Tuesday

My babies and I had a wonderful night together. We had one of Alex's favorite meals, nacho and cheese. It was easy, fast and good. After, dinner we cleaned up real fast and Mom, Dad, Maddie, Alex and I got busy peeling and pitting peaches that we had purchased from the peach park on Saturday. We made our first batch of homemade peach jelly.....OH MY!!!! It is sooooooo Delicious. We also, frozen some peaches for a peach cobbler that is in our near future... we are going to be sweet and wait on Luke to get home so he can enjoy it too. He loves peach cobbler. We ended our night with a little shopping trip to Target to finish up Brittnee's school supply list. All of the above was great fun but the coolest part of our night was the moon...it was smiling at us. My sweet precious big hearted Mae said "Mama, it is Jesus smiling at us". Isn't that a warming thought.

As for Luke and the Mexico team, they had a great day again. The boys dorm/extension is almost ready for the roof to go on, so they were excited about that. The kids in the orphanage seemed to be more comfortable with them today so the team was encouraged by that...the men wrestled with some of the kids. Luke, said it is just really sad seeing such sweet kids in the situation they are in. He is just overwhelmed that parents give their kids up all the time there and here in America. However, most of the kids in this orphanage have been taken from their parents due to abuse...it still is really disturbing to him. How can people hurt the precious gift given to them from Our Lord? Steve and Amber the parents of this orphanage has done a wonderful job bringing the children up to know their Lord and Savior. Only one out of 32 orphans is not saved and she asked a lot of questions about becoming Christian lastnight. So we need to pray for her heart to be won by Jesus. Anyway, tonight at VBS they doubled their number of kids attending and they all had a great time. He is doing the recreation part, they played kick ball with them tonight. Gene is cooking them breakfast for dinner, Luke said it was smelling quit good.

Update from Mexico

Today they woke up ready to work and excited that the first day of VBS had arrived. The agenda today was work at the orphanage doing cedar block or paint then hold VBS at night. They are adding a boys dorm to the orphanage. Steve, the pastor that runs the center told them that they had done more work than two other Churches did in a whole week. Way to go VCBC. Luke, said the funny of the day was when they went to crank the van that they are using to travel back and forth from where they are staying and the orphanage wouldn't crank and the only way they had to get help with was an old little mini mopad...so him and Mike got on it and went to get Steve to let him know they needed a ride. Anyway, Luke was driving and he said it was hysterical seeing two American men riding a mopad down the road together. He said they looked soooo gay, with Mike all cuddled up to his back. He was excited that vacation bible was a success and he looks forward to seeing the results of God's work at the end of the week. He let me go to go finish cooking spaghetti for the team...which is a very scary thought, he doesn't know how to cook. We all need to pray for the rest of the teams well being after dinner. The picture of McDonald's is for Alex...he is very particular to which McDonald's he eats at...they have to be "a plain McDonald's" which means a square one in yellow and red the other McDonald's are not McDonald's to him and he refuses to eat there....it is the craziest thing. God broke the mold when he created him. He is very unique.

Luke update from Mexico

Saturday he said was long due to getting there so late but over all still good. They got up and walked around to get familiar with where they were, went and meet the orphans (which he said made his heart sad), the men and him repaired some roofing issues on a shed, went and ate some crazy chicken at Happy Chicken and then ended the night with the team's daily devotion. A funny that happen was a rat ran out and across the room during the devotion. Luke said it scared them all, now all the ladies were nervous about going to sleep but all the men had gas from the food and were loaded with ammunition to fum agate the rat out of there room so they were perfectly content going to dream land. You can also see more from there journey at www.themexicomission.blogspot.com.

The Peach Park

We got a wild hair Saturday afternoon to go to the peach park to get some yummy tomatoes and peaches....we are going to make Peach jam this week doesn't that sound like fun and devouring. I will post pics of the jam after we get it made but look how pretty the peaches and tomatoes were.

Luke leaving for Mexico

This journey has of course started off with the McLaughlin trait of having to turn around about 500 times and we were already going to be a few minutes late arriving to the airport....because Luke wanted his hair cut before leaving. Why he didn't get this done on Thursday I am not sure. Anyway, we made it only 30 minutes late. Check in was fine he made it through the security check points. We stayed and watched the play take off, the kids love watching that part. As we were getting off the exit by US Pipe in Hueytown, Luke was already calling saying they were off the plane in Atlanta...WOW, I was amazed at this. He called about 6:30 and said they were fixing to board the plane for Mexico. Lori and Harriet and their families came to Mama and Daddy's to swim and also we got Jesslyn lovin. Maddie and Griffy cooked up a sleep over too. So, they were up late dancing to Boogie on the Wii. Around 11:30 I talked to Luke and he said they had made it to Mexico, but was still in customs. So, I went on to bed with the kiddos. The drive from the airport to the place where they were staying was only about 3-4 hours and Luke was suppose to call as soon as he got there but when I woke at 3:30 and he still hadn't call, so I couldn't go back to sleep, at 4:30 since he didn't answer my text I called him and he didn't answer this either so I was thinking oh my I am fixing to have to get a search party out for the team. Anyway, I thought well I will try to go on to sleep and then call in the morning, Luke sleeps really hard and he might be sleeping, they are on our time zone. Well about 6:50 I woke back up and still no call from them so I called back and no answer again...at this point I was going into a panic. But he called me right back and said they were still driving. So, I was relieved but they were all sleepy because the drive was about 3-4 hours longer then expected. They final arrived at the house where they are staying around 7:30. He said it was nice thank goodness and everyone had done excellent on the flights and drive. It was just long.

