Vacation Rerun

In honor of my upcoming vacation, thought I would repost one of my first blogs. Will be interesting to see how the upcoming vacation compares to this one:

Vacations are all about creating memories. Sometimes the memories are good. Sometimes they are bad. Sometimes what seems like a bad memory turns in to a good one as time goes by. The best part about memories is they are what you make of them. You don't even have to remember all the details to enjoy them.

The family went to Orlando, FL last week and it was one of the best trips I have ever taken! I have lots of memories from this trip which will remain with me forever. I would like to share some with you and hope they bring back your pleasant memories.They include (in no particular order):

• The kids' reactions every time they saw a Disney character
• Watching the space shuttle launch at dusk and feeling proud to be an American
• Hearing people around me clap because they were proud, too
• My daughter's excitement the first time she saw Shamu
• My daughter getting more excited seeing a lizard (which she sees just about every day at home) outside the gorilla compound in Animal Kingdom than seeing the gorillas inside the compound
• My son slapping high-fives with everyone around him after he got a game ball at the Braves' spring training game
• My son running the bases and getting autographs after the game
• My wife getting excited collecting Disney pins
• Getting kissed on the cheek by Minnie Mouse
• The whole family getting soaked by 52 degree water at the Shamu show and loving every minute of it (well, I did , anyway)
• Being happy the wife took the cheaper camera that day (it seems to be working now) (UPDATE - it is now kaput. At least that's what she claims. Could have been a ploy just to get a new camera, but will take her word for it.)
• My daughter wishing for and getting twin pearls out of an oyster at Sea World
• Diving (s0rt of) with the sharks at Sea World
• The kids hating Splash Mountain as much as they loved the Haunted Mansion
• My wife beating my score in the Buzz Lightyear ride
• Noticing how the light everywhere we went made my hair look gray in all of our pictures but not my wife or kids (how strange)
• Seeing an older gentleman wearing a t-shirt which said "Growing old is mandatory; Growing up is optional"
• Going to bed every night thinking there's no way tomorrow can be any better
• Being wrong about that every day and loving it!
• Being grateful God gave me the opportunity to enjoy this trip with my family!

So many memories. So little time and space.