Vacation of the Year

So awhile back our friends Cliff and Teresa asked us if we'd like to join them on a trip to Destin, Florida. They're about to have their first baby and Teresa has always wanted to go to Destin, so they figured they'd do it before their family grew by one. On our end, I had weaned Caleb in December and we'll have our next little nurser in September, so if we were going to go on a baby-free vacation, it had to be now. So yes! We would love to come!

As I've done in the past, I'll put this in note-style instead of all-out narration, because it just takes me a long time to say things. And I hate to admit this, but I didn't even take out my camera except for the "official" maternity shoot I did for Cliff and Teresa (where I also took a picture of the sand-owl I made, above). Thankfully, Teresa always had hers handy, and she's putting photos up on her blog, so you can check them out there.

On to the list!

• Drove up to Jon's parents to drop Caleb off. We stayed overnight and left early the next morning.
• The morning we were to leave Caleb, he woke up at 4am and slept next to me in bed until I got up at 6:30. I didn't sleep much, but I loved every minute of it, breathing in his little boy scent.
• Our 11-hour trip to Destin was tons of fun! Jon and I laughed together more than we have in awhile.
• We saved a turtle! Jon pulled off and kept me safe from cars while I herded/carried the turtle to safety. Totally my idea, NOT Jon's favorite thing to do, so I was super happy he stopped.
• The condo was great! C & T did a great job picking it out. It was part of a larger apartment-complex sort of place, and we could step out from our back porch, cross a street, and we were at the beach!
• Florida sands are WAY prettier than Texas sands. Beautiful white and soft!
• We went to two movies in the theater--a big requirement for our trip, since we've gone so rarely since Caleb was born--and they were great! We also ate out at some great restaurants and enjoyed being spontaneous and kid-free in general.
• We also missed Caleb very much. This was my second time away from him. The first was a mission trip without many breaks to think about it, but this was all about breaks! So I missed him quite a bit.
• Teresa and I did our pregnant best to eat all things yummy and not worry if ice cream was really an appropriate breakfast item, or if we really needed another slice of chocolate chip cookie with brownie goodness. I'm glad my dr. appointment was the day before the trip, so I have awhile to prove that my weight gain is actually baby and not vacation food....
• We went go-carting, bumper boating, putt-putting, and even wasted a few quarters at the arcade. I came away with a fistful of Atomic Fireballs, so those quarters were totally worth it!

Speaking of which...
[takes a break to dig out a Fireball from her purse]
Ahem...sorry 'bout that. Back to the list!

• We didn't get burned! Every time I go to the beach, I get crispy on Day 1 and regret it the rest of the trip. This time I'm almost regretting that I'm coming home just about as pale as I left! But at least I wasn't miserable the whole time, slathering myself in aloe vera.
• The weather (and water) was a little cold! It got warmer every day, but I only got in the waves two days. The rest of the time I just enjoyed reading on the beach.
• Teresa and I rigged up "belly bowls" dug into the sand to accommodate our bellies so we could lay on our stomachs. My 22-week belly was significantly smaller than Teresa's 26-week belly. I can't believe how much I'll grow in one month!
• We loved hanging out with Cliff and Teresa. They're great couple friends, and always will be.
• We loved getting home and waiting for Caleb to get home! Jon made it out to his parents' car first, and by the time I got out there, Caleb was squealing and yelling, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" It was a happy reunion.
• We're back at home and feel refreshed. It was a great vacation.
  

Random Thoughts for the Day

1. My kitties are snuggled among the neatly folded stacks of laundry on my bed. They're so cute.
2. Today I scrubbed, sanded and painted a freezer we bought for $50 on Craig's list. I had to wait 'til evening when it was cool enough to paint. I got the first coat on before it was dark. It will definitely need another coat. Now I have a freezer with wet paint in my front yard. Didn't really think ahead on that one. I need to figure out a way to get it back in the garage before I go to bed, or someone else will have a freshly painted white freezer! Maybe everyone will realize it's wet paint and they won't touch it. The june bugs didn't get the memo, though. I had to pick two of them out of the paint already!
   
