Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Ark Encounter, Williamstown KY

To end our birthday bash week celebrating all of our birthdays (in the month of June and July), Cody, me, Morgan, Mom, and Nana took the journey to Williamstown Kentucky to the place I have been DYING to visit for 3+ years, the Ark Encounter! Let me tell you, it was nothing short of a miracle and so worth seeing. This was the most amazing, unique experience I have ever had in my 25 years of life. I am already planning the next trip! 

The Ark encounter is an exact replica of Noah's ark as it is stated in the bible. It is 300 cubits long, 30 cubits wide and 50 cubits tall. 5 feet= ~3.5 cubits for scale. A man ironically named Noah set out on this idea to build a replica of the biblical Noah's ark right in his backyard of Williamstown KY. The town is a small little desolate area with lots of cows and lots of land. The ark sits well away from any main cities (but 1 mile from the interstate). It is build well away from the hustle and bustle which kind of makes the beauty amplified in a way. This is a relaxing easy to maneuver "park" where even with the thousands of people that were there visiting with us that day, we felt like we were the only ones there because everything is so spaced out. Noah came up with this idea around 10 years ago and started planning and researching with his teams to create the ark. 
So incredibly beautiful! I could sit here all day.

Inside the ark there is a LOT of data, research, time, lab work, 3D animal replication, and scientific vs. bible debate. There were years and years of research and planning of the ark that Noah had dreamed of. He felt the need to follow God's plan for him to build this ark in modern times to attract people from all over the world, christian or non-christian to display God's beauty and God's promise to us. 

The ark is an amazing way to reconnect with your faith, the Lord, and to be able to step away from our day-to-day lives and crazy world. And it is true, while walking through the ark, not only was my made my heart still and my ears opened, but I was reminded of the amazing things God has done and all that he does for us. We are so very blessed. God gave us his one and only son to save us for our sins. God has the power to do ANYTHING. The story of Noah is a powerful testimony that when we follow God plan for us, he can use us to help make miracles happen, and show us much bigger and grander things he has/had planned for us. When we think of the story of Noah's ark from the bible, we think of Noah being ridiculed by taking his family and two of every animal on his the ark he quickly build in preparation of a big flood coming to wipe out all of creation to start anew from the wicked world. But in reality, it took Noah 50+ years to complete the ark with his family (it took 2 years to build the replica with all of modern technology), and it was a dark and harrowing time. It was such a lost, wicked world that God wanted to start again and promised to never flood the earth again.


When you pull into the ark, the parking lot is on a different site than the ark itself. You will ride in a bus they provide from your car to the ark to give it more of that feel when the ark finally landed on the hill top after the 40 day flood. The "park" not only has the ark but many delicious restaurants to eat at along with zip lines, a zoo, and fossil searching.


Just look at the front of the ark alone! The size of the ark alone is just incredible. It is so amazing to think that this really happened so long ago!








After coming inside, this is the massive structure in the center of the ark.


We spent 4+ hours inside the ark and 2+ hours on the activities around it! 


Despite there being no windows, the ark was very well lit! 


There were four stories in the ark, the first floor being the loading zone, the second (above) being the food storage, and small animal holding area, the third being the large animal holding area and the fourth being the families headquarters where the herbs were grown, the cooking and washing areas were, and the bedrooms. 

Noah's family was very intelligent, Noah and one of his sons were the master builders. Noah's second son was the engineer who designed how the waste system from the animals would be installed, how fresh water was filtered to drink, how everything should be laid out, and how the animals should be stored, kept healthy, and fed. Noah's third son was a master welder. Through the modern day research scientists determined that the ark was designed with a mortar-like material and gopher wood which could help form and shape the outside structure of the ark. A lot of the historical facts about the ark along every wall in the ark have been thoughtfully calculated and thought through of how Noah and his family may have done these exact feats. As you walk through the ark, you will learn about a lot of the current day scientific speculations. 