Brittnee got braces

The last day at the beach and our trip home

We all slept in this morning, it was sooo nice. Once our stomachs were full to the beach we went to enjoy our last day there. It was perfect the breeze was blowing because a storm was on it is way it but hey...it felt good so it was not hindering our beach time. We built our last sand castle and buried Britt and Sarah one last time before going in to get dressed to take some family beach pics. We didn't all get to the beach in time before it started raining so we all didn't get pics and the pics weren't all real good but he you can only do what you can do. Did I mention when the sand blows in a storm it hurts when it hits you and gets in your eyes....Wow! Anyway, off to dinner we went and it was soooo yummy. We ate at Keengan's. (Drive-in Dinners the show had visited this place before). After dinner we went home and packed up for our trip back home. We got up at was gone by 9:30 but all wanted to go across the street to this cool store that you can buy items that changes colors in the sun. It reminded me of the hypo color shirts when I was little. The shopping trip was fun but it was time to head home. The GPS took us through Atlanta it by the time we got there we were soooo sleepy and decided to stay there overnight. We stopped by Stone Mountain and saw the laser light show and then woke up the next morning and went to The World of Coke. It SOOO fun but yet so nasty. Daddy got sick to his stomach, Britt loved the pineapple drink from Brazil, Maddie hated the Beverly, Sarah loved the North American drinks (That would be what we drink on a normal bases....so I agreed with Sarah these were the drinks) It was so refreshing to drink regular Coke Classic after tasting all the other nasty drinks from the other country's. We ended our trip shopping in The World Coke's shop...Alex was upset because he didn't bring his wallet to buy his girlfriend Kelsey a coke can purse...he said he couldn't buy her the diet coke can purse because it would make her think she was fat (isn't it amazing how they learn stuff so early, at least I know he will be sensitive to his girlfriend's feelings when he gets of age 30 and can't start dating). After our taste testing at The World of Coke we completed our Atlanta trip with a delicious dinner at The Varsity. Yes I said The Varsity, this was my parents, Britt Britt and Sarah's first experience here."what cha have" gotta love to here those words because you know you tummy is fixing to be filled with some good food . The Varisty once again did not fell us and the frosted orange was still the bomb. However, it was nice too see the Welcome to Hueytown sign...we new it was time for a good nights sleep in our own beds. Vacation 2010 was loaded with fun.

DISNEY WORLD!!!

