Will is ready to get this vacation started!

The condo we stayed at was really nice and had a great pool.

Swimming with PawPaw.

The condo even had a lazy river!

On Saturday we went to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. It was a lot of fun and Will really enjoyed looking at all the fish.

PawPaw, Will, Nonny and the diver. Can you see the diver in the water?

Will touched a horseshoe crab. He’s such a boy – not grossed out by anything!

Mommy, Will & Daddy in front of the shark jaw.

On Saturday we went to DollyWood’s Splash Country. We all loved it!

Will LOVED the water slides and went down them about 100 times.

We all had to take turns taking him down all day long.

More water slide fun.

The condo had a huge jacuzzi tub and Will enjoyed swimming in it too.

The view from our condo. Thank you for a great time PawPaw and Nonny!

Just a few more beach pictures. This is one of Will’s favorite things to do – swing between us while we’re walking. We count to 3 and then swing but sometimes Will picks his legs up too early – it’s funny.

Bill flying the eagle kite on the beach. This was when he first started – it got much higher

On our last day we stayed at the beach all day! Will even took 2 naps in his stroller, under the tent. Look at those crossed legs – precious!

When Will wasn’t chilling in his stroller he was relaxing in his beach chair.

One night after dinner we went to a park near downtown St. Augustine. There was a carousel and a pretty cool playground. Will and Honey were going to ride the carousel 5 times but…….

Will decided he was a scaredy cat so they only rode once.

But he wasn’t afraid of the slide – he rode it over and over

We were really bad picture takers on vacation. We didn’t get the camera out until the last 2 days – therefore there is no evidence that my Dad, Dana and Jonathan were there. You’ll just have to take my word for it!

Family picture in front of the sand dunes. St. Augustine was beautiful – we really enjoyed it there. Not only a great (uncrowded) beach but a great historic downtown area to explore. Did you know it was founded in 1565?

This was the walkway to the beach.

Will really enjoyed the sand! I even caught him eating it a couple of times

He wasn’t too sure of the pool or ocean the first few days but was jumping in and splashing by the end of the week.

Will and Honey picking up seashells.

Most of the time you could find the two of us in the shade.

Will was hard at work in the sand. Every time we would build a castle he would knock it down.

Remember my little man at the beach last year?

It’s amazing how much he has changed in a year!

On Monday, for my Mom’s birthday,  we rented bicycles to ride on the beach. It was a lot of fun! We rode on the road from the condo to the beach access (against the wind) and then rode from beach access to beach access on the beach (with the wind.) And amazingly we weren’t sore the next day. Of course we didn’t take a picture – but just imagine the three of us on one of these

We have been relaxing in St. Augustine, Florida this week!

Last Monday and Tuesday we (me, Will, Honey & Dana) loaded up and went to Atlanta. We went to shop and eat! We shopped at IKEA, Atlantic Station and the outlets in Dawsonville. Monday night we picked up my cousin Kalah, from Kennesaw State University, and ate a HUMONGOUS dinner at Maggiano’s. It was SO yummy! Kalah took back 6 (at least) boxes of left over food. After dinner we went swimming in the hotel hot tub! The pool was chilly and the hot tub was a little warmer but not too hot.

Unfortunately most of the pictures from Atlanta are not on my camera! I will have to get them the next time we’re in Chattanooga. This is the one picture I do have – does anyone think that Will with his blue eyes and blond hair favors Dana?!?!

On Wednesday we had a relaxing day hanging out at my parents house.  My Dad took Will to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and to “work” for a few hours. I am pretty sure “work” could be defined as taking Will to see everybody my Dad knows! Those two are obsessed with each other. Wednesday afternoon we played outside since it has been so beautiful lately.

Will “helped” Honey with the water hose while she tended to her rose bushes.

Will going for a ride in the Radio Flyer.

Will “helped” Papa plow up his garden.

Will spent Thursday and Friday at my parents house too! I went BACK to Atlanta with our church’s youth group for a fun filled day of Six Flags Now, we’re back to reality and deprogramming adjusting to being back at home!

I had so much fun climbing, sliding and digging in the sand – even Papa went down the slide! After we played for a little while we had a delicious picnic lunch that Honey packed. I ate crackers, chicken salad, cucumbers and carrots – yum!

