Lights, Motors, Action... Disney Style

WoW... if you're a guy... and you enjoy driving your car as fast as you can.... then this is the attraction for you... I have to admit that I was memorized by the action as thes "little" Opel's that have been severely modified by Disney to meet their needs did their tricks on the set... and to see how many of the camera trick are carried out wa pretty cool indeed to see... maybe the most impressive stunt was the parellel parking of FIVE MOVING CARS to a dead stop!!! Truly Amazing!! I'm told that this attraction actually came from Disney land in Paris... no matter... it's a GREAT show!!

Florida ... Relatives

Even coming to Florida is about seeing relatives... and in this case we were able to meet Tyler... my brother's son for the first time... even if it rained a lot of the day in the Magic Kingdom... it still didn't detract from the fun of being at Disney.... it just reminded us of the Philippines :-0

Visit to Tara

After leaving Rushmore... we headed to Tara's (my youngest sister...) on the way to Florida... only God really knows how many years its been since we've seen each other... but for sure it's been more than 16 years (since Sandra and I got married)... it's amazing that it's been so very long...

Mt. Rushmore

It's was great to be able to stop by and see Mount Rushmore again after many years... and it was actually amazing to see how the National Parks and Services has added an amphitheater along with a walking path that allows you to get right underneath the carvings... I know for myself I had visited this sight as a young child and it created a lifetime memory... so I'm hoping the same holds true for my kids today...

Yellowstone... amazing colors

At the Midway Geyser Basin we saw the most amazing colors that nature creates... this picture is of the "grand Prismatic Spring" ... and keep in mind that I am NOT a professional photographer... nor was the stage set for this picture... it's just a capturing of God's handy work in His creation by a novice!! and even this picture does not do the actual landscape justice as to its full beauty.

Yellowstone... Are We Still On Earth??

Yellowstone National Park is quite an interesting and exciting place to visit... you come around the corner and see this scene and you have to wonder if you've departed earth for another planet somewhere else in the universe... because we "know" that our earth does not steam and shoot steam vents into the air like we see at Yellowstone...

Dust Devils

I've seen "Dust Devils" before... but had never had the opportunity to capture one on picture before... this was as we were crossing Idaho... and it might actually be the best defined dust devil I've actually seen... sorry... no video of the event...

Magtuba Beauties

Here we have 3 of the 4 Magtuba girls together ... and it's so great to see them enjoying each others company so very much in person as opposed to web-cams and phone calls!! Yes... it's been too long since they've been together physically... but by God's Grace they're together today... and for the next few days!!

We're SOOOOO Bad.....

We didn't tell Sandra's sister (Endi) that we'd be coming to her house two days early... because we wanted to surprise her... and indeed we did just that... here we have Endi... En-En... Mia... Ahte... Manang Esther and Manong James... at 1am.... it's been 4 years since we've seen Endi and about 6 years since seeing Manang and Manong...

Rugged Beauty

God has created so much Rugged Beauty that when we see it ... so many times we actually take it for granted and miss the moment... I'm not talking about worshiping the creation... I'm talking about worshiping the Creator!! How many times have you missed the chance to worship the Creator? .. as for me... please don't ask... because I miss the opportunity to worship the Creator so many times ( be them known to me or just overlooked because of my own agenda) ... but here at an Idaho rest stop... we did indeed take a few minutes to marvel at our Creators handywork!!

Kids Getting On Together

As I had mentioned the kids got on so well it was truly amazing... and here we see Morgan being "Lucky the Dog"... as opposed to a Dinosaur as in another pic... but the bottom line is the same... the kids got on so well together it was heartbreaking to leave as Sid... playing with Angela in the pic on the left... to not leave and then actually broke down into true tears as we loaded up into the car... So sorry Darling that we had to go so soon... hopefully we can visit again much sooner than this trip allowed!!

Can't See "MY" Eyes!!

I noticed a funny thing about Shana on this trip... she knew the "exact" moment to close her eyes so as to shield the world from their beauty... it was great to visit Sis....

Red is so IN

Although Sidney and I didn't know each other well... there's something about colors that can make people instant friends... and here I have found a friend for life .... as Sidney was displaying her "Pujols" jersey and of course I had on the Ohio State gear!! I have to admit how surprised I was to see how much Sid looks like my sister did when she was young :-0

Visit to Shana...

It was great to stop and see Shana and her family for a day... honestly the time we visited was just way too short considering all the years we haven't seen each other... and amazingly the kids got on as if they'd played together every day of their lives!! In this pic we have Morgan (hiding his body... yet still gracing us with his smile)... Sidney... Angela... Sandra... Maxine and Mia...

St Louis... The Arch is still There

We really didn't plan to go through downtown St Louis on the way to Shana's house (my oldest... youngest sister... if that isn't confusing already...)... but we took a chance that traffic wouldn't be as bad as advertised... and it wasn't at all... and we were rewarded with this great view of the St. Louis Arch on the Mississippi...

