Day #4 Vacation

 

our view from the upstairs deck off from the  kitchen

     Monday...awaken to a cloudy day.  It remained over cast all day, and the waves, like yesterday was strong and a lot of them.

    We saw the dolphins again in the bay.  A whole pod of them.  You just see them coming up out of the water, and then right back down as they swim. They swim one way-probably eating their breakfast, then eventually they might come back by going back into the bay.  

    We  drove back to the two Dollar stores.  One was like a grocery store too, bigger than what we have back home.  On the way here, in southern Alabama, there was a dollar store every 5 miles! Really! And they looked busy too. 

    Anyway, we decided to buy some beach chairs, probably should have brought some folding chairs from our camper-

    I found 2 chairs left that were not folding, but were a better price then the folding ones.  Those were they kind that sit low to the ground.  For the beach.  But I did not think they would be easy for me to get in and out of with my one knee (former surgery). No others were available and I really did not want to drive back to a walmart.  (20 plus miles).

    So I negotiated the  price down... originally priced at about 11 dollars each, I got the one for 5 and the other one for 7-1/2.   Once back, we spent the rest of the day on the beach or back in the house. 

our beach chairs 

 Scott got his metal detector out and searched the beach. 

 This is what he found:

The waves were good with the shells, found a lot of smaller ones.  Only two of the larger type of shells.  I do not know what I will do with all of them, but I like looking for them.

Day #3 of vacation

So we woke up and enjoyed the sunrise, watched dolphins playing in the bay---

then spent the morning settling in.  We decided to go for a drive, and went back to that park for more photos.  It was on the way to a walmart we needed to go to for some things we needed for the week.  Then we drove the other way, to a few more stores.

I found these shells.  Later I found out the one had a resident in it. We argued about who got to keep the shell, I won.

this is one of those things...not sure what the name is..swims all over the place

cool tree with moss on it by the bay

the tree roots

tree roots

We went back to the home we rented, and found that no internet connection still.  I have school work to do, (I am doing distance program) so we d rove up to a McDonalds, and I spent a half an hour getting on line! Ugg!
Then 2 hours to do homework while a family with children including teens, screamed and laughed beside me.  Hard to concentrate.
I have to say, I have a wonderful patient husband that waited for me to finish....
The McDonald's did have christian music playing, that was nice.  I do not eat their food, but did thank them for the selection of music before I left.

We got back to the unit

That evening, we watched the sunset on the beach and watched the dolphins again, some jumping out of the water!  I did not get photos of the dolphins, but did get a video I might post later somewhere!

Vacation Day #2

The hotel we stayed at told us that Donald Trump was in town for the day.  We did not go hear him.
Up and on the road by 9 am (yes we slept in, it is vacation after all).

Today we would arrive about 4 pm at the place we rented.  That was the plan. But it did not happen.  Instead, lots of traffic once we left the hotel.  The drive into alabama, and the first major large town, took about an extra hour and a half than it should.  Then once past the town, it took an hour to drive 13 miles! The traffic went at a whole 10-15 mph.  Yes that was as fast as we went.  So much for the 4pm arrival time.  We did not get to our area until after dark.  We were about what we thought was only 5 miles when we went over the bridge you see below in the photos, but the GPS kept saying we were 20 + miles away.  I did not believe it, but thought-well maybe?  We stopped after going over this bridge, at a small roadside park by the ocean.  When we got out, I said, wouldn't it be neat if we could see a dolphin swimming? No kidding, but less than one minute after I said that, there was a dolphin swimming in this bay.  Scott and I both were excited about that, it was the first time for me to see one in the wild!  I have been to florida before, but never saw one in the wild that I can remember.

The bridge we first went over on day #2 just before our area where we will stay.

view of that same bridge, when we stopped at the road side park

the small bay area

sun going down

another view of the bay

a selfie! 

So we thought we better get  back on the road to get to our location, I could have sat at that park for a few more minutes, it was so  fun and relaxing.  Nice to be with my sweetheart!

