The plan for this summer was to enroll in a plethora of camps and classes to keep everyone busily engaged in good things. This was very fun for everyone and a pretty good plan. There were weeks here and there where not everyone had something going on, and a rare one where no one had anything going on. As for the mom, I was tired out from the drudge of taxing to and fro, same as the school year.
By the beginning of August, we all needed a change of scenery. I searched for places to stay in Austin and San Antonio (some of our favorite spots to drive to for a get-away) but nothing was available at anywhere near the price I was willing to pay.
I decided that we (and by we, I mean I) wanted to go to the beach. Galveston doesn't count. People like it, and people have fun there, and that's okay. I've even been found on the rare occasion to have had a good time at Galveston beaches. However, it wouldn't do for an end of summer trip in my mind. Then I had it: Florida! White sands and clean water were a mere 8 hours drive away.
We had the greatest time! On a Friday morning, we packed up and headed to Pensacola. The drive was great. The kids were great.
Christian did this: 
and this: 
and this. 
Very smooth.
We went through the eastern tip of Texas, the horizontal whole of Louisiana, the bottom chunks of Mississippi and Alabama, and by 5 pm were in Pensacola Florida. We hung out at the hotel pool Friday evening because it was a little overcast and we would do the full on beach thing the next day.
Saturday, we headed out to the very cool National Naval Aviation Museum, because it was a bit overcast and we figured the sun would come out more in the afternoon.
Next, we headed for the beach, finally! To get to the beach, there are a series of bridges that you go over. As we drove across one bridge, it started to drizzle. Then it was raining. Then it was pouring!
I DROVE 8 HOURS TO GO TO A NICE BEACH! WE'RE ON VACATION!!!
Off in the distance, there was a break in the clouds and some actual sun peeking through. We drove to that spot, unloaded, and went about our business ignoring the drizzle and hoping that it would stop any minute. The good news is that the rain stopped. The bad news is that Maren came out of the water and said that she was itchy all over. There were red splotches here and there on her body. Just then, Geoff came out of the water and said that there were about four jelly fish right there where the waves break. (Right about where Maren had been when she came in with the itching and spots!). So. We considered peeing on her. Who was going to do that? Logan suggested we give Christian a bunch of milk and then let him loose. In the end, we wrapped her up in a towel, and between that and burying herself in the sand and the itch and sting just went away. Thankfully.
So, in the meantime, we all went down to the water and looked at the many jelly fish that were messing up our beach trip worse than the rain. I thought about maybe moving our party down the beach a bit, so I took a walk to explore. As I walked, there were several more jellies either washed up onto the sand, or right there in the water. We stayed where we were and soon a family came who happened to have nets, "fer shell diggin'", who used the nets to catch as many jellies as they could and pile them up on the beach so as to have them out of the water. That was good of them.
Between that, and Geoff said that the further out one was, the less jelly fish there were, the beach ended up being a great success. The sand was really white and clean and "sandy", and the water was green and clean and beautiful!
On Sunday, we found a local church to go to and then were going to either hit the beach again, or head to the big outlet mall in Alabama, then on to New Orleans for the night. The mall won over the beach (because it was still overcast and looked like rain again) so we headed out of Florida. We got to the mall right about lunch time and Eric got to choose the place. He chose Hardee's. Eric has now lost all restaurant-choosing privileges. Walking on the floor alone grossed me out, let alone Christian sitting, falling, or touching it. It was greasy, dirty, and just all around yucky. I know, I know, we could have left..... The best part of all was when Geoff was sitting across from me and trying to casually pull the hair out of his burger without me seeing. I handed him the rest of my food and said I'd be in the car getting the hand sanitizer ready. If you know Geoff at all, you won't be surprised to know that he did, in fact, finish the hair-burger, along with my food. That's one fast food place I could eat at and be sure to lose weight.....
The outlet mall (I know. We never never shop on Sunday. But we were on vacation. It's kind of like how calories don't count on vacation or after midnight. Sometimes Sabbath rules can be bent as well. I'll repent later.), was great in theory. In reality, we had a very tired two year old 'bronco' who is still in the early stages of being 'broken'. No worries though, we still managed to drop a load $!
The real "Goonie adventure" happened on the drive after our time in Foley, Alabama. I thought Texas had big bugs. I had never been to Mississippi. We stopped at a rest stop (very nice and clean and manicured for a rest stop, by the way! Good job Mississippi!), and when the girls and I got done, we noticed that the boys had all gone down the scenic path to take in the sights. What a sight to behold! The girls were a few feet in front of me and Samy stopped and said "ewe, a spider!" I told her to just jump over it, she's bigger than a spider. Then I got to the "spider"...
