More photographs today - :)

The photos are in the reverse order of age development - the youngest pic is at the bottom here. All 3 boys are just so cute!

Brendon's "Angel" Anniversary Day

It was exactly two years at 1245 am this morning when our dear little 5 year old passed across to the heavenly realms. It has been a challenging week full of memories and tears. Today I woke up feeling refreshed a little and with a little smile.

I have put some new pictures on this blog for those who have never seen his younger days before. They are up above this writing.

We miss you darling Brendon. We know you are okay and with all your friends who had cancer and many other children too who left earth way too early. Thank you sweetie for 5 1/4 wonderful years in our family. Your brothers talk about you often and so do we.
Lots of love
Mummy and Daddy, Daniel and Andrew.

Obedience to Christ

Our Bible Study Devotion for school today out of "Morning Bells." Does this speak to you - share with me!


John 2:5

"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it."

How are you to know what He says to you? Ah, it is so easy to know if we are really willing to know, and willing to obey when we do know! He has spoken so plainly to us in His Word in that He tells us, tells even little children, exactly what to do. It is most wonderful how He has said every thing there for for us, told us every thing we ought to do. When you read a chapter or hear one read, listen and watch to see what He saith unto you in it. There is another way in which He tells us what to do. Do you not hear a little voice inside that always tells you to do the right thing and not to do the wrong thing? That is conscience, and He speaks to you by it.

Another way is by those whom He has set over You. he has told you once for all to "obey your parents," and to "obey them that have the rule over you." so, when they tell you to do something, it is the Lord Jesus himself that you have to obey in obeying them.

Now "whatsoever He saith unto you, do it!" Yes, "whatsoever," dear little one, whether easy or hard, do it because He tells you; do it for love of Him, and it will be a thousand times better and happier to obey your King than to please yourself. And He himself will help you to do it; only look up to Him for grace to obey, and He will give it.

"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." Do not just thing about doing it, or talk about doing it, but do it! "Do it!" Do the exact thing He would have you do, not something a little bit different, or something which you think will be very nearly the same, but "do it."

And "do it" at once. It is so true that "the very first moment is the easiest for obedience." Every minute that you put off doing the right thing makes it harder. Do not let your King have to "speak twice" to you. "Whatsoever" He saith unto you, do it cheerfully, exactly, and instantly.

I need to continue writing about Brendon and his legacy, to share what the Lord has done, can do and continues to do through a small 5 year old boy.

"DON'T GIVE UP!"

National Museum of the United States Air Force

Wow this was an amazing place for boys - especially those who are interested in flying machines, war and such things. Of course that does not really include myself but I still went anyway. My favorite part of this museum was the humongous planes outside on an old runway/parking lot. As the day was about 90 degrees in the shade this was a warm venture to visit.

The museum inside has air conditioning and is enjoyable and HUGE. There are many different parts to this museum and a gift shop for those knick-knacks and reminders or just to purchase postcards because your camera can't do it justice.

The stories that are told through the history of the aircraft is amazing. We even saw Kennedy's Air force One. Fancy that. Yes it was interesting and good to go back to again in a few years when perhaps my little guy is not so tired!

The galleries are filled with places, gliders, the Wind tunnel example that the Wright brothers used to work out how to fly/build their plane. One of their planes is on display too - exciting to see especially once you have studied flying! there are the Cold War and Missile Galleries too - not to be missed. Mannequins and other props are used to make this museum more friendly to visit.

The boys and their Dad paid to ride in the the Cockpit of a 'bomber' I think. They 'flew' over the mountains, down the valleys and had a 5 minute ride of fun. My oldest could not stop talking about it afterwards and the little guy said they nearly crashed into the mountains! He thought it was real!

We had an enjoyable time there and as it is not too far of a drive from home can be visited from here in one day too. It is free with a huge parking lot. During school times I am sure there are plenty of school tours but you can pick to get there later in the morning to avoid the crowds I think. This museum is open 7 days a week and is staffed mostly by volunteers which is amazing too.

