Vacation Arguments

Remember when you were a kid (or maybe this was just me) and the stress of getting out of town on a vacation sent everyone into a tizzy and before you knew it your parents were arguing over the most insane thing? [except my mom just let me know that this never ever happened in our house. Ever. Sorry Mom. I have no idea where I got that.]

Like say, bikes being attached into a roof rack? Just hypothetically speaking of course.

Or...that is exactly what happened to us as we left town last Friday.

I loaded everything into car, scurrying around trying to get us ready to go the MINUTE that Asher got off the school bus.
I secured the bikes on the roof rack. Matt arrived, we got in the car and landed at the bus stop.
He got out of the car and "double-checked" the bikes.

They weren't secure enough to his liking. So he asked me how the roof rack 1) worked 2) if we had bungee cords to further attach the bikes 3) was I sure that the bikes were secure.

I confirmed #1 & 3 and once Asher was in the car, we argued about how Matt didn't "trust" my abilities to get us together for trip/bikes/life for the next hour or so.

Awesome.

We arrived at Matt's parents house no worse for the wear, just slightly more exhausted from effort of that conversation and we went out dinner.
We came back, happy as clams, listening to the ipod and jamming out as a family.

Matt's parents weren't there and this led Matt to pulling directly INTO the carport.
WITH THE BIKES ATTACHED.

CRUUUUUUNNNNNCCCCHHHH.

He looked at me.
I looked at him.
I mentally said to myself "DO NOT GET MAD. This was an ACCIDENT. BE COOL."

He said to me, "Just tell me what it looks like," as he pulled open the sunroof.
I got out of the car and:
His seat post was sheared off.

The house was undamaged. The car was not damaged. The roof rack was intact.

And the bikes?

Still secure.

We laughed. The next morning. Or so.

Emerald Coast

This time last week, we were spending a lovely several days with my parents, sister and her two kids. We had a BLAST. The beach was amazing (thanks to the Westerly winds of Hurricane Alex) and there were no signs of oil or any reason to stay away from the water. But as you can tell from the pictures, lots of others tourists stayed away. It was like our own private beach!

The water was beautiful and it made me so sad to think that the oil was just 50 miles away.

How many years will it be before we can enjoy this spot again?

ADORABLE.

Classic hide behind your kid pose perfected by my sister.

The Lamb ladies were representing in PCB. Woohoo!

Hats all around!

My aunt Mary and cousin Edward came down for a couple of nights and played with us too.

It was so fun to see them!

Awww RiRi.

We had a great weekend together (even if it required a 10 hour drive by myself with the kids to get down there) and there is nothing that brings this oil spill crisis into focus more than seeing someplace you love getting ruined. Just this morning, two tennis ball sized tar balls washed up on the beach in PCB. I am so glad we got to enjoy it before we lost this family treasure to BP's oil spill.

Destination July 2010

Matt and I set a goal to go to the Tour De France in two years.

Yesterday began the mountain stages and every day is high drama in the mountains of France.

So, we began to consider that Matt will have a summer long Sabbatical in two years from Young Life and we would love to abandon children and go to France for two weeks in two years. The dream is to camp/stay in hotels in the Alps waiting for the tour. Follow it for a few days and stake out a location on the Alp D'Huez to watch the most dramatic stage of the entire tour.

Then spend a few days kickin' it elsewhere and head to Paris to watch the final stage on the Champs Elysees.

I finally have a goal to save all of my pennies for something. Not just a rainy day. But a trip! A real trip!
Any donations to get us started? Feel free to start clicking on the ads on my blog in order to help us on our way. Every penny counts!

I know it is a nerdy sounding trip, but obviously we will enjoy France, Bastille Day and living the life of a Parisian during the biggest event of the year. I can't wait! Two years-ugh.

We're back!

We are back from our vacation at the beach! It was a great week and I have uploaded a lot of the pictures to my flickr account and they are all tagged as "beach". If you want to take a look, just click on my flickr ad on the right!

Since we are back, I wanted to share what we learned this week:

1. Try to travel when your kids normally nap. Sounds like a good idea, except if it makes you hit 5pm traffic in Atlanta.

2. Bring a portable DVD player. It is a wonderful invention. Use it and then turn it off. Ours broke on the way home and we had to do the whole six hour drive without it. I almost cried, but then it turned out to be great family time--but believe me when I say, it was work to make it home.

3. The beach is WAY more fun when it is 80 degrees out. But a 20-month old will still love the beach no matter the temperature outside. He will even get naked when it is 55 degrees outside.

4. Always take grandparents with you for at least part of your "family vacation". They will give you a much needed break when you are out of 1) energy and 2) ideas. It is even better to bring both sets of grandparents with you!

5. Bubbles are the best toy ever.

6. All Asher ever needs to have fun is bubbles, ball and rocks to throw.

7. Lucy cutting teeth at the beach is not fun.

8. Paying someone to clean the house once you leave is a wise investment, as is using the wash and fold option at the laundromat so you come home with all clean laundry.

9. It is amazing how many times you have to go the grocery store during seven days at the beach.

10. All you need to redeem a rainy, freezing week at the beach is several hours of 80 degree, sunny weather. It wipes away the crappy days in a matter of minutes.

I will let you fill in the gaps and figure out how our week went! We are so glad to be home and it is even better to return home and still have a whole weekend to enjoy here!