Vacay day 3 – BEACH!

Today we followed our plan!  J  We got up and had breakfast and got swimsuits on and headed into Destin!  Now we knew where to go!  When we arrived at the State Park, we discovered they had a red flag out.  A red flag means to swim with caution bc the water is rough.  The waves were awesome!!!  We did tell Cayden he couldn’t use a big float bc the water was too rough and Kirsten had already been knocked off hers and hit her head on the sand!  She was alright but did rest for a little bit bc she had a headache at first.  Kinda scared me a little.  I love just laying on the shore and letting the waves wash over me!  We discovered lots of little clams and put them in a pail where we got to watch their fingers come out.  We also got to see them digging into the sand before the waves came to wash them away!  The Littles enjoyed riding their daddy in the waves!  Glenn buried his legs in the sand and Kayson tried to copy him.  After we were back at the campsite, I took Keegan and Cayden to the restrooms, on our walk back, we found a snail.  Keegan carried it back to the RV to show everyone and it came out in his hand.    Honey and I took naps after lunch, then he ran to get mustard and we had chilidogs for dinner.

Vacay day 2 – will we see the beach today?

Sleep felt so good, unfortunately we were woke up around 2 am to some very strong storms!  I don’t like storms!  The thunder was so loud, it woke Cayden up and he had to come get in bed with us bc he was scared.  So we were later than we wanted to getting up.  See, I know it’s vacation and that’s supposed to mean doing whatever and not worrying about time and sleeping in and all that but we had planned to go to the beach every morning and hang out at the campsite every afternoon.  We had a few reason for this.  First, I do not handle heat well, odd that I live in Texas and love the ocean so much, I know but it is what it is and we have to keep it in mind.  So we figured the mornings would be somewhat cooler, maybe and afternoons could be for resting.  Second, to save money on food and not be eating out the whole week, we planned to eat all meals at the campsite so we wanted to be up early enough to get to Destin have beach time and be back to eat lunch at the RV.  Well, since we got up late, we needed to change plans.  We needed to run to Publix and pick up a Sun Pass for the toll bridge we needed to cross and we wanted to run by walmart bc we didn’t bring any floaties.  Of coarse walmart took longer than expected bc well that store is just a big black hole especially with 5 children!  lol  Of coarse we thought of more things we “needed” too and didn’t know where anything was.  Then back to the RV to have lunch.  After we had to make sure all beach items were in Silver, get sunscreened and finally we were on our way, knowing we needed to be back in time for dinner.  We finally made it into Destin about 3:30 or 4 ish and then we couldn’t find the public beach access!  We finally found this one place and we parked and we walked and walked and walked, there wasn’t many people here but it was ocean and sand and we had found it!  lol.  It did have a neat sand hill to roll down!  J  We knew there had to be a better place but we still had a good time!  On our way back, we saw a better public beach access (which we haven’t used yet) and we also stopped by the State Park right there in Destin and discovered that bc we are camping at the State Park in Niceville, we get in free!  Cool!  They have lots of beach and restrooms!  Its so nice!  Then we got back to the campsite and didn’t have chili dogs bc the mustard was forgot!  We had hamburgers instead.  Mmmm.  Then we watched a movie and bedtime!  It was a good day!  J

Vacay day 1 – Let’s get there!

4:30 rise and shine and get moving!  It was shortly after 5 when we were pulling out.  All babies were awake and asking for a movie.  No one was hungry yet and we were all anxious to get started!

7:30 Gas and potty stop!  Wouldn’t you know the one we find in the middle of no where is under remodel and we have the privilege of using their Porta-Potties!  Lol  We decided to drive down through “Lousy”-ana so we would be along the coast for the rest of the trip.  I think we may go back a different way just bc.