3. I've also been working on a ghetto cat scratcher. It's a revamp of the ghetto cat tree. Pictures to come!
4. Full-time-mom-hood has been a transition for sure, especially given the crazy last month. I'm hoping August is much calmer!
5. The beach was great. Definitely ended July on a high note.
6. Jon finally accepted the higher-pay position at his current job. He'll start a month of training in a couple of weeks. It's been kind of a disappointment for us; we were sure he would have found a job by now, and are confused about God's timing of things. However, we recognize the blessing of a job, and thank God for it.
7. Jon got pulled over on Saturday...and got off with a warning! The police officer asked him what he did for a job; Jon told him he was a security officer. The policeman told him he needed to be on the police force and even wrote down a web site for him to check out. As we drove off, we mused that perhaps this was the clear direction we'd been praying for. We'll ask God someday, "Why were You silent when we asked for Your will?" And He'll tell us, "I sent a cop and pulled you over to tell you what to do in life. What more did you need?" Despite that, we don't think the police force is in our future.
8. You cannot make chocolate milk by mixing hot chocolate mix with cold milk. The chocolate powder stays mysteriously on top of the milk, no matter how hard you stir.
9. When I was a kid I loved reading Nancy Drew books, but couldn't read them at night because they gave me bad dreams. I've been reading a mystery series lately, and found that I am still a weenie. Even my fairly docile mystery books are giving me bad dreams.
10. Nothing else to say, but couldn't leave it with just 9. Good night all!
    

Off to Boston!

Jon and I are headed for Boston in the morning! I'll be attending the HOW Design Conference, and Jon will be tooling around town taking pictures of everything I'm missing! I'm pretty sure I'll get a chance to sight-see, too, and I'm really excited for the chance to go somewhere. This will be my first trip to New England!

See ya next week!

Happy Birthday!

We all celebrated at John & Karen's house. Bekah made the cake and it was SO yummy!

My dad laughed because he got to hold Ian first.

My mom looking upset because she wasn't the first to get a hold of Ian.

Little did either of them know that Jon and I got to hold him first!

Ian working on tummy time!

Look at how high that head is coming up!

Jon and I headed for the Stockyards today.

This horse was beautiful, and the longhorn was NOT wanting to do the walk around the block they do twice a day.

This guy was really pretty.

My handsome man! Taking me to Riscky's BBQ for lunch!

...and 5 pictures later....

I, however, never tire of the camera.

I'm so distraught about being in jail....and did I mention I dyed my hair red?

This little girl was the cutest, riding the bull like a pro!

My family

This Christmas, Jon and I were able to enjoy all of our family. Since they all came to us last year, we went to them. We started by traveling to East Texas where my family lives. Jon drove, so I got to take advantage and get beautiful sunset photos. I really love landscape shots, I decided. And sunsets. Maybe they're cliché, but I like them.

My family's Christmas consisted of food and chit chat. LOTS of both! One of the highlights of the weekend was the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment. All of us "kids" got Mentos in our stockings (which we got to open Christmas Eve--a first!). Jon opened his first, and it was the, "Oh, thanks...." kind of response, until my dad informed him of the 8 2-liter bottles of Diet Coke he had on the back porch. Jon's eyes lit up and he reiterated his thanks, but this time much more sincerely!

Our Christmas meal wasn't traditional, since it wasn't really Christmas day, and we'd be having that meal with other families. So we had a wonderful pork loin. That, plus a puzzle and games and movies made a perfect weekend.

It was so much fun to have all the family together.

On Monday morning we got up while it was still dark to head up to Silver Dollar City (SDC), near Branson, MO. SDC is a Norvell family favorite vacationing spot, and Jon and his brother have many childhood memories there. Jon was like a little kid as we finally neared our cabin (and I heard Dave was the same). That night we opened stockings--a first for this side of the family as well (you parents are getting weak in your old age! Haha!). The next day we managed to cook a full Christmas meal in a tiny kitchen (Mary cooked/sliced the turkey before coming...otherwise we wouldn't have made it), and it was delicious. The next two days we spent in SDC, enjoying the Christian atmosphere there as we celebrated the birth of our Lord.

