Rehoboth Vacation 2010- Day 6

Mommy again. Friday 7/30/10 was the last day of our Rehoboth Family Vacation. I decided to take pictures of the great house we stayed in.

The relaxing front porch:

115 Stockley Ave:

Front of house:

View from stairs (Xia looking thrilled and Kris working hard on the bug puzzle):

The ALMOST completed bug puzzle:

The dining room:

The very small kitchen that we somehow survived with. Only two people fit in it comfortably at a time!

The back porch (who's the wacko waving at us?!):

The backyard (wonderful)!

And the outdoor shower - a real plus when coming back from the beach!

It was a wonderful vacation. But all good things must come to an end...

And Xia sadly learned this just as we were getting on the road to go home. She lost her lunch before we got very far along. Poor girl takes after her mother when it comes to car sickness! We made her keep the bucket in front of her the rest of the way home...

Rehoboth Vacation 2010- Day 5

Hi, Xia here. Well, Thursday 7/29/10 turned out to be a rainy day. It had to happen at least one day. We were pretty lucky the rest of the vacation.

Allie and I woke up pretty tired...

The sun came up for a little bit, so Grammy, Mommy, Isa and I walked down to the playground/lake area. I got in some fun swinging with Grammy:

And Isa too:



Then we saw a TON of turtles in the lake. There were so many EVERYWHERE:





What a treat on a rainy day of vacay!

Rehoboth Vacation 2010- Day 4

Mommy here. On Wednesday 7/28/10 Grammy, Kathy, John and I left the house before dawn while everyone else slept to see the sun rise over the Atlantic. Even though it was quite cloudy, there was just enough clear sky to see the sun come up. It was beautiful:

And what was even better, is some dolphins graced us during the sunrise!





Later we all went to the beach again, of course! Xia made friends with a big group that was making a big sand castle:



I lost count of how many times the waves came up and knocked down what she had built. She didn't seem to care.

Isa had a lot of fun in the sand too:



But the water was the most fun for everyone!

Xia the ham... trying to get EVERYONE in the movie honey...

Rehoboth Vacation 2010 - Day 2

We got settled in at our house and on Monday 7/26/10 headed right for the beach. Isa had fun playing in the sand...

And I was happy to actually go into the water this year! It didn't scare me like the other years because I'm getting to be such a BIG girl!

Rehoboth Vacation 2010 - Day 1

We are so blessed to be a part of a family that takes a yearly vacation together. We had a blast in Seaside Heights last year. This year Aunt Kathy found a great house near the beach in Rehoboth DE.

This year the following people came:
Grammy
Aunt Kris, Uncle John, Cousin Allie - Cousin Katelyn made it for one night - she had to work :-(
Aunt Kathy and Hans
Mommy, Daddy, Isa and Me (Xia).
Sadly, Grandy could not come this year as he was having heart valve replacement surgery done. But he's doing great now!

Here's Isa having a good and messy breakfast on our first day of vacation, Sunday 7/25/10:

Later that afternoon, we all got into Grammy's SUV. It was amazing how much stuff we were able to cram into her car. Poor Daddy had to sit between the car seats in the back. Isa and I took a long snooze on the way...

The true adventure began the next day...

Creation 2010

Stephanie here. I wrote an article for our church newsletter about the praise and worship band I sing in. I'll copy the article here and add some pictures:

Sound Doctrine Plays at Creation
by Stephanie Zimmerman

On Sunday July 3, 2010, Sound Doctrine had the opportunity to provide the music for the Catholic Mass at the Creation Festival. Wikipedia states “Creation Festival consists of two annual, four-day Christian music festivals held in the United States. According to www.Creationfest.com, the festivals have become the "Nation's Largest Christian Music Festivals." This is in reflection to Creation Northeast being known to attract 100,000 attendees.” It was quite an honor and blessing to be present at such a massive event.

