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So today is the last day of camp! It’s been an exhausting week! I’ve walked a total 28 miles in 4 days, I’ve slept the same amount of hours in those 4 days and it’s been a blast!!

Today we rolled these girls out of bed, this crazy schedule has completely exhausted them!

Breakfast is my favorite meal on campus…the biscuits and gravy are still the same 19 years later!

This was in the morning service. This is my one of my best friends daughter and she really took Ry in and befriended her for this trip! Such a sweet heart!

After service we played some crazy competition! It was chaos!

Then it was off to free time!!

First up was a wacky photo contest! They had all these photo challenges they had to complete to get points for their team.

Then it was off to rock climbing. Ryanna has been afraid to climb all week so Alan came over to the campus to help motivate her. He got her all the way to the top. She did awesome!

Next up, Ashlyn! She was afraid to let go when she had climbed to the top. So getting down was hard for her! Uncle Alan to the rescue! He talked to her and helped her learn to trust the ropes.

Then off to dinner! Alan joined us and we were able to have dinner with friends of ours from college. They were in town picking their kids up from teen camp. It was so neat to be able to hang out in our old stomping grounds! 19 years later!

Meanwhile, Bree, Butter and Jack were enjoying the pool. Then they went to Pensacola beach to see the Blue Angels!

After the evening service at camp we took a group pic then had testimony time with our kids. It was so neat to listen to what they got out of camp. As a sponsor watching the kiddos I didn’t see or hear as much as what they did in their sessions. It was neat to hear how the Holy Spirit worked in their hearts.

The night however was not over! Off to the swim center! The girls flipped and dove and swam and twirled!

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Then it was off to the final team competition and to announce the team for the week that won!

It was absolute madness and pandemonium when it was announced that our team the red bulldozers had won! Our kids were so excited! It was crazy!

After collecting all the kiddos we headed back to pack up and be ready for our 5:45 AM wake up call!!!

Wowza, I am exhausted!!! Rise and Shine was early this morning, I could barely drag myself out of bed. Probably, because I had a late night visitor, the hall leaders woke her up during bed check so she came and snuggled with me!

or maybe having to deal with a toothpick in the bottom of the foot at 10:30 at night!

But I did and so the day began!

We headed to breakfast and morning sessions then off to a crazy team competition!

The kids had a great time playing and our team did awesome!

Then I headed off for lunch with Alan, Bree and Jack!

They are really enjoying the pool at the hotel!

Back at camp, it was time for girls swim! Ry loved the diving boards. We swam for about 15 minutes before an afternoon storm rolled in and we had to vacate the pool. We made thre best of it with more skating and bowling before dinner.

My adorable teen camper before dinner, where did the time go!

During dinner I ran to eat with the other half of the family! This has been a crazy day. Jack and Bree enjoyed incredible 2 on the afternoon and then Outback for dinner!

When I got back to campus the girls were hanging out in the dorm before souvenir shopping and then a Teen Extreme version of the Amazing Race which was crazy!

She pocked a stuffed animal, she’s still my little girl!

After a hall meeting we headed to bed it has been such a long day! 7.25 miles…my feet are done! 👣

Phew! Teen Camp is not for the faint of heart! My feet hurt, I have sweat off ten lbs and I’ve walked 6 1/2 miles today!

We started off getting the girls ready for breakfast! Ry and I are staying in my old dorm. She was so excited when she found out we would be in Griffith where I spent three of my four years in college at.

My baby girl sleeping in a college dorm! I snuck this pic at 6:30 am!

I just love this special time with her, I love her so much! 😘

Our next stop was breakfast at the four winds! I spent many a day there cooking away! We then had morning services. She looks so grown up sitting with the youth group!

I’m so the embarrassing mom taking all the pics!!

After that a CRAZY team competition game. I was terrified! But the kids loved it! When it was over one girl said to me with wide eyes, “Is this what college is like?” Um…no sweet girl not at all! 😂

Next up is lunch! How did the morning go by so quick!

Then off to free time!!! The water park was open for the girls so that was where they headed. Ry has been begging to do the flow rider. I was so proud of all she did even being the only girl in our group to attempt standing on it.

Next up, rock climbing! Then a pretzel for her first purchase on campus!

Shouldn’t this day be over already?!?! Nope! Dinner, then the evening services and some more free time of ice skating and bowling!

She had such a good day!

Can’t forget about Bree! She spent the day with dolphins!

And Jack!

We are having so much fun in Florida!!

What a day!!

The girls and I woke up early and headed to the beach! We swam, boogie boarded, built sand castles and gathered seashells. It was a great morning.