A lot of the 3D printed animals we saw inside of the ark looked a bit different than the typical animals that we would think of today. The different species have evolved over time to look like the giraffes we know and love now, instead of the giraffe in the picture where its neck is a lot shorter and its body being a lot smaller. 


A cross sectional view of the ark!


These were the ark doors alone! So massive!


Do you spy the cross shadow on the door?


The living quarters.


Sewing quarters. The son's wives each had a perfectly designed skill set blessed by God. One wife had the skill of growing and preparing crops, one had the abilities to sew and make clothes, the other had the unique abilities of medicine, while Noah's wife had a keen understanding of animals! Isn't God's plan so magnificently perfect! It makes me think why we fight him sometimes in our life. 


Yes dinosaurs were mentioned! There was a whole section on this along with the ice age debate and evolution debate. 


After lunch we headed outside to search for fossils and see all of the animals!


Oh and of course we had to grab McDonalds breakfast on our way into the ark earlier.


After sadly leaving the ark, we drove the 3.5 hour drive back to Knoxville....and got Blaze pizza to end the night!



................................
The next day

After church the next day, we arrived back to Gigi's house and we had my birthday party! Mom surprised me with all of these decorations and Nana brought her delicious pound cake while Gigi made my favorite, Salmon and sweet potatoes! 






My sweet Gigi!


Gigi and Granddad's new deck!


I felt so loved! Mama kills it with the decorations every year! It makes me so happy!


25!


Sparkling cider, fruit, and pound cake! The perfect day, the perfect dessert.




I love being with my family so much. It is always hard to leave them. But we always have adventures planned to look forward to.

 Visiting the ark was such a unique experience that I look forward to sharing with my children one day. God is good! I highly highly recommend this trip with your family! I have zero complaints!

Love,
Kayla Raborn

8/28/18

Friday, August 10, 2018

Raborn Beach Trip 2018!!

RABORN BEACH TRIP 2018!!!!!

FINALLY!! WE ARE BACK AT OUR FAVORITE PLACE IN THE WORLD!!! THE BEACH!!!!!! The ocean is our only medication!!! We try to go every other year and practically look forward to it every day leading up to it! The beach is our therapy, our happy place. I am eternally thankful that Cody loves the beach as much as me! We went to Gulf Shores Alabama this trip to change things up. At the beginning of this year we didn't know we would be in Alabama three times in three months! Who knew we even liked Alabama that much!? In May we went to the camp site, in June we went to my third cousins wedding, and July we went to the beach!

And of course, we had to start our beach trip off right!



Life is truly better at the beach. We will retire here, mark my words!

So on Sunday July 1st we were off, the trip we had been looking forward to since coming back from our honeymoon in 2016. Cody had just driven 7 hours from Ohio from his week long masters degree convention at Ohio University (while I held down the fort at home that week, finishing out our vacation bible school at church, celebrating Cody's mom's birthday, and packing EVERYTHING), Cody drove on in, jumped in the house for 7 minutes to change out one of his bags and we were off again for 6.5 hours to the beach. Cody is a hero y'all he drove over 14 hours (including bathroom breaks) in one day. I am/was SO incredibly impressed, my man 😍😍. I had my nails freshly painted, the car packed with plenty of snacks, GPS stand, comics, crochet, and of course what every long car trip needs, jumbo large gummy bears (shown below)!

We arrived at the beach house at 12:22am that night (hour change was on our side ;)), unloaded the car, carried our stuff up 3 flights of steps, unpacked, and was asleep by 1:27am. We slept until about 10:30am that next morning waking up to the sound of the waves from the distant ocean.


We weren't on the front row of condos directly on the sand but one row behind. We still had a great view!

These cute blue condos were where we stayed this year! They were so great!


Right outside our back door we had access to a nice little pool!


This was our suite upstairs which had a balcony over the downstairs area.


The den area leading into the kitchen. If you are wondering why everything is so dim it is because no one believes in lights anymore. Seriously, out of the 5 places I have lived in the past 8 years, there have been poor poor lighting in every area of the apartment/house. 

The cute little kitchen!

