South Africa: Day 2

The alarm came early this morning. After a 7:30am breakfast, we headed over to Southpoint. Pam greeted us with hugs and a tour of their Waumba Land and Transit space. Jana and Jamie had come over before, and introduced us to lots of folks. It was so cool to see all of the NP branding and environments working in Cape Town. One thing they are doing differently is combining KidStuf with the worship service. So the first 15 minutes is all about the big idea of 'Easter'. Kathy Gibb did a great job hosting and illustrating the gospel with the same photo developing chemicals Mike Tamborello used at NP two weeks earlier. So, after the KidStuf portion wrapped, the elementary kids and their small group leaders headed back to the UpStreet wing. It made for an unusual start to the worship service, but kudos to John and his team being willing to take risks and try new things. We then moved into worship, followed by John's Easter message and then we closed with communion. It was a beautiful opportunity to celebrate our risen King in a setting both new (Africa!) and familiar (NP environments). The world felt smaller and God felt bigger!

After the service, Derek & Wendy Coleman and their boys Brad & Daniel took us to lunch in Simon's Town. Our table faced the bay with the beach dotted with colorful cottages. So, Easter lunch consisted of fish and chips while watching the waves roll in. Love it! We talked about Derek's role as the layman in charge of community groups for SP. He is clearly a competent and capable leader, and it was great to hear his story and get his perspective on church and social issues in South Africa. Wendy is super-mom and provided the color commentary and translated the South African slang for us. We all smiled as we watched Brad's crush on Quincey develop. By the end of the day, Chris had christened him Anakin :)

It turned rainy, but we still managed to see some penguins at Froggy Point on the way to preview the retreat facilities in Rocklands. (Sidebar: what we call African penguins in the States are called Jackass penguins in Africa :)

We walked around the retreat center and got a feel for how we wanted the retreat to flow. It was a beautiful, albeit rainy, drive all along the coast on the way back to Cape Town. Derek pointed out the headquarters of the royal navy in Simon's Town and the shark spotters at Muizenberg's great surfing beach.

After our jaunt out to Rocklands, we unpacked and then met up for dinner at the Victoria & Alfred waterfront. There is an indoor mall as well as outdoor market stalls, restaurants and the ferris wheel. Due to the rain, we opted for Primi Pizza & Pasta inside the mall. (sidebar: in addition to driving on the left side of the road, general pedestrian traffic flow in SA is to the left side as well. So you have to re-orient your mall window shopping habits, or you're like a salmon swimming upstream.) After dinner we picked up a few souvenirs and headed back for an early bedtime.

South Africa: Day 1

Now that the kids are in school five days a week, a new world of possibilities has opened up. Not the least of which is an opportunity to leverage my skills and experiences toward a short term mission trip. Last year, when Brian returned from a business leader development trip to Indonesia, he told me that 2011 could be my year!

And when I was asked to join the team going to South Africa, it lined up with the wish list I'd given God:
1. English-speaking country. Yes! Because my years studying Latin provided me no useful spoken language skills...
2. An opportunity to invest in leaders. Yes! Southpoint church is bringing together all their small group leaders -- high school, college & adult community groups -- to a retreat where we can cast vision and develop leadership skills in a fun environment.
3. A role where I can add unique value. Yes! We are producing a conference for small group leaders using content I helped develop and am passionate about. And it's my favorite event format: half training time; half round-table discussion where leaders can interact over how these big ideas actually play out in group life.

So, I am beyond excited to be a part of this team. We leave Good Friday and take the 16 hour flight to South Africa, where we arrive the midnight going into Easter morning. We will worship Easter Sunday at Southpoint Church and then work with the team to prepare for the retreat. The conference will run Tuesday - Thursday. And then I begin the return journey on Saturday, April 30th.

Day 1
Cant believe it’s here: today I leave for South Africa! I pack in the morning & then mom picks up the kids at 3pm. Brian graciously drives me to the airport after we stop by Target. I inadvertently lose my phone while trying on purses. We have to turn around and go back for it, but it’s there in one of the purse rejects. First moment of panic – check! …. so, that’s out of the way.

