Vacation is off to a good start

On Saturday, we drove down to my sister's place in Downer's Grove for a BBQ and kick-off to vacation. J did so well being with so many different family members (sisters, step mom, cousins) who wanted some J time. His favorite thing was playing with these dinosaur figures of his cousin's. He also loved following around his 3-year-old cousin Henry all over the place. "Henry come play" he'd say. The best was when Henry, J and a friend's 2-year-old Zach went inside a see-through tent and were running around and around chasing and romping with each other. It was a long day though and we knew it was time to go around 9:30 when J was a little loopy from being overtired. He slept a little in the car but otherwise hadn't napped and he was wiped. We stayed the night at my older sister's place along with my sister Laurie (so 3 out of the 4 sisters were together). My cousin from St. Louis who had come up also stayed the night.

Sunday Aunt Kelly and Uncle RoRo made an incredible brunch for 12 with fruit salad, scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes with homemade blueberry compote and breakfast casserole. Wow! It was like being at a B&B. J had some OJ before eating and I didn't realize how much he drank until he would barely touch his food. He filled up on OJ! Soon he and Henry were off running around outside again. We stayed most of the day just relaxing but mostly indoors since it was so hot and humid outside. Once at my sister Ame's we unloaded and unpacked all the things for J and I for the week and put him down for a nap. Not 1/2 hour later he's crying and calling for me and I go in there and he says "I feel good mommy" meaning he was done with nap. So we got changed into swimsuits and went swimming. J was so excited to use the Batman water wings and then saw me with goggles and says "Where's J's goggles?" So we got him a pair. He looked absolutely adorable! Once in the water, though, he hated how the water wings felt so we took them off. He was great in the water as long as he could hold on tight to me. After dinner and then putting the kids to bed, Ame and I spent some time relaxing in the hot tub! It was very hot at first but then very relaxing. I then took a swim in the pool to cool off. It was great swimming underneath the stars. After another dip in the hot tub it was time to call it a night. Before bed, I was on Facebook and L instant messaged me and we chatted catching up on the rest of the day.

This morning I was up before everyone else and was able to have some devotional time. I was reading Acts 9:11-43. "From preacher to teacher." Once the disciple Ananias comes to Saul and speaks with him he regains his sight. Then at once he began to preach. The disciples didn't believe Saul was truly converted and were afraid of him. Saul spoke boldly in the name of the Lord. The irony is amazing, Beth reflects (in To Live is Christ), that Saul had come to Damascus to take prisoners but then he ended up being let into their homes. Verse 22 "Saul grew more and more powerful." Then the Jews tried to kill him. Barnabas, another disciple, opened his heart to Saul trusting him and his conversion story and then brought him in with the disciples. Saul's conversion story is just incredible to me. That he actually hears Jesus' voice, the men with him are petrified, he falls to his knees and is blinded! Then the Lord opens his eyes (truly) and he comes to believe. It is powerful for me to see Saul's passion to preach and to share the good news. Sometimes I find this so hard to do. I always pray for openings to share for Christ, yet sometimes I hold back and end up missing an opportunity. I look forward to reading more of this book as Paul is such an inspiration yet it also brings forth a challenge.


The kids played together after breakfast and then J lies down on the hardwood floor and says "I'm tired." I pick him up and bring him to the room to nap and he says "No, I feel good" but just looked so tired so I put him down and he ended up taking a 2 hour nap. His only nap of the day. After lunch, cousin Haley took J out to play in the sandbox.


We swam in the afternoon and my sister also held J for a while so I could swim around a bit. He didn't put up with that very long though because everything is still "no, mommy do it". Even brushing his teeth tonight. His cousin Haley asked to brush his teeth which I thought a great idea but J kept saying for me to do it. I did a little then he was OK with Haley taking over. Ame read the kids a couple books then they went off to bed.