So after I woke up, I kissed Cody good morning and headed out to the beach to feel the sand, the water, and the ocean wind in my hair. Just breathing in a full breath of clean fresh sea water! It was absolutely magical. I began my semi-daily 30 minute beach run. 


After getting back in, I changed into my outfit for the day getting ready for our errands and beach breakfast.


Our first breakfast outing landed us at Picnic Beach where they are known for their healthy foods and amazing bbq. Of course Cody got the bison burger and I opted for the unique health foods. Oh and there's turf inside the restaurant, no big deal. BUT TURF!!!! So cool and unique, perfect for a very picnic feel! Hats off to you, Picnic Beach!

This is an acai bowl! It was the first acai bowl I had ever had despite the all the rage for the past year. And the verdict is....I loved it!!! But I also determined that I HATE bee pollen. I didn't even know what that was but was all in! I love trying new foods but bee pollen is not a new favorite. I can't even describe the taste, it was just....spicy?....bitter?..I don't even know😷. 

Anything involving meat, Cody is all in! Picnic Beach was a win for us!

We then headed over to Walmart to buy some refrigerator staples such as a pack of waters, boiled eggs, rotisserie chicken, hummus, and milk. We also went to Alvin's Island to buy Cody a beach chair.

When we got back to the condo it was already 5pm so we just walked on the beach. The water was glass, beyond perfect, not a wave in sight basically, crystal clear. The only problem was there were 1,000's of jellyfish. No one could get in. That was such a bummer.  Sitting watching the sunset as our toes dipped in the water was the perfect way to end our first day though! There is NOTHING better in the world than spending one-on-one uninterrupted time with my Cody on the beach!


An example of one of the large jellyfish washed up on the beach. The painful tentacles were so long, they created a web of sting across the ocean entrance. 


Before the sunset, I didn't let a few jellyfish effect my tanning! I still laid out and may or may not have gotten badly burned on that small sliver of stomach 😓.


Before the sun started to set I ran back inside and grabbed my new dress and took a few pictures with the amazing ocean views. I've never seen the ocean so calm. Cody was a great photographer but I wish he could have been in some with me. 








The next morning we ate a late breakfast at Lulu's! Lulu's is Margaritavilles sister restaurant named after Jimmy Buffets sister, Lucy.
I personally liked Lulu's MUCH better than Margaritaville. 


While waiting on the table we got to explore Lulu's island. They had a ropes course, gift shop, games, and live music. LOVE the atmosphere!


And the best part about Lulu's is the pammena cheeseburger! It is a juicy cheeseburger with pimento cheese, a fried green tomato, and bacon! Aaaaamazing! I was so stuffed I couldn't eat anything else the entire rest of the day!


At the gift shop I got a bracelet and a t-shirt below as my gulf shores souvenir. 

After swimming on the beach for the rest of the day with the much rougher waters and less jellyfish, It was time to watch the fireworks for the 4th. I knew if Gulf Shores was anything like Panama City Beach, they were going to shoot the fireworks off of the pier, which they did!


We got a "front row" view and waited for the fireworks show to begin!


Because of the storm that was coming in, you can't see the pier but we were pretty close!


The fireworks show was amazing even with the rain!


So the next morning, Cody and I decided to face our fears and go parasailing! We were terrified but held each others hands so incredibly tight!







We were 600+ feet high! I tried not to look down.


The skyline was absolutely breathtaking!



Towards the end of the 10 minute ride, they took us down to be dipped into the water.


I was SO glad the sharks weren't really waiting for us.

We give parasailing a 10/10 experience. There was nothing scary about it and it was so relaxing and peaceful, much different than we expected!

After parasailing, we relaxed around the condo and swam at the beach and pool.


We then ended the night with putt-putt, one of Cody and I's favorite past times! I also got to wear my new comfy outfit Gigi got me for my birthday for the trip! I loved it so much!


We chose pirate island putt-putt, we loved this location so much! Each of the 18 holes on the course was so incredibly interesting and challenging! Some had waterfalls, drops, and even some holes on the actual pirate ship! It was by far the best putt-putt place we have ever been to! We putt-putted for hours having an absolute blast! (and I won 😁).


