The Taylor Family: August 2013

Saturday, August 31

Preparing the Troops

Yesterday Peter and I told the children to get all the Lego people they could together. We wanted them with heads, pants, arms, and hands. We didn’t tell them why but only that we had a surprise for them. The children started working but after a bit they only had a few people together so Peter and I decided to help out. We have a ton of Lego’s so all 5 of us were in the playroom dumping out the bins of Lego’s and separating

the body parts from the building parts. Once we had been through each been we took all the pieces and started to put the people together as they were supposed to go. All the children stayed up pretty late as we assembled the men and watched a documentary on TV. Eventually we put all the kids down and Peter and I continued to work on building people. We were up until after midnight finishing the people. Finally we were left with some extra hands and pants but couldn’t make any more complete people so we called it a night. In total we ended up making 194 Lego mini-figures. The girls kept asking us why but they will just have to wait and see.

Wednesday, August 28

Front Page News

Last week, my first week back, the Sanford Police Department decided to hold a Gun Buy Back in the community. Basically, we set up an event so that citizens can bring us their unwanted firearms and trade them in for a gift card to Wal-Mart or Target. I have worked several of these because I am in charge of all the guns once they are brought into the PD’s possession. It was a little tight with it being my first week back but I made sure I was a big part in this project because the more involved I am on the event side the

easier it is for me once we have all the weapons collected. I have had these buy backs happen in the past where I was not involved and it created days more work for me on the other side. This year, I specified exactly what I needed, picked my team to write up and enter the information and made sure all the supplies needed were ready. Things went extremely smooth on my end and we enjoyed a day out of the office and had great food provided by several local restaurants that donated food when they heard about the buy back. Of course, throughout the day we had several newspapers, news channels, and radio stations come by. Since I’m stationed at the latter part of the Buy Back I always seem to have my picture taken with the guns we’ve picked up. This article was on the front page of the Sanford Herald today. It was funny getting the message from my chief’s secretary asking me if I had seen myself. All in a day’s work.

Saturday, August 24

Happy Birthday Wyatt

This week Wyatt, my brother in law, turned 40 and my sister threw

him a party at Splitsville Bowling Alley at Downtown Disney. Peter was scheduled to play at church this week so I took the kids and picked up my mom on the way and the 5 of us went to the party. There were 6 lanes blocked off for everyone to bowl and the kids took the last two so they could have their own space and the adults could enjoy their time also. Dinner was provided and had a great

spread of yummy foods. I had a good time catching up with my aunt and uncle and also my brother, Brian, and his girlfriend. The party was really fun and I was impressed with how nice everything was, I’m not sure why really, it is Disney after all. Eventually we finished things up headed home. We all had a great time and the kids didn’t want to leave but we had a ways to drive home yet and it was getting late. Happy Birthday Wyatt, thanks for letting us share in your fun!!

Friday, August 23

A treat

Well we made it through the first week back to school and work. We all survived and found reasons we were happy to be back in our normal routines. Bresa has friends in her class and loves her

teacher. Abbi just loves to learn and of course see her friends again. Javan has had some issues adjusting to the new schedule but we are hoping he adapts quickly for the sake of his classmates and teacher. I spent my week catching up on my workload but also becoming aware of how great some of my coworkers are. I would have much

preferred to stay home with Peter and not have to return to work at all but I am blessed to be able to work alongside some pretty great people. Peter’s Dad had asked us to dinner for our anniversary and since things have been crazy with the baby, our cruise, and then school starting we had to push it back until tonight. We met Mike at the Cheesecake Factory for a wonderful dinner and of course delicious dessert. It was just the treat we needed to celebrate our first completed week back to real life. Good food and great company.

Monday, August 19

First Day of School and Work

Peter and I have waited all summer for this day, the first day

of school! We were busy all weekend getting school supplies in order and picking out what we were going to wear. The girls had missed feelings about going back to school. Abbi was excited because she loves school but Bresa was more reserved. I think she was excited because when we would talk about

her friends and her teacher she would get happy but she had to put on a show about how she didn’t want to go back so she wouldn’t admit it. Javan was excited, this year he starts preschool. He has been talking about it since he turned 4 so he is looking forward to being a big kid and going to school with his “pack-pack”. Javan will be going to the preschool at our church and then next year will start Kindergarten

and go to the elementary school where the girls go now. Abbi starts 3rd grade and Bresa starts 5th. I have been off for about a month before the baby was born. Today was also my first day back to work. I was not excited about it but life goes on. Peter will have the whole house to himself for several hours today. It will be quite the change from the summertime house filled with the entire family. Another school year is in session, we are all looking forward to see what God has in store for us.