We meet at Hartsfield at 5pm. Our team is led by Jana Guynn, director of Married Life -- who is also bringing her 16 yo daughter Quincy; Chris Kim -- LTR teammate and director of Theopraxis who will be communicating; Jamie Waddy -- singles coordinator at Buckhead Church who is known for her dance moves as well as being a utility player -- she'll be hosting; and me. I'll be producing.

Jana & Quince were flying on buddy passes. But Chris had set the rest of us up on window seats. Fortunately it was not a full flight & the middle chair was open for all three of us. Jana & Quincy lucked out and got upgraded to first class and the fully reclinable bed/chairs! The flight is smooth. One Ben Stiller movie & four chapters of a new book later and it’s midnight… I decide to try and sleep. Dude on the aisle has restless leg syndrome, so I more or less dozed for 6 hours. (At 3am, they serve breakfast, which feels a bit cruel even though it’s 9am in SA.) But somehow I manage to sleep really well from 6-8am.

At 8am ATL/2pm SA, I ate a pizza “breakfast.” After watching 'Letters to Juliet', we landed in Johannesburg. Two of Jamie’s friends who live in SA were waiting to meet us at the gate. We hung out at the food court for an hour talking tourist attractions, and then it was time to board the 7:40pm (SA). flight to Cape Town. While Jana & Quincy lucked out on the 15 hr. flight; Jamie, Chris & I were upgraded by some friendly ticket agents on the 2 hr. flight to Cape Town.

So it’s 9:30pm SA/ 3:30pm ATL when we land, and we are a bit loopy. We meet up with the amazing Pam Stabler & the wonderful Coleman family who are there to greet us and take us to our hotel. You would think we would crash, but after taking much-desired showers, we discover we are really hungry and have a second wind. So at 11:30pm (5:30pm ATL), Chris gets behind the wheel & we decide to explore Cape Town.

Believe it or not this town shuts down at 10pm… everything was deserted. No late night restaurants… no fast food… just the gas station convenience store, baby! And yes, we did get dinner there: chips & ice cream. Classy, huh?! But the hour we spent driving around the docks & empty streets let Chris practice driving on the left side of the road. And that turned out to be a very good thing.

The three of us returned by 1am. But Jamie & I stayed up chatting til 3:30am. And then the alarm went off at 6am (12m ATL). Happy Easter!!

WDW 2010 Day 5: Hollywood Studios

This morning we arrived at studios just after rope drop. Andrew & brian split off immediately to queue up for jedi training academy. Lauren, my folks & I joined the crush headed to tsm. (the volks & millers slept in). I got in the fp queue while my folks took Lauren to the standby line. Then I jumped in with them. The line was out the door, but moving steadily. Mom rode w/Lauren & I schooled dad. Then we hightailed it over to jedi training academy. They had Andrew & brian wait in line the whole time: 9-9:55am. Brian said adv was nervous, and started to freak out a couple times… but talking to the other boys made it better.

We arrived just in time to see Andrew don his hood & hit the stage. The show was great. The instructor was funny & good with the kids. He taught them a series of moves, then had them practice. And then vader walked out with two storm troopers. Andrew’s eyes got real big, but he held it together. The kids then battled vader individually with the instructor reminding them of the sequence as needed. Andrew worked his way to the back of the line & was the second to last padawan. I could tell he was intimidated, but he held his own. It was so cool watching him be scared but brave and do well. What an awesome thing. So glad he had the opportunity.




Afterwards, we walked down to tower of terror. Lauren was pumped to ride this ride. She had apparently told all her friends she would. She knew it would be scary, but she was ready. It was cool hearing her self-talk her way thru her fear. We walked on & she sat right in between us on the middle row. She grabbed my arm & hunk of brian’s shirt & chest hair ☺ when we got off, she told us that the ride made her legs shake, but it seemed to be the ghost & lightning parts she disliked the most. You could tell she definitely didn’t want to ride it again, but the more we praised her for her courage, the more proud of herself she became. And by the time she reached my parents, she was excited she had ridden it.

