No swimsuit needed

The kids left Disney World yesterday and drove about 80 miles to the Florida home of one of our church members. One van got there before the other and the kids wanted to swim, but since the second van had their luggage, they jumped in with their clothes on! The pool looks so inviting I probably would have done the same thing.

L is the one in back, in the blue sleeveless shirt.

This morning, they went to the member's Episcopal church before heading back to the Orlando airport.

They were instructed to dress nicer than they do for church here, lol. Looks like they all got the message.

Leaving Disney

Here are the latest pics from the chaperones - the girls checking their bags before the last worship service of the week. Today they leave Disney and travel to a church member's Florida home where they'll spend the night and attend her church tomorrow morning before flying home.

Here are the happy kids yesterday at Magic Kingdom. They left after it rained and had plans to return in the evening, but decided against it. I'm guessing they're all exhausted.

Let us outside

Both cats have spent the morning on the back porch. When I heard August slam into the window, I thought it was time to investigate. Sure enough, he was eyeing two noisy cardinals that were playing in our yard.

More worship

Third day of Disney for the kids and here they are gathering for their fourth worship service. That's a lot of Jesus. I heard the group explored Animal Kingdom this afternoon and L opted to be the part of the group that stayed after some of them went back to the resort. Of course she did! Have to soak in all that Disney magic as much as you can.

This was the only thing I got from L today - a picture of her iPhone with a cracked screen. Apparently she told Andy she dropped it and the chaperone confirmed that it was an accident. We'll have to hear more about that when she returns. At least it still works!

Andy and B returned home from their California trip. Sounds like they had a good time. Now to get him to start on those college applications!

Monday's college tours

This morning Andy sent pictures from Cal Tech and University of Southern California that he took on the tours Monday.

This was Cal Tech. B said it's really small and he would prefer a bigger school.

And here's USC, as are the rest of these pictures. Wow. Beautiful and B liked it. Really, what's not to like?

Sand volleyball courts.

This is the Steven Spielberg Building.

And the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Courtyard. I'm afraid B could get used to this campus.

Day in San Fran

I believe this is Stanford, which Andy and B toured yesterday. Andy took some nice pictures. You don't see palm trees lining the streets on Midwest college campuses.

And they did some touring of San Francisco.

One of the famous trolley cars.

This is B with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. At least that's what Andy said. Pretty hard to see a bridge in this picture.

This is a better bridge picture, but no B.

Not sure where this was taken, but the view is pretty.

And here are my boys at the Giants game Tuesday night.

Too early

L had to meet her group and be on the bus to Epcot at 6 a.m. this morning. That's too early for a bunch of teens who were up too early yesterday to fly to Disney World. The expressions on her face say it all.

Smile, kids. You're at the happiest place on earth!

But it appears they were all awake by time the bus dropped them off at Epcot.

Here's a pic of L working with a group on some sort of project.

And a happy group picture taken after dinner. (One boy is missing from the photo; he was still eating.)

Youth Event - Day 1

Our friend, M, picked L up this morning at 5 a.m. on the dot to drive her to Midway for the National Youth Event at Disney World. L tried to stay awake all night, but thought she fell asleep about 2 a.m. When my alarm went off at 4:30 a.m., she was up and ready to go. Our youth pastor posted this picture of L and her friend, R, waiting to board the plane at Midway. Looks like the pilot veered a little off course to avoid Indiana weather.

Meanwhile on the West Coast, Andy and B toured Stanford today. Each tour group had about 100 students! Initially, they planned to stay for the entire tour, presentation, etc., which would have taken three hours. Seriously? However, they both seemed more interested in seeing the sites in San Francisco than actually touring the campus. I'm not sure how their day is going or how long they stuck around on campus. They're planning to see a Giants baseball game tonight.

California dreamin'

My Midwestern boy looks pretty comfortable on Redondo Beach.

And check out the view on Venice Beach. He wanted to see palm trees. These pictures were taken Sunday after when they were driving around the area. Today, they toured Cal Tech and University of Southern California. Can't wait to hear all about it.

And, of course, today was L's 14th birthday! We went out and did a little shopping to get the last-minute things for her Disney trip. She couldn't resist buying a $2 box of clearance items at Michael's. We had no idea what was in the box so it was a bit like Christmas opening it up. There were about five rolls of duct tape in there - one with the U of I logo on it that E immediately confiscated. We definitely got our $2 worth.

Church and California

L and the other members of the youth group met in church today to receive a blessing on their travels for this week's National Youth Event at Disney World. L leaves from Midway Tuesday. She's being picked up at home at 5 a.m. That will be an interesting morning.

And while we were at church, Andy and B were on their way to California for a few days. They're going to look at UCLA, USC, University of California at Berkeley and Stanford. This was the view from the first hotel room they're staying in. Notice the beach, ocean and palm trees. Nice. Let's hope he takes a look around and decides he needs to stay in the Midwest, for my sake. Though it would be nice to travel to California to visit my college student. They've rented a Mustang convertible for the week. Living the dream, those two.

Blocking the sun

L likes to watch TV on the back porch computer, but the afternoon sun creates too much glare. Rather than move to a different TV, she just threw a blanket over herself and the computer and continued watching her shows.

L's art

Today is L's last day of summer school. She survived! She enjoyed her art class and we think she'll end up with an A. She also had a health class and that's teetering between an A and a B, depending on how she did on today's final. This is a piece of clay art she brought home the other day.

And I'm not how she made this. It might have started out as a printed photo, then L painted it. It's of Misha Collins, her latest, favorite TV star from "Supernatural."

New letters

I ordered these letters off of ebay for E at least a month ago. We eventually found a T-shirt she liked and were ready to iron them on, but then I couldn't find the iron. I know it's here somewhere. Anyway, we bought a new, cheap iron and I was finally able to iron on the letters. Turned out pretty good!

Cropping partner

Though I'd rather be cropping with Darla, I did have some company today. He looks so not amused.

I was able to get my album caught up to our 2015 trip to Jamaica. I think I'm done for a while.

Ears for Disney

L found a woman on etsy who makes custom ears for Disney trips and saw a pair she made for "Supernatural," L's latest and favorite TV show. She just ordered them about a week ago and they arrived in time for L to take to Florida when the youth group leaves next Tuesday. I'm sure she'll stand out in the crowd, as usual.