As we posted a few weeks ago, we have now started working with the 4 year old class at our church every other Sunday at the 9:30am service. We had out first week with them 2 weekends ago and will be with them again this weekend.
Our first weekend was a huge success! We had SO much fun and really enjoyed our time with them and we are looking forward to each week!
ChangePoint has really done an amazing job creating a world-class children's space and it is evident in the way that the kids are so excited to be there.
We work our way through 3 different rooms and spend under 30 minutes in each, so the kids are never in one space long enough to get bored. We start out in the Prospector Mine Room that is filled with toys and crafts and lots of different play areas and basically we just hang out with the kids there and play with them and get to know them. When we are about 5 minutes from leaving the room a song comes on that is the "pick up song" and it was AMAZING to see that as soon as the song came on, with no prompting from any of the adults, all of the kids got up and started picking up and putting away all of the toys. It was like Pavlov's dog, I was very impressed that they all just knew that the song meant to clean up because we were about to leave. After that room we go to the Under The Sea room where there is music and a short lesson that, surprisingly, the kids were completely focused on. I learned that one of the main reasons that the kids are so focused in that room has to do with the lighting. When you walk in the room is dark but the stage is totally lit and has a very fun look. The dark room causes the kids to turn their focus on the stage and what is happening there, pretty awesome. After that room we end our time in King Cove, which is a giant indoor play area that features slides, reading areas, movie areas, lot of things to climb on and play in and the kids just go crazy and love it!!
As someone who has never served in children's ministry before I didn't know what to expect and I was very pleasantly surprised. It was so much fun and the kids really seem to enjoy their time there, and that is the whole point!
Who knew that 4 year olds were so awesome?!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Winter is on the way
Every year, around this time, there is that one day when you wake up, look outside and are confronted by reality. Winter is on its way. We are still, probably, a few weeks away from our first snow here in town, but it is certainly fast approaching.
As a BIG fan of winter, I personally can't wait for the snow to get here!!
(Mountains from our living room - last week)
(First snowfall on the mountains - yesterday)
As a BIG fan of winter, I personally can't wait for the snow to get here!!
(Mountains from our living room - last week)
(First snowfall on the mountains - yesterday)Tuesday, September 08, 2009
A long overdue update
Hi Everyone!!
It has been a few weeks since our last update and we have done A LOT, so this may be along blog.
Here is what we have been up to.
A few weeks ago we went and hiked to Byron Glacier with some friends. It was a beautiful, sunny 70 degree day and e just had to be outside. The hike to the glacier is pretty easy but it is beautiful once you get there! The glacier comes down from the surrounding mountains and a river flows right through it creating this awesome blue ice cave! Here are some photos from that trip.
__________
We also went to Homer for a weekend with some friends. Homer is an amazing little town located about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Anchorage. It is located right on the water and is surrounded by mountains and glaciers. It is one of Alaska's best "coastal" towns for sure. We stayed in a great little vacation home, the Little Fireweed Cottage, that had all the comforts of home. It also had a hot tub on the deck that overlooked the water and mountains, it was simply perfect.
On Saturday the guys went out fishing. I caught a small shark and we also caught 1 Halibut and 1 Irish Lord. The fishing was actually really bad, normally everyone gets their limit of Halibut (2 per person per day), plus several other fish, but the weather that morning was terrible for fishing. Sherri stayed at the cottage while we were out fishing and enjoyed what she called a "perfect day", she watched 4 movies, relaxed and did a bunch of painting all while enjoying the view and the comforts of the cottage. That night we all went out for dinner at an AMAZING seafood restaurant, some of the best seafood that I have ever had! Sherri even tried her very first oyster on the 1/2 shell!! Our last day there we went to the Bear Creek Winery. What a hidden gem this place is! It is a small family run winery but they produce some amazing wines! Most of their wines are a grape / berry mix, for example they have a BlueZin that is wild Alaskan blueberries blended with a White Zinfandel or their Shirazzberry which is a Syrah blended with Alaskan Raspberries. We sampled a dozen or so wines, had some great finger foods there and left with 3 bottles of wine!
It was a great, relaxing trip and it really felt like a "mini-vacation".
Here are some photos from the trip!