It jumped, too.
So we quickly caught up to the boys who were crouched down looking at something. It was a swarm of the giant "cricket things". All the while we were encountering the "cricket things", there were swarms of "giant flies" dive bombing our heads. I said that's it, we're done. Everybody runnnnnn! I made Olympic time to the car all while in a skirt and flip flops. Good bye, Mississippi!
This is why I am not a camper.
We ended our day in New Orleans and checked in to one of the coolest hotel rooms that I have ever seen. It wasn't necessarily the most luxurious room, but the layout was way neat. It was just a Marriott Residence Inn, but I had never seen one like this. There were basically three bedrooms each with a queen sized bed, two bathrooms, a huge dining area, huge living room (with a sofa bed), and kitchen. We kind of stumbled upon it because they didn't have two rooms adjoining. It was so great! We have to split personalities up strategically so as to avoid the biggest fights and problems. We had Maren (the little mother) in bed with Christian (who needed mothering because he doesn't fit in the pack n play provided by the hotel - and this mother wasn't going to do it) who needed help his first time in a big bed. Samy (tiny girl) was in bed with Eric (germ-a-phobe who can't get along with Maren or Logan). Logan (sleep-through-anything-spread-eagle) got the living room sofa bed all to himself. It worked perfectly. Eric asked Geoff if this hotel room was as big as our first house. Almost. Our kitchen was a bit bigger... However, there was one slight problem with the awesome hotel room:
Monday in New Orleans. I've been to Nawlis once in my life, and frankly, that was one time too many. Not a fan. I went a few months after Hurricane Katrina and was purely convinced that the moldy stink and grimy feel of the place had nothing to do with the levee's breaking and was well established long before any hurricane! This time, though, I knew to completely avoid Bourbon Street - even in the day time, not make eye contact with any street vendor trying to "give" you a souvenir cap, and what streets/areas to avoid altogether. Despite my feelings for the Cajun city, we did have a good time walking through the Historic French Quarter and Market Place. Conveniently, a storm rolled in right about lunch time so we ducked in to a quaint Authentic New Orleans-style restaurant. Granted, a plate of red beans and rice should never cost $11.50, but it was a dang good plate of red beans and rice. The southern fried chicken and baked macaroni that the girls had was to die for, and Eric's Po-boy was scrumptious! So, still not my favorite city, but this time left a much better taste in my mouth (literally) than my previous visit.
I still think the city is Gamorah.
So, as this 'story' has unfolded, you may have noticed the instances of overcast skies and/or rain. Yeah, that was Tropical Storm Claudette that pretty much hit exactly where were staying in Florida pretty much right after we left. We had no idea there was anything brewing in the gulf (need to watch the news once in a while). While we hesitate to call ourselves inspired, we do recognize the safety and protection that are afforded our little family and are very grateful for our complete dumb luck!
We left Nawlins on Monday afternoon. Why is it that the trip home is always soooo much longer and harder than the trip there? I know the answer, but it always amazes me. Not to mention the fact that for the trip home, we shaved off three hours by starting from New Orleans! Whatever. I swear we made fifteen stops within that five hour drive, each time telling all the bladders this really was the last stop we were making before we got home. The most upsetting was when everyone in the car was convinced that Christian had a loaded diaper. We pulled off and found a stop. Opened the diaper to find nothing but a false alarm. Little bugger. I'm sure he did that on purpose. One of the fun things was driving through or near many of the areas that I had served as a missionary for the Church. That brought back a lot of good memories.
One other thing that cracked me up was that we had the DVD player in the car, another portable one, a small DVD playing laptop, and almost every other electronic device known to man, (iPod touch, iPods, Gameboy DS's, etc...) with us to entertain for the long drive. But for hours, those four kids sat in that van and had competitions with this silly maze toy that we somehow got four of out of three kids meals at greasy Hardees!
I love it when the kids are "retro"!
We finally rolled into our driveway at 8:57 pm after a short, but very fun, successful, and much needed and deserved weekend vacation. (Laundry was started at 9:06 pm).
To paraphrase from one of our favorite children's books (by P.D. Eastman); "We love our house. We love our nest. In all the world, our nest is best!"
Some of my favorite lines from the trip:
Samy: "Mom, why did you turn around?"
Me: "Becuase the lady [GPS]told me to."
Samy: "WHAT! That lady is insane!"
Logan (upon entering the city of New Orleans at night): "I swear we are in Gotham."
After the first night in a hotel, Maren got up and made the bed that she had shared with Samy. Samy said, crying: "I wanted my maid to make my bed!"
