The Life and Times of the Watters Family

Camp Firwood

At the very last minute (Saturday night) we decided the boys could go to Firwood this week. We packed Sunday morning after church and they were registered and ready to go at 1pm on Sunday afternoon. The boys were SO excited. Caleb was a bit nervous about taking the swim test but he did fine (he was happy to get the yellow bracelet that allowed him to do most things with a life jacket). The boys are in the same cabin, which is great and their counselors seemed like really nice guys. Cory is also at Firwood (he’s a CIT this summer) and the boys were thrilled to be able to go and spend some time with him there. The theme for this week is PIRATES! It couldn’t be more perfect for them!

When we took them out to camp we walked around and Cam showed the boys what cabin he stayed in when he was a CIT (13 years ago!). He shared with them the story of how God told him that he was supposed to marry me (while lying in his bunk, contemplating pursuing another girl!) We had been dating before camp but “broke up” a couple weeks before he left for the summer. God pretty clearly spoke to his heart that day and confirmed that we were “it” for each other. As we walked around and talked with the boys yesterday, I remembered visiting Cam at Firwood that summer. I knew I had taken him and our relationship for granted and I missed him SO much. It didn’t take long after camp before we figured our stuff out and resumed our relationship (shortly after that there was a lot of other drama but that’s another story…). As Cam and I talk about our history as a couple I am so grateful and amazed at how God brought us together. Through the hills and the valleys God had His hand on each of us and had a good plan for our life together. One important thing for us to remember, as parents, is not to freak out if one of our boys tells us he’s totally in love with a girl and God told him that she’s the “one” when he’s 17.

We miss our boys (Daddy most of all right now) but Cam and I are having a lot of fun together and are really thankful for this time for them and for us.

To see a few more pictures click the Flickr link (on the right).

flickr set uploaded

Click the mosaic above to check out the the Photoset on Flickr.

Looking through all of our sunny vacation pictures makes this dreary, rainy day much more dreary and rainy! If summer doesn’t come this year I think I’ll be ready to move in September!

pictures

I finally uploaded all the pictures from our trip to iphoto, now I need to sort through them and and post them on Flickr. I hope to have them up tomorrow. Here’s our group shot that we had one of the Disneyland photographers take on Friday. We had so much fun and we have so many great memories to keep with us.

Disney Day four

1. Buzz Light Year’s Astroblasters
2. Finding Nemo Submarines
3. Splash Mountain
4. Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island
5. Aladdin Show (this was really fun!)
6. Grizzly River Run/California Screamin’ (we split up– Caleb didn’t want to get wet)
7. Shopping in Downtown Disney
8. California Screamin’ (Cory, Katie and Caleb x2)
9. Soarin’ Over California
10. California Screamin’ (Caleb & Cory x2)
11. Electric Light Parade (so cool– we accidentally stumble on this and we were so glad we caught it)
12. Fireworks Show (wow– it makes me cry when the play Walt’s voice)
13. Fantasmic (We’d never seen this before and it was AMAZING!)
14. Pirates of the Caribbean
15. Splash Mountain/Winnie the Pooh (Caleb didn’t want to get wet again)

We were at the park from 9:15am-midnight yesterday!!

Look for a big picture post coming soon.

Disney Day three

1. Jungle Cruise
2. Thunder Mountain
3. Tarzan’s Treehouse
4. Alice and Wonderland
5. Grizzly River Run (x2)
6. California Screamin’ (x2, Cory x4)
7. Ate Dinner at Rainforest Cafe
8. Watched the Parade of Dreams
9. Pirates of the Caribbean
10. Splash Mountain (x3)

I’m WAY too tired to upload pictures tonight!! We are taking the day off tomorrow and hanging out by the pool. We are all wiped out and we’ll have a long day on Friday so we need a day to relax.

Disney day two

We had another fun filled day in D’land. The sun came out today and it was SO nice! It’s been a blast so far and we’re only half done!

Here’s what we did today:

1. Peter Pan
2. Dumbo
3. Storybook Canal Boats
4. Thunder Mountain
5. Splash Mountain
6. Disney Railroad
7. Roger Rabbit
8. Soarin’ Over California
9. Grizzly River Run (x4)
10. A Bug’s Land
11. Monsters Inc.

I am loving being here with my Watters family but I do miss my sisters!! Someday we’ll have to plan a family vacation here. Love you sisters!

counting down

5 more days ’til takeoff and 8 more ’til Disneyland!

The boys worked way ahead of their school schedule and are almost entirely done for the year! They have a few more history lessons and a couple spelling tests but after that, they are done. Our vacation to California will officially kick off our summer break.

Last year when we took our vacation we put a couple Harry Potter audio books on the ipods so the boys could listen on the plane and in the airports. It turned out to be a great idea for keeping them occupied. This year I am loading the ipods with Tom Sawyer. The story is a classic, full of adventure, pirates, and carefree boyish schemes. I am hoping for another memorable summer full of excitement, creativity and exploration for the boys. Sean and Caleb are incredibly blessed with a wonderful beach that their Grandparents put much time and thought into so that they can have the kind of summers most little boys only get to dream of.

Disneyland Vacation Update

Hello. Cameron here posting on Betsy’s behalf since it wasn’t practical for both of us to head out in search of decent wifi.

As the previous sentence might suggest, we’ve had a bit of a headache finding a decent wifi connection from the hotel room. Fortunately, my trek didn’t require me to go any further than the hotel lobby, for now. I’m still only getting pretty weak signal here, but at least it’s stable enough.

Once we find a better connection (which we will, I promise), we’ll post more (including pictures). In the mean time, if you want to follow us using an abbreviated all-text version of our progress, you can check out http://www.twitter.com/watters. I’ve been posting activity updates via SMS during our entire trip.

We’ve been having a great time so far and look forward to sharing stories and photos with everyone just as soon as we’ve got a better Internet connection. It’s 2007. What kind of hotel doesn’t have decent connectivity for customers?