My favorite color and Cody's.

So Friday morning I woke around 8:00am for my beach run!


Who needs music when you have the waves?! And when you overheat, jump in!! Best of all worlds!


After my run, Cody and I headed for breakfast and lunch in one, the Yard Milkshake Bar creation! We had to wait 2 hours which is BEYOND ridiculous considering we were at the door at the second of opening AT 10:00AM!!!😡😡 But the ice cream was so so good. I chose a custom creation of brownie and cake batter ice cream for the milkshake base, peanut butter dipped rim, sprinkles, whipped cream, butterfinger, and oreo balls. It was a DREAM! And yes you had better believe I ate the whole thing!! 😋😋


A close up of ice cream heaven. 


Cody went with a custom creation of the peanut butter brownie supreme. His was even better than mine! He devoured the entire thing too! I mean, seriously!! Check out that brownie on top!! :):) Amazing!

To walk off our ice cream food baby, we headed over to the pier on the boarder of Orange Beach. We immediately noticed the purple flag at the entrance (below) indicating dangerous marine life. 

We asked the lady up front and she said it always stays purple because there are sharks around 24/7 but that doesn't stop people from swimming close to the pier unfortunately. We were shocked hoping to see a shark ourselves! 


The pier wasn't as long as PCB's but it was still less crowded and awesome!


And guess what?!?! We did get to see a shark!!! Look closely at the 4 foot dark shadow in the water! There were 6 sharks with the little white jellyfish swimming around them (look close). People were indeed swimming 200 feet away without a care in the world. 


Look at the skyline view! I was pointing to our condo next to the tallest skyscraper hotel. 


The end of the pier. The ocean just goes on and on and on. It amazes me that we know more about outer space than the ocean but I would believe it.


After walking on the pier, I was DYING to walk underneath like the insta pictures circling social media lately. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The song Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat was playing in my head the whole time. 


It was 20 degrees cooler down here too! 


Don't worry, I didn't get any deeper than this because of the fish hooks and sharks. And it's against the law...literally. 


Paradise!





We spent the rest of the day at the beach, enjoying my new bathing suit, meaning every word of it 😅.





Our last full day, Saturday. We sure made the most of our day! I started out at 8:30am with a very nice long beach run. I could just run forever on the sand!





The sand 😍😍😍, the beach reflects my soul, peace.


Then Cody and I headed to a local breakfast joint that served beignets and stuffed french toast! It was so amazing!


I literally ate this entire plate! So delicious!

After breakfast we spent as much time as possible on the beach. I snapped this little video of Cody at total peace. He was in his happy place.

Finally the ocean was calm, clear, and *mostly jellyfish free!


Breathtaking! God's creation is so marvelous!



I also spend the last part of the day FINALLY learning how to skim board and then perfecting it! I embedded this video but I have been trying to get it to work. I hope it plays for you guys!

We ended the evening with a swim in the pool and a new movie I had bought prior to the trip and snuggling on the couch.


The next morning I woke up to the view of the ocean for the last time for a good while. 

Cody and I were so sad to leave our vacation and get back to reality but this trip left us feeling new and fresh, much more able to face going back home. We always have so much fun together and I cherish that about our marriage and relationship so much. Going back home meant that Cody is back into the second week of his next online class (yes he was still having to do school work on vacation, poor guy) full swing and there would be much less time again for "us". College, graduate studies, etc, sucks. Too bad its is 100% necessary and needed nowadays......and it is important 🙄. 

But now we are excitedly saving up our money for our house, a dog, buying Cody a bigger truck one day, a Hawaii babymoon and of course the most important part, our 2-3 kids. HAWAII!!! I have been dying to visit my whole life! I WILL go there! So we have lots to look forward to and don't even mind that we won't see another beach until 3 years from now on our babymoon *Lord willing. Until then, here's to life, family, and so much happiness :). Life is good!

With so much love,
Kayla Raborn
8-5-18