So on the road we went...and the GPS kept us going, and going, and soon it was dark.  Then we were still going, those 20 plus miles, and we were out in the middle of no where.  The ladies voice says: you have reached your destination.  We saw trees, no buildings, nothing...darkness...nothing.  We turned around, and I gave up on technology and we found the place the old fashioned way, hand held map, and common sense.  This was the second time this GPS thing took us to the wrong spot.  (the other time was the hotel..it had us exit 2 exits before we should have...I knew better, but listened anyway...we drove thru town and shopping areas looking for the hotel!) 

That GPS sits in the glove compartment now. 

So we arrive, and I have to figure out the lock system.  Finally here! We carried everything in, food for the week, our luggage and my mountain of pillows.  

We went to the sliding glass doors and opened them and just enjoyed the sound of the ocean, which was just steps away from this place! So peaceful!

Sleep was wonderful, relaxing. Great day #2, I will post more later! 

Vacation 2015 Day #1

Well we finally got to have a vacation! The summer of 2012 was the last time that Scott and I went on a vacation anywhere.

We came to Florida.  Now this state is one of my least favorite states, but I wanted to sit on the beach.  We thought about the east coast, along the carolinas, but that did not seem like the area we were to go.  Glad we did not, they had a hurricane there last week! SO this week would still not be the best time to go there!

We decided to try the gulf area, along the pan handle.  Mexico beach.  I searched and searched for a cabin, one with all of the amenities we needed and wanted.
Found one, and so the plan was to leave on a Friday afternoon, and take 2 days to drive to Florida, enjoy the area for 5 days and  go back home.  So this is day one information!

Friday we tried to leave by 11 am, Scott worked 4 hours and came home at 10:30  but we had a few things come up and did not get to leave until noon.  We were driving until Nashville, then planning on staying in a hotel.  Driving went fine, but there was so much road construction that we were delayed a bit.  We wanted to get to the hotel by 8pm but did not arrive until about 9:30 or after.
The following are some of the photos from day one.

On highway 65 south

My view

Scott's view

entering Kentucky

ANNIVERSARY DINNER!!!

Well after the special surprise that our children did for us (We missed you Jason and Missy and Zachary and Logan and Adreana!)

 Scott and I thought we would go out to eat for our anniversary later that week.  

I have to go back a few weeks first, to the end of April on one day when I was sooo very busy, had driven up to Michigan about an hour and a half, to see a few clients then a different direction for about 2 hours then in yet another direction for a few more hours.  That makes a very busy day-in driving alone, not to mention the time spent at every house with each client!  I was tired, I remembered that I had not taken out anything for supper (I know, bad planning on my part-!) so I decided to stop at the local Apple Bees in Sturgis for something to go.  I ordered cheese burger baskets with fries, the 2 for $20.00 ones which meant that they would come with bacon.  Well since we do not eat pork, and have not now for about 4 to 5 years I asked them to NOT put the bacon on it.

  "That is fine mam, no bacon." 

So I pick up the order, got it home and there is bacon -and it looks like a LOT of bacon, like they added extra, on the burgers! How nice...not...

Talk about messing up the order! The french fries could not be eaten because the bacon hung over the burgers dripping onto the french fries!  I was upset.  I was tired.  It is about 20 minutes to town from our home, so I was not driving back.  I called and spoke to a manager, complained-explaining that we do NOT EAT PORK and had ordered it WITHOUT PORK.  Bacon IS PORK!!!! He said I could come back, and I said NO.  I was not driving that far for their mistake.  

He did apologize, but hey, the reason I ordered out was because I was too tired to cook, and that plan was ruined now. 

He again apologized, and offered to send me a card worth $25.00 for my time.  Saying he was adding a few more dollars on it for my trouble. 

woop-ee.  

Now remember, the special 2/$20.00 is the base price, then you add tax, (6%-) so you add $1.20 and then the tip I gave to the person who brought it out to me in the drive up waiting area, and OH GOODIE!!!, I got about $2.00 for my 'trouble'.  Wow,  am I "impressed."

