Awesome Day on Vacation

You know how some days just end up being perfect, but you don't know until it's over. Wednesday was one of the best days I have had on vacation. We rented a pontoon boat at Panama City Beach and went to the famous shell island. I had pictured it just walking on the beach and finding awesome shells and sand dollars.

We stayed on the bay side of the ocean and anchored in about 3 feet of water. The water was so clear and without waves, you could see everything in the water. Grayson had a blast looking for crabs. We found about 2o hermit crabs and then on the marshes, we saw the weirdest thing, it was hundreds of crabs walking in the marshes. It was freaky!! But Grayson saw the challenge and began to try to catch them. He ended up catching about 30 of them. I think they should rename Shell Island to Crab Island!

Our trek to the ocean side was not what I expected. The current was so rough, we couldn't even go in the water to even start looking for shells. I was bummed because I wanted to find some awesome shells.

So we headed back to the bay side and let the boys snorkel around. We decided to ride around for awhile and did spot several dolphins we were able to follow which was cool.

However, the highlight of the trip was unexpected. We saw a shallow area in the middle of the bay and ventured over. We decided to get out and let the boys snorkel. Once we got in, we were amazed that everywhere on the bottom were sand dollars. We also found 5 starfish and several sea urchins. Lyndy also saw a sting ray but I'm glad it was her and not me.

It was truly an amazing day. However, the sun sucked the energy out of us. We got back to the condo and most were asleep by 9 pm. A truly awesome day!

Does God have a sense of humor?

We had a wonderful Dell computer for 5 years. It finally died last fall. We decided to buy a HP laptop and use my employee discount. It arrived last fall. Lynn never really liked it, but I got used to it. However, right before Easter, we were attacked by a vicious bug. We could not use Internet at all and the computer crawled. I did the normal wait a few days because I dreaded the support call. As expected, my call was routed to somewhere across the ocean where I could not understand what they were saying. After two hours, I did manage to get the Internet working. The computer limped along, but was never good. It took forever to do anything. Most of the time I kept my cool, but I think the computer tried Lynn's sanity.

The inevitable was coming, I was going to have to call again. I held off for a week, but finally broke down a few weeks ago. Again routed who knows where (Okay I think I know where, but trying not to be biased). He had me run diagnostics on my hard drive and then got off the line. It ran for an hour and then told me that my hard drive was full. (Not good when it is a brand new computer with tons and tons of memory). I called back and miracle got some guy in the US. He confirmed my suspicion, hard drive was trashed. We had to reinstall the hard drive which ended about 12:30 that night.

Lynn then had the task of getting the computer set up again. Printer, Zune, etc. He spent last Saturday afternoon taking care of this. Hopefully we are set to go.

The funny part is that last week, Eastman had a United Way presentation where you could visit the different agency booths. At each booth, you could register for prizes. At the end of the day, they drew and I won the grand prize (never really won anything before) It was a HP laptop computer!!! We did get a good laugh and wonder if God doesn't have a sense of humor. I am thankful though and Garrett now has a laptop for school!

My Trip to Detroit

Last week I had a business trip to Detroit. For information, I normally enjoy business trips as they are a few days I can rest, shop, eat good food, work a little bit, and then shop some more. However, for this trip, our meeting was at a hotel in the Detroit airport. It was a nice hotel, but because of security, you couldn't leave very easily and without a car, couldn't really go anywhere. So I sat on the bed every night and worked on the computer.

I did have a meeting the last morning in downtown Detroit with a supplier that I have never met before. So I had to go through security to get my rental car and then drive to downtown Detroit. On the way, I passed by the largest tire in the world. It is by the interstate for all to see.

As I was following directions to the site, I noticed it was getting more run down, and then pretty bad, then very scary. There was graffiti on the building and I had to park in a fenced in area. I stayed for a few hours and then quickly left to go back through airport security and to my flight.

Detroit was a dreary sad city. They said that unemployment is 25% and the several officials have been charged with taking bribes. To say the least, if I don't get back to Detroit, it will be fine with me!

Sick of Snow

Okay, so I spoke too soon. Looks like the trend is continuing. In school for a few days, out for a few days. My kids are starting to get cranky and lethargic. I should have them run laps around the house. Maybe that would help.

Looking back, if I would have known all the time I would be spending at home, I could have painted the whole house!! Instead I have worked and have caught up on my scrap booking.

I guess it is a feat in itself to get caught up on scrapbooking. I have behind 6 months for as long as I can remember. My husband will be glad as my pictures and supplies have been cluttering his den for the past 3 months have been cleaned up.

Hopefully the snow will be over soon and we can welcome in Spring. Looking forward to being outside again.

My First Post

Well this is my first blog. This week has been hectic-But think this is the first week my boys have been in school for the whole week. Miracle!

I have to share about my Monday morning. It started off great. Got up/dressed and then went to say Good morning to my two boys. Got them up and told them they had 25 minutes to get dressed and ready for school. Well, it went on totally on deaf ears!! They found this old red scarf and were having fun. They were pulling each other/ chasing each other / just having a good time.

Instead of my normal reminding them to get ready, then REMINDING THEM TO GET READY, then YOU'D BETTER GET READY OR ELSE-I decided that they could be late. They had fun, I cleaned my freezer and then around 7:50, my oldest looked at the clock and then at me. I told him that he would be late to school and that since he didn't have time to help me with his lunch, he would be eating whatever the cafeteria was serving.

He could have cared less about the being late part, but oh the cafeteria food brought tears. He was going to have absolutely nothing to eat because the meal that day was pinto beans!! He couldn't believe I would starve him.

So we made it to school, the boys had to apologize to their teachers for being late, and lucky kids the menu had been changed to popcorn chicken!!

We will see if the lesson is taken to heart.