By Friday, we were ready to come home. I drove the first leg, and we had the tiniest bit of snow, though it warmed up as we headed back home.

We were home, tired, and happy. What a great week!

Spring Camping Trip 2007

So, last April our class from church went on a camping trip. I never really posted about it because I video taped it all, and that takes longer to put together than a photo slideshow. Well, we've got our next camping trip coming up, so to promote interest, I finally put together the video. I'm using music from MercyMe's new album (see previous post). I actually got this song from FreeCCM.com. It takes an e-mail and password, but otherwise looks like it's a free and legal way to download Christian music. I'll let you know if I get a ton of junk mail from it.

Without much further ado, here's the Camping Trip Video! Oh, and I hope you've got high-speed internet, because it's a big one...and you just need high speed.

Snippets

I don't really trust ads done by famous actors. I know I should use L'Oreal because Sarah thinks I'm worth it, and women should take Boniva because Sally does. But really. Sally Fields is Oscar-winning for a reason. She's convincing in whatever role she's paid to play. And I doubt Sarah Jessica Parker has ever invited a girlfriend over for help and stuck her head in the tub with a home coloring kit. So I totally don't buy it.

The ghetto-fabulous cat tree got retired a while back (not too long after it was created, actually). Jon wasn't a big fan of having...well, trash...in the house. Anyway, I was cleaning out the garage the other day, and brought it back into commission. Friday, was ecstatic over his "new" toy, and I've been quite smug over my success of reinstating it into the home decor.

Confession: I wrote my Compassion Kid for the first time--maybe second--the other day. I know, it's sad. I've been sponsoring her since I was a freshman in college (our dorm hall sponsored her and a little boy, and I took her sponsorship over the next year). I save all her photos and letters, and her last one asked me if I was still in college, and why I didn't write. So, prompted by guilt from a 15-year-old in Ethiopia, I wrote. I included a recent pic of Jon and I, and one of my doodles. Her birthday's coming up (Dec 13, same as my dad's) so maybe I'll send something else for that. It was cool to send a letter. I have grand ideas that she'll squeal with delight of getting a letter from her wonderful sponsor, and she'll run in the streets waving the letter around, proud to show it to anyone who will look. Then I realize, and I've written her twice in 7 years. Yeah, I'm a real hero. So, maybe she'll just read it and tuck it into a box somewhere, but the more I write her, someday she'll be proud to tell someone about the sponsor who loves her enough to be consistent in her letter-writing--and she'll have a whole box full of letters to share. Still, I can't believe I've wasted 7 years of getting to know her, and I only have three years left before she becomes an adult and no longer needs sponsorship.

For some reason, it doesn't feel like we're nearing the end of the year. But alas, it's fall. My faithful flowers have run their course, though they still manage to eke out enough blooms to make me happy. I've planted irises so they'll be ready to bloom next spring. And, now that fall is here, I've found that I'm not quite ready for summer to leave. This summer was so great, and the weather perfect.

But, I've got a lot to look forward to this fall and winter! Garage sale, camping, biking, the State Fair of Texas, Silver Dollar City, Christmas!! So, I'm glad it's time to move on.

At the end of October, Jon and I are going to try our first biking adventure beyond the normal exercise route. There's a "rails to trails" route from Weatherford to Mineral Wells State park, about 20 miles one way. We'll ride in, eat lunch, then ride back out. It will be leisurely and hopefully the perfect fall weather. Our normal route is 10 miles at an "exercise" pace, so I think 40 spread out over the whole day will be just fine. I'm so excited, and I hope I've earned the money I need for my camera by that time! (And yes, that picture is of me: muscle-y arms, cropped top, long flowing hair and all...okay, maybe it's more representative....)