Well when the card arrived, I decided to save it for a special time.  Maybe for our anniversary.  You would think that they would not mess up again.  

You would think...

I thought anyway...

that is what I get for thinking....

So the week of our anniversary, we decided to meet after work (again a busy day, and we were both tired after working) so we met in town at the apple bees -for another try for a anniversary dinner.

After all-this was to be a 'free meal' (free!  HA HA We had already paid for it weeks before-since we could not eat the other meal-so it was not a free meal)

We ordered another meal from the 2/$20.00 menu.  Chicken this time.  The order came, not brought out by out waitress, but someone else.  We did not receive any silverware.  We tried to flag someone down, no one would pay attention. 

They were not busy, only about 4-5 small groups in there eating at this time of day.  So there is NO excuse for not having better service. 

Finally Scott got someones attention, (after he had to actually chase down a waitress) we got our silverware.  I opened mine, and it looked like dead maggots (prob was rice, but it did not look like that) on my fork.  They were all filthy.  Scott's was dirty too, but did not have 'things' on them, just dirty.  Why would anyone wrap up dirty silverware????Gross!!! and with this???

I was feeling ill now....

   Again, unable to find ANYONE, and by the time we did, the food was getting very cold now.  French fries were COLD.  Don't put ketchup on cold fries, they only get colder!

   We got new silver ware, and  I began to slowly eat my chicken, allowing my stomach to stop churning.....the 'thin end first' of the chicken-which seemed fine, cold but fine. 

Then I cut into the thicker part of the chicken, thinking --I will cut up the chicken completely, then eat it instead of cut-eat-cut-eat because I am a cut-cut-cut-cut-eat-eat-eat type of person.

IT WAS RAW!!!

Now I am wanting to become ill.  

I can not believe this.

We complained-AGAIN.  Why do people not care about their service????

The manager came over, and of course said he would redo my meal, and not charge me.  But he charged me for the drink.  I am sorry, the WHOLE meal SHOULD  have been free.  Period.  Even the drinks.  

YOU DO NOT SERVE RAW CHICKEN.  EVER.

I could not eat anymore.  

Fast forward to another week, and we thought-ruined anniversary dinner before, so lets try it again-with a different restaurant.  We are looking for punishment in our lives. 

So over to Shipshewana we go-to the buggy wheel.  We choose family style.  Good food, all cooked completely, yeah!!!
.....but they were out of roast beef for a choice of meat.  How does that restaurant run out of roast beef?

We did not get refills on our drinks until we were DONE with our food, because the waitress was too busy, but the hostess and a few others had time to just stand around.  I hate seeing people just stand around when the waitress is sooo busy, and unable to keep up.  It really looks bad... 

sigh.

"How was your food mam?" as we paid.  Well fine, except......

I told them "you need to help a busy waitress by filling everyone's drinks."  No excuse.  She agreed, and said she would "fix' that problem.  right. I bet you will.
And she was surprised that they were out of roast beef..."really??" 

maybe next time we will see...

Next time...Ha! 

I guess that is enough trying to go out to eat...spent money -hard to come by-for us-for many bad experiences..... 

maybe it will be better on anniversary #31-in may of 2011? 

ANNIVERSARY #30

Anniversary #30.  Well let me just say, first of all, it is only by GOD's grace that we are still married.  It is out of obedience to HIM that we choose to stay together when the times got tough, which we had some very hard times through out the years...
I hear all the time- "we fell out of love..."
                            " I just dont love him/her anymore..."
                            " we have nothing in common..."
bla bla bla.
It is a CHOICE to stay together.
It is a CHOICE to stay in love-even when that love is not returned.
It is a CHOICE to work on a problem marriage.

We mad the CHOICE to stay together thru everything.  Good times and bad. It was a choice.