8:30 Breakfast!  Woohoo, found a Cracker Barrel!  Love that place!  Kirsten wanted floppy bacon but it came out too floppy!  lol  so she didn’t want it but Keegan decided he wanted it but he likes crispy bacon!  We sent it back and it came back to us crispy alright!  lol  He didn’t want the “black” parts so I ate them!  Mmmm.  J

9:30 back on the road again.  Babies are listening to Charlotte’s Web book on CD and the three olders are working on math.  I take this time to go through pics from my camera so it will be empty for vacay photos!  Had a few pit stops a long the way, just traveling on.  Crocheted some on Honey’s blanket I’m making for him.

1:30 Lunch!  Babies are hungry.  Charlotte’s web ended and movies began.  Chris and I want Arby’s and the other kiddos want McDonald’s.  Since we are pulling the RV, no drive-throughs.  Honey waited in Silver while I ran in and got food in both places.  The littles were super excited to get Mario toys with their happy meals and Kayson carried his Yoshi around for two days!  Lol

2:30 finally said goodbye to “Lousy”-ana!  Also began to hit some traffic.  Started seeing some interesting clouds, checked radar, looked like we were going to drive straight into a storm!  Passed an accident, looked like a rear ending with one car spun all the way around.  More traffic, lots of rain and some thunder.

4:30 Hello Alabama!  We had stopped at a Love’s before leaving Mississippi and the babies were excited about it and talking about stopping at another one on another trip with Papaw!  J  Then we found more traffic!  But I was able to get a good pic of a cool car as we passed it slowly.  Then we got to Mobile.  Wow, they have some really interesting buildings!  Even the jail was neat.  However, that tunnel was NOT neat at all!!!!  I almost cried, the kids loved it!  I don’t think of myself as claustrophobic but I do not handle tunnels or caves or parking garages well!

6:30 FLORIDA!!!  We had made it to Florida!  We stopped at the visitors center but they had already closed.  L  We did get a pic with a neat Dolphin statue.  The two littlest had got small naps.  We were starting to get hungry and we were tired but we were trying to make it to the campsite while we still had some daylight so Honey could get the RV set up.  We saw 10 deer as we were driving.  They are such pretty creatures.

7:30 Arrive at campsite!  Whew!  Glenn gets the RV set up, I read the park rules and make a trip to the bathroom with babies.

8:30 Dinner!  Honey went to get Little Ceasers.  After dinner was bedtime!  We were so glad to be here but we were exhausted!  I think a 9 hr drive in one day is too much.  Ahhhh…..sleep!  J

Will You Laugh?

So as I sit here unable to sleep and keep thinking, I need to blog, I really should blog, its been such a long time since I blogged, so here I am, blogging! lol Now, what to say, what to say, what to say? I'm sure there must be something that needs to be said since I can't get "type a blog" out of my head. There are things I would love to say but I know now is not the time. I really wonder what people would like to read about? Do I really have anything to say that would touch someone? Do I really have anything to say that someone would actually find entertaining? Oh, and then there is that line up above with two little words "post title"! That has to be two of the most intimidating words in a blogger's life, or at least this blogger's life! Title? title? You mean I am supposed to some up whatever comes out of my fingers in a few words? really? Ummm....Maybe I should just start naming them blog 1, blog 2, blog 4,561 (yea, right!) lol! See, I try to be funny, was that even funny at all? or just incredibly lame? Maybe 1 in the morning really isn't the best time for this, but it's QUIET in my house! It is actually, truly, incredibly QUIET! No one is screaming MAMA or MORE or HE DID IT! I'm not harping on anyone to clean this or learn that or GET DOWN! Seriously, I can actually hear myself think and the clicks of the keys as I type! The TV is OFF! No Mario, or Sheep Snacks, or Chuck the Truck, or those stupid turtles! Ugh, I can't stand the turtles (you know, those ninja ones!) I just don't get it, oh, but the boys do! They love them! Now, minions? I LOVE the minions! My children assure me, though, that I cannot EAT the minions since I seem to think they look like those marshmallow Peeps! :D So, Here's to seeing if I can feel more inspired in the future. I find I have more to say than I think I do if I will actually just sit down and start typing. Anything in particular my adoring (ha) blog fans (bc I have sooooo many) would like to know? If you laughed at least once then I think maybe this post has done it job. I think I'll title it, will you laugh? Ta-ta for now, sleep tight, don't let the babies bite! :)

The Revenge of Peter Rabbit

This is Chris's journal entry with a prompt for our first classes with our homeschool group, ETCH.