(The small shark I caught)
(View from the hot tub)
(Homer Small Boat Harbor)
(The Tasting Room at Bear Creek Winery)
__________
And FINALLY...this weekend we went to the Alaska State Fair with Jason and Jana. It was another beautiful sunny day (very rare during the state fair), we ate some awesome fair food, played some games and just had a great time!! One of the highlights of the fair are the GIANT vegetables that are grown here in Alaska. Every year world records are broken and this year was no exception. There were 2 new world records set, there was a 127 pound cabbage and an 82.9 pound rutabaga. Some other notable veggies included a 17 pound radish, a 133 pound watermelon, a 12 pound puffball mushroom and a 329 pound pumpkin.
Here is a photo of the new world record cabbage.
It has been a few weeks since our last update and we have done A LOT, so this may be along blog.
Here is what we have been up to.
A few weeks ago we went and hiked to Byron Glacier with some friends. It was a beautiful, sunny 70 degree day and e just had to be outside. The hike to the glacier is pretty easy but it is beautiful once you get there! The glacier comes down from the surrounding mountains and a river flows right through it creating this awesome blue ice cave! Here are some photos from that trip.
__________
We also went to Homer for a weekend with some friends. Homer is an amazing little town located about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Anchorage. It is located right on the water and is surrounded by mountains and glaciers. It is one of Alaska's best "coastal" towns for sure. We stayed in a great little vacation home, the Little Fireweed Cottage, that had all the comforts of home. It also had a hot tub on the deck that overlooked the water and mountains, it was simply perfect.
On Saturday the guys went out fishing. I caught a small shark and we also caught 1 Halibut and 1 Irish Lord. The fishing was actually really bad, normally everyone gets their limit of Halibut (2 per person per day), plus several other fish, but the weather that morning was terrible for fishing. Sherri stayed at the cottage while we were out fishing and enjoyed what she called a "perfect day", she watched 4 movies, relaxed and did a bunch of painting all while enjoying the view and the comforts of the cottage. That night we all went out for dinner at an AMAZING seafood restaurant, some of the best seafood that I have ever had! Sherri even tried her very first oyster on the 1/2 shell!! Our last day there we went to the Bear Creek Winery. What a hidden gem this place is! It is a small family run winery but they produce some amazing wines! Most of their wines are a grape / berry mix, for example they have a BlueZin that is wild Alaskan blueberries blended with a White Zinfandel or their Shirazzberry which is a Syrah blended with Alaskan Raspberries. We sampled a dozen or so wines, had some great finger foods there and left with 3 bottles of wine!
It was a great, relaxing trip and it really felt like a "mini-vacation".
Here are some photos from the trip!
(The small shark I caught)
(View from the hot tub)
(Homer Small Boat Harbor)
(The Tasting Room at Bear Creek Winery)__________
I had a work trip to Fairbanks last week and on my drive home the weather was perfect! Many of the mountain passes that I drove through had already started to turn the fall colors. There is a type of plant that grows on mountains in Interior Alaska that during fall turns the entire mountainside a bright red and it is just beautiful! Also, Denali (Mt. McKinley) was totally out! The mountain is 20,320 feet tall and because of how huge it is it often creates its own weather systems and is normally hidden with clouds, but when it is out, it dominates the horizon, especially in interior Alaska where I was.
Here are a few photos from the drive.
I had a work trip to Fairbanks last week and on my drive home the weather was perfect! Many of the mountain passes that I drove through had already started to turn the fall colors. There is a type of plant that grows on mountains in Interior Alaska that during fall turns the entire mountainside a bright red and it is just beautiful! Also, Denali (Mt. McKinley) was totally out! The mountain is 20,320 feet tall and because of how huge it is it often creates its own weather systems and is normally hidden with clouds, but when it is out, it dominates the horizon, especially in interior Alaska where I was.
Here are a few photos from the drive.
__________
And FINALLY...this weekend we went to the Alaska State Fair with Jason and Jana. It was another beautiful sunny day (very rare during the state fair), we ate some awesome fair food, played some games and just had a great time!! One of the highlights of the fair are the GIANT vegetables that are grown here in Alaska. Every year world records are broken and this year was no exception. There were 2 new world records set, there was a 127 pound cabbage and an 82.9 pound rutabaga. Some other notable veggies included a 17 pound radish, a 133 pound watermelon, a 12 pound puffball mushroom and a 329 pound pumpkin.
Here is a photo of the new world record cabbage.
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