The last few days have been glorious here.  Sunny and warm, but not too hot.  Just the way I like them.  It gets cool at night, so that the mornings are crisp.  I have been getting up early and heading outside to walk some of the back roads near my home, breathe the fresh air, get my toes wet in the morning dew, and greet the day with my morning song.  Yesterday I saw three white-tail deer bounding across a field.  I felt like I wanted to bound right along with them.

We spent Father’s Day at the lake.  We grilled out and had a meal of hamburgers, grilled potatos and onions, and lots of fresh fruit.  My son’s girlfriend made us fresh rhubarb cake with whipped cream.  It was a blissful day.  I took a few pictures, but very few are post-worthy.  This one, however, pleased me greatly.  Just my guys.  They make me smile.

I plan to read this summer.  A lot.  I have a stack of books just waiting for me.  Here are the titles I have lined up. 

Currently reading:

Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson

I have wanted to read this for quite awhile.  I am finding it to be a fascinating story of how one person, with enough faith in themselves and a stubborn refusal to give up, can make a difference in the world.

Next up:

A Complaint Free World, by Will Bowen

This is the next selection for my book club.  I am hoping to learn some lessons about how to complain less and enjoy the life I have more.  From the back cover:  “…an engaging, enjoyable, easy-to-read reminder that the only permanent, constructive changes you can make in the world are the changes that you make in yourself.”  That seems a little contradictory to the message of the previous book, but more along the lines of change I can personally accomplish.

After that (in no particular order):

Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky

Having just read The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, I am revisiting the WWII era.  My Dad is a WWII vet, and I am ever more interested in this period of history. 

Mistaken Identity, by Don & Susie Van Ryn and Newell, Colleen & Whitney Cerak with Mark Tab

This book was recommended to me by my mother. 

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, by Ben Sherwood

This book just sounded intriguing. 

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing

I don’t know why I am drawn to biographies right now.  This has to be one of the greatest true-life survival stories ever. 

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan

This is a book that might take me awhile to digest (pun intended. sorry).  I think I will read chapters here and there scattered amongst my other literary adventures.

John McCain: Faith of my Fathers, A Family Memoir, by John McCain with Mark Salter

Because I want to know more about the man who could be our next president.

Obama: From Promise to Power, by David Mendell

Ditto my comment from the preceeding book.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

A classic, but one I have not yet read.  I plan to remedy that!

Smilla’s Sense of Snow, by Peter Hoeg

Another recommendation.  The person who told me about this book said “I was hooked by the end of the first page.”  To me, that is a good sign!

Odd Hours, by Dean Koontz

This is the fourth book in a series of book with the same main character by the name of Odd Thomas.  I have read several Koontz books, but the Odd Thomas books are my favorite.  Yes, the stories can be a little creepy, but I find that they generally have hopeful messages, which I appreciate. 

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That should keep me busy most of the summer.  I also have to allow for the fact that I will get side-tracked from this list at some point by a new book that catches my attention.  It is ineveitable.  In my world, there are far too many books, and not nearly enough time for all of them!

Guess how many pictures I took on our vacation?  Just guess!  OK, I will tell you.  SEVEN HUNDRED SEVENTY EIGHT!!! (778)!  Among them I think I have about 100 pictures of sunsets/sunrises.  Also about 25 pictures of Cinderella’s castle from Disney’s Magic Kingdom.  Also 100 of various parades at Disneyworld, and 20 or so pictures of fireworks, most of which did not turn out, despite using the “fireworks” setting on my camera.

Lucky for you I don’t plan to share all 778.  I have pared the 778 down to 88 of my favorites that illustrate the best parts of our vacation.  They are in an album which you can find here. I will post the best of the best (in my opinion) in this blog entry.

This is my favorite photo of the entire trip.  It was sunset on our first night on the Florida coast (after we had done three days at DisneyWorld).  We took everyone out to eat at a restaurant with an outdoor deck that served great seafood and had live music.  It was so much fun, and so relaxing after our busy days in Orlando.

