Medieval History in Texas

 

We’ve been studying medieval history this year. My boys have been fascinated with stories of Vikings, battles and the knights. A friend told us about a medieval style castle built right here in Texas, and not too far from us. With some friends, we took the day off of school to visit this place and boy was I glad we did.

Newman’s Castle was built by Mr. Newman in Bellville Texas. The castle is his personal residence but he regularly gives tours and allows for special events on his beautiful property. In fact, while we were there, a couple was arranging the final details for their wedding to be held at the castle in just a few days.

The boys had a blast on this trip. Mr. Newman dubbed them all knights and made them swear to protect the castle as he gave them all wooden swords ( much to their mothers dismay). He guided us around his creation which included a working catapult, draw bridge and dungeon!

It was a beautiful day to roam around the castle. After our tour, we were served lunch and the most delicious cookies from the bakery. Mr. Newman let a few of the boys fish off the drawbridge in the moat. What little boy wouldn’t be proud to say he did that?

If you’re in Texas and want to see a little bit of medieval life, check out Newman's Castle. You won’t regret it!

Where Everything is Magical

The Jorgensen family went on the most amazing vacation in September. We live several states away from our extended family and most of our vacation time is usually spent visiting them. We were just home for Christmas last year so we decided to plan an all out family vacation.

What better way to go than a Disney cruise? We left straight from Galveston, a daunting 45 minute drive from our house. We had all been excited for months and the day had finally come. This vacation did not disappoint!

We love cruises because they are so relaxing. Ian and I are planners. We like to plan our time to the max, even on vacation but on a cruise, you have to relax! Even little Austin found a good resting place.

We celebrated Ian’s birthday on the cruise and formal night made it even more special. The boys look so handsome in this photo but if only I had a video for the waterworks that came on when they had to button up shirts and put ties on!

For our first port adventure, we stopped at Key West. While it was fun to get off the boat for the day, Key West was not the most family friendly of places. Still, we enjoyed the day together and took the walking tour. Nathan and Austin wanted to take this silly picture (on the right) and title it “Crushed by Love”.

Our second stop was by far our favorite destination, EVER! Castaway Cay is Disney’s private island. The whole place was reserved for us and it was amazing. Even the sand seemed magical. The water was perfect and we found ourselves a nice shady spot under a palm tree to park all day.

We introduced the boys to snorkeling here and it was AMAZING! The water was so clear and the beach was setup and marked with buoys that located buried treasure hidden beneath. We found sunken submarines and ships and even a Mickey Mouse statue. The boys loved the schools of fish that swam around us.

There was so much to do, we didn’t want to leave. There were water playgrounds built into the shallow beach water, food, water sports and so much more! Ian, Jacob and Austin rested and Nathan and I took off for a bicycle ride around the island. It was so fun to explore with him on bike. I wish I had brought my camera with me for the ride.

Even though we were exhausted from such a fun day, we got back on board and dressed for pirate night! The boys loved seeing all the costumes and being able to say “Rrrrr” so much.

Our third and final stop was at Nassau in the Bahamas. We were excited as we had planned another snorkeling excursion but this one would be in the open water having been transported there by catamaran. This too was an awesome experience with the boys. Jacob was so lost in exploring, we had to keep looking for him because he would get lost in all the beauty he was finding.

 

Aside from the fun excursions, the onboard activities were out of this world. We saw movies that were still in the theatre, productions that were as good as you’d expect from Disney, super-fun kids club activities and special late night adults activities.

Let me just say out loud, this was hands down the best vacation a family with multiple age groups like our could plan. I would look across the faces of my husband, 10 year old, 7 year old and 4 year old and see them beaming from ear to ear with smiles. Each of us, so perfectly enjoying our time even though we enjoy different things. Disney had nailed the idea of a perfect family getaway with its cruise line.

 

Our last day onboard was sad, only because we knew it was coming to an end. The character meet and greets were so much fun and I have some many pictures of all the characters my boys enjoyed meeting. One of the more special moments was the character breakfast when the favorites would come and visit with you at breakfast. Jacob and Nathan were most excited to meet Stitch, Chip and Dale but Austin was all about Mickey!