(Pictures are too come when Luke gets back from Mexico the pics are on the computer he has) It was definitely worth getting up early this morning....Disney World. We got a front parking space, thanks to my Daddy. However, I would give anything in this world to have him back to his old self but the handicap parking pace and a wheelchair really comes in hand at Disney World. They let the handicap guest and who all is in their party go through the handicap line (like fast pass lane) which pretty much takes you to the front of the line. Therefore, our line waits were very minimal, which ROCKED. We of course got our picture made as we entered the park in front of the castle and then headed to Tomorrowland. We road, the Buzz light year ride, saw Monster's movie, Sarah and I were started in the movie, as the show started. We then fast passed Space Mountain and headed to see ToonTown. We visited Mickey and Minnie's houses and actually saw Mickey and Minnie in Mickey's garage. Mickey gave me a kiss and then Minnie got jealous and gave Luke a kiss...that stinker. Then we went and let Alex ride Goofy's airplane express roller coaster....HE LOVED IT. Meme road it with him that night and she was beside herself that we let him ride it she thought it went too fast and turned to much. This crazy child rode it six times in a roll and got a frequent flyer card for doing soo. We left there and went and rode the Mad Hatter tea cups and noticed it was about to rain so we headed to lunch and ate while it rained the typically Florida 30 minute daily rain. After, lunch we took off to see Jasmine's flying carpet ride, the jungle boat cruise and then we headed back to Space Mountain to ride it.....Daddy road this with Me, Luke, Maddie, Sarah, and Brittnee. It was hilarious. We had to park Dad's electric scooter and put him in a manual wheelchair that Disney provides and push him into the ride. If you have ever been on this ride you know that it takes you up a hill to get to the starting line, so that was very interesting pushing a 200lb man up it. We finally got to get on the ride and Daddy did great getting in the ride this time last time he got stuck getting on the ride and they had to stop to the, so we were excited about him getting in the ride successfully. During the ride he was yelling in a monotone voice which was sooo funny. When the ride ended we were all doubled over laughing so hard..we just thought that part was funny then it came to us pushing Daddy out of the ride and they have these moving walk ways to take you out so I thought OH Yeah!! I got the easy part but Heck no I was sooo wrong. The wheelchairs wheels kept getting turned side ways and you they would not straighten out for nothing so Sarah and I ended up being by ourselves another set of people got between us and the rest of our party...so Sarah and I had to pick the wheelchair up with him in it to fix it and as soon as it was straightened out the wheelchair would get side ways again and then we saw the end of the automatic moving walk way coming to the end and knew we didn't have time to get the wheelchair straightened out and so we had to brace for Dad being ejected. By this time we were crying laughing to the point of almost tee tee in our pants it was GREAT. The threshold came faster then we could blink our eyes and Daddy thank goodness held on for the ride because if he hadn't he would have been in the floor. The whole back of the wheelchair flipped up and turned around when it hit the threshold. Anyway, we finally made to the exit. We at this point went and watched the parade, got Mickey Mouse ears for Sarah and the twins (that is a must if it is your first trip to Disney...Alex got his set of ears when I went to Disney and was preg. with him). After that we went and rode some FUN water rides and got soaking wet. Splash Mountain was crazy....they kept having power surges which messed the ride up so we were extremely scared b/c we were stuck on the ride while it was going. We ended the night watching the fireworks and the electric parade. Man the bed felt sooo awesome when my headed hit it that night.

Busch Gardens was a Blast

Another early day...but wow it was loaded with soooooooo much fun. What a perfect day weather wise. There wasn't a lot of humidity in the area so it made the weather more easy to deal with. We started off letting the little ones enjoy their rides then ended the day with a big bang riding all the adult rides. The Scorpion was great fun and Maddie loved it she rode it three times in a roll. Luke and I rode the Shekera (not spelled right) and we thought we were going to die but LOVED IT. There was a huge vertical drop that you flew down...it was crazy looking the worst part of the drop was they stopped the ride right at the top of the drop and made you look down at it for 5 seconds. Anyway, there was a splash zone on this ride, so while were riding the ride all the little ones and Brittnee and Sarah got SOAKING WET. Sarah was about to cry laughing at Alex she said that he was red in the face laughing so hard at getting wet by the roller coaster as it zoomed by. However, the funny of the day was when we all sat down to eat lunch. We were the first through line so we found the tables to sit at...but nobody else followed us. So, it was just the four of us in the beginning. I had to go back inside the restaurant to get my plate after getting the kiddos settled down and when I got back Alex was screaming and panicked faced, Luke was red faced crying laughing and Maddie was on top of Luke about to cry because a crazy bird was attacking them. Luke said he stood up to scare the bird off and the bird came flying at him squawking. Then all of a sudden the bird was on the table stealing Alex's food. Luke could get to Alex because the bird was in between them...so Alex was trying to run away and keep running into the chairs...bless his heart. When I walked up it scared the bird for just a second giving us time to grab the kiddos and the rest of their food so we could move locations. We went to were the rest of the family was to finish lunch with them and when we got there with them they were all laughing too...a bird had done the same thing to my mom stole her pizza. Well, we sat down and within about 5 minutes the same stupid bird that originally was attacking us was there on the attack again. Why yes! he stole Alex's replacement pizza and he was mad as fire now and started squirting him with his water bottle and it finally scared him away. We finally got through with lunch and got back to having loads of fun on the rides. We ended the night with some yummy ice cream and a drive back to the condo all extremely exhausted, but ready to take on Disney World the next day.

SeaWorld OH! YEAH!

