This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Maranatha 2014
Jul
29
2014
Another year, another trip to Maranatha. Which means another vacation recap blog post.
Don’t read that opening sentence with the wrong tone of voice – it’s a happy time, not a here-we-go-again dour attitude. The kids love going; we look forward to it each year.
Visit 2010’s recap of our trip to Maranatha for a refresher course, or to see how similar trips to Maranatha are. We want them to be similar, because kids need traditions.
Let’s see… things to recap.
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The Beach
The beach was good, weather cooperated for the most part.
I got some photos of the sunset our first night there.
Given the number of phones and teenagers there, I bet there were a ton more sunset photos on Instagram too. The problem with those is that the photographers kept sticking their own heads in the way.
And the boys had fun playing in the sand.
My camera did make the mistake of looking directly at the sun
but it seemed to have escaped unharmed.
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The Speakers
- The evening speaker was Ian Leitch. This week’s lesson was the whole book of Ephesians, essentially one chapter a day. (keeps the devil away (his joke, not mine))
- The morning speaker was Rob Rienow. He and his wife run Visionary Family Ministries out of the Chicago area.
He was highly entertaining and informative. More on him in a later blog post. But before I write that, you should look at his schedule so you can attend one of his sessions in person (Albuquerque Aug 4-5, Minnesota Sep 7-14, among others)
- The mission focus for the week was Rafiki. They are doing a lot of good in Africa, but there is much more to be done.
Quick question: how can you help widows and orphans?
Quick answer: by supporting their businesses. Go to the Rafiki Exchange and buy things made by widows.
I don’t think the orphans make anything. To support them you’ll just have to give money. Or sign up for a mission trip.
Oh, and we learned a song in Nigerian.
Ni Zan Je da
Yesa ko ina
Ban damu da gargada
hani ya ba
Ni Zan Je
Ni Zan Je -
The Activities
- Tie Dye again. This year we had 3 boys making shirts, up from 2 last year. Delta would be dangerous with a squirt bottle of dye, so we’ll hold off another couple of years for him. Besides, he can have all his brothers’ tie dye shirts as hand-me-downs.
- Craig’s Cruisers It’s only a few miles away, but this is the first time I’ve taken the kids there. Out of mini golf, go-karts, bumper boats, and batting cages, the boys spent most of their tokens on the batting cages.
- Family Photos We tried to get some family photos at a couple of scenic places. Here is a shot of my sister-in-law trying to get a shot of just the boys.
- Tie Dye again. This year we had 3 boys making shirts, up from 2 last year. Delta would be dangerous with a squirt bottle of dye, so we’ll hold off another couple of years for him. Besides, he can have all his brothers’ tie dye shirts as hand-me-downs.
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The Ice Cream
I tried a few new ice cream flavors, as a service to the readers of this blog.
- Salted Caramel Popcorn Not impressive.
Points for effort, but execution was lacking. It seemed like real popcorn, which is good in theory. But what happens to popcorn that spends too much time in dairy? Soggy
It tasted like butter pecan but with a bad texture.
- Caramel Mudslide Sounds great, tastes average.
If they gave it a less-impressive name, I might have liked it. But with that much hype, I was expecting an avalanche of flavor. Which it did not have.
- Coffee Lovers I did not have this one, so I can’t officially review. But I can pass to you the second-hand review. People who like the flavor of coffee really liked this ice cream.
- Grand Traverse Pecan Ball I really don’t remember much about this one. So don’t bother getting it.
You may be wondering which ice cream flavors I did like.
Royal Coconut.
But they didn’t have that this year.
- Salted Caramel Popcorn Not impressive.
During a normal (non-vacation) week, I drink milk. At Maranatha, we eat so much ice cream that I worry about overloading on the dairy. So instead of drinking milk at lunch and dinner, I drank water. I figured that would average with the ice cream to be about the equivalent of milk. Right?
Water + ice cream = milk?
He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
Ezra 8:3
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 6:52 am and has been carefully placed in the Travel category.
July 29th, 2014 at 8:38 am
How’d they do in the batting cage?
July 29th, 2014 at 11:47 am
They did well, but they stuck with the slow-pitch softball cage. Other options were 40mph, 50mph, or 60mph.