It started out like any other day in Mr.Mcgregors garden then something very strange happened.The scarecrow blinked once.He blinked a second time.He coughed.....

Then he jumped up and ran after Mr.Mcgregor. But the scarecrow was really peter rabbit.He wanted revenge on Mr.Mcgregor. Then after running around peter finally cornered Mr.Mcgregor and jumped on top of Mr.Mcgregor. then he ran away laughing and saying I finally got my revenge.

By Chris Derr, Age 11, 10/11/13

The Power of God

This is Kirsten's journal entry with a prompt for our first classes with our homeschool group, ETCH.

It started out like any other day in Mr. Mcgregor's garden. But then something very strange happened. The scarecrow blinked once. He blinked a second time. He coughed.....

Then He stood up, off of the cross and walked away. Mr. Mcgregor felt a strange tug at his heart to follow the scarecrow. And as the scarecrow walked into the forest He began to change, He wore a white robe and sandals on His feet. Then His face began to change He had white hair and a glowing light shined around around Him. Mr. Mcgregor was amazed that this scarecrow had become a man. He was astonished and then afraid, and began to tremble. What evil magic is this he thought, what has this world coming to. the man said "it is no evil it is the power of God. And I have come to help you. For you have not been a righteous man and God has a plan for you and everyone on this earth". I must go but you must be a better man Mr. Mcgregor said "who are You to judge me like this", beginning to grow angry. "I am the Son of God, I came to help you". Mr. Mcgregor grew white"how how can You be Jesus? There's no proof". Jesus said"look at My hands and My feet'. Mr. Mcgregor looked there were holes in each one both hands and feet. Mr. Mcgregor dropped to his knees,"leave me Lord for I am a sinful man". Jesus said"I can forgive your sins child if you believe". And while Mr. Mcgregor began to cry" I do Lord I do", and when he looked up Jesus was gone. Mr. Mcgregor stood up and walked back to the garden. When he got there the scarecrow was back on the cross of sticks. Mr. Mcgregor ran to his house, his wife noticing something wrong asked" what's wrong honey". He said" I've seen the Lord and we must change"."Why? Mrs. Mcgregor asked we're fine just the way we are. Mr. Mcgregor frowned and said" we must change". So the Mcgregor family changed and became the most God fearing people in the forest. THE END

p.s. Peter rabbit saw the whole thing and hopped home to change his family and became the most God fearing rabbit family ever.

By Kirsten Derr, Age 12, 10/11/13

Crazy Busy Part 5

The next week we had the first VBS. The one they go to every year and they always look forward to it so much! Keegan missed the first two days though bc he was still getting over being sick! The week after that was the second VBS. Kirsten got to go to that one. I went to the Healthy Living Institute while they were in VBS. It was also a busy month of Glenn training. We had well-visits to attend in July and I had an eye appt. Glenn started his field training. I decided to declare the school year finished and take Aug off to try and get the house under control. Cayden turned 7. Then Sept came and brought with it the start of a new school year and the start of our new-improved schedule. Now are days are filled with school and park days and trying to fit in time to go work out. We have a pumpkin patch field trip coming up. Things still feel somewhat crazy, we are still adjusting to Glenn's changing schedule and looking forward to a more permanent one. I meant to type this entry a while ago! lol, well, at least I am typing it now, right? Meme and Papa's trailer is here, they have their new address and power. Now the new mailboxes need put up, water and a/c need installed and furniture moved in! Chris went over and "Papa-sat" today so Meme and Mama could go shopping. He enjoys spending time with his Papa Marty and helping out. Chris even made them lunch, balogna sandwiches! :) I don't think this is going to be a very long post, this time. I shall try to talk to you again very soon.