Since the boys have been waking up so ridiculously early, we’ve had pretty packed days.  Granted, we’ve switched over to central time, but even still, it’s earlier than usual!  It’s the first time that Micah is sleeping in a real bed and not confined to a crib.  He’s done very well, (meaning he’s stayed in bed from the time we put him down until he wakes up in the morning and he hasn’t fallen off the bed), but when Manu and Micah wake up in the morning, they are tearing through the villa like it’s Christmas.  So, after a long introduction, I just wanted to say that it’s been a long day.

The boys woke up at 6am and started running around and playing.  Israel came down and put them back to bed.  I came down at 7am after Ty woke up and peeked into the boys’ room.  Israel was sleeping on Micah’s bed and both of the boys were wide awake.  I released the boys and Israel kept muttering that we’re on vacation and he doesn’t understand why the boys wouldn’t want to sleep in.  

We had morning worship, played charades again, ate breakfast, and then started our day’s activities.  Israel booked a sleigh ride for us at 11:30am so we got dressed and headed over to the Orchard Country Winery & Market.  We arrived there early (shockingly) and so we checked out the market.  They had a lot of free samples of their grape/cherry/apple products.  We tried their juices & ciders and also some unique cherry products such as cherry salsa and cherry spread.  Then it was time for our ride.  We got the one horse open sleigh which was nice since the boys like the song “Jingle Bells”.  The horse did have lots of jingle bells too.  It was a very fun ride through the orchards, vineyards, and woods! 

We came home, had lunch, then was nap time.  A very long nap time.  When we woke up the boys really wanted to go ice skating since I had been talking about that with them.  It is one of the nice, free amenities here where we’re staying.  So, Manu and Micah ice-skated for the first time.  They did surprisingly well!  I’m sure we’ll be going several more times.  We ate dinner at a Mexican place in Egg Harbor called Mojo Rosa’s.  We met the owner who was also our waitress and she was super-cool.  Very veggie-friendly.  She owns a couple other restaurants in the area and we want to check them out later this week. 

Back at home again, the boys spent some time jumping on our bed and burning off some calories from dinner, then we had worship and got ready for bed.  It was a very long day.  Israel knocked out by 10pm. 

I’ll be going to bed with Ty once I feed him his last meal at midnight, but wanted to write down our experiences from the day so we can remember.  Israel and I were talking about how sad it is that our vacation has to come to an end so soon (-we have until Thursday but it still seems too short).  It really made me long for Heaven.  It’s going to be a perpetual, glorified “vacation” – spending time with loved ones in a beautiful, relaxing environment with plenty of exciting activities to do.  No stress, no worries, and no need for sleep!  Jesus Himself will be there and the angels will worship with us.  Who would not want that?  The unbelieveable part is that it will never end!

Until then, here’s to our limited vacation time while it lasts!  I pray that they will help our family long for Heaven even more.  And more so, I pray that we all will be there.

At the vineyard waiting for our sleigh ride

We bought some salsa and other yummy food at the market.

Our one-horse open sleigh

Ty is behind me in his car seat.  He didn’t even wake up to see the horse!