So this last May 17th was our official 30 year anniversary.  Our children decided to do a surprise party for us.  But I have to say, it did not stay a surprise very long, I figured it out.  I actually asked my daughter if they were doing anything, and she said "mom, your hard to deal with..." or something like that...I told her...well what if we want to go away?  To that she responded..."just stay home."

So I figured something was up.  Then our youngest -Dustin ..who lives a couple of hours away called and asked us what day would be better for him to visit us.  I told him sunday.  So then I knew...hummmm it will be on Sunday.

So Sunday came, and at 6 am, we received a phone call from our daughter telling us they were broken down on the way to work.  They were really broken down-no trick to get us out of the house.  So Scott went out and tried to help them.  After a few hours they got the car to our home.  Steven never made it to work as he had to work on the car all day.  Scott helped him.  Nalani made it in, and Anastasia had planned to stay her for the day anyway-cooking.  She was gonna 'kick us out of the house" for awhile so everyone could show up and then we return home to a 'surprise'.  but that changed with a broken down auto.  So we knew something was us.  We just tried to 'not notice..all the cooking..."

That day I was hurting-my back.  But I rested all day, so by the time the after noon time came when everyone would show up, I was doing better, still not my best, but better.  I choose a tall chair to sit in  (we were out side) but it was a broken one.  I put Ice on my back and sat there-not getting around to greet my guests at all.  I felt bad about that, but it was that or not be there at all!

The kids kept it simple, which was fine.  Everyone just visited, and cooked their hotdogs or hamburgers, and then we all had a dish to pass.  Food was great!  I had had snuck and ate some that Anastasia had prepared when I was inside earlier!  So I was not too hungry once it started!

Well, everyone was beginning to leave, just a family or two left, and I dropped something on the ground.  So leaned down (still sitting in the 'broken chair') and leaned to the side of the chair that was cracked...it continued to crack and broke completely!  Down I went...sort of in slow motion, but down anyway!  What a way to end the day!

here are some photos of the day!

1the kids could not afford to send us (their parents) to hawaii for this anniversary, so had an Hawaian theme!
The last photo is of the nice strawberry my husband had picked out for me...to give to me...he thought it looked good, then he dropped it.

Our 30 Year Celebration!

Today (may 17th) we celebrate our 30 year anniversary.  It is hard to believe that we have made it this long.  I have to day that if we did not have the LORD YHWH in our lives, we would have been divorced a long time ago.  It is only living the way HE has us live, and allowing HIM to change our hearts-that we have stayed together.
   Well our children decided to plan a surprise celebration, which was nice.  It was to be a picnic, type get together.  They chose a theme of Hawaiian, since they could not afford to pay for a trip for us to Hawaii!
  As the guests arrived they were given a lei, and we fired up the grill.
The origional plan was that they would send Scott and I out and we would have been gone, and returned to a yard full of family and friends, well that did not work!
  First I had a sore back, so was not feeling the best, sitting on ice on my back.  I really did not want to be out driving around!  Plus at 6 am, the phone rang, it was our daughter (s), and son in law, who had broken down on the road on the way to work-so Scott had to go out with the truck and rescue them.  They finally got the car back to the house, and Scott spent the day working on it with Stephen...who never made it to work.  Nalani did make it to work, and Anastasia was at the house all day, doing laundry and cooking a large amount of food.  So I knew basically what was going on.
  In a way that was fine, since my back was a problem for the day,  I tried to rest but when your back hurts it really does not work to well to just sit around!
  People grilled their food, and shared dishes-which was good...Scott picked out a great looking strawberry for me,  here that is...!

I decided after he dropped it to not eat it...

