Florida Vacation Friday

I woke up Friday morning eager to see the view of the lake. It did not disappoint!


The first ones out the door were Lisa and Jenn to work out at the gym.  As the troops gradually woke up I got busy making pancakes for everyone. The kids could hardly wait to go outside, but we had to emphasize that an adult or Sophie needed to be with them whenever they went outside since they cannot yet swim. At last Sophie was ready to go out with them.  Sammy had fun trying out the tree swing over the lake. 


Of course some pool time was necessary. Sophie started working on their skills.  


Grandpa was relaxing as hard as he could!


Adventure Island, about 15 minutes away was our big activity of the day.  Lisa and George had found incredible ticket deals and generously treated us. 

Finding available lounge chairs when we arrived was not easy, but after a while we found three. We parked all our stuff there, I was happy to take "first guard" while the rest of them hit the big wave pool. Ahhhh!!


Before long Lisa joined me and we had a nice long time to talk and catch up. It’s good we did, because it turned out to be our only time for two the entire vacation.  

Then the guys came to take their turn and Lisa and I went to check out the troops.  


Everyone was getting hungry by then, so we got into the line to order food, thinking we would take everything over to our home base. But it started to storm a bit, so we grabbed the nearest table under an umbrella and messaged the guys that they should grab all our stuff and  join us.  


Before long the Park was hit by driving rain, thunder, and lightning. We were lucky to find a place to just hang out and watch it till it passed by. And there were even ice cream sandwiches to buy as we waited.  

Finally the storm had passed and things began opening up again. Lots of people had left, so lounge chairs were plentiful.  We had about an hour-and-a-half left till closing.  

Once we got back home the rest of the gang, including Stella and Nilla Bean, decided to go out on the boat. 



Meanwhile Jenn and I scrounged around for something to cook. There had been no time for grocery shopping yet.  We found frozen salmon fillets, so I looked up a Honey Garlic Glazed Salmon recipe and got started on those.  Jenn found sweet potatoes and got those washed and cut up for quick cooking.  Then we found frozen peas and popped them into the microwave.  We didn’t think we did too bad working in a someone else’s kitchen with no prior plans. And everyone was hungry and loved our food.  

Dick and I made a grocery run to Publix after dinner. It took a while because we were unfamiliar with the layout of the store.  But we got her done.  

Back at the house after that Sophie and I had fun looking at old pictures and videos of all the kids over the past few years.  They all grow up so fast. 

Road Trip, Day Two

We were up bright and early Thursday morning and had the complimentary breakfast the hotel provided. The waffle maker was fun to use.  


Then we loaded up and were on our way.  Florida, ready or not, here we come!  




Sammy made some "pottery with play-doh and I pretended to have another cup of coffee. 


Of course, I became the lunch station in the back seat where I could access the cooler.  I took sandwich orders: sweet bologna or ham or both? American or provolone?  Mayo?  Lettuce?  


Sammy’s obsession was watching our progression on Google Maps.  We were so excited when we saw this sign!


Of course there were hours more after that, but excitement was high.  Dear Jenn drove the entire way!!  She’s our hero!


At last!!  Lisa’s house!

  
First of all the lake had to be checked out, and the cousins bonded immediately.  Dick gave George a hand at the dock. 


First session of swim lessons. 


Lisa ordered in BBQ for dinner.  


And then came a very entertaining dance party!  We had so much fun!



As the sun set there were a lot of very tired people ready to find a place to sleep.  Sophie vacated her bedroom and slept on an air mattress in George and Lisa’s room.  Jenn and the kids had her bedroom.  There was a pull-out sofa in George’s office for Dick and me.  


One last funny memory from that day. At some point Sammy was exclaiming that he can’t believe we’re in Florida.  Bianca said, "This isn’t Florida!  This is just a house!"

Road Trip Day One

On Monday and Tuesday I did everything I could to take care of all my jobs so that everyone and everything in my realm of responsibility could survive ten days without me!

I took a pictures of my rose bush and will compare it to however it looks when we get back home. Dick dusted it and sprayed rabbit repellant on everything else in hopes that the rabbits won’t be feasting the whole time we’re gone.



After Dick got off work on Tuesday he showered, we ate a quick dinner, packed our stuff into the van and left for Sam and Jenn’s.  There were some VERY excited children when we arrived.  Bianca thought we’d be packing their things into the van right away and starting out for Florida at 9 PM! 

We chatted way too late, as always is the case when we’re there.  So much catching up to do, especially since Sam would not be going with us.

We were sad to say goodbye to him this morning. We pulled out of their driveway at 8 AM with a canvas luggage carrier securely strapped onto the roof and plenty to eat and do inside.  Jenn wanted to do most of the driving, Dick was her co-pilot and I was the floater, sometimes on the backseat with Sammy, sometimes on the middle seat with Bianca. I was also the lunch lady, making sandwiches, etc for everyone.