Friday, August 16

Cruise Disembark: Home

Last night was our final night aboard the ship. We had pretty much gotten everything we could together so this morning once we were ready we packed up the last bits and headed off the ship. We didn't bother trying to get breakfast on board. We knew there would be a mad rush at Windjammer and since we didn't check any of our bags we were allowed to get off the ship earlier than everyone who did check luggage. We made our way up to deck five where we were to get get off and were happy to find that there was no line. Just a steady stream of people disembarking but no waiting or hold ups. We made it into and through the terminal in no time and found where we were supposed to get our bus to the parking lot. There was a shuttle already there but there was also many people in front of us so we knew we would have to wait until the next one came along. Much to our surprise an employee told us that there was only one seat left on the bus but we could both go if one of us was willing to stand. Of course Peter said that was no problem so we boarded (much to the frustration of the large family that was waiting in front of us) and got to our lot in just a few minutes time. We found our car and off we went. After stopping for some McDonald's breakfast and some gas I called my mom. She said the kids were doing great and asked us not to come home until after 4 so she had time to take them to their "Meet the Teacher Day" at the school and then have some time for the kids to get the house cleaned up and ready for us. No problem with us, we were hoping to get to enjoy some more time alone before we returned to the real world of school and work days. While we on the ship I got a voicemail about a piece of equipment I had been trying to rent from the hospital for the baby I just had. Finally there was one available so we drove to Daytona to pick it up from the hospital. Once all that was completed we drove back to Port Orange where we got pedicures to sooth our feet. I got a new blue color on my toes and Peter enjoyed a nice foot massage. Last week we had taken Oscar (our van) to the shop because he was having some serious AC issues. A friend from church runs the Tuffy in Port Orange so we had taken it to him. We got word once we got back on land that the car was ready and happy again so we drove just down the street and picked it up. From there we went to Red Robin for lunch and had some amazing burgers. We don't get to go there often because it is so far away from our home and we rarely have a reason to go to Port Orange. It was about 2:00 when we finished up lunch so we decided to go next door to the movie theater. I had no clue what was playing but Peter had been looking at the movies earlier in the day and thought Elysium looked interesting. I find that I enjoy movies better when I have no clue what they are about because I can't form any expectations about them. Peter gave me a quick synopsis of what it was about and it didn't sound terrible so we got our tickets and enjoyed the movie. It's funny how we spent our whole week together but somehow we still were in no hurry to return to it all. When we finally made it home the children were very happy to see us. We showed them all our pictures from our trip and gave them their presents and told them about how much we missed them. Then we unpacked our stuff and resumed normal life. We enjoyed our final few hours though before we let tomorrow and work and back to school stuff hit us. We had a great week and are very fortunate to be able to get away and celebrate our marriage that God has blessed us with. We look forward to many more wonderful years together.

Thursday, August 15

Cruise Day Four: Day at Sea

I am not sure why it took us so long but we finally took advantage of room service and ordered our breakfast for this morning last night. It was nice not fighting all the people in the Windjammer and being able to stay comfy in our bed while we enjoyed breakfast. Today was going to

be a very lazy day (even more so than the ones before). We finished our breakfast and then actually went back to sleep for a while. When we woke up again it was about time for lunch so we got up and ready and then headed to the dining room. We were pleasantly surprised to be seated with a couple from our dinner table so we talked to them for quite a while and as we were finishing up our dessert another couple from our dinner table walked in. We saw them walk in so Peter went and grabbed them and made them come sit with us. The waiters weren't too happy about this because they have a system but they didn't give us a hard time, we could just tell from their demeanor. We all sat with them as they ate their lunch and dessert and then we walked to the main lobby and sat in a group to play a game that was about to start. We had to listen to 25 different television theme songs and name the show they went with. We did alright but only got 17 and another group got 21. We had a good time though and it was fun to hear all the answers people came up with. Once that was through Peter and I went back to our room for a quick bit and then came back out and watched the ending of the Q&A session that was held with the magician from last night. We walked around the ship for a while and got a drink. We decided to avoid the pools since we knew most everyone would be there as we were at sea all day. We had a couple free game tokens for the casino because we are Crown and Anchor members so we took our go at that to no avail and then wandered into a lounge. Peter ordered the drink of the day and I took a sip but alcohol is just not my thing I guess because it was not anything I wanted to try

