I'm Baaack

I know, I know. It's been a long time since I've posted anything. Partly because I find it hard to make the time to do this. Partly because I was on vacation.

The family and I loaded up the Windstar and headed south on October 6. We picked up our breakfast at Tim Horton's and were on our way. We crossed the Peace Bridge into New York then drove through New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, then spent our first night in Virginia. The next day we continued through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, then spent the second night in Georgia. On October 8 we arrived in Florida and spent a couple of weeks in a condo outside of Walt Disney World. The weather was great. Our first week the temperature hit 90 a few times (that's 32 C) and the second week was only a few degrees cooler, 86-88 (30-31). The only rain we encountered was on the trip down.

We made the same trek last year and bought annual passes for Disney so when we went this year our admission to the parks was already paid for. On the 13th we went to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. My wife dressed as Mary Poppins, the girls were a vampire and Sleeping Beauty, and the boys and I were the Three Musketeers. We had a ball. I know a lot of people are down on Disney because of all its excesses, artificiality, etc., but it's a whole lot of fun.

We left Florida in the evening on the 21st and made it across the border into Georgia. The next day we drove as far as northern West Virginia, almost into Pennsylvania. On the 23rd we were home by about 1:30 pm. It was a wonderful, relaxing vacation. I rarely thought about work. I finally read the Da Vinci Code (I thought it was awesome!). I trusted that the people in my church were in good hands.

We won't be doing the Disney thing again for a few years. Next summer we plan to spend a little more time camping with our trailer (there's a great campground in the Finger Lakes Region of New York that we like). We've been talking about a Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI trip ever since we read Anne of Green Gables to the kids. We might get to that in '07.

It was a refreshing time (if not relaxing). It's good to be back home and back to work (I like my job most of the time). Things are busy. Confirmation classes start this week. Our Fall Conference Event takes place this Saturday. And all of a sudden we're in Advent and things just go nuts with the approach of Christmas. I know a lot of clergy take time off after a busy season to catch their breath but I've found that it helped me to take time before things got hectic.

So, I'm back and I'll try to find the time to put my thoughts up on this blog from time to time.

Shalom