Wild Weekend

We won't soon forget this past weekend!  On Sunday afternoon we drove down the hill to meet my sister Cathi, her husband Gary and my niece Beka at Water World.  I've been to some water parks in the past, but this place made them look minuscule - it is enormous.  We could not have possibly gone on every water slide in the park, but we went on several and we had an blast.  Two rides stick out in my mind as I think about our "wet and wild" afternoon: the first is called "Voyage to the center of the earth, "which is built entirely indoors and underground.  Of course, you have to pick up your large, three man inner tube at the bottom of the ride where everyone is getting out, and carry it (push it, drag it, roll it) all the way to the top.  Once you climb - with considerably difficulty - into the inner tube, the ride takes you down a series of large, downward spiraling chutes - and in between the chutes there are animatronic dinosaurs to keep things interesting.  I was in a tube with Nicole and Jacqueline.  I'm sure Jacqueline looked up a time or two, but for most of the ride she kept her head down in the tube and screamed at the top of her lungs.  It was hilarious.  The second, noteworthy ride is called "The Lazy River" . . . and you can probably understand why this one appealed to all the adults!  Now, it would (theoretically) be a nice, lazy, slow ride in an inner tube around a circular "river".  But throw in a billion people on tubes all jostling for position and you've got a rubber traffic jam.  Once you get separated from your group - good luck trying to find them again.  So you end up floating along with some guy with a beer belly and 500 tattoos, or Billy Bob's cousin - only with fewer teeth.  I talked with one guy who had a tattoo on his shoulder of the crown of thorns and three spikes which, he explained, illustrates his Christian beliefs.  He then told me how his next tattoo would cover his whole back - a picture of the entire zodiac calendar...??

But the most interesting part of the day came at the end.  Around 2:45 we all met back at the cabana that Cathi had rented for the day, and Cathi and Daphne told us to look through our things because they'd  seen a woman going into our cabana a few minutes earlier (they were in the pool at the time).  When they confronted her, she made up some story about getting mixed up with her cabana.  We discovered that Daphne's Amex card was missing, and when I called American Express they said that there had been around 10 charges made or attempted, starting two hours earlier!  So, this woman had come into our cabana, taken the card and then tried to charge several things in the park, and then at stores just outside the park.  Then she came back into the park and tried several more again, and apparently when Cathi and Daphne saw her she was looking for our zip code because the charges wouldn't go through with the wrong code.  We called security, and eventually had a police woman come to take our report.  Long story short:  they found the woman STILL in the park, sitting by another pool with her child.  She did such a good job of bluffing anger that Daphne wasn't 100% sure it was her, but in hindsight we know it was.  She's either the bravest or most stupid thief I've ever heard of, making multiple charges on the card and still hanging around the same park!  Even though to our knowledge she wasn't charged, it made for an interesting end to our day.

Rocky Mountain Adventure

On Monday we drove up to Estes Park to visit our friend Sharon McElwain (who previously worked with us in France) and for me to hopefully take some photos of the elk in rut.  We had a short visit with Sharon, and a very cold and windy picnic (see pictures below: Daphne kind of looks like the unabomber with her hoodie and sunglasses!) - but no luck with finding any elk.  We decided to drive home over Trailridge Road - which has got to be one of the most magnificent panoramic roads in the world.  Well, right on top of the mountain we came across a herd of elk with a large bull - and a second challenger bull who was making his way down to towards the herd.  The first bull outweighed the challenger by a good bit, and he was able to convince him to change his mind without a fight.  I got some great photos of both of them.  Then further down near Winter Park we came across a cow Moose with two calves, which was our first time to see moose in the wild.  It was a great day.
     The only down side was that I forgot to take my medicated patches, which meant I was up literally all night pacing the floor - I only got to sleep around 7 am.  Daphne and I prayed and prayed, and I ended up in tears in the wee hours of the morning - not just for myself and the frustration of this never- ending battle, but I was weeping for my brother John who suffers from chronic pain.  Although our ailments are of different natures, we seem to be living in parallel worlds of physical struggles - and have been for several years.  God has placed a very strong burden on Daphne's heart (and now mine as well) to believe God for complete healing from my restless leg syndrome.  This is perhaps the first time in our marriage when I am following Daphne's heart and what she's heard from the Lord, since in the past she has tended to follow the promptings I have felt from the Holy Spirit.  I have never seen her so convinced about something, nor so tenacious in her prayers.  Her firm belief that she's heard from the Lord has brought me to the same conviction - so that is how we continue to pray.  And I find myself often, in the early hours of the morning, praying the same for John.

Freezing Picnic in Rocky Mountain Park

Master of his Harem

The Challenger

Magnificent Bull

Cow moose with both calves