to it!
But he took this picture!



He also took this one.





Our next stop was to use up some gift
cards in a movie theatre in Disney.
I didn't realize that we had no AMC
Theatres near us when I selected these
gift cards as a part of our tax return
two years ago. They had been sitting in
a drawer ever since. We thought this vacation
would be an excellent time to find a Theatre
in which to use them. We were right!
This theatre was huge...the seats were great.

Cannot recommend the movie as family friendly
though. It was the Pink Panther 2. What a
bummer! The kids had the impression that it
was made for families. Maybe in the minds of the
creators it was...but not for this family.
It is way too suggestive. The kids were uncomfortable,
as were Warren and myself.
Funny! Very funny, though.

Directly after this we headed out to use more
complimentary tickets.
At the Arabian Knights Dinner Theatre.
Oy!
What to say about this.
The horses were beautiful...
the riders were excellent.
And I think I will leave it at that
with the pictures.

Enjoy...








Many thanks to our friend, Lindsay. This show was more enjoyable because of the
things you have taught us about horses. Some of the things they did were crazy hard but we only knew that because of you, dear girl!
Thanks!

♥♥Becky K.♥♥

Just Another Day in Paradise

When I showed you the pictures of us in the Restaurant
in Busch Gardens I was so tired that I could not find
the picture of the outside. This is it. Isn't it
beautiful? It all added to the loveliness of the
meal.

Yesterday we went to Seaworld Orlando for the first time.
We had been to the one in Ohio when Chelsea was about two.
I love some of the pictures with my Dad and the kids from that
trip...however, since Chelsea is now thirteen this was a much
different adventure.


First thing, they had to try the rides.
The rollercoaster got very high ratings
from all three riders.

We greatly enjoyed the two shows we saw here.
We went to the Whale and Dolphin Show and the Sea Lion
and Otter Show. I always find that the photos of these
shows are a disappointing representation so I am not showing
you many of them. In fact, I didn't bother to take any at
the Sea Lion and Otter Show. The set up wasn't right for that...
and we were too busy laughing until it hurt!

Great stuff!




We saw some sharks in the Shark Encounter...

Lovely seascape...


A "few" penguins...
This was the smelliest exhibit we were in!
Ugghhh....fishy, very fishy!


When you are in this attraction you are on a conveyor belt with a lot of people.
I haven't completely figured out the best camera setting or how to account for the fact that we are moving and the shark or penguin is also moving. But you get the idea...

We will go back to Seaworld at least one more day...
not today, though. We are so tired and need a day
to settle in, get groceries, do some laundry. Just
a calm and cool homemaking day...

Here...




Our Timeshare unit is absolutely beautiful!
We love it!
Thanks Mom!

Our serious son wanted to say "Hi!" to
everyone at home...


While a very tired Chelsea loved the bench in front of the huge mirror in the master suite.


This is a wonderful time away from the cares and stresses
that are happening in the world today. We are not totally
unaware, however, and even have concerns of our own.

I do not want anyone to think that we are not in prayer
over the state of our economy or those who are suffering
loss of jobs and savings right now.

There are certainly some grave issues being dealt with
in Washington and I, of course, have many opinions...
but there will be time for spouting off later...

It is merely our intention with these posts to provide a
way for those who care to follow us to see some of the
attractions we visit and stay connected.

SO...hopefully we will manage to come up with some
great photos from our laundry day...
to show you tomorrow.

Perhaps something a little better than that...if our
plans work out!

Stay tuned!
(Dad was in radio, just can't get it out of
my system)
♥♥Becky K.♥♥