Andrew had gotten a smoothie with mom and dad while we were on tower of terror that looked really good. So brian & I picked some up and we headed over to the beauty and the beast show. The volks & millers arrived as well & sat on the house right front row handicapped section. We were about eight rows back in the center with mom & dad. The show was great as always. But gaston seemed to be about 45, which lent it a creepy dimension… but the gparents all loved it.

So we rounded up the gang & headed to toy story mania. We wanted loren & Sharon to take a spin, so they took the four grandkids. Unfortunately, they separated loren from the rest of the group, so Sharon had the four kids by herself. Loren was pretty miffed about that. He wanted to ride with Andrew. But anyway, while they were riding, steph & I got in line for the kids to meet woody. The timing worked out great & as soon as they got off the ride, matt brought them over to andy’s room for a woody meet & greet. For some reason, Andrew didn’t want to participate, but the younger three enjoyed it.



After toy story, the volks & millers headed to prime time café for their 12:50 adr. And we headed to the great movie ride with my folks. Mom was looking forward to this one. We were in the front row of the car. If we had been in the back, it might not have been so scary. But Lauren and Andrew were both freaked out by the gangster shootout where the mobster hijacks your car. and the western shootout. And of course the alien scene. And then we were right next to the wicked witch. So, the great movie ride now ranks as one of their least favorites. It was fine, but it’s so dated. But mom liked it…

Now it was time for lunch. Brian & Andrew peeled off to watch the lights motor action stunt show; the rest of us went to primetime café. We were seated back by the kitchen, but we did get a tv table. Unfortunately, we got a grumpy server too. But she did start us off with some homework: think of 17 disney animated films with a one word title. It took awhile, but with a few hints, we finally got it. Lauren had the hotdog with apple juice. Mom had the pot roast with a smoothie. I had the pot roast with their yummy pnut butter & jelly milkshake. Dad had the meatloaf with a chocolate milkshake. The food was delicious. And so was dessert. Lauren enjoyed designing her own sundae. I had the smores (meh), and mom & dad had the boston cream parfaits. The waitress really didn’t do anything funny other than chide my folks for putting their elbows on the table. She didn’t bring out any dessert or sing for my dad’s bday, even tho he was wearing a bday button. (not that we needed any more desserts, but the thought would have been nice.) unfortunately, tho, I forgot my room key to charge our meals to. So brian & Andrew headed over after their show to rescue us. And finish our milkshakes ☺

WDW 2010 Day 4: Magic Kingdom

We made rope drop this morning at the magic kingdom. We then snapped several variations of family pics and went to space mtn. the refurb had made it more intense for sure. Neither of the kids liked it even tho it was advs fav two years ago. So, kind of a rocky start. Nana and grammy rode too, and they werent’ big fans either. Oh well. We then split up & nana and papa joined the millers for bfast with tigger & pooh at crystal palace. We took our kids to meet tiana & naveen. Then we walked thru the castle to mickey’s philharmagic. Big crowd pleaser.



next, the kids wanted to explore tom sawyers island & that was pretty fun. Adv loved the fort and barrel bridge, but really didn’t like the caves. But Lauren was a champ; she loved exploring. And even a spill on the bridge didn’t keep her down. It was something new for us & we enjoyed it. But man, the heat was kicking in. we then had lunch at pinnochio house. Pizza & salads all around. The millers had wrapped up bfast so we met them at splash mtn. nana &papa wanted a break, and headed back to the hotel. so it was ten of us. We had a log to ourselves. I think everyone really enjoyed that ride. It was another first for most of us. Steph even bought the pic. Lauren thought it was awesome: water rides seem to be her favs.

We walked down to the shooting arcade & let the kids play. I picked up some frozen strawberry lemonades & we enjoyed some shade. We split up from the millers who were headed for lunch. Our fam headed to big thunder mtn. mom & dad sat that one out. so it was just the four of us. That was really fun. I sat w/lrv & she loved it. LOVE that girl.