Our children decided to tell what they had learned from us-Nathan shared being married for 30 years-it can be done-and how to move a pond 3 inched every few days...(yes I had them do this, it kept them out of trouble!!)
Anastasia shared she learned how to hand up a dress so the hanger marks did not show...(they use to hang up my long skirts that I wear-on a hanger to dry for me, thinking they were helping, and when I take the skirt off the hanger, it had the hanger shape to it, so it stuck out on the sides!)I taught them to not do that!
Nalani learned to zoom with confidence.  When you drive, dont turn left slowly (although she explained it slightly different) but the actual teaching was dont pull out so slow that you practically stop in traffic because they do not stop for you!  Get going, zoom with confidence!
Dustin shared remembering how to burn chicken while grilling that his dad taught him how to do.
Here is the full list ...
In case you couldn't remember them all, or didn't hear them all, I thought Nalani and I would try to list them for you. Trying to remember them was hard.. maybe we're getting old too?

Nathan:
Mom- Be careful to be around women who like to move ponds.
Dad- Being married thirty years, it can be done!

Anastasia:
Mom- Learned how to hang up skirts properly.
Dad- How to Milk a Goat.

Nalani:
Mom- Zoom quickly with confidence.
Dad- The first cup of coffee must be black and drank in silence.

Dustin:
Mom- Listen to the wife- she's right.
Dad- How to burn chicken the right way.

Steven:
Mom- Re-stated how women are always right, no point in fighting it.
Dad- If he can't fix it, Scott can!

Sam:
Both- Not to leave Dustin alone with food.
Thanks to all who could attend -blessing us and sharing this time with us!

About Our Family

Our little family...
Scott and I met when I was very young. I was friends with his sister, so I knew him from hanging out at her home. We sort of had eyes for each other, but never acted on it for a number of years...

We began dating when I was about 13...very young...and he was 18. We did not 'date' much, would spend time together driving around in town as teens do. When I was 16, I could officially date, so our relationship became serious. He wanted to take me to a real nice restaurant for our first official date, and he thought he was taking me to red lobster, but we ended up at long johns silvers in Goshen! I will still tease him about that...I also do not like fish!
He was then 21 and I was 17 when we were married. I graduated high school about 3 weeks after we were married.

We had our first baby 2 years later, in 1982. (yes a lot of people thought I 'was pregnant' because I was so young when married, but no I was not!)

I worked as a nurses assistant at the time, and was attending college to become an art teacher. But I did not finish college, as I had a baby!

We lived in a little one bedroom home, very small, about the size of a apartment. I think It was around 400 + square feet. This is Jason with his toy bear, He loved his stuffed bears.


This small home worked for us at the time. We moved to another home in 1983, just about 2 blocks away. Moving was easy...we walked a lot down in a wagon!












Jason celebrated his first birthday in that new home.
He got this car toy for his birthday and here he is later in the fall 'fixing' the car (just like he saw his daddy do with the big car)












One year later we had another baby. Nathan, born in 1984. Here I am at about 9 months pregnant.















We still lived in that house up town. Town living was not for me...but it was our home.
Here is Nathan with his daddy..
















Nathan sleeping after a busy day of playing and then eating...



















here is Nathan with his daddy...and his sun glasses!













In 1986 we had our third child, and our first daughter. Anastasia.









Here is Anastasia in one of the dresses I sewed for her...It was
a lot of fun to begin sewing for a girl!
Both the pink dress and the blue one are dresses I sewed.
I love how this photo shows how blue her eyes are! she is so pretty and such beautiful eyes!




















This is Anastasia with her daddy!













Then in 1989 in the fall we moved to Indiana, and to our third home. Later in the early spring I gave birth to our fourth child, and our second daughter-Nalani. Here she is at about 2 weeks old.
The dress is one I sewed , all by hand (no machine).


Here she is (again in a dress I made) wasn't she so cute?! Her eyes are so brown, she is so pretty!


















Here she is playing with some of the dolls I made. I had a collection of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls...she loved to sit and play with them, like they were her own babies.












Then came Dustin! He was born in 1991.






He loved my collection of dolls too. but he loved to just sit in the middle of them and pretend he was a doll!

















When we traveled Dustin would entertain us! Here he is with his (bucket for getting sick in with car travel-ewww) on his head and a toy doll -the little mermaid to which he would play and sing for hours...















Well that is my family. I will tell more about them as time goes on!