After lunch we went for a walk at the Greenway. I thought that part was boring so I took a little nap

It was such a fun day. I LOVE being outside – just ask my Mommy she’ll tell you that I pitch a fit whenever I have to go back inside. I can’t wait for spring! Check out our pictures from the Imagination Station

P.S. Mom just realized that there is a song playing on the slideshow – she has no idea how that happened! She also hopes the song isn’t offensive since she isn’t familiar with it and her computer does not have sound

We made it to their house and we loaded up and ate dinner at The Cheesecake Bistro – the food was good but the cheesecake was delicious. Bill and I (and Will) shared the cookies and cream cheesecake and it was so rich!

We had a great time while we were there! We didn’t do anything special but we went to the park, ate Raising Cane’s chicken, and had an “open house.” We also went to church Sunday before heading back to Nashville. Enjoy a few pictures of our time in NOLA.

David & Will catching up with all the latest news.

Real men aren’t afraid of kisses!

Or hugs!

And we can’t leave Anna Claire out.

Such a sweet face

David climbing up the slide at the park.

Will climbing through a tunnel.

On Friday night, the living room turned into wrestle mania!

This girl is brave…..

….. so is her brother……..

…… and so is Will.

We like to read books – here we are reading in our pj’s.

And here they are reading after getting dressed.

Party time! The boys loved the attention from all the girls

We also looked at a rental house while we were there. It had a pool – that would make the summer heat more bearable

Tomorrow I will update with some fun pictures of the weekend. Thanks Tipton’s for having us as guests

This past weekend Bill and I went to the Passion Conference in Atlanta, GA. This is an event for college students and draws over 20,000 participants. We went with Matt Tipton and met a group of young adults from New Orleans. I was so excited about this event! It had speakers like Beth Moore, Francis Chan and John Piper just to name a few!

We had a great time at the conference and enjoyed every aspect of it. They had an area devoted to several social justice organizations and it was amazing how much money the students (their parents) donated during the course of the weekend. With a matching gift over 1 million dollars were raised to help the poor and oppressed all over the world.

We had the privilege to attend a break out session led by John Piper and the “topic” was reaching unreached people groups. But in general it was about reaching people for Christ who have not heard the truth or are hard to reach. One thing in particular really stuck out in the session to Bill and me.  It was the fact that Paul really longed to be in Rome but he was not able to be there because God had called him to do other work and that work was not yet finished. And that is exactly how we feel some day. We long to be in Chattanooga with our families or we long to be in New York City because we love it so much but we can’t do those things – yet. We must do what God has called us to do which is move to New Orleans. Maybe someday God will allow us to do these things that our hearts desire and long for. Paul did eventually get to go to Rome (of course it was as a prisoner – but still he went!)

One of my prayers recently has been that God would continually reenforce to me His calling for us to move. And the session with John Piper did just that. We also had a great time getting to know the New Orleans folks – it will be nice to know a few people when we get there!

Bill, Amber & Will with Mickey & Minnie. Will was not afraid of the characters and it was rare to get a picture where he wasn’t staring at them instead of the camera!

Will loved riding all the rides! He was able to ride most of the rides in Magic Kingdom including: Dumbo, Aladdin’s Flying Carpet, the carousel, Teacups, & Jungle Cruise.

Here’s the whole gang with Minnie Mouse. Their matching Disney t-shirts were SO cute!

Will had SO MUCH FUN! We saw several shows and Will particularly enjoyed Festival of the Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.

One morning we had breakfast in Cinderella’s Castle – it was really neat. During breakfast we met all of the Disney princesses. Above is Will with Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). At breakfast they gave all the princes a sword and Will has played with it everyday since!

Will and PawPaw on the Kilimanjari Safari in Animal Kingdom.

Our absolute favorite part of each park were the parades! Above Will and Bill are dancing in the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It! parade. They take their dancing seriously!

Will and Nonny dancing! One afternoon Will was wearing his Disney shirt with his name on it and almost every character in the parade stopped to say “hi will!’ That was so much fun and probably my best memory from the week!

Aubrey and Mickey at Chef Mickey’s breakfast. Aubrey was so sweet and in awe of all the characters.

Will was in awe of the Mickey waffles.

We had a great week and I can’t wait to go back! It will be extra magical when Will can understand what he is experiencing.