I've finally decided on sale prices for my photo equipment. It was a struggle to balance the original value with what people will actually pay. We'll see if I'm in the ballpark when the garage sale comes! I really hope I sell it. Partly because it took me awhile to realize I needed to let it go, and for it just to hang around makes it harder for this pack rat to keep trying to get rid of it. And partly because I want the money. :)

Thursday at work I'll be attending an all-day diversity training session. It seems to be a fad in companies lately, and we've had one session already. The first session was to recognize that our mostly female, white, middle-aged group of employees is actually diverse. Now that we've established that, we've all taken personality tests to be explained at the second meeting. I'm pretty sure I know what my personality is, though it's different at work than at home. We'll see how it comes out! And that photo on the left there....it's just as representative of our company as the photo of the biker was of me.

It's quiet here today. The cat's asleep (big surprise), Jon's in class, the a/c is off, and it's just me, working on a work newsletter. I'm trying to spice it up with clipart. I know, I've been working on it for two years and this is the first time I think of it. That's why they pay me the big bucks! Anyway, we have a subscription to clipart.com, which is not great for ads or anything serious, because the images aren't high-enough quality for press printing. However, they're fine for desktop printing, and I've found "Photo Object" to be my favorite search option. This pulls up only photos with clean white backgrounds behind the objects, which helps when I use them for the newsletter or whatever else. For example, a normal search for "peppers" brings up this image:
But, I just want a few of the peppers, so I have to Photoshop out the background, which turns out to be impossible because none of the peppers are shown in their entirety. Without some major time spent Photoshopping in what's missing, this won't work. So I use the "Photo Object" option, and find this photo:
Perfect! I can stick that into my story, and it looks great.

For anyone who has trouble reading the small text on a blog, you can change the text size that you view pages. On an Apple, do this by pressing the apple button and the plus sign at the same time. Decrease it back down by pressing Apple minus, or go back to original with Apple zero. If you're on a PC, press "ctrl +" to increase the size, "ctrl -" to decrease, and "ctrl 0" to go back to original. Thought I'd throw that out that for those grandparents and soon-to-be grandparents reading the blog. :)

Speaking of, I'm going to have a nephew! Yeah, I'm pretty excited. It must be scary and a little intimidating to face parenthood. But aunthood...piece of cake! I've got it made in the shade! I've already learned how to change diapers, give medicine, put to sleep, and give zerbers when distraction is necessary. Oh, and throw rules out the window when his parents aren't around. I'm a pro at being an aunt. :) Now if only I had a camera to take great pictures of the little guy.... Can you tell I'm excited about my camera...and the kid of course!

Well, I think I've rambled enough for one day...this should tide you over while I'm gone getting diversified tomorrow.

Camp-o-Rama

Stats:
Armadillos: 7
Live armadillos: 3
Poo Conversations: 24
Deer: 50
Mosquitoes: 4
Flies: 4 thousand
S'mores: 10
water moccasin: 1
buzzards: 7
raccoons: 3

Indian Names:
Cliff: Eats Fly Smells Like Butt Wampum
Teresa: Eats Snacks Takes Naps Wampum
Jon: Growls at Inanimate Objects
Lydia: Pencil Under Shoe

So our camping trip was a whole lot of fun! Here's the run-down. (And go to Teresa's blog for another perspective and more pictures!)

It all starts with our house full of things to take camping. We push and shove most of it into our car, but some just won't fit. No worries, we think. Cliff and Teresa aren't bringing much, so we'll put the rest in their car. Not so. Cliff and Teresa arrive, and their car is as jampacked as ours. How much stuff does it take for 4 people to go camping?? A lot!! We cram most everything in and headed on our way, stopping to see Cliff's old stomping grounds and to grab some barbecue for lunch.

The campsite is really great. We have a perfect spot, near the showers and the office, and it has two trees just the right space apart for a hammock! We set up our tents, our hammock, our laundry line, and the many bins of food. Jon starts the burgers, and we enjoy the evening. We don't see many mosquitoes at all! We have our first experience with the "breezy" compost toilets.