again. We sat at the window and watched the water for a while and then followed some people headed to a place we hadn't explored yet. Turns out there was another room in the back where a bingo game was going to start. We didn't want to play and it wasn't going to be for another 30 minutes or so anyhow so we left and walked around one of the outside decks. I was hoping to see some dolphins like we had on our last cruise but we weren't so lucky. After awhile we headed back to our room to freshen up and get ready for dinner. We enjoyed another great meal with great company and took some pictures of everyone and exchanged contact information. One of the couples headed off but the rest of us (the same two couples from lunch) decided to hang out and play some cards. We learned a new a game and got some drinks and played for a good hour or so until the Farewell show was about to start. We went to the auditorium and found some seats and watched the show. There was another one directly following it but Peter and I had things to do in the room to get ready for our departure tomorrow so we said good bye and good night and turned in for the night.

Wednesday, August 14

Cruise Day Three: Nassau

When we awoke this morning we were docked at Nassau. We slept in which was very nice so we would have energy for the day. We got up and ready and headed to the Windjammer for breakfast. We weren't in any hurry to get off the ship. We didn't want to fight the crowds and stand in line to depart and we knew we only planned to walk around until we found a couple dresses for the girls and then get back on board. We didn't really do much of anything in the morning

time. Just relaxed and enjoyed some peace. We went to the deck that had all the shops on it and walked through each one. I wasn't looking for anything in particular but I did want to find a magnet for our collection of places we've been and I was hoping to find a bag like the one I had bought on our last cruise for my friend Jana. We window shopped for quite a while but left the stores empty handed. I didn't want to spend money unnecessarily

and since we hadn't been to land yet I knew we could always come back to pick up anything I had seen. After some more wandering around we went to lunch at Windjammers. We would have liked to go to the dining room but it wasn't open today. There was a bit of a crowd when we were getting our food but we found a nice seat by the window with no problem. We watched the people on the shore for a while and after we finished we

stopped at our room real quick and then got off the ship. When we had come to the Bahamas on our Disney cruise last year we found really cute dresses for the girls but they have since outgrown them so I wanted to get a couple more. We walked straight to the shop we had bought them at and found a few that looked to be the right sizes. We also found a color changing shirt for Javan and a magnet for me. We left that store and crossed the street to go into a Del Sol shop where Peter and I bought color changing rings for each

of the children and a shirt for each of us. We hadn't intended on going through the market area but since it was right there I said I wanted to look for that bag for Jana. We did a very quick walk through and tried not to touch much since that prompts immediate soliciting from the shop owners. We walked through the entire market in probably a minute or two and didn't see anything like what I wanted. Once on the other side we walked back to the ship and got cleaned up a bit. Once we were a bit more refreshed we walked the ship a bit and then grabbed a couple drinks from Starbucks. We took them up to the 11th deck (the Observation Deck) and sat at a window and watched all the

people. We just rested and talked and laughed and enjoyed each other's company for a long time. It was really quiet up there and we only saw two other couples while we sat there. Once we were ready to go we walked down a deck and took some photos before it was time for dinner. At dinner we got to hear all about the other couples' (one couple was missing) adventures on the island. None of them had ever been there before so they did a lot more exploring than we had. After dinner we went back to the room and I changed my clothes and then we walked the

outer deck and enjoyed the cooler weather. It was so hot during the day we didn't spend too much time out in the heat but now the sun was setting and there was a nice breeze. We took a few more photos and watched the night life on the island for a while. Pretty soon we were getting sleepy and wanted to get comfy so we headed back to our room for the night.

Tuesday, August 13

Cruise Day Two: Coco Cay

We tried to see the meteor shower last night around 3:30am but when we went up to deck 10 we didn't see anything. We could see the stars just fine

but we didn't see any meteors. It was really windy and cold so we only tried for about 10 minutes and then went back to bed. When we woke up again we were already docked at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean's private island. We weren't in any particular hurry to get off the ship so we took our time getting our breakfast at Windjammers. Again, it was really busy and we ended up standing up to eat our meal. We talked a lot about our kids and how much we missed them. Normally we can go on vacations and be gone for several days before we start to really miss the children but

