picnic lunches   sweet treats hot springs big leaps dirty hands

While I have enjoyed the many ups and downs of our vacation to Texas, I have decided that I never again want to go on vacation the week prior to Easter. I was very careful when planning our trip to make sure that we would be with family for Easter so that we could go to church and worship our Lord. I didn’t want to be camping or in the middle of nowhere for Easter Sunday.

Besides taking in the beautiful scenery (of which there was much) at Guadalupe and Big Bend National Parks, we really enjoyed being able to just be together (most of the time). Each day at Big Bend we took a very, long picnic lunch. One day we went to the western portion of the park and enjoyed a leisurely picnic. I thought it would be fun to make our own ice cream in coffee cans using a recipe I had found online.

I’d say good ol’ Dickens phrase aptly describes our week of camping in Texas. We’ve had us some great times this week… saw some beautiful handiworks of God’s creation and enjoyed time away from everyday life together as a family. I look forward to sharing many such anecdotes and pictures with you over the next few posts, but I gotta admit, we’ve had our “moments” as well. It was the sickness that got to us.

My last guest blogger for this week is Monica. I stumbled across Monica’s blog shortly after I started blogging last year and was instantly hooked. She and her husband Keith have been married a little longer than Scott and I and we both have three kids around the same ages. Her love for the Lord, her husband, and her children shines through in each of her posts. We’ve had the chance to chat back and forth via e-mail and I am certain if she lived in town instead of across the Atlantic, we would certainly enjoy spending time together.

Today’s guest blogger is Sarah. Sarah is one of the few bloggers I read, whom I know in real life. My freshman year of college at Towson, Sarah lived on the floor above me. I was in Bible study with her through RUF and we hung out numerous times throughout the year. When my family moved and I transferred schools, we lost touch. We found each other on face book this past summer and I’ve been hooked on her blog ever since!

Today, I bring to you Rebecca from A Happy Heart. Rebecca has been a faithful commenter here at the circus for several months. Her encouraging and humorous comments have flowed into numerous e-mail exchanges between the two of us. Without actually meeting her in person, she has crossed the line from “virtual friend” to “real friend” and I look forward to meeting her face to face next month. She has two adorable preschoolers, two helpful tween stepdaughters, and another little bun in the oven due to arrive in time for Thanksgiving this fall.

Since I’m currently camping in the desert with no electricity or WiFi, I called upon a few of my dear blogging friends to fill in during my absence here at the circus. They graciously agreed. So, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week, I will feature a different guest blogger from my blog roll for your reading pleasure. I suggested they write a post that demonstrates how they would fit in here at the circus.

Saturday we ventured out for White Sands, NM. We had high hopes for some sand sledding. I was expecting it to be like this. Only there is this phenomenon in Texas we recently discovered called Wind Season. Who knew? (Yes, knowledge of this would have been helpful in planning our vacation). So when we arrived at White Sands we discovered something called a sand storm. And unlike a snow storm, sand storms hurt.

Hmmm…we’re on day 3 of our grand Texas adventure…and the circus crew has come down with quite a few ailments. My hoarse voice has developed into full laryngitis. My son has gotten a case of pink eye. My baby has developed a fever. And the middle child has nothing specific yet, but I did detect a little runny nose this evening. NICE, huh? Guess we just wanted to feel at home, so we brought the plague of the past few months along with us.