Bree has said all she wanted to do this week was to build a giant sandcastle! She was so excited when Ry and I decided to help her. We all pitched in and she was so excited!

I got soaked in the process from a rogue wave.

We stayed at the beach until lunch then headed to campus for Ry to meet up with the youth group. Bree was able to hang out for a bit while we got situated in the dorms and then went Roller blading! I didn’t take many pics, hopefully note tomorrow!

So fun to also have my niece Ashlyn here! The girls are having so much fun together!

Late to bed tonight and an early wale up call…not sure if I’m cut out for this!! I’m too old!

We woke up in the beautiful panhandle of Florida and the sun was shining! ☀️

We were headed to church this morning to see an old friend from our college days. We enjoyed the service, it was their 45th anniversary service, very neat to be a part of.

We had dinner on the grounds and then an afternoon service.

Afterwards we took the girls over to the campus of PCC, where Alan and I first met!

It was so neat being back with our children. We have not returned to campus in over 15 years. Changes have really been made but the core is still the same. We saw our dorms our old class buildings, the crowne center. Alan showed the girls where we used to live and hang out. It was so much fun!

As crazy as it was it was so special to think this was where it all started, gave me tears in my eyes to think without this place none of my life would exist!

And to add an even crazier twist…I drop my daughter off tomorrow here for teen camp and I’ll be spending the night in the dorms again as a chaperone! 😱

Our next stop was the beach, we grabbed Butter who had been hanging out at the hotel and headed out!

The sun was going down and the weather was beautiful! The girls were just gonna play in the sand, but eventually got soaking wet!

It was such a perfect ending to a beautiful Sunday!

Salty Hair, Sandy Toes and an Ocean Breeze

Finally, we are taking a summer vacation!!

We are headed to the Florida panhandle for the white beaches of Pensacola! Where our love story began almost 20 years ago!

Ry is going to teen camp at our old alma mater. Not sure how so many years passed by in the blink of an eye, but they did and our girl is headed to teen camp!

We loaded the car with everything we needed for the beach, the camp, and everything in between! We are packed in here!!

Butter is headed off with us…seeing as he is our only pup now he pretty much goes everywhere with us! We also had to drop our newest family member, Lola, off at her babysitters. She’s a quirky, little, pokey haired, guinea pig!

Daddy is forever the captain of our vessel!

Butter managed to break his toenail off right before we left today so he’s bandaged for a day but will be good as new soon! He loves car rides and sleeps so good on my lap!

Vacation, next exit ↗️🚘

Today was out last day at Disney World. ☹️

Our feet our tired, our bodies ache, but this girl has loved every minute of it!

Off to Hollywood Studios!

This park doesn’t have very many rides, and just a few shows. Star Wars is all over this park so the girls were super excited. Ry made sure to style her hair in Princess Lea buns.

We had wanted to do Jedi training for the girls, but we were just too tired to get up early and get signed up, so our first stop when we got to the park was the Tower of Terror! Mommy and Bree wanted nothing to do with it, so Daddy, Ry and Wowo headed off. They were able to ride it twice

Next up, Beauty and the Beast LIVE and then daddy and the girls rode Star Tours. We ran across the park to meet Chewbacca before running back across the park to see the Indiana Jones stunt show.

Ryanna 😍😍😍 loved Chewbacca! She was so excited to get to meet him, and a storm trooper stopped for a photo while we were in line.

Indiana Jones is always fun to watch, we ate pizza during the show so we could be ready to go after it ended!

Toy Story Mania was up next, everyone always tells me make sure you go and I’ve never been able to. We did this time with a fast pass and it was awesome! So fun!!

After Toy story we had done everything but the rockin roller coaster and Ry and Alan didn’t really want to so we headed home for some r & r before we came back for the final fireworks show.

One more Starbucks though! That’s been at least 1 in every park, and of course a mickey shaped snack!

Fantasmic and Star Wars Spectacular

We came back after dark to see Fantasmic and the Star Wars fireworks.

Fantasmic was first, so we have pics, then we raced over to Star Wars and I forgot to take pics!! It was neat with a lot of fireworks and scenes depicted on the buildings.

We had such a great time, even though we visited on one of the busiest weeks of the year, we had a plan and it worked great. We had such a great time!!

Now it’s time to say goodbye to all our company, M I C K E Y M O U S E! See ya real soon!

We started the day out with lots of other people. It was crazy. Alan, my aunt and the girls high tailed it to space mountain to make our fast pass while I carried all our bags through bag check. I had a leisurely ride over on the boat and met them in time for them to take my fast pass and go again! Bree opted to stay with me the second time, she was pretty scared he first time.

