Summer is starting to come to a end here for us in Florida. We will be headed back home to real life. Before that though we have a few more trips to the beach to make, a trip to Sea World and many more laughs and memories to make.
I keep thinking about the flight here. It was the kids first time on a airplane and the whole flight I watched them, listened to them and thought to myself this is going to be amazing! The look in their eyes when the plane took off, when we got above the clouds and their eyes got so bright as they told me how it looked like giant comfy pillows. Watching them was like seeing life through a child’s eyes and I can’t explain how much my heart filled to the brim with pure happiness.
Airplane clouds or as the kids call them comfy pillows 🙂
Driving around town here is even a adventure. We are surrounded by water, ok maybe not surrounded but one of the main roads is about a 15 to 20 minutes straight stretch of road and as you drive along it and look to the right it is water, beautiful palm trees and sea life. This water they call a river here but being from MO if I see dolphins jumping, the waterway stretched as far as my eyes can see I have a hard time considering this a “river”. 😉 It is a river though and it is BEAUTIFUL!
River Sunset
We went to a place called Gator Land. As you can imagine it is filled with gators but it also has birds, snakes and the best part is there are these paths that go through it all right up close with all of the creatures. Your safe because your on a deck like structure but you are right there next to 100’s of gators. While we were looking over at about 4 gators one came swimming up with a log in it’s mouth and decided to do a death roll right by us. The kids LOVED this! Their eyes again so bright and their laughs and comments as they watched just made my heart fill up again.
Gator Land
Let’s discuss sharks for a moment, I thought my kids would be terrified of the ocean to be honest. Before we came they did research. LOL I am serious they got online and looked up all the sea life and all about sharks and shark attacks. So I thought when we got here I may have to convince them they were safe and not to worry. I was wrong! They jumped right in and haven’t stopped. There was a day at the beach when the man next to us was fishing, he caught something and while the kids swam they watched him pull it in…..it was a SHARK! The kids came in from the water and we walked over and watched the man handle the 4 to 5ft long shark and then release it back in the water where the kids had been swimming. I thought for sure our beach day was over and good luck getting the kids back to the beach……Nope I was wrong the kids went right back over to our stuff grabbed their boogie boards and jumped right back in the water! Yes, as a Momma I was a bit freaked out but this is the ocean, this is what has always been in the ocean, and I can’t let my fears hold the kids back. I was so proud of them! They enjoyed the rest of their day and had an amazing story to tell. 🙂
Shark
This summer has been one that I know I will never forget. I have watched my children grow, come out of their shells and live life each day to the fullest. I have always been drawn to natures beauty and Florida is overflowing with it, but I have also seen the beauty of my children’s growth, excitement and love of adventure and nature. This is what I will cherish forever.
I remember as a child my godmother would take my sister and I on trips each summer. We traveled with her to all different states. Most of the time we drove but once in awhile we would fly. I remember one trip so clearly, we drove to Washington DC to visit with my godfather and then made several stops one of those included Rehoboth Beach Delaware. Walking along the board walk, breathing in the ocean air, playing beach volleyball and seeing the bright neon lights at the different shops along the board walk is so clear in my memory. We visited history museums, the white house, the Holocaust museum, I really could go on and on but the point is that at 36 years old I can still remember, clear as day the summers I spent with my godmother. I learned so much on those trips, at the time I don’t think I realized I was learning, I just thought I was having fun. Looking back I realize how blessed I was to see all of these places and how much all of those moments have stuck with me.
I had hoped to provide similar experiences for my kiddos. We have been blessed with many camping trips and lots of trips to the farm. My kiddos love the outdoors, everything from fishing, four wheeling, float trips, and all the farm animals of course. My son has a great eye for spotting museums as we are driving, he loves learning about history, because of his great eye we have also learned a lot about different areas all around our state.
This summer we were blessed with an amazing gift. The kids had not seen the ocean or flew on a plane yet and this summer we were blessed with the opportunity to fly to Florida and spend the summer! Words can not express how grateful I am for this opportunity. Watching my children experience flying on a airplane, and stepping in the ocean for the very first time are two of the things that they have dreamed of and they have been able to do. This summer has been making memories that I know they will look back on and remember forever.
This adventure fell so perfectly in to place, my nephew came home for the summer from college and was able to house and dog sit, and everything else to allow for this trip to happen fell into place too. I was a nervous wreck because anyone that knows me, knows I don’t like to go to far from home and for sure not on my own but this new beginning is about starting fresh and why not start big with big adventures. 🙂
More on our big adventure coming soon……………………………………     🙂
I have been missing from my blog for some time and I wanted to start out by apologizing for that. Life threw a few things at me that I never expected and I took some time to reflect and deal with those things. I also removed my previous blog entries so that I could start over fresh here and now 🙂
In fact at the beginning of 2015 my life started over in a sense. My husband and I separated, this isn’t a bad thing, I mean it could be but with time I have seen that my husband is a better father to his kids with time apart from them, and I am a much less stressed mother, and the kiddos and I feel a whole new peace in our lives. When I got married I never imagined that I would divorce after 12 years of marriage but sometimes life has different plans for us than we imagined.
Where does that leave me….well I am taking each day as it comes. I am happy and smiling every day again and finding my inner strength and adventure I lost somewhere along the way. Part of me wishes that divorce wasn’t what needed to happen for me to find these things within me again, but then again if it wasn’t for the divorce I wouldn’t have remembered who I loved being and the strength I truly had.
I guess one of the main things I was reminded of going through this current situation is that when life throws you lemons make some lemonade. 🙂 Ok so you are probably thinking this lady is crazy, she gets a divorce after 12 years and says make lemonade….well it’s lemonade or choose to suck on a sour lemon for the rest of my life while throwing a pity party. I choose the first option. I have been through far to much in life to give up now or surrender to sadness. So I am having my lemonade and loving it!
The Journey 