I think since we have taken them on cruises before we were reminded of all the things that got them excited and all the things we knew they would love which made us miss them all the more. We finished breakfast and then after stopping in our room we headed downstairs to get on the tender to take us to land. When we got to deck 2 we ran right into two of the couples from our dinner table. That worked out really well because apparently the line to get off started back up on deck 4 but they let us slide right in because we honestly didn't know any better. We had to wait for a while until the next ferry arrived for us to board but then we all got on and were on our way. It was about a mile to the island so we were there in very little time. We docked and then walked off the tender onto land. It was very hot out so we first went to find some water. After we got a couple glasses we started to

explore the island and talked about what we could do. When we had gone on a cruise before we rented a paddle boat and took it for a little ride but it was so hot out we weren't sure we would survive the hot sun out on the ocean. We went out on a jetty and took some photos and then walked back to the dock area while walking in the water to cool our feet. Towards the boat there were a couple ladies who were trying to solicit people to get their hair braided. I wanted to do this anyway so we stopped and I got 3 single braids put into my hair. Peter didn't have exact change so he decided to get a braid too and then we just gave the lady a couple dollars tip. From there we walked to the shops that were set up just a bit down the way. All the shops and such are run by locals so it is all the same stuff you

find in the markets at Nassau. My mom had asked me to pick up a shirt for her so Peter and I walked around until we found the one we wanted. After that we were really hot and sweaty and not really in the mood to get sunburned so we headed back to the tender to get back on the ship. Since we live so close to the beach we weren't really that excited about laying out or getting sun. Once we were back on the ship we decided to get some lunch. In the past we have always gone to the buffet for meals other than dinner but we were told we could go to the dining room for breakfast and lunch also. We went in and were shown to a table (not our usual one) and given a menu. I chose the chicken sliders and Peter got the cheeseburger. Before our entree came we went to the salad bar they had set up in the middle of the room. They had just about anything you could think of and you just told the man behind the stand what you wanted and he added it all to a metal bowl. Then you told him what dressing you wanted and after he added that he used a pizza slicer to mix and cut up everything in the bowl. Then he put it into a glass dish and added croutons (if you wanted them). Peter and I agreed that the salad was delicious and had we known we may have only gotten

that for lunch. We figure we will go there again for lunch at least one more time while we are on the ship. After we were all fed we decided to go to the adults only pool. It was pretty quiet since most everyone else was on the island. We enjoyed the water a bit but still tried to stay in the shade. We went in the hot tub at one point which wasn't heated (not sure why) because it was covered. After a while we sat out on the lounge chairs and got a little dried off before heading back to our room where we took showers and got cleaned up. I guess I was a bit tired because I dozed off at some point and when I woke up Peter told me we only had a few minutes before dinner. I scrambled around and somehow managed to get ready in time and then we headed to our dining room. We were happy to see everyone at dinner. Two of the couples were Christians and involved in their churches. Both of the guys in those couples played guitar so Peter had lots to talk about with them. The food was really good again and I cleaned my plate. After dinner Peter and I walked around the ship. We weren't really sure what we wanted to do so we just walked around. There was some sort of Captain's party so there was free champagne. Peter took a glass and then I picked up one that had blue champagne in it. I didn't like though, I am not much of a drinker at all, so I left Peter have a little and then gave it back. We walked around the upper decks and looked over but Peter was pretty tired (he didn't take a nap like I did) so after a while we went back to our cabin to relax.

Monday, August 12

Happy 13th Anniversary to us!

Today we celebrate our 13th year of marriage. It's hard to think we have been married for 13 years but at the same time it seems like we have always been together. This year we planned a last minute cruise for just the two of us. After carrying the baby the last 9 months and

going through the summer with all the kids at home and also just not being able to have much time for the two of us we needed a good getaway. We watched the prices on the cruises for a few days and then booked a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas on Royal Caribbean. My mom came out yesterday and spent the night so that she would be here all week to watch the kids for us. This morning Peter and I got up and got a few things together and then were

off to start our anniversary celebration. We drove to Daytona Beach and stopped at Panera Bread for breakfast. We sat and ate and took our time enjoying our meal. When we were through we drove the rest of the way to Port Canaveral and found our park and ride lot where we had previously reserved a spot to save some money from the parking garage right at the port. We didn't have to wait at all for the shuttle to take us to our ship so we got right on and were on our way. When we got to the port we dropped off our luggage and then went straight to check in. We got there right after 11 so there were very few people there and we didn't have to wait at all. Everything went smoothly and we were on the ship in no time. We weren't able to get into our room until about 1:30 so in the mean time we explored the ship and then helped ourselves to the buffet lunch in the Windjammers Restaurant.