This was our first day at Disney (second day of the vacation)–we went to Animal Kingdom.  Everyone but me is in this picture (I was taking it — amazing how I manage to stay out of almost all family photos by appointing myself official photographer!)

This picture was taken while waiting in line to go on Animal Kingdom’s newest ride, “Everest”.  Disney really knows how to make waiting in line interesting.  The line for this ride was a re-creation of an expedition to climb Mt. Everest.  You felt as if you were entering a Himalayan village, in this picture you can see Tibetan prayer flags and bells.  There was also a museum-like display with lots of information about mountain climbing, with some “yeti” lore thrown in for fun and drama.  (Yeti being the lesser known name for what is commonly called the “Abominable Snowman”).  Some of the information about mountain climbing in the Himalayan mountains was fact, but the lines between fact and fiction are often blurred at Disney, and it is hard to tell where those lines are!

 A “Yeti” statue.

Isaac watching the roller coaster “ascend” Mount Everest.

Free music!  Say what you will about the entrance fees to DisneyWorld — they are not cheap, but you do get a lot of entertainment for your dollar.  These drummers were amazing!

They pulled Brittany out of the crowd to dance with them as they drummed.  She has taken years of dance class and teaches a dance class for kids at the rec center she works at, so she was a great choice!  It was fun for her, but she was also a little self-conscious!  (She is the one in the black t-shirt)

The gift stores provided us with some “cheap” entertainment as well.  These hats are fun, but quite useless.  Instead of buying them, we decided just to have fun trying them on and taking pictures.  We were having so much fun I started to worry that we would be asked to leave the store!

Day three — we went to Magic Kingdom.  Since we did not have time to go to all of the Disney parks, and this was Isaac’s first trip to DW, we simply HAD to go to Magic Kingdom — it is quintessential Disney.

Speaking of quintessential Disney — Mickey and Minnie!

Some of my favorite Magic Kingdom sights:

Disney after dark:  I had never stayed late at Magic Kingdom before so I was enthralled by the color changing castle.

Waiting for the late night Magic Kingdom Parade.  It had been a long day!

One of the better fireworks pictures I took.

We had to leave by midnight.  We didn’t want to turn into pumpkins — and besides, the park closed at midnight.  What a day!

Day four — Blizzard Beach.  It was over 100 degrees this day — and not a drop of rain.  Perfect day to spend at the water park.

“Summit Plummit”  — a 6 story drop.  I did NOT try this ride!

Juxtaposing “Blizzard” with “Beach” made for some incongruous moments, especially when the speakers that played music all over the park blared out Christmas music or yodeling.  Here the boys are catching drips of water from the “melting snowman”.  Anything to stay cool!

Day 5 & 6 — the Atlantic Ocean.  We spent two days pretty much being beach bums.  We stayed just north of Daytona Beach.  Normally I am not a heat & humidity kind of gal, and I don’t spend much time in the sun, but after the miserable winter and spring we have been having in Minnesota, even I welcomed this change of scenery and weather!

Sights we saw while walking along the beach one morning:

Sights around St. Augustine, Florida — our last day before heading home.

Can’t forget to include a few of my MANY sunset/sunrise photos!  Staying where we did, we got sunrises over the Atlantic, and sunsets on the inter-coastal waterway.  The first picture is a sunset, the next two are sunrises.

The only picture from the entire trip with all nine of us.

One last picture, one where you can actually see that I was an active part of this trip and not just the planner/photographer.  This was in the pool at the resort we stayed at in Orlando.  I love swimming after dark!

It was a wonderful trip from start to finish.  Everyone had a great time, we all got along with each other.  No one was sad or disappointed.  Everyone felt relaxed and happy.  I am thankful to have had this time to spend with the whole family together, and happy we were able to include our older sons girlfriends, who feel like part of the family (and possibly will be someday?)  What memories we have made together.  Sharing time with my family is one of life’s most precious gifts to me.