Our next stop was one of my favorites, the Barnstormer! Then it was off to Dumbo, I hope my girls are never too old to ride with us on Dumbo! We strolled through Ariel’s kingdom and then by Belle’s castle.

We rode Big Thunder Mountain, it is my favorite and I rode in the front car! So much fun. Then booked it to Aladdin’s carpet and off to get ice cream and lunch!

Dole whip is one of my favorite things at Disney. I had to try all three!

We had lunch at Pecos Bill which was delicious!!! Then headed to Astro orbiter!

Time for a nap back at the hotel and then back again for a nighttime trip!

But first some castle pics, Finally!

We grabbed some souvenirs on the way out and headed for our nap!

Magic Kingdom Round 2, after dark!!

We rode the ferry boat back over right at sunset, it was gorgeous! Our first ride was Pirates of the Caribbean!

Next up, Happily Ever After firework show. We were over in Pirates before the show so couldn’t get to the castle, but we had an awesome view of the fireworks from Liberty Square.

Next up was dinner, we had fed the girls at the timeshare. I had been eyeing a fruit and waffle sandwich all day and finally got it!!! It was delicious!!!

Bree had wanted to ride the Speedway all day, but it had such a long line and no more fast passes, so we waited an hour! The the longest wait we’ve had since we’ve been here!!!

We booked it to the tea cups and walked on…well I took pics I can’t spin around and around!

Then we headed home, it had been a magical day but our feet were done!!

See ya real soon! ~Mickey 🐭

Disney day 2 – Epcot

We made it to the park before it opened for rope drop.

Our goal was Soarin! We hustled through the park with everyone else who had the same goal as us and made it with only a 30 minute wait.

I panicked at the last minute because so many people were funneling into the line, so I headed to the line at Starbucks while Alan and the girls rode!

Our next stop was living in the land, my kind of boat ride!

We headed around the world showcase after that! We visited Canada, the UK, France, Japan. They still had the Eggstravaganza going on so we were finding hidden eggs in every country. The girls loved it! Some were easy, some werent!

We booked it back for our Test track fast pass! Lots of countries we walked through in the heat. It was such a hot day.

We had such a blast on test track, I was nervous and so was Bree but we loved it!

Next up Figment!!! I have loved this ride and this little dragon since I was a kid. I was so excited! And it didn’t disappoint!

We headed back yo Japan because Ry really wanted a mikogushi Pearl . She picked the oyster, harvested harvested the pearl and then set it in a necklace. Such a great souvenir! We finished our egg hunt, got our prizes and headed to Mission Space! I didn’t even attempt this ride and Alan said I wouldn’t have even made it through the line. It was super intense but Ryanna’s favorite ride!

Mickey shaped food is what we are all about!!!

Mickey pretzels to end the day!

Bree’s souvenir was a vial of candy!

The day wasn’t over yet though!

CHEF MiCKEYS!!!!

We had a delicious dinner, complete with meeting a few characters! I remember when my girls only wanted to meet characters at Disney. Now, one only wants to ride the scary rides, and the other wants to find the not so scary rides.

Time flies and kids grow up so quickly, I’m so glad for all the memories I have with my girls. It doesn’t matter if we are home doing school or at Disney with Mickey every minute I have with them is precious and I cherish it.

Our first day at Disney!!

We decided to get there at rope drop in hopes of riding Pandora…when the park opened it had a 120 minute wait so we just decided not to. Instead we headed to the safari!

There were lots of animals out roaming it was so neat. When we returned and rode it later in the day not as many animals were out. It had gotten very hot then and I’m sure they were in the shade sleeping.

Next stop Starbucks! We could not go without fuel!

So yummy!!

Next up, Everest! Ryanna, Alan and my aunt talked me into doing…Bree stayed off with Uncle Craig and rode the Kavi Rapids!

I was terrified, but I did it, twice!!! The ride had been closed in the early morning and when it reopened we were nearby so we had a minimal wait, then we rode again with our fast pass, then the brave ones rode a third time with the other fast passes we weren’t using. This was Ryanna’s favorite ride.

After this we roamed the park riding everything but the two Pandora rides.

We switched out our shoes halfway through the day hoping to save them a little for the next few days. Everyone was so thankful for the switch out! Shout out to our friends the Bowmans who told us this tip!

Such a fun day! Even though the park was packed we rode everything we wanted to, some more than once and barely waited in lines. I’m so thankful to friends who helped me plan, hopefully the rest of the trip continues like this!

My end of day treat! 18,000 steps and 7.5 miles!

Our photographer said Animal Kingdom is the biggest of all the parks, in fact every Disney park in the world supposedly could fit inside of it! That’s a lot of walking!

Hakuna Matata!