I hope you enjoyed walking through our vacation to Ohio with us this year and some of our memories for years to come. I like sharing them with you too.

Here is a link for their website:

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum

Ohio Caverns

On the morning of our fourth day of vacation we ventured Northwest of Columbus to where Ohio Caverns is situated. It is 4 miles west of a small town called West Liberty. I assure you it is long, windy, cool and our group of about 20 people took at least an hour to venture through here. There is time to take photographs during the tour but it is better if you have a professional camera or photographer with you to use them instead. I found that a lot of flash photography with regular digital cameras in the semi dark is definitely not good quality.

Our boys loved this cave experience and think it is a pretty cool thing to be 100 feet underground and see this rock formation in different colors. they have one stalactite and stalagmite formation that have joined together to form the shape of a water pump. Another humongous formation looks like a baseball bat and still other larger ones like pillars holding up buildings. The original owner of the land preserved these caves haphazardly until someone bought the land from him and then the next owner begun to stop visitors from touching the stalactites and stalagmites to prevent deterioration. I'm glad this happened as we probably would not have this natural wonder to enjoy if someone had not taken the care to preserve the natural history on this farm. Andy is above pictured next to a big icicle shaped stalactite.

We came out of the caverns at the end of our tour and had thoroughly cooled off with the temperature underground about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, to a whopping 95 degrees outside. It was a dramatic change! We picnicked on the grounds and there are shelters available to do that under too.

We later drove through the countryside on our way to an Amish restaurant (Family style) to partake of a late lunch early dinner in their buffet section. That was probably a mistake for two of us as the food did not entirely agree with us almost immediately. We are also not used to so many additives in what we eat. We will not be doing that for a while either. Photo above of the boys in the Amish wagon!

We drove slowly back to Columbus, OH for to tumble everyone into a bath as they were filthy from the caves. (Tip: wear old clothes) The fresh country air makes one weary too. So ended the fourth day of our mini-vacation.

COSI Museum and Historic Roscoe village

On waking up on our second day we ventured downtown Columbus to the phenomenal and kind of big COSI Museum (http://www.cosi.org/ ). This Museum is definitely geared towards children of all ages but after visiting all the levels, and most of the museum, except the 3D movie theatres it was worth the visit. We were blessed to not have to pay admission due to being members of the Indiana State Museum. There is a link between some state museums called the Passport Program (link here: http://www.cosi.org/files/File/ASTCPassportProgram.pdf ) . This sure helped us out. There were 2 3D movies at the time of our visit but we did not have the time in our 8 hour day to watch either of them. One was on Whales and Dolphins and the other on The Titanic. We hope to visit the Titanic exhibit when it comes to the Indiana State Museum.

COSI Museum had a special area for the toddlers and no child over 3 was allowed to visit. There were lots of interactive things for Andy to participate in in this area. When about an hour had passed and it came time to move to the next exhibit we had a few tantrums to get through.

I can not honestly remember all the different things that we saw in there, although there was a special exhibit that only teachers who attended that day got to see. As I had registered for the teacher conference that day we got the opportunity to visit the Valley of the Unknown. Inside here we were given a map and clues to find, and tried to solve each part of the ancient language message on our map. At the end we entered the Temple and found the treasure. My son Dan was in his element as he searched for the clues, and eagerly looked for anything else we needed to know. He had fun. This exhibit was a trial run that was officially being opened to the public later this year.

Our day at the Museum was so fun and over too soon. We will go back on another mini vacation and see what they have changed and enjoy what has not!


Roscoe Village, Coshocton, Ohio

We travelled a few hours NorthEast from Columbus to Roscoe Village ( http://www.roscoevillage.com/ ). Here is a small colonial town which dates back to the 1800's. There are Living History Exhibit Buildings all over the tiny town but we did not have time to purchase the tour through all the buildings that they visit. Our toddler would not have done very well with all the walking too. The buildings look interesting but are only opened with a tour guide especially during out of season times. The main tourist office for the village does have a small shop attached to it , as well as an educational center inside. The children tried on hats and clothes from the 1800's and played with some of the toys that would have been popular in that day and time.