Our day started off early but we ended up running behind getting on the road to go to SeaWorld. I think my family is just destined to be late wherever they go. As we started to walk into the park a dark cloud appeared and before we could get through the bag check area it started pouring down rain...we saw it coming so jumped under a shed and didn't get wet. The rain only lasted about 10 minutes so that was no big deal...heck we were already behind so what was 10 minutes more? We went straight to see the Dolphin and bird show and sat in the soak zone. The soak zone was exactly that. When the amazing show came to the end we all were soaking wet from head to toe. This kept us cool and comfortable the rest of the day...so that was a smart move to sit there and to see that first thing. After the show we went to ride the Marta roller coaster....WOW!!! This ride was absolutely the craziest ride I have ever been on. I felt horrible because this was my nieces first "real roller coaster". I was worried she would never get on another roller coaster again, thankfully we talked her into getting on more during our vacation. We also saw the Rockin Shamu show and the fireworks show there which was awesome. We were all worn out at the end of the day....Alex fell asleep in my arms watching the fireworks (which he is completely scared of). Oh! Me! I just about forgot about this situation...Alex told me he had to go to the bathroom while standing in line to ride his first roller coaster and of course I didn't know where the closest bathroom was so I asked the young girl that was measuring the kiddos to make sure they meet the height requirments for the ride where the closest bathroom was and in the midst of me asking her she started staring at Alex with her mouth open and smerking. So of course I look down and see Alex spraying down a bush and just shocked. You know that you just can't stop a little boy in mid stream so all I could do is wait until he was done and pull his pants up. The young lady keep saying over and over and over..."I don't know what to do about this" and all of a sudden she just ran off (She was really freaked out) and about 20 minutes later she came back with a can of lysol and sprayed down the bush (now it came a down pour washing the tee tee off the bush while she was gone...so this was useless.

Our trip to the beach and days one and two of vacation

What a drive...10 hours. NOT FUN, but hey we were headed to the beach and that is all that counted. We picked Luke up at work and headed out, Luke started out driving, then my Mom drove a little while and we were all about to die she was swerving and a deer about ran out in front of us and she swerved towards the deer instead of away from it...and that was the final straw and I started driving then and at 6 o'clock in the morning we arrived at the condo in Maderia Beach. We went straight to bed. We all woke up around lunch time and headed to the beach to relax after our long trip. By the way our condo overlooked a draw bridge and was at the end of the beach...which was pretty cool. I have never stayed at the end of a beach before. .....the current was constantly strong. Therefore, we only got to wade in the ocean which was fine. We found some larger shells then we normally do. We had a great dinner at Coconuts even though they were overly hospitable. They meet us in the road inviting us to eat at their restaurant (it was a brand new restaurant) and offered us a discount to eat there. We had actually planned on eating there before we left the condo so it was nice they offered us a special discount to eat there. The atmosphere was very strange, they serenaded my Dad with beads and offered him a beer on the house and then host held the elevator for everyone and I was fixing to get on the elevator and he looked at me real funny and said "and I need you to go with me"before I knew it the elevator door was shut and it was just me and this host that looked like he had something bad in his system (blood shot eyes...any clue to what this could be???) anyway I was very uncomfortable but followed him (my real estate safety per cautions came in hand here) up the stairs. As, I hit the top step I saw Luke breaking his neck getting off the elevator first to make sure that I was going to appear....he said that him and my Mom both were very unnerved by the situation and the way the guy looked. Thank the God Lord I was safe. Another strange event there was that my Dad went to go to the bathroom and one of our two waiters followed him to the bathroom and held the door for him (that isn't the weird part, that was nice, the weird part is what happened next) the the waiter proceeded in the bathroom behind him and advised him what stall to use and that it was a more comfortable stall. He also, said to my Dad, "Sir, If you need anything else please just yell and I will be right here to assist you"... he also held the stall door open for him....Daddy said that he sooo badly wanted to yell "Help, I need you to wipe me"...He restrained himself this time and didn't ask for assistance. Anyway, the dinner ended up being so delicious and we had fun. Which is all that counts. Alex ended up being our entertainment on these two days...first we were wading in the ocean and a older man wearing a black speedo...yes I said SPEEDO...walked by holding hands with his wife and of course Mr. Alex noticed and started dying laughing and pointing at him (he was walking towards us and less than 10' from us so the couple had too know he was laughing at him) and proceeded to say as loud as possible "Mama, look at that man he is wearing his underwear....we need to tell him" and then before I could blink my eyes...Alex said "you have your underwear on, man". I couldn't do nothing but laugh and the couple just looked at me and him...I thought yeap, that is what you get for wearing something like that when you are 70+ years old. Then, while I was cleaning up all the stuff at the beach Luke took the girls and Alex to the pool to swim and there was a man swimming that had a tatoo on his back of a alien looking baby and Alex asked Sarah to find out what the baby's name was and she said he would not stopping talking about it and she was sooo about to die. Come on people if a 3 year old knows better not to do things like this then an adult should know not too. So, he deserves all these questions and stares. By the end of day two Alex was swimming with out his floaty and he was sooo proud of himself. However, pool time has become a nerve racking time for us... because he thinks that he just go right in now with out a float and that isn't not the case. Tammy and her family finally got to the beach Sunday late afternoon so we all went to eat at Bubba Gumps which was delicious and everyone enjoyed it.

Getting Ready for the BEACH!!!!

Luke and Alex got my parent's van ready to for us to go on vacation. They put the luggage carrier on top of the van. We are so excited and ready to go. We are going to Disney World which will be Alex's first trip to Disney and Maddie's third. We are also going to go to SeaWorld and Busch Gardens.