Then we decided to split boys & girls. dad, adv & bdv went to pirates, swiss fam treehouse & then adv designed his own mouse ears at the chapeau. The girls hopped the railroad (first time) & headed to toon town (first time). we braved the hour long line for tink. Lauren was a champ. But wow that was a wait. She got super shy around the fairies, but I think she enjoyed it. After that we chose a baby jasmine souvenir & took some pics the three of us in front of the castle. We stayed about an hour too long (it was 4:30 back at hotel) but Lauren had a fantastic day. And that’s what it’s all about!



We headed back to the magic kingdom about 6:30pm. The plan was to ride buzz lightyear, get dinner & find a good fireworks spot. My parents, papa & Andrew went on carousel of progress while the rest of us battled zurg with buzz lightyear. Then we went to cosmic rays for dinner. The plan was to get it to go & eat while watching the fireworks. But man, the park was jammed, the restaurant was slow & there were no good spots to be had. The fireworks began while I was carrying the food out. with no good place to put it. So everyone watched fireworks standing in front of the bathrooms outside cosmic rays. We ate inside rays after they were over.

Then we tromped over to frontierland and shopped around before the mainstreet electrical parade. We bought a set of star wars pins & split it btw the kids. Andrew is content to never trade again, but Lauren found several castmembers w/baby princesses to trade for. Time went pretty quickly & then the parade was upon us. I held Lauren who stood on some barrel planters to see. Mom & dad stood with us. Brian and Andrew were content to play checkers while the parade passed by.



Afterward, the boys decided to stay, since Andrew is such a night owl. They rode tomorrowland speedway, the peoplemover & astro orbiter. My folks and I took Lauren on home. She was fading fast & I ended up carrying her from main street. The bus lines weren’t long, but it took the guy 30 min. to load two ecvs. Seriously. So it was 10:45 before we got home. And we went straight to bed. Andrew woke me up at 12:15am with a whispered “good morning mom. I stayed up til midnight!” he was super-excited and clearly they had had some good guy time. Plus they brought me back a cinnamon roll for bfast. Love my boys ☺

WDW 2010 Day 3: Boma dinner

My parents, aka Grammy & Granddad, arrived this afternoon. The kids were thrilled. the whole group of 12 went to dinner at boma in the animal kingdom lodge. i was very much looking forward to this meal, and seeing AKL.

It was beautiful, of course. the weather was clear & looking out the window in the soaring lobby, you could see giraffes roaming the savannah. we ate at a large table right next to the hostess stand. i sat at one end with my folks & in'laws. brian was at the other end with the kids and millers. the volks enjoyed relaying stories from the past two days. mom asked lots of questions :)

the food was great for a buffet. plenty of choices with a good mix of new and familiar. loren & i especially enjoyed the peanut butter rice. there was also a watermelon rind salad that was unusually good. a procession came thru around 8pm with a drummer and some singing/chanting. the kids thought that was cool but a little scary.

afterwards we walked down by the pools and found the spot where you can look thru nightvision goggles to find animals on the savannah. we saw a wildebeast, a giraffe an a zebra. but honestly, it was easier to find them without the goggles. so, that was kind of a let-down. but a neat idea. the kids played on the playground for a bit and then we headed back to the hotel. a great day full of firsts. and we were all excited for tomorrow and the magic kingdom!

WDW 2010 Day 3: Animal Kingdom

We started out today ready to go on safari & we were not disappointed. We saw lots of animals including some adorable babies. A baby giraffe came right up to the truck & put her head in. one brave soul even petted her on the nose. Then his mama called him and he returned & started nursing right there next to the truck. After that we saw lots of mandrills, rhinos bumping horns, and Lauren’s fav: two baby elephants. One was only 4 mo & still fuzzy.

On our way from Africa to Asia, we saw DeVine. Andrew was super excited as she features in the kingdom keepers book he’s reading. They weren’t offering fps for kali, so we fp’d everest & then caught the 10:30 nemo show. Love it; i get teary every time. Papa said that was his fav too. After the show, the kids were ready to play. so steph took the lil three on triceratops spin while bdv & adv & I went on primeval whirl. Big hit. He loved it & was so glad to ride it. Then we headed over to boneyard & let the kids run off some energy before lunch.



