{highlights of our thanksgiving holiday}

or, low lights - depending on the perspective.

BUT, we had a great time together as a family.  We missed

our other family members but truly savored this time together.

We just walked through the door, boys are in bed, laundry is humming

along and suitcases are in piles.  But, before I get busy with two edits

that need to be completed by morning and hit the ground running

when that alarm clock goes off....I wanted to post some of the things

I definitely want to come back and revisit in the very near future.

*totally planning on pulling out of our driveway headed south by 6 am -

only to pull out of that driveway at 4:15 pm.  Lost a tad bit of time there.

*driving 6+ hours before I could not drive another mile.  Considering I had

been working since 3 am, I was okay with that.  Well, until we could not

find a hotel room.  We had no forethought of it being a holiday weekend.

We stayed at hotel #6.   It was a {clean} bed is all I can say. 

*waking up somewhere in Louisiana realizing I had left every.bit.of.

my.makeup.at.HOME!!  Not way to start a relaxing vacation.  Scott

got directions for the nearest Wally World {very poor directions I might add}

and I had to restock every piece of makeup I use.  A huge chunk of my souvenir $$. :( 

*making it to the port terminal and the minute we walk in are in the midst of a sea

of purple and gold LSU fans.   BUT, we had high hopes.  No worries at this point. 

*sitting in the terminal {famous yellow seats} realizing that NEW bag of makeup was 

NOT in my carry on.  Noah forgot he had kicked it out of my bag and had not put

it back in as we were on the interstate.   We were already through three security levels.  

I was on the verge of tears. Okay, maybe a few spilled.  I was TIRED.

After Scott ran to the rescue, I opened another bag as I realized he didn't have

his passport only to find my original bag of makeup.  There are no words really.   

*night #1 on ship - pretty uneventful.  Thank God.

*#1 morning on the ship - SEASICKNESS for me! 

I held the walls as I made my way for the meclinzine.

A big reminder of how horribly bad my morning sickness was.

*days 2 & 3 on ship - relaxing.  And, lots of swimming for the boys!

*day #4 - Scott's first real day out of the cabin.  He had a bad, bad time. :( 

Port:  Jamacia.  I had fretted over this one the most and it ended up

being my very favorite.   Pictures to follow. 

#day 5:  Port:  Grand Cayman.  Let's just say we got into a real, live

boating accident as we crashed into another boat at Stingray City.  And, 

in that same accident 6-8 people snorkling almost got hit by our out of control

boat.  Not the way to start a scary experience anyway.  I'm thinking that

Captain lost his job when we returned back to the bus.  At least by the amount

of yelling I observed from one of his superiors.   

#6:  Port:  Cozumel.   Our bus broke down.  And, then with only 30 minutes

 to be on board the ship, we got completely stalled in traffic because a taxi broke

down in front of us and we were wedged in.  Needless to say, the taxi FAKED

being broke down as he was simply waiting for his customer for that 20 minutes.  We 

made it back to the boat 10 minutes after required loading - just in time for 

the 4th quarter of the LSU game.  In a sea of purple and gold.  It was painful. 

I'll be back with much more later.  There is much more to tell.  But, I have

to get editing the night away!! 

{i am extremely thankful...}

this week for things that are not typically the norm such as my family, friends, health, a home....etc. but things that i have been particularly thankful for that fall outside of that box....

1. a two-week-old insurance policy that was pretty much an after thought
2. a swift and reassuring agent and adjuster
3. pain medication {all is well there, i am VERY thankful for that!}
4. friends that pray and rally
5. the fact i tend to be a night owl with my head hitting the pillow at 3:30 am and i don't even feel the effects after my coffee.  don't ask me tomorrow though ;)
6. children who seem oblivious to the stress swirling inside my brain
7. those same children who calm me down with their excitement about the upcoming week
8. a mom who is cleaning my house, doing my laundry and scrubbing my toilets for me today
9. a SIL who offers to come help me with whatever i may need 
10. a friend who offers to put up my Christmas tree when she needs and wants to get hers up
11. a puppy who seems to  finally be "getting" the whole potty training idea as that makes life so much easier 
12. my crowing rooster.  he makes me smile.  i'm sorry, it's strange, but a fact. ;)
13. friends who text and call me and don't get too terribly upset if it takes 7 days+ for me to respond.  they know me and love me anyway! 
14. and above everything, my God who loves me despite the fact i am completely insane and trusts me to handle my life as crazy as it is  

{should i be worried?}

this is a "writing" i found of evan's last night...

"I'm going on a cruz.  I hope that it wote {won't} be like titantit! {Titanic}

If you've read the book you know what I mean:

the name of the book is I Sourvird.  {Survived}"

I don't even know what to say.

{right about now....}

I am pretty much DYING to be back here. 

Last year, it was up in the air as to whether we would go or not. 

And, we didn't even make the decision until VERY last minute. 

The year before was wonderfully amazing. 