Hayden and the Keffer's

It was so funny... Hayden really warmed up to everyone in the family... (Sandra... Angela... Mia)... except for Grandpa... Sandra was holding her in less than an hour... and Hayden was enjoying the girls company most of the day... especially Mia's since they were the closest in age and Mia seemed to know how to connect more with Hayden... Grandpa Burr suggested we go to the Jersey Dairy just "down the way" from the house... and we did. We fed the goats and had homemade ice cream along with playing a round of putt-putt golf... on a perfect day!!

Four Generations!

Liana and Hayden came to Ohio to Grandma Burr's house to visit us today... and it was a very special day!! Here we have four generations in the picture with Great Grandma... Daddy (opps... Grandpa)... Mom (Liana) and ... Hayden (yeah... the 4th gen now)... it's so hard to believe that we're all this old (well... besides Hayden of course) to be in this position... but it is indeed by God's Grace that we are.... Li is doing a great job and we're so very proud of her!! And Hayden really enjoyed playing with her Aunt's and Lola Sandra :-)

Still Waters May Calm the Soul but...

... Rushing waters ignite the heart! That's for sure... and getting the chance to stop by Niagara Falls on our way across country was great indeed! The view is spectacular but even more so the sound of the rushing water is amazing... coupled with all the mist... the demonstration of the power of these falls was simply amazing to see the handy work of our Creator!

The Stage is Calling

All the worlds a stage when you're heading to your seat for commencement... it was great to get to experience crossing the stage and shaking the hands of the school president along with many of the alumni and to "feel" the feeling of a college graduation... even though we don't live by feelings ... and that's even more apparent today as we trust that God has our path planned out without us seeing where that map is leading us yet :-)

Jean M. Smith Award

It was great to get to meet Jean Smith today after receiving the Jean M. Smith award sponsored by her at Excelsior College for business and professional achievement. It was indeed an honor to be selected as the award recipient but even more of an honor to get to meet Ms. Smith herself.

Commencement Day at Excelsior

It's Commencement Day here at Excelsior ... and it's a little hard to believe that all the days of study are done for the degree... but learning in life doesn't end there that's for sure. The commencement will be broadcast live in the web at 3pm est...

www.excelsior.edu/webcast

It Really IS SO Green...

Something we've noticed even since coming back to the states from Cairo is how GREEN Connecticut is... and now that we're starting our vacation we're still seeing the same thing here in Mass... because for the last 3 years if you drive more than a half hour you're out of the city and all you see is Brown Sand... and some brown mountains too... but one thing you don't see tons of is green... of course all we hear people complaining about is how much it's rained and how chilly it is... but we're just happy to be experiencing it... also the cool summer kind of reminds us of living in London ...

Walk by the Sea

After our movie the other day (ok... 6 days ago now...) we remembered that the sea was right across the street from the theater so we should go for a stroll ... and here we are at McCooks beach... I think we'll have to spend a little more time at the beach here in CT...

Maybe it Realy is Home Improvement

It was much harder work than I expected... but it seems to have come out pretty well in the end... and when I took the finished picture I thought to myself... ohh... I didn't take a pic of the floor I took out... of well... the kitchen is so much brighter now with these tiles in.

Shopkeeper... Cage Your Animals

We went to the Subase tonight for the military appreciation night of Subfest... Subfest is a traveling carnival road show group with the standard midway rides and games booths with a firework show on the 4th that is open to the public on the Subase... and the girls did get their share of rides in... but when you see the girls getting into this ride... and then their faces later on during the ride (getting a focused pic was NOT easy on our camera.. it wasn't made for action pics)... well... it just made me think of the title of this post today. I can remember days lone ago that I'd get into such a contraption... but those days are indeed long gone! Funny thing today... we took the girls for dental check ups after 3 years in Egypt... and neither one of them had any cavities ... Yeah!! it was good to get the U.S. verification of their dental work done over there... just goes to show that both dentists that we used that were trained in the U.S. actually did very good work! (Osman Dental and Michigan Dental in Maadi).

Weather Report... Rain!

One thing we've seen lots of here in Connecticut.. and that's rain... but today was one of the strongest rains with loads of thunder and lightening... kind of reminded us of those rains in the Philippines... but when the rain broke the girls were outside playing... I was just a few seconds too slow to catch Mia dancing in the bigger puddle here...

The Foolish Man??

There's the proverb that talks about the wise man considers all that is required before he begins to build his house... and the fool... well... doesn't... so he comes "I"... thinking that the tiling job from the bathroom went pretty easy... all things considered... and that encouraged me to press on and do the kitchen next... because the tile was starting to come up ... but boy did I have the wrong weapon for the "tile war" here on the left (small hand scraper)... after doing six or seven tiles I realized I needed another trip to Home Depot for the right "gun" for the job at hand... if you look just left of the door the "manly" tile remover... 2/3's of the way now... but still so much to do... for sure it's more than I expected...