It was pretty crowded at that point and we somehow made our way through the crowds to get our plates and then walked around a bit looking for a spot to sit. A lady at a table nearby called to us and asked if it was just us two. When I said yes she told us to sit with her and her sister. We gladly took a seat and started to enjoy our meal while talking with the two ladies. They were just from Ocala and had booked their cruise in April and had been counting down the days. I felt kind of bad that we had just booked ours not even two weeks ago. Once we finished eating we did a little more exploring and then headed down to our deck to see if our rooms were open yet. They weren't quite ready but we decided to wait around for a few minutes and then we were let in shortly after that. This cruise we decided to go for the ocean view room since the balconies were more than twice the price by the time we booked it. We found our room and put down our carry on things and then got a little comfortable. Our luggage hadn't been delivered yet but we had taken what we knew we would need with us. We went through the "Cruise Compass" which told us all the events that were happening for the day and then we went to some of the upper decks to see the pools and to get a

milkshake and coffee drink. After we sat and took it easy for a while we headed back to our room to start getting ready for dinner. We were in our room for a little bit when we heard a knock at the door and our luggage was delivered. We unpacked a few things and sorted some of the bathroom stuff out and then headed up to the dining room. On our past cruises we were always with friends or family so this was a new experience for us. We got to the dining room and were shown to the table number that was on our room key. It was a round table which seated 8 people. There were already two couples there and then after we sat down another couple come and joined us. I am not a very social person if I don't know you so I tend to be quiet and reserved and don't usually speak until spoken to so I was a little uncomfortable. Peter is much more personable and good at breaking the ice. Dinner was really good and all three courses were delicious. By the end of the meal all 8 of us were talking more comfortably and looking forward to dinner tomorrow night. After dinner Peter and I headed back to the room. It was only about 8 but we were tired and wanted to be alone. Also, tonight there was supposed to be a great meteor shower but it was supposed to be most prominent just before sunrise so we wanted to get some sleep so we could get up and take a look.

Wednesday, August 7

Bright and Shiny

Since we had our house repainted it looks so fresh and new. I noticed not long ago that our outdoor light fixtures were looking a bit beat up and old. At our old house we only had one outdoor fixture and after about 9 years we replaced it with a much nicer one that my mom gave to us but this time that wasn't in the budget and we would have needed three

of them. The ones on the house are nice ones, they are a decent size and are metal and glass instead of plastic so I decided I would touch them up rather than try and replace them. This morning Peter cut the breaker and we pulled them all down. I took them inside and completely took them apart and then cleaned them thoroughly with mineral spirits. I took the metal pieces out back and laid them on a large piece of craft

paper and proceeded to spray paint them with some good hammered metal paint that matched our facia. After an hour or so I applied a second coat and then just before the first few drops started to fall Peter and I brought all the parts inside. The first lamp went back together with little effort but the second and third weren't so nice. I was able to get just about all of it together but when it was time to put the lids on them there was one screw out of 6 on each of them that wouldn't fit into the last hole. I tried for about an hour, taking them back apart and starting

over, switching out a piece here and there to see if it help but I couldn't get it. Finally, I called to Peter who came and tried for a good 20 more minutes. At one point he said, "How much is it to just buy new ones?". I really didn't want to spend money on new ones, especially after I had already done all the work to make these ones new again so I took one of the lamps and pushed until the screw

finally went in the hole. The problem was that the way they are set up when we pushed on them it felt like and sounded like we were going to break one of the glass panes but the way I saw it, if we were going to buy new ones anyhow I could risk breaking the pane. Luckily that didn't happen and after I forced the first lamp into place Peter got the next one. Finally, we took them back out front and hung them back in place. They do look so much better but I have no plans to do that again for a very long time.

Friday, August 2

Puzzled

Bresa got a cool Texas shaped puzzle for her birthday from Grandpa George and Grandma Judy. Today she brought it out and asked if I would put it together with her. I am a sucker for puzzles and remember doing 500-1000 piece puzzles when I was as young as 5 years old. I like the puzzles with lots of colors and lots of things to look at. The best ones are the kind that aren't square or rectangular and are either round or some other odd shape. They make things more interested and less monotonous. We opened the box and dumped all the pieces out

and tried to go through and pull all the edges but because of the shape it was very difficult to determine if a piece was an edge or just a normal inside piece. We did our best and flipped all the pieces over so that we could see the picture side. Abbi helped a great deal too. She has always been interested in puzzles and is pretty good at them. We all worked on it all day and many times had to rearrange where things were laid out so that it fit into the picture correctly. We had 5 or 6 different islands that weren't connected to anything but were supposed to make up the border. Eventually things really started to come together and after a couple more hours and a late night movie Bresa and I added the final pieces. Somehow we ended up with one extra piece that clearly didn't come from the puzzle we were working on. No clue where it came from especially since we opened the box new so it couldn't have come from on of our other puzzles by mistake.