"Hi Mickey, Hi Mickey, Hi Mickey, Hi Mickey!”

We spent all day Friday at Disney World with Stacey, Cliff, Sarina and Stephen. We had such an amazing time. We tried out their new ride Soarin’. We all felt that was the best ride of the day. Kaleb got to go on the Nemo ride, Buzz Lightyear, Merry-go-round, Teacups, and It’s a Small World. After every ride he said, “More!!” I personally loved “It’s a Small World”. My grandma Peg took me on that ride when I was 5 years old. It brings back wonderful memories of Peg and Norm…their love for me and their guidance in leading me to Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

I think Kaleb’s highlight of the day was seeing Mickey. Last August he was terrified of him. This year he ran right up to him and hugged him. We tried to take a family picture, but he wouldn’t take his eyes off Mickey. He kept saying “Hi Mickey” and was not impressed that Mickey wouldn’t say hi back.

When we got to the car yesterday to go home it was 100 degrees out. Kaleb kept saying, “I so hot. I so sweaty.” Even with the high temps, it was so enjoyable. This morning when Kaleb woke up I asked him if he had fun at Disney. He said, “YEAH! Mickey give my hug!” So priceless!!!

Nick, Cliff and Stephen left us for a couple hours and went on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Today we are going to the beach with Stacy and Cliff. Kaleb is staying with Auntie Jane all day.

I’m sure he’s in store for no nap, lots of junk food and probably lots of fun!

Florida - Day 4, Hanging Out... again

We spent Thursday hanging out around the Steele home again. We swam, did a little shopping and played games. Despite it being a zoo around the Steele home, we’re having a blast! You know… I don’t think I have been in a Loscheider home that isn’t a zoo?!?

Kaleb fell in love with Sarina’s Barbie car. All we heard yesterday afternoon was, “More Dora car!”, even though it wasn’t a Dora car. The first thing he said when he woke up this morning was, “Go outside, my drive Dora car!”

Later this evening I’ll post some photos from our trip to Disney.

Florida - Day 3, Hanging Out

We spent much of the day just hanging out at the Steele’s home. It was in the high 90’s much of the day. We spent some time in the pool. Despite Nick getting stung in the head by a wasp, it was a fun time.

Nick and I, my cousin Stacy and her husband Cliff, and my cousin Stephanie and her boyfriend Jason enjoyed dinner as three couples at the Cheesecake Factory last evening. I had the best dinner of my life there. We sat and chatted for hours.

Where was Kaleb through all this you may ask?? With my aunt, Jane, eating ice cream, cookies, fries and ketchup. Oh, and I should also mention staying up until 10:00?!? I had a small panic attack, but we all survived.

We are having a blast…Friday it is on to Disney!!

Kaleb's Prayers

Every night when putting Kaleb to bed we say prayers. This is how our prayers went last night:

Daddy: “Dear Jesus."
Kaleb: “Dear God.”

Daddy: “Thank you for family.”
Kaleb: “Tank you fo famwey.”

Daddy: “Thank you for our safety at the beach.”
Kaleb: “Tank you fo da beach.”

Daddy: “Thank you for save travels.”
Kaleb: “Tank you fo my mommy.”

Daddy: “Thank you for your love.”
Kaleb: “Tank you fo my mommy, AMEN!”

I’m not sure he’s thankful for me, but we now know that he’s thankful for his mommy. Kaleb is blessed to have an amazing mom that loves him beyond all understanding and shows that through everything she does for him and with him.

Kaleb and I are forever thankful for you mommy!

Florida - Day 2, Melbourne Beach

We spent much of the day at Melbourne Beach on the Atlantic side of Florida. It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the 90’s. Kaleb had a blast. He played for a while in the sand with Sarina until he realized how much fun the waves are. He has absolutely NO fear of anything, including the water. He kept saying, “More big waves, daddy, more!”, obviously not realizing how powerful they are.

Ann caught some serious sun and now looks like a lobster. Of course, I got the blame for not applying her sunscreen properly. She tried out the boogie boarding and managed to lose her Maui Jim sunglasses when the waves over-took her, she obviously forgot she had them on. The guys spent the afternoon boogie boarding, throwing around a football and playing a little racquetball on the beach.

We all had a blast. It’s such a great joy to see children laughing and playing with extreme joy.

Florida

Although this is our third trip in less than a year, it is just as sweet as it was the first time to wake up to sunny skies, palm trees and amazing weather. The web tells us it is currently 45 degrees in Fargo. Seriously, it is June. We are so happy to be here enjoying the beauty of the earth.

We had fun playing games with the Steeles last night. Kaleb and Sarina LOVE each other. They are pulling around their matching Dora and Diego backpacks waiting for us to be ready to go to the beach. It was funny on our way to the Steeles in the car yesterday. He LOVES his “E-eigo” backpack, and seriously told her about 80 times to look at his “E-eigo back-kack”. Finally, Sarina turned around to him and said, “I know Kaleb. I’ve seen your Diego backpack like 50 times!” I’m not sure whose mouth moves faster.

Well, we are off to the beach! More later…

Batesville, Indiana

I had the privilege of spending Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Indiana. Batesville Casket Company was generous enough to send me to Batesville, Indiana for a customer relations trip. While there, we toured one of their three manufacturing facilities. At the beginning of the nearly 400,000 square foot facility, caskets started out as a roll of flattened steel. By the time we reached the opposite end of the facility, complete caskets were being strategically loaded on trucks in an automated fashion. A casket comes off the line every 58 seconds, between all three manufacturing facilities, that manufacture roughly 3300 caskets per day.

While there we stayed at the JAWACADH farm. JAWACADH are the initials of the original Hillenbrand family children. It’s a beautiful 127-acre farm setting, deep in the rolling hills of Indiana full of cottages and beautiful landscaping.


To say the least, I have a new found appreciation for caskets.