And, this year, it's not in the plans at all.  IF we go anywhere a) we hope it's

the hospital for Scott's treatment or b) if a falls through we will be heading

to the east coast with the in laws.  It will be our first vacation with them since well

before Evan arrived.   Sad I know.  But, I'm thinking we may have to pack

TH in our suitcase as we will HAVE to visit a beach or two.

And the Outer Banks is there!   

Definitely a different look, but a beach nonetheless.

Can toes crave sand?  That pile in the backyard is not working. 

{sunny days}

Since I have all of the Christmas orders happily delivered, I thought I might try to order a few family gifts from our pictures. Today. Nothing like last minute shopping! I found the ones below and was just so thankful for that trip. It was a very last minute decision, but I knew it would be more than worth it to pack up and go and so glad we did! I love walking into SC's and HG's and seeing the pictures. We will definitely have to do that again sometime! Well, a do-over with the exception of bronchitis for me. That made for a very slow and sluggish start. Since, I'm on it, we could also do without shark day at the beach. And, hurricane force winds would not be welcome. Oh, and that little incident I had with the Police Officer in Louisiana. Otherwise, I hope it happens again!

The picture below, the one in which I look like I'm in a horrific amount of pain {stinkin' braces} was taken by a WONDERFUL group of photographers. :) I am happy I have it although I typically hate all pictures with me on the flip side.

I have very few pics of the boys and me and saw this one for the first time today. The curls that had been in my hair were a matted mess at this point and we were all red from the sun. But, I still like it....

I love b&w for everything pretty much!

My boys!
A little fun! It wasn't at the time for me as we had just come off the beach that very day where the shark swam up!
Such a great time!

{vacation / day 9}

On Tuesday, we headed back to Shell Island. It opens at 9 am and closes at 5. It was great until we saw the shark. Well, I didn't see the shark, but everyone else did including Scott. It was way to close - within feet of the beach and within about 4 feet of a group of people.

You can tell this day is much rougher than our first due to the tide. Wait, this one was an inland - you want an outward tide I guess for it to be calmer? I think I had that backwards.

Evan fell in love with this little crab. The feeling was NOT mutual. Evan was very protective of it and still cannot talk about its "CUTE little eyes" unless his voice goes up 8 octaves.

Noah found the big unbroken shell. We have soooo many beautiful ones!

{vacation / day 8}

We played alot at the condo and then went to the beach to take a few pictures. Again, very painful for me.

Scott totally did not mean to blur this one. But, for whatever reason, I love it and will likely print it.

You can imagine, they were less than thrilled to be here again. But, it wasn't their last trip believe me thanks to Daddy. He was determined to get some pics of the boys and I.

Bless his heart, he should have stopped this night.

Then we returned to town, ate dinner and retreated to the condo again. I was all about rest on this vacation! Which is very not me. ;)

{vacation / day 7}

Sunday.

A day of rest.

We did not leave the condo except to eat dinner that night.

I read two books.

Bliss.

{vacation / day 6}

Okay, here is the proof! I did de-robe. Although I greatly cropped this picture ALOT as Scott was playing photographer. ha!

This was the BEST place ever! It was our first time to Shell City Island off of Panama City Beach. It was AMAZING! The park was a little over an hour and then you ferry over to the island which was about a 10 minute trip {we did see dolphins!}

Honestly, the first day was PERFECT. We loved it better than Hawaii or Mexico. We did go back a 2nd time and because of the inland tide, it was quite different than the first day, but every bit as breathtaking.



We found tons of shells and sand dollars. So fun! Evan was in heaven.


We looked up and wow.....a pirate ship sailing by. You just don't see that every day.

Surfing on a sand bar! Evan really thought he had me fooled. But, just 2 feet into the water was a huge wonderful sand bar so the kids were in the water and out all at the same time.

This was Noah at his finest. He was in charge of protecting our "camp." What a life! The great thing was - the beach is pretty much deserted. I'm telling you, it is one of our very favorite places ever.

I didn't even take my good camera, this was the point and shoot. I can't imagine what it would have looked like with my Nikon.

Surfing some more!

You can see the ridge of the sand bar...

Ahhh.......it was wonderful!

Then we detoured on the way home and went to see Rosemary Beach. Apparently Oprah and Michael Jordan have homes there. It was beautiful. And, those were some homes. Wow! We ended up at Seaside for dinner. We were still soaked and sandy. I bought the boys {all 3} some cute shirts from Seaside and we had dinner, ice cream and the boys played and chased each other on the green at the town square.

I need to live there I'm pretty sure.

{vacation / day 5,part II}

I agreed to let them take some family pictures of us. It is always so painful for me! It is not natural at all for me to be on that side of the lense!

It went from being too bright to take the pictures to the storms and rain rolling in. I cannot tell you how we literally RACED to the beach with the rain nipping at our heels. We got a few minutes in. And, although I always hate pictures of myself, I am glad we did.