The next morning, I wake up early, and head off to find a good spot for breakfast and Bible study. I pass the dumpster, which is guarded by several buzzards. When I get back, I head to the hammock for a nap, and then it's time for the Gorman Falls tour! Cliff stays behind to rest, but the rest of us head off. It is amazingly beautiful. The falls are spring fed, and the water is crystal clear, a far cry from the muddy Colorado.

Swimming was one of the reasons I picked this park. I found it in a list of Top 10 Texas Swimmin' Holes. There are three waterholes of spring water at the end of the park. We'd been told it was about a couple hundred yards from the office, so we start off on foot. A couple hundred yards later, we come to a gate. Figuring we misheard, we decide the "couple hundred yards" must start here. We continue. It starts raining. We don't mind so much, because we're dressed to get wet anyway, but it's hard to walk, and really not that much fun. Besides, we've definitely gone a couple hundred yards and haven't seen any sign of a spring. We find a hole in the vegetation that lines the path. Being a curious person, I poke my head in, and it's a tree whose limbs drape all the way to the ground, and vines hang down to form a canopy, and a pretty dry one at that. We duck in to wait out the rain. After awhile, Cliff heads out to see just how much further the spring really is. He doesn't come back, and a family coming from the spring lets us know that he's going to stay. We ask how much further it is, and they say, "Just beyond that tree. I'd say a couple hundred yards." The rain is slackening, so we head off.

Well, several hundred yards after that (and I mean several), we finally see the springs. They're beautiful. The water is clear blue, and floor of the pool is limestone, slick with use and algae. We have tons of fun, lazing around and exploring all the pools. We do see one water moccasin. I'm sure he is as scared of us as we are of him, but we aren't going to stick around and test it out. We enjoy more time at the main pool, then head back for hobo dinners.

By this time (Sunday evening) most people have packed up and headed home. We find out the pros and cons to that very quickly. Pros: We can go wherever we want and be as loud as we want. Cons: The flies have no one else to attract them, and we seem to be their sole food source. It's nasty.

On Monday, the rain starts around 2:00pm. Hoping it will be short and sweet like on Sunday, Jon and I wait it out under a large tree. The previous campers under that tree said it was a good cover, "just like it's not even raining." We enjoy it for about the first 2 minutes, and then we are soaking wet for the next 30. Cliff and Teresa had sought refuge in their car, and had driven around a bit. At one point, the rain stops, and we dry off enough and got in our car as well. But the rain starts up again, and eventually, we're all in one car, heading to Lampasas, an hour away, to wait it out. We decide to eat dinner there and get back just in time for bed. Our plan works just fine--it's not raining by the time we get back--except that everything in Cliff and Teresa's tent is soaked.

This poses a problem, because the forecast calls for more rain, and right now, we're down to one tent, one set of sleeping bags, one set of clothes.... We realize that C&T aren't going to get to sleep in the tent that night, so in the light of evening (and later the Coleman lamp) we pack everything up, drying it as much as we can before shoving it into the two cars. Everything's a wet mess, and our cars are in need of Febreze. We leave camp at 10:15pm, with lightening confirming our decision to go. C&T stop for the night in Waco, and we head on home. We hear an emergency announcement on the radio about tornadoes and heavy rains in the area where we left. I have a fleeting thought of the Park Ranger coming out to warn us, only to find that we've been "swept away," with not even a box of matches left behind.

We pull into our driveway at 2:15am, leaving everything in the car but what we needed that night. We both take showers in hot water, enjoying the feeling of clean, then sink into our bed about 3am.

Today, I'm glad I'm at home for my last day of vacation. We slept in, then unpacked, and we'll have the day to do laundry before I have to go back to work. It was a great vacation. We shared a ton of laughs with some of our closest friends (my stomach actually hurts from laughing!), and we made lots of memories.



To see the pictures full-size and leave comments on them, click on the Picasa link. To turn off my captions, click on the green thought bubble in the lower left-hand corner of the slideshow.

Vacation Time!

