Back in the saddle.....Vacation post

So....it's been awhile. We are now almost into fall, and life is none less crazy. I realized I hadn't even blogged about our vacation yet which was equal parts awesome and exhausting. Faith turned 11 while we were gone, and we got her a phone. You must know I am not an advocate of kids having a phone, but since she joined cross country (another new development MUCH to her father's excitement!) it's come in very handy. Also...it came in very handy yesterday when I was attempting a nap and could hear every footstep and stomp below me and I texted her to tell her sisters to sit on the couch and be quiet or they were all grounded to her rooms. Yep. I threatened them via text. From the same house. Yes I know that's lazy. Don't judge....it worked and I got to finish my nap.

Very. Excited.

Vacation: Well.....the weather was crap most of the time. And there were at least 1.5 billion people everywhere we tried to go. And if you know me, I like to relax WITHOUT people around me, so that wasn't super fun. The resort we stayed at was ok...nothing fancy. The pool was small, overcrowded and dirty most of the time. And we went during seaweed season (I wasn't not aware there is a seaweed season...but now I know) so the beaches were equally nasty which was pretty much the entire point of going....for the beautiful beaches. We almost died in a thunder/lightning storm as we were stranded on an island with NO shelter (except a metal umbrella...not good during a lightning storm). We found some rocks to shove the kids under during it so they were safe, but it was still scary. Me and God had some words....well...more so me than him....but he kept us safe and gave us shelter so that's good.

Pre-Apocalyptic storm-looks pretty eh? Not-so-much 3.5 minutes later.

the kids hiding in their shelter. Mae and Emmy are still hysterical at this point. Mae at least tried to put on a happy face for the pics:) The ferry captain jokingly told us he was taking us all to Mexico on our way over to the island. After the storm, Mae let out a big sigh and said "I HATE MEXICO!" Apparently she took his joke to heart.

The last trip to Florida was perfect. Except all the jelly fish. That put a bit of a damper on things. But the weather was perfect. The room was perfect. The timing was perfect in that all the party people were not there. We were spoiled, so anything less this time was disappointing. BUT...I must remember. We are so blessed that we were able to save and take this trip in the first place, that I should not focus on the negatives of it. I got away for a week. I only answered 4 business emails, didn't edit one picture, and could just enjoy my family and that is awesome. The highlight of the trip was our dolphin tour. We (again) were disappointed in that the guide we had the last trip was unavailable. He was perfect. We felt safe with him. They hooked us up with this young kid who I could tell from the get-go was on his dream job. He got to go out snorkeling all day, showing people cool stuff, got to drive his boat fast, swim with dolphins..yeah...not too shabby for a kid huh? He took us to this little shallow area to go snorkeling then left us to go find and bring back cool stuff.

That would be a puffer fish. He brought us back a puffer fish. Who brings back a puffer fish??!!

After this trip I quickly decided I needed a boat. Boats are fun. We could've swam with wild dolphins. He took us out in the middle of the Gulf with like 5 foot swells and said "go ahead guys, jump in!" as wild dolphins were swimming all around. Here was our exchange:

Kids: Uh yeah...were are NOT getting in. You guys go.
Me (wearing my life vest and standing on the edge of the boat): Go ahead hunny...you go first.
Russ (not wearing a life vest): You go first. GO head...you can go first if you want.
Me: your the man. You go first. Go ahead hunny...I'll follow you.
Russ: No no...ladies first....you go.

This went on for about 30 more seconds. I jumped in first (haha!) and the dolphins swam away. Russ jumped in and we both quickly realized that were were in fact in the middle of the ocean with other boats and Ski-Dos' flying around us and wild ocean creatures swimming below us and thought...Hmmmm.....petting wild dolphins isn't really that important to us. Maybe we'll visit the zoo next time.

So all in all...we did have a good time. I will never again return to PCB in August. Or September. Apparently the time to go is October. Maybe we will try that next time. Maybe we will save ourselves the 14-hour drive and just go to Michigan.

Here are a few more pics from the trip!

Not our pool. Our was gross and smelled like rotten cheese. We illegally resort hopped and went to the resorts pool next door. Not my proudest moment. And at the same time....my proudest moment:) It was a massive lagoon type pool with waterfalls and deep ends. Nice.

Hermie 2, Hermie 3, and Hermie 4. We had to let them go on our boat tour. The girls wanted to keep them.

Post storm....the girls running off all their pent-up frustration and scaredness.

Mae Snorkeling. She had NO fear.

Beware of the seaweed.


Balcony view. Yeah...that didn't stink.Shell Island pre-storm. No seaweed. Clear skies. Yeah. Best 45 minutes of the trip. Faith catching some waves.

The kids favorite part....."surfing"

There is so much more...but I must get onto other things today. Hopefully I will get busy with more blogging this week!

PS: Funny Maebree sayings of the week in case I forget.

*Yesterday in church as we were walking out she stops in her tracks and says very seriously "Do NOT stand in front of a hippo. They will kill you" Words to live by.
*She accepted Jesus in her heart on Wednesday of last week. I asked what she did in class and in one breath she says "I got God in my heart, do I get a mint?" Yes you do....yes.you.do.