And, I really, really love the one below! Love it! Thanks so much girls!

It always gives me a fresh perspective to how stressful family portraits can be for people! Well, and the fact we were warned that sharks had been seen on the beach didn't help anything. Not that we were going into the water, just an eerie thought I suppose.

And, then the girls returned to their condo and packed up. All day Saturday I was so sad!

{vacation / day 5}

On Friday, we spent the morning at the beach with all the friends. That was ALOT of gear to haul to the beach for 4 families!

I am pretty sure that I will never live down the fact I would not de-robe from my cover-up. ha! I spared everyone - it was their best interest I had at heart! :)

Then it started getting sad as I was finally starting to feel better and they were spending the evening packing up to leave. :(

{Vacation / Day 4}

Again, my Seaside pictures are on my missing card. :( I even took pictures of pink bicycles for TH. But, all the boys {& Madi} went to the water park and the ladies and babies went to SEASIDE!

ahhh...just as I remembered, but even better.

And, I bought the $4 cupcake this time. 2 to be exact. One I didn't care for, but the Key Lime...to die for! So, I finally had my Queen Bee Cupcakes.

So sweet and quaint. {I have to find those pictures!} We had a great lunch. It was stifling hot, hot, hot. We shopped a tad. And, then retreated back to the condos.

I had the afternoon to myself, so I rested and then we were off to take pictures of everyone.

These are a few I edited quickly to give to them before they left. I desperately need to get back to them as I have not even seen them all myself. {long story, but I shoot in a different format than jpeg}

But, it was a super quick session as we were trying to get everything in before that sun went down. And, when it went down, it went down fast!

But, such a GREAT group of friends! Love them! Was so happy to be there at the same time. We need to plan now for next year! :)

.

{vacation / day 3}

This will be a lovely post without any pictures because I can't locate the card I took on our Dolphin cruise {I didn't load it to my computer when we were there}. But, I can always come back to include those. Or, lift the ones the other girls took. ugh!

Wednesday, I was still recooping, but we did walk down to our beach and let the boys play a bit. The beaches were clean {no oil} although we did have a ton of seaweed which could be pretty nasty. But, I sat under our umbrella and took it all in. I.love.the.beach. Nothing makes me relax like those beautiful waves! Then we retreated to the hotel and Scott took a nap, I tried but gave up and the boys and I went down to the pool for about an hour. Somehow I managed to read an entire book that day. So nice! And, such a great read!

Wednesday night we took a Dolphin Cruise with the Carter, Goodwin and Leonard families. There were a lot of little ones - 10 to be exact! The kids had a great, great time. I was still not feeling great and quite concerned about spreading my wealth by breathing on someone. But, even with that, I had a great time.

We didn't get to see any dolphins, but, it was still beautiful! We cruised around the Harbor and got to see the beaches, hotel, village we spent so much time at last year. Noah ran with the big boys up and down the boat all evening and Evan pretty much stayed by Madi Bell's side. Very sweet and fun! The sunset was beautiful!

{vacation/day 2}

I totally understand why SC returned home and completed her blogging. Otherwise, she would be like me still determined to get it done but....I haven't even started yet! yikes!

I am beyond behind.


These were some pics of the drive down. Poor Scott could not hold the camera steady to save his life. So, although he took about 50 pics of the boys, only one was clear. But, this was day 2 - I was feeling TERRIBLE, my cough was getting worse and I was pretty much wanting to pull over anywhere to sleep. And, I had just woke up. But, somewhere in Alabama I looked back at the boys and saw this......


He had donned his goggles and shark tooth necklace - we were HOURS away from the beach but he was way past ready. It cracked me up. At that point I really needed a laugh. And, Scott had tried to take the picture, but, I finally had to because of camera shake. Evan was oblivious to it all, he was just concentrated on the first to spot the beach.

Then Scott took a lovely picture of my nails. NOT.

And, look at that tree line. Beautiful! The picture does not do it a bit of justice.

Scott's action shot, look at those trees. I was about to hit him at this point. Breathing was all I was concentrated on then. The cold & allergy meds were not making the trip to easy.

Besides a little incident in Mississippi {that I will not divulge here in order to protect the innocent....ME!} the first day was uneventful. We FINALLY pulled out of FS around 4:30-ish and hit the road. We made it to the worst hotel I had ever stayed at in my life that was somewhere between Vicksburg and Hattiesburg. I gave up and needed to sleep in a huge way. Of course, the fatigue beyond comphrehension hit me about 20 miles past the nice hotels. But, then we were back on the road again.

Thus the above pictures.

This day was very uneventful due to the fact I drove us in and crashed. In bed, not the car. {that was in Mississippi - sort-of} So, we arrived in Miramar and could not even go have dinner with the big group of friends there. It was sad. But, I felt beyond bad.

Stayed tuned for Day 3.

We have some interesting tales to tell about this trip.

Leave it to us!