Everybody needs a vacation every once in awhile. Jon and I took a vacation in January, and really enjoyed it. But that feels like it was forever ago! The call of summer has been loud and clear. Jon being a bum all day hasn't helped. :) The problem is that 1) I'm trying to actually save vacation days, instead of having nothing left each year to roll over, and 2) a vacation that doesn't include a visit to family is expensive! So, we've decided to take a long weekend (only 2 days off work), and go camping!

Colorado Bend State Park is our destination. It's in the Hill Country of Texas, just north of Fredericksburg. (Check out that picture!) We're going to stay there three nights, the longest I've ever been camping, I'm pretty sure. There are lots of trails, waterfalls, and caves. The park was listed in the Top 10 of Texas Swimmin' Holes, so we'll definitely be swimming, as well as fishing and canoing.

The best part is that Cliff and Teresa are coming with us! A little over a year ago, we went to Austin together. It was one of the best vacations I've ever been on. This trip will be our last before they move, so I'm glad we could squeeze it in.

One thing about this trip, though, is that we'll really be roughin' it. No electricity, no normal bathrooms with showers, and water in a central location to all the sites--not at each site. When I found that out, I called Teresa to make sure that would be okay (I'm not a seasoned camper, so I would have probably backed out pretty quickly). After talking about it, we both realized we'd all been overseas and handled squatty potties; we could do this. Plus, Cliff has a portable shower. (How random is that?!) So, with the comfort of the portable shower in my mind, I made the reservations.

I only remember camping once when I was a kid. My mom made bacon, and then scrambled the eggs in the bacon fat. Yummy....I always wondered how she knew to do that, when we'd never been camping. And why we didn't go more often. My dad is a natural outdoorsman, and would camp with the Boy Scouts, but we only camped as a family that once. I also remember racoon tracks, and playing games until our eyes were blurry. That was so great.

Jon grew up camping. His family would camp all over the place, and kept their gear ready, so they could leave on a whim. Jon says they had the reputation of taking the rain with them. Walter jokes about offering to hire themselves out to drought-stricken areas--their record for rain was so good. :) That hasn't held true with our camping trips now, so it must be another member of the family who holds the curse.

We've been camping overnight twice with our class from church. Both have been really great times, and I always wish we could stay longer. Now we get to! I'm really excited. I'm looking forward to the break, and the time to spend with friends.

Did I mention that I'm the only one who has to take off work? Bums.

Cruisin'

We made it back! Jon and I had a great time on our cruise. The first evening and day was a little questionable. One, because people were trying to see how drunk they could get, and that wasn't very fun for us sober ones. And two, because the water was pretty rough, and we were realizing a little what it must feel like to be drunk; we could not walk in a straight line for the life of us.

However, after that, I think most people with hangovers swore off alcohol for the rest of their lives...or at least until the free wine tasting the next night...and we got more used to the rocking of the ship. We enjoyed reading on the beach and on the boat. I went through two books (reviews in posts to come). We also met some neat people and relaxed as much as we could. Our motto wasn't to do everything we could, but just to do what we wanted, and no more. So we never made it to a smoky disco to dance into the wee hours of the morning, and we never made it to a single midnight buffet (though we were awake for most of them). We enjoyed working out (thought it's hard to keep one's balance in a rocky boat) and roaming the ship.

We took the stairs everywhere we went, not counting the night I was wearing heels, and when we were carrying luggage off the boat. Taking the stairs averaged about 120 stairs from our deck to wherever we wanted to go, and then 120 stairs back down. Needless to say, I don't feel bad about my daily ice cream cone. :)

We've come home rested and relaxed. Jon is ready for classes, and I'm ready to face whatever challenge my work has for me next.

The odd thing I had not expected: We now feel the rocking of the ship back home. We're pretty off-balance, kind of like after you've taken roller skates off, and you still want to slide across the floor. We still want to compensate for the rolling of the ship, I guess. I wonder if Dramamine would help.... :)

Click the photo below for our trip pictures!

Cruise 2007