We walked across a park area to the place where we boarded our Canal boat for an hour's ride on a restored boat from the 1800's. This ride was quite a treat for my son and I as we had studied the Erie Canal last fall and enjoyed reading about the families and businessmen that had built and used the canal. It cemented a lot of the information that we had read about. the walk between the Visitor's Center and the Canal Boat Ride is far so it is advised to drive especially if you have small children.

Once we had returned to the Visitors Center a storm was brewing and we had to walk back to our vehicle. This entailed more walking as we were parked at the other end of the village. Of course we took it in turns to carry an extremely tired 3 year old. He then started eating his lunch in the van and promptly fell fast asleep in the middle of his third bite of food, and no sooner was he asleep than the heavens opened, and we were all rocked around in our van by thunder, lightning and rain. We were reasonably safe but on driving out of the village realized how severe the straight line winds had been in that storm. Giant trees, medium sized trees and debris were everywhere on the roads - it was amazing what power the winds had that day!

Roscoe Village is somewhere to visit if your children are studying Colonial America, the Erie Canal, or life in the 1800's. We wished we had more time to visit but glad that we saw what we did!

Ok the pic at the top of the post is me all dressed up in Colonial clothing - whew it was hot!


On the way home we stopped by an amazing Ice Cream shop. Velvet Ice Cream (http://velveticecream.com/ ) make their own ice cream on site, with a viewing window to see into the processing room, as well as a cafe to sample some of their wares and they ship all over the USA too.

It was a fun and exciting day filled with learning experiences and some fun ones to fill our bellies with!

Vacation Highlights August 2010

We decided to stay at a Homewood Suites Hotel in Columbus located on the Northwest side of the city. It was fairly central to all the places we had planned to visit. We like these hotels as there is a light evening meal provided between 4-7pm, especially for the businessman or family I presume. Breakfast is a full breakfast with a cooked selection as well as the usual cereals and breads. We figure that the cost of eating dinner out with 4 of us ordering plus a cheaper hotel and dingy Continental breakfast, equals or or is more than staying at Homewood Suites. The evening meals I must say are only Monday through Thursday. The breakfasts are great no matter what and definitely fresh fruit is a big draw for our family. We had a King Suite with sofa bed. The suites are ideal for a small family like ours, we could fit nicely and could utilize the kitchen that they provide in the rooms too.

Our first day we drove down to "The Wilds" situated near Cumberland, Ohio. We had visited this game park before when Daniel and Brendon were much smaller. It is a touch of Africa in the middle of Ohio for me. Hopefully we can go back every few years. The Wilds has a wide range of animals, insects, amphibians and birds to see. No two days are the same say the bus and game truck drivers. One can tour on an air conditioned bus, an open-air safari or an individual jeep ride, depending on your level of comfort and pocket book!

There are animals from Africa, China, other Asian countries, and others found in the United States that have become endangered. I love to see my favourites like giraffes, zebras and rhino in the wild. I do not like seeing them caged in a zoo. At The Wilds you can view them in a natural setting with trees, grasses, birds, and insects all around them! It is an awesome place to visit.

There are camping experiences that you can have there too, stay in a yurt, or perhaps next summer book your child in for a really educational week to stay at The Wilds in a tent, and help them gather data on their animals and birds. We have found the day visit is a good start and really educational. We hope next time to be able to ride in an open air jeep to give our children more of the feel of being in the wild. I am not sure if I will ever get them back to my wonderful Africa. There are Family and Adult Camps available too throughout the year

Here is a link to their website if you want to go on over and peruse it http://thewilds.org/ . I put a picture at the top of my boys with the overlook and view behind them.


This is the first day and there is more to come!