Lunch was flametree bbq. Food was meh, but the view was spectacular: in front of the lake with everest soaring in the background. From there we went to the 1pm flights of wonder show. It was fine. But I don’t think we’ll see it again. After that, there wasn’t consensus on what to do next. We wanted to hit the 2:30 lion king show, but what to do until then. Brian & I left the kids w/nana & papa & rode everest w/hardly any wait. When we got out, the kids were still where we left them eating icecream w/nana & papa.

hailey REALLY wanted to ride kali. The wait was 50 min. her mom explained that it was kali or FoLK & she chose kali. so matt took her & ben to do that. As we were walking back toward discovery island, adv had a change of heart & decided he wanted to ride kali instead of lion king too. Not to be left out, lauren wanted to go too. Of course the other grown ups didn’t want to get all wet. So, lucky me. Which meant that it was just bdv, steph & the volks for lion king. I think Loren & Sharon were disappointed that the grandkids ran off. later, brian and I had words about not taking the kids away from their gparents so much. But I digress…

kali river rapids has a long but beautiful queue. Even tho the wait was posted 50, more like 35 minutes, we were constantly moving. Of course once Andrew saw the ride, he had a complete meltdown: I don’t want to get wet!! Well buddy, its called kali river rapids. You will get wet. I finally had to squeeze his arm to chill him out. fortunately lauren’s good spirits never wavered. The ride was fine. We all got soaked. Lauren loved it & said it was her new fav. Andrew hated it & kept going on and on about how much he despised it. Lovely.

Soaked to the skin we met up w/the millers at the exit. With half an hour before the lion king got out, we gave the kids the choice to go to tough to be a bug or meet characters. Matt took hailey & adv to bug. Ben and Lauren came with me to meet Minnie, goofy & mickey. They played ring around the rosie with goofy & Lauren told him a joke. The interaction was great. Then she gave mickey flowers. Too cute.



Besides bdv’s frustration over splitting up the family. It was a pretty good day. But man it felt good to get back into dry clothes again ☺

WDW 2010 Day 2: Epcot

Friday, September 24th.

So the 6:45 alarm came early. But everyone was fresh & excited for our first full day in the parks. We pulled up front & center with our handy handicapped passes around 9:15am & made our way to soarin. Oh my goodness, everything was walk on! 10 min wait for soarin. Love that ride. Nana sat with Lauren & I could hear her telling her all about her favorite ride & all it’s wonderful smells ☺ Andrew has developed a fear of heights, so sitting next to a super-happy hailey was the perfect cure. And of course we were all thrilled that ben has hit the magic 40”. It was his first ride & he loved it. Especially sitting next to papa.

Following a great first ride, we made our way to test track. We used fast passes, but it only saved us 10 minutes vs the 20 min walk-on line. Both kids were skiddish, so Lauren sat up front btw dad & aunt steph. I kept an arm around Andrew in the back. Lauren loved it by the end. Jury is still out on Andrew. We’ll see if he wants to do it with my folks on Tuesday.

We played around the playground at the mission space. Andrew was the only kid tall enough, and he wasn’t in the mood. So instead, we headed toward check in for our KP mission. On the way we saw Rafiki, the queen of hearts & posed for a pic with Aurora. She left a big lipstick print on Ben’s face. He was so proud.



This time, Andrew, Lauren & Hailey each got their own KP assignments. But we had 30 min to kill before they began. So we hit the 3 caballeros ride. This is hailey’s fav. She hugged Lauren (who was certain there would be evil trolls) the whole time. It was so cute watching her point everything out to her cousins.