The mass was lead by Fr. Paul Shenck, a newly ordained priest in the Harrisburg Diocese. Despite all of the loud, booming music floating in from the main stage, the mass was intimate and moving in the Worship Tent. Many curious onlookers peered into the tent to see what was going on. Some people walked in and lingered. Others just passed by. We were truly welcomed at the festival and many people commented after the mass that they were grateful to have the opportunity to attend mass at the festival.

Hopefully we’ll be invited back next year. We all thoroughly enjoyed the perk of being given passes into the artists’ area to enjoy some food and meet many Christian music artists. But the highlight was bringing the Eucharist to Creation!

And here are some photos:

Setting up...

Now who is singing what?

Tim leads us:

Fred can't decide, electric guitar or pedal steel?

The family in the congregation:

More of the congregation:

Fr. Shenck during the liturgy of the Eucharist:

Tina as the Lector:

Brian and Fred:

Lauren and me:

Xia after mass:

Free lunch back stage from the Hospitality Trailer!

Brian and Vivi and baby to come:

Hospitality Trailer - air conditioned and free food!

Eating with other Christian Musicians:

Hearing Family Force 5 (MAJOR bass goin' on!) on stage in the background and seeing Skillet's gear on the stage for later:

A view from the top of the mountain:

Xia and Daddy take a rest:

While Isa plays with some rocks!

What an amazing day we had worshiping and praising God!

Vacation Time - Indiana PA - Day 4 - Orendorff Reunion 2010

It's Xia here. Yes indeed, it was that time again on Saturday 6/26/10 - the yearly Orendorff Reunion. Remember 2007, 2008 and 2009? We always look forward to this yearly gathering as it's really the only time we get to see the whole family on Mommy's side. Remember, Grandma is one of 12 children, so it's a really BIG family!

Isa really enjoyed the park and all of it's dandelions:

Here's my cousin once-removed (COR) Matt with sweet daughter Kathryn, my 2nd cousin (2C) (Hey, if you're confused about how cousins stuff works, check out this link):

Great Aunt Bobbi, COR Christie and Great Aunt Debbie kickin' it in their cool shades:

COR Christie, and COR Kim along with Great Aunt Cathy:

We were all VERY HAPPY to see my COR, Teddy, at the reunion. He sure had a scary health scare this past year and he's looking so great!

Here's some more of the reunion crowd:



Then some BIG YELLOW FUN came on the scene with this giant blow up yellow ball that you could climb in and roll around in. Thanks to my COR Kelly and his family for bringing this to the reunion!

The yellow blob appears:

My 2C, Abby (Kelly's daughter) climbs inside:

Then I get brave enough to climb in...



Hmmmm, maybe it's more fun to just roll it?



Petersons and Nolens hangin' at the swingset:

My next piece of fun was the merry-go-round:

I had to hang on tight with everybody!





Here's my 2C Jake:

Then I made a friend and we rode a plane together:



Next up, the coveted "white elephant" gift. A yearly tradition of getting rid of our junk which will become someones treasure!

Great Aunt Cathy keeps the game flowing in true teacher style (there are MANY teachers in this family!):

COR Shawn won the sweater of the year; we were all quite jealous! He couldn't wait to model his prize:

Here I am opening mine as the curious watch (I got some little mice that light up and you wear them on the end of your fingers):

Great uncle Dick watches it all unfold while holding his grandson, 2C Greyson:

Then it was back to playing on the playground. Looks like I'm in jail here...

Donning Mommy's shades:

Then it was time for the family photos. First up, all of the children. We miss Great Aunt Joanne and Great Uncle Tom who are with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa now. And Great Uncle Harry and Great Aunt MaryBeth did not make it this year. But Patti, Dick, Judy (Grandma!), Cathy, Jerry, Debbie, Bobbi and Lori are all here!

Next, the Nolens (Cathy's family):

COR Richard:

The Petersons (JoAnne's family):

The Orendorffs (Dick's family):

The Borgos (Bobbi's family):

The Orendorffs (Harry's family):

The Adams (Judy's family - that's us!!):

And last, but not least, just us Zimmermans!

Once again, a wonderful family reunion!