Spontaneous outings with four young children is not easy to come by. Maybe a quick trip to the local mall or shopping… but almost certainly not a vacation. Well, almost.

Lois had a particularly tough time with the kids this week and was planning on driving an hour and a half this past Saturday for the second day of a homeschooling conference — and drive back the same day. Well, after a tough Thursday, I urged her to take some extra time. As providence would have it, I had a bunch of hotel points so I was able to book her a room in a hotel near the conference for both Friday and Saturday nights. She took up our 2mo Calissa, leaving late Friday morning.

Well, late Friday night she and I were talking on the phone and I was asking her what her plans were for after the conference on Saturday. To make a long story short… after much waffling, we very spontaneously decided to treat the rest of the kids to little one-day “hotel” vacation in Modesto, CA! The next day, after a morning with the three older kids at a “A Day Out with Thomas” train event in the Santa Cruz mountains, I drove nearly three hours to Modesto.

Memories of our trip, which turned our wonderfully:

• About 20 minutes from Modesto, I made a last-minute stop at the home of a family whom I hadn’t seen in months and whose youngest baby girl was born just two days after our youngest! Had a wonderful visit with the two older kids and their dad, and all the kids enjoyed a short playtime.
• Matthew loved the pool at the hotel. As a speaker highlighted at the conference, this is why kids love vacations. Pools at hotels. See video at bottom of this post.
• We enjoyed a relaxing and fun dinner with the family mentioned above, who drove out to Modesto (again, last minute!) to see us.
• We had a wonderful time worshipping on Sunday morning at Central Valley Evangelical Reformed Church. A very warm fellowship with a very refreshing love for God-honoring music, liturgy and teaching of the Word. Not to mention a family-integrated worship service which was also a tremendous encouragement.

When we talked on the phone Friday night, we were ambivalent about my driving up the older three kids (remember: ages 1, 2, and 4) and maybe not getting enough rest, cranky, etc. But God was kind and we all had a great time.

Oh, and the promised video:

You know, maybe we’ll do this “spontaneous” vacation stuff again!

As they say, ‘feast or famine.’ In the case of our blog, we either post nearly never, or several times in a single day. Today is such a day. And to “indulge” a kind commenter, here are some recent photos of the kids.

The boys with our newest addition shortly after water play in the backyard on a hot day:

Matthew “making change” in a play pizza parlor at the Children’s Discovery Museum:

Emmaline “driving” a pizza truck:

After finishing his breakfast, I told my son to sweep up the mess he had just created from eating. I then reminded him to do a good job. His tendency is to simply do the job, but not do it well or completely. As I was talking, I glanced at our kitchen wall where I had stencilled 1 Corinthians 10:31 a year ago.

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

I directed his eyes to the verse and told him that we need to do everything in a way that is glorifying to God, including sweeping the floor. He understood and to my delight, he did a great job. This little talk only took several minutes. It wasn’t a long and arduous Bible study, just a very simple lesson. Even though it is not easy taking care of four little ones 24/7, I am thankful that I am with them 24/7 so that I can impart these little lessons.

Uber-blogger Tim Challies posts probably 50 posts a day and reads 10 books a minute, even after his wife gives birth. One wonders if he actually does web development for a living, or merely as a distraction from blogging & reviewing books.

Popular blogger Amy Scott has a baby in March, a full-house (five kids under eight years old)… and keeps on blogging. And not boring, pointless posts, but neat little tidbits of sometimes profound always amusing thoughts.

The Dings have a baby and a month later are nearly as silent as, well, not our house. With the number of children growing exponentially every two years (2002: 1 boy, 2004: 2 boys, 2006: 2 boys and 2 girls), it’s maybe no wonder we’re a bit too overwhelmed by the pace of life to faithfully blog.

Hey that (the lead sentence for the previous paragraph) reminds me. I couldn’t stop laughing at some of these bad analogies. Here’s a sample:

• He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.
• John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
• Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.

In addition to being busy taking care of the lil ones, I think, there is another reason for our silence. When J.I. Packer was asked for advice he would give to someone who wanted to become a better writer, his first suggestion was: “Don’t write until you have something to say.” ‘Nuff said.

A recent post at Amy’s Humble Musings reminded me of this memorable comic strip (click to view full-size):

It ain’t Jonathan Edwards, but somehow it rings true to my male ears.

And to my wife’s credit, when it’s time for her to make a visit to the fabric store, we usually make arrangements to have me take the kids somewhere else nearby for a while. Thank God for sympathetic and wise wives.