It was amazing. We left our little one at home with his fabulous Grammy who loved and spoiled him while we were gone, but we look forward to our next Disney cruise when we bring him with us. I have my eye on the European Disney cruise, but that might be a little out of our price range

The Camp Trip

 

This is a special guest post written by preteen son, Jacob. Photos courtesy of Ben Phillips.

For the first time ever, I went to a special camp to learn more about Jesus. This is my story.

Day 1: We got on a bus. It took us 2 hours to get to camp. We had a lot of fun on the bus.

As we were traveling, we got hungry. So, we went to Cici’s Pizza. It was a great place and we were filled up. They had SALAD!!!

We finally arrived at camp. We had to unload our luggage and take them to our cabin. The cabin was cool. It had a lot of beds in it.

The right-top bunk belonged to me, the left-top bunk was my best friend Robby’s. Surprisingly, someone threw a pillow and started a giant pillow fight.

I did not like the pillow fight. Some kids had really hard pillows and it hurt my head. After that, we went to Tabernacle. It was a cool place and really, really, really loud! We sang, they gave us rules, we listened to the preacher. Then, we left and it was time for dinner.

We didn’t choose to go to the cafeteria. The line was dreadful! Instead, we went to the Taqueria.

The line was not as long and they had yummy tacos. We headed back to our cabins for rest, otherwise known as “free time”. We could do whatever we wanted.

We went back to the Tabernacle for more lessons from God’s Word. After we were dismissed, we went to a special church to talk more about God and what we learned. They taught us lots of God’s work. Then, we had free time. My best friend Robby and his dad, Ben, went to dodge ball. I just laid in my bed, and went to sleep. It was raining that night. The rain was nice music that made us sleepy.

 

Day 2: I got up and got my clothes on and we painted our faces green. We had to get up at 6am, we were crabby. But, it was recreation Day! That’s the day we get all dirty

We went to breakfast, then back to the Tabernacle. Afterwards, we went to the mudpit. It was pretty cool. We played tug-of-war. Then we had to pass a sponge filled with water over our heads and hand it over to our teammates to be collected in a bucket.

After that, we got to do a slide. The line was so long, I only ran it once. Next, we had to keep a giant ball in the air.

We went back to the cabins and showered up. After everyone had gone through them, the showers were filthy! Then we had free time. and then back to the Tabernacle.

 

After the Tabernacle was lunch and then some quiet time. Then, we went to small group time. Small group was a place where we could talk about God together. I was with my best friend, Robby.

We headed back to the Tabernacle and then we had dinner. Again, we chose the Taqueria. We had more time in the Tabernacle and more free time. Then, our sponsors told a scary story. The first story was not scary but the second one was, to  me, really scary!

Day 3 highlights: There was more fun to be had. We went to the pool where they had a giant slide. It was so much fun.

We got to play Ga-ga ball, one of my favorites!

That night, we played with “Sad Lion” our camp mascot. There was a starring contest. Sad lion against one of our camp pastors. Sad lion wins again! (this picture was staged)

The day before our last day, we had a big party. We could watch a movie with snacks, or go on a scary walk or stay at the cabin and play board games. I chose to go to the movies because the last scary story I heard scared me too much for a scary walk!

Awards were handed out and I was awarded the “Ghost Buster”. Don’t get any funny ideas about how I got that award!

Day 4, Final Day: Heading back home. We woke up, had breakfast, packed up our things and met at the Tabernacle. Once the buses were ready to go, we headed back home. We watched Madagascar 3 on the way home so it didn’t seem to take very long. Robby and I weren’t that hungry because we brought Cheetos on the bus.

We were home and I told all my family about how exciting the trip was. If you’ve finished 3rd grade and would like to, maybe you could someday go to Epic Life Camp!

I’m glad I went to camp because I let Jesus Christ in my heart. It was lots of fun, I remember finding a cardinal and it was beautiful. Thanks for reading about my Epic Camp story.

The End

Have an Epic Life!