The Best Vacation of 2013

There is something special about being together as a family!  There is magic in being away from home and just being together.  I heard a quote a long time ago from Dr. Gary Smalley that said if you want to make lasting memories with your family, take them camping.  So, being the brave souls that we are, we took our family camping, or the closest resemblance of camping that I was willing to brave in the Florida heat with four kiddos!

We had planned on leaving Tuesday evening right after Robert got home from work.  BUT, one thing that we have learned with his job is to be flexible, flexible, and you guessed it, flexible!  Guess what that meant…..we didn’t leave until Wednesday morning.  BUT, that was ok and the kiddos were excited about stopping to eat at McDonalds on our way up to Ocala / Salt Springs!

Packing for our adventure!

 

We arrived at our “campsite” (ahem, it’s a trailer), to discover that the air was off and it was 97 inside.  We dutifully unpacked, bumped the air down, changed clothes, and headed to the pool to cool off!  It was while we were unpacking that we discovered we had no WIFI or cell phone service!  Needless to say, we were disconnected from the world, and we loved it!  We swam and played until Cole (who hadn’t had a nap) was so grumpy we couldn’t deal with him anymore.  Lucky for us it was about this time that an afternoon rain storm blew up, so we headed back to the trailer to nap, relax, and get ready to fix our camp food!

Our "campsite" for the week.

We are here!

John Robert and Ethan slept in the loft.  John Robert was the first one up!

Pretty soon Ethan joined him!

And then there was Cole.

Thursday morning dawned sunny and hot.  So we took that as a sign to go fishing, or at least the three big kiddos did.  This Mama is NOT a fisherwoman, but I went along to wrangle Cole and snap the photos.  Ethan caught the only fish, the lake was really dry from the last time we had stayed there, a little over six years ago, but the kiddos had fun.  After two hours we decided another dip in the pool was in order.  We got to swim for all of 20 minutes before the rains hit.  So it was back to the trailer for lunch, naps, and then a trip to the playground.

Time for fishing!

Yes, Mama is here. 

Ethan was brave enough to touch the worm.

Daddy wrangled Cole some so Mama could take pictures.

Ethan caught the only fish.

 

Friday morning dawned dark and dreary.  As remote as we were, we did have cable so I switched it on to see what the weather was going to be doing.  If you said rain, you guessed correct!  Lots and lots of rain thanks to a tropical disturbance from The Gulf of Mexico, 3 to 5 inches of rain was expected from Friday to Saturday.  GULP!  Could you imagine six of us trapped in our little trailer in the pouring rain with NO WIFI, cell service, and just a TV?  Nope, we couldn’t either so we packed up, deep cleaned, and hit the road!  We actually got turned around and got somewhat lost.  BUT, it was fun driving the whole way home down HWY 27 instead of I-75.  We saw some pretty horse country and enjoyed the towns we drove through.  We even stopped at a Golden Corral and ate an awesome lunch!  BUT we got home much too soon for Mama and Daddy’s liking, we really wanted to be gone our full allotted time.  Little did we know……….

I guess for us it was a good thing we got home.  We had a squirrel or a bird get into our transformer and blew out power to our house.  If we had come home Sunday like we wanted we would have come home to a mess.  God in His wisdom knew what He was doing, but I will not lie, I was disappointed.  I did want to have a longer break, but I am grateful for the time that we had away!

Since Saturday and Sunday were still vacation days we did nothing!  Well, I did eight loads of laundry, but I also took a nap, so it was an okay relaxing day.   Saturday evening Robert took the kiddos fishing at our neighbors to try to catch some fish.  Robert caught a fish and Ethan caught a small turtle, but the main attraction was the little gator that came up and ate all the catfish that the kiddos chummed up.  Sunday was a day of rest.  No laundry, no chores, and no cooking, well for Mama anyway!  Daddy made breakfast, John Robert made lunch, and Maggie fixed supper.  Mama sat with her feet up and blogged away while Robert tried his hands at painting! 

Mom, not another SMILE shot!

Time to catch some fish!

Yes, this Mama is here!

What has Daddy so enthralled?

The little gator that was trying to steal the bait.

 

While our vacation didn’t go as we had planned, truthfully we had no plans.  All we wanted was to enjoy the time away, enjoy being a family, and enjoy the creation that God made.  Looking at those goals, it was a truly The Best Vacation!