Then we picked up our kimmunicators & we were off to save the world. Lauren & I headed to china. We’ve never explored this pavilion before. Lauren took her assignment very seriously. She was ever vigilant looking for monkey fists’ minions. Seriously. But we gave our code to a certain shop attendant who gave us a fortune cookie with a key inside. Lauren enjoyed her first fortune cookie & then discovered that she is a rooster in the zodiac calendar. A rooster’s big trait is decisiveness. Sounds about right & a lot like her mom ☺

Then we noticed a certain princess moving quickly to her meet & greet spot. Lauren was first in line to meet Mulan! She told her all about the mission and Mulan mentioned that Ron Stoppable was too busy to help b/c he was eating his way around the world showcase. Lauren thought that was hilarious. So then, we finished our mission, by rescuing the jade monkey. It was really well done.



Then we made our way to France for our 12:30 adr. On the way we passed snow white, jasmine & Aladdin; but stopped for a pic with belle.



The boys met us in France and told us all about how they rescued Norway. Now, I had made the adr at chefs de france b/c I thought the kids would love to see remy from ratatouille who makes appearances at lunch only. I hadn’t mentioned it to the kids & I’m so glad. B/c remy was on vacation. Bummer.

I love chefs de france. It’s a beautiful restaurant with my fav kind of food. But I wouldn’t say my kids agree…. The kids werent’ into their cheese pastry apps. But brian & I enjoyed French onion soup & lobster bisque. The kids had chicken fingers. We had croque monsieurs. Yum. And then to finish off the adults had crème brulee & profiteroles. Lauren had vanilla icecream & Andrew had a choc chip cookie the size of his head ☺ the kids did enjoy watching serverur amusant thru the windows. They couldn’t get over the fact that he could balance on top of 7 chairs. Anyway, I definitely prefer dinner & I definitely prefer adults only!

We dragged out our lunch b/c there were two torrential downpours. As luck would have it, our timing was perfect & we were able to avoid the rain almost entirely. We decided to make one final stop and it turned out to be a huge win.

Sum of all thrills is a simulator where you build your own rollercoaster, jet or bobsled experience. Andrew was the only kid tall enough, so we left it for the end of the day. He and Brian waited 20 minutes & designed a jet flight pattern. In the meantime, Lauren & I explored the rest of the innoventions pavilion. Lauren created handmade paper, took part in a build your own safety kit game, and then as luck would have it, we were able to watch the boys in the simulator. Andrew LOVED it. It was just perfect for a smart & creative 7 yo boy! Hopefully, we’ll be able to do it again on Tuesday. I’d love to watch him in action.



We chilled in our hotel from 3:45-6pm. The kids journaled their fav experiences of the day & watched tv. Before long, it was time to head back for Mickey’s Harvest Feast at the Garden Grill. Our first stop was pics: you can’t skip the classic ‘hold the world up’ pose. Then we were off to spaceship earth. Andrew & I rode together & it is just amazing how smart that kid is. He was telling me how the word alphabet got it’s name from the first two letters of greek: alpha + beta. My 7 yo! After a wonderful future under the sea, we found an energy game kind of like shuffleboard. Big hit with the kids.

Before long, it was time to hit Garden Grill. This restaurant inside the land slowly rotates thru the environments of the boatride down below. We waited 45 min. for a table and then the meal moved pretty slowly. We weren’t out of there til 9:25 even tho we had a 7:20 reservation. With both a slow lunch in france & a slow dinner, I think the kids did pretty well, but by the end they were tired. But the character interaction was pretty fun. Lauren loved meeting Chip & Dale. She discovered if she rubbed Dales’ back, he would shake his tail. She thought that was awesome. we also saw Mickey & Pluto.



The food was fine. It’s served family style: salad, turkey, tilapia & beef. The chef was super accommodating and made chicken fingers, fries & broccoli for our kids. The usual chicken drumstick wasn’t doing much for them. We ate with loren & Sharon but with loren needing to be on the end to prop his leg up, and the kids needing to be on the other end to get up and down for character hugs, it was hard for anyone to really chat with them besides brian, as we were all facing outward in the same direction. But they seemed to have a good ‘visit’ as my mom would say.

All in all, a great day with soarin & sum of all thrills being the highlights ☺