Day 3

5/29
My mom, dad, and I went to church together this morning.  I have always liked going to churches in different places.  I've always enjoyed seeing how the Christian faith really creates a worldwide group of friends.  I've been to churches all over the place (other cities, continents, etc.).  After church, we headed home and hung out by the pool all afternoon.  My brothers and I went across the street and threw the frisbee for awhile too, which is always fun. :)

The rest of the morning was relatively uneventful.  We had a fun time playing the "golf tee game" in the pool.  In case you are not familiar with this game, here's how it works.  One person "hides" the tee underwater while the rest of the people close their eyes.  Once the "hider" is finished, the rest of the players open their eyes and have to find the golf tee.  Whoever gets the tee first wins.  Now, golf tees float.  So, even though it is put on the bottom of the pool, it will eventually rise to the top.  Well, even once it reaches the surface, the water is never calm, so it is constantly moving, which makes locating it pretty difficult.  And then once one person jumps in, the mayhem begins.  There is frantic grabbing, splashing, and reaching to try to find the tiny tee.  So, needless to say, the fun increases exponentially with more people.  So, when we had 9 of us playing,  it was quite hilarious. :)

And a few years ago, I got an underwater camera case for my camera.  Totally worth it!  It's great for capturing funny pictures of people underwater as well as taking some "abstract" pictures with the water. :)  See some of the pictures below.

Jaymie obviously enjoying swimming

Holly and Amy

Rides! :)

Jason and Jordan

Amy and Jason

Amy and mom

Jonathan

Cool water effect

(cue Jaws music) Duh-duh, Duh-duh, duh-duh-duh-duh...

After playing in the water, we went out to eat at CiCi's, a pizza restaurant about an hour from where we are staying.  Now, given how much time we have to spend in the car for this vacation, this wasn't just a normal dinner out; actually it was our only dinner out.  Anyway, the draw to this restaurant is the $4.99 buffet dinner with pizza, salad, pasta.  Yeah, amazing they can stay in business with a price like that… especially considering how much my siblings and I can eat. :)  Now, this also isn't just normal pizza.  They make some pretty random flavors and if you would like a different combination of ingredients, just ask and they'll make it custom for you.  Yeah, like crazy good service!  Anyway, I had never heard of macaroni and cheese pizza before tonight.  Have you?  Well, since I just mentioned it, I guess you have now! :)  Anyway, this revelation come far too late in my life, as this was some pretty good pizza!  Cheesy goodness and pasta spread over a doughy pizza crust… Hmm hmmm hmm.  And that was only the beginning!  After 7 plates of other wonderful, although less unusual, concoctions (buffalo, hawaiian, ranch chicken, etc.), my family introduced me to the cinnamon rolls.  Now, mind you that I had already eaten 7 plates of pizza, but I figured I would humor them by at least trying the cinnamon rolls.  They said I wouldn't be disappointed, although I was skeptical.  As the soft, sweet roll practically melted in my mouth, a cheeky grin spread across my face.  The cinnamon roll was AMAZINGLY GOOD.  No just good or pretty solid, it was off-the-charts.  I couldn't stop eating until I had put 5 more rolls down.  While I was contemplating eating more (my older brother had almost challenged me to an eat-off), I decided to not eat myself sick and just stick with the stomach-numbing 9 plates of food I had consumed at this point… :)

A very full Koehler family! :)