The weather was perfect for a road trip. No rain at all.  When the sun was too bright coming in the side windows, we put static cling darkeners up. 

Because none of us felt like dealing with the craziness of driving around Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond, we decided to take athe slightly longer, more scenic route of 81 and 77.  We had no traffic issues until we got into construction in the Charlotte, NC area.  Other than that, it was great. 

The kids did fantastically well.  I had tons of stuff along to do. Sammy loved checking our progress on Google Maps.  I also had a Rand McNally book that had an activity for us to do for each state we drove through.  His tablet provided some fun entertainment, especially a trivia game.  We were seldom bored. 


 


We stopped a couple of times for rest rooms and gas.  Around 5:30 we stopped at Jack in the Box somewhere near the border of North and South Carolina for dinner.  


Then we drove another hour or so to the Columbia, South Carolina area and decided to find a hotel for the night.  Days Inn was not the nicest place I’ve ever stayed, especially with the only available rooms having just one queen bed, but we decided it was good enough for one night. 

Our untamed jungle, trip preparations, Sunday with the boys

Sunday evening, and time to go to bed soon.  But I want to quickly take the time to update here, because I know I won't have time to do so the next few days.

First of all some pictures of our untamed jungle around here!  We had so much rain, followed by a warm week, and all our flower beds have gone wild.  I don't think I've ever had such big hosta before.  We need to thin things out again.

We don't even know what the big things are that are taller than the hosta.  Anyone know?

The blue salvia has already gotten tall and fell apart.  Looks like someone would have sat down right in the middle of it.  Yesterday Dick made some little wire cages around the lower part of a few plants to hold them together.  We'll see how that works.

The knockout rose bush started blooming this past week.  I took this picture a few days ago, so it's already taller and fuller.

This past week I spent a lot of time and thought getting ready for our upcoming road trip.  Yes, a ROAD trip!  To Florida!  We have not driven to Florida since 2004 when we took a U Haul load of Jeremy's things down the first year he lived there.   But sometime around Christmas we and Sam and Jenn started talking about driving there together in our minivan to save money.  We decided we would leave as soon as Sammy was finished with school.  The timing was perfect for Lisa too because her very busy track season just ended, and Sophie is out of school now too.  They were thrilled that we would be coming.

So on Tuesday evening after Dick gets off work we'll be packing up and driving to Sam and Jenn's and sleeping at their house.  Then in the morning we'll pack up all our things and theirs and hit the road.  A really sad thing is that Sam is now unable to go along since he recently started working for USPS and can't take off so soon.  That is both good and bad, but I'm really sad he can't do this with us.  

Jenn and Dick will do the driving and I'll be the child entertainer!  I've been gathering up things to do and lots of snacks.  I'm so excited.  We'll take two days down and two days back the next week.  Dick and I are no longer up to the do-it-all-in-one-day like we used to be.

I found these cool clipboards on Amazon that are also dry erase boards.  I also ordered dry erase markers.  When the stuff arrived, one pack had already been opened and the black one was missing!  I guess somebody that was packing really needed a marker, lol!   Amazon immediately sent me another pack and it arrived with all four in it.

So I'll be blogging from my phone while we're gone, not my favorite thing at all.  But if I wait till I come back, I'll never catch up.

This morning at GBRV my choir sang for the last time for a while.  We're taking the summer off, except maybe singing once a month.  We did Wonderful, Merciful Savior, a real favorite of mine.  They did a fantastic job, and a number of people said how the message of the song really ministered to them and their needs.

Then we went to Calvary.  A couple of cute pictures of Hunter after the service.  Somebody just got a fresh trim!

Look, Ma, no hands!

We took the boys home with us after church.  It was cool and rainy today, but we were fine indoors.  Austin had an origami project that he worked on quietly while the rest of us napped in the living room.  

Later he was trying to show Hunter how to do a new game that Anthony just introduced to him.  The app is called Line Game and involves strategy.  I thought they were so cute together.

Even on the way home Austin was still showing him how to do it.

Hunter turned two in March, but still doesn't talk in sentences very much.  But he's really learning numbers, colors, and letters.  We recently got a wagonload of blocks that have those on.  Today Grandpa and Hunter were on the floor talking about the blocks.  I was listening from the kitchen and decided I needed to take a video.  My favorite part is when Hunter cocked his head to look at a block, and when Dick said it was a W, Hunter said it was M, hahahaha!!

He's also becoming very aware of his wet diapers.  He'll say, "I peed."  But Lori said that this morning when he woke up he said, "More pee, more pee!"  And he ran to his little potty and peed!  Oh my goodness, they grow up so fast!!  

Just this week we were pining over the adorable pictures that were coming up from two years ago in our "On this day" feature on FB.  Lori said, "This is why people keep having babies!"

Well, that's all, folks!!  Pray for our safety as we travel and I'll keep you posted!