Vacation Recap & Observations

I'm back! My Florida vacation was glorious, but it's also nice to be back into my normal routine -- I actually missed blogging and reading others' blogs! Basically I'm just going to record everything we did and what I observed for my own benefit -- so if you read this and actually get anything for yourself that's just icing on the cake.

The drive:

I don't regret it! I bought a ton of groceries and a few toys so we wouldn't have to make any superfluous stops, and it actually worked. We didn't even need half of what I bought. We left both ways around 8:30 pm, just when the kids would be going to sleep, and they slept the first 10-12 hours each time. On top of that we had no traffic either way, so we made it in about 18 hours including one long stop to eat and stretch. Even when the kids were awake, they were so good, I was awed. So observation #1 from my trip is that my kids really are as great and well behaved as everyone says they are. The struggles that I have with them are largely just the result of my own propensity to stress, which will be discussed in a later observation. Observation #2 is that my hubby is a rock star (I mean that figuratively but it will also be literal soon -- rock/rap star, that is), and he has buns of steel! He drove for about 12 hours straight on the drive down before I took over, and 8 hours on the way back. My buns, on the other hand, could barely take 4 hours at a time in the driver's seat.

The in-laws:

Part of the reason O was able to drive for 12 hours straight on the way down was that he was so excited to see his family again. It had been about 2 years since he really got to spend any time with his mom and brothers, and a week before we left we found out his dad would actually be in town at the same time so we'd get to see him too. His dad has not been in his life much at all since O was very young, having another family that occupies most of his time, but we still want to try to have a good relationship with him now.

I was a bit apprehensive about seeing him again (I'd only met him briefly once before when he was passing thru NYC), because I figured it would be awkward and I just didn't want anything to go wrong. It was awkward, but also nice. He's a man of very few words, but I still got the sense that he really enjoyed our company and would like to get to know us better (on his own terms). As we were saying good-bye, he could only shake O's hand, but yet he hugged me and told me to take care of my man. It was weird but touching at the same time. Observation #3 is that men would be lost without us. 'Nuff said.

My mother-in-law is awesome. She says she used to be extremely shy, but you'd never know it today. She'll tell you exactly what is on her mind at any time. She works hard, plays hard, and loves hard. One day when I was commenting on how much energy she has, she said, "That's because I eat FOOD!" (meaning meat and dairy as opposed to just fruits and veggies). She also told me I needed to relax at one point, which was/is true. Observation #4 is that in the absence of anything significant to get stressed out about, I will often invent something. I tend to obsess about details, which can be both a blessing and a curse. So now I realize I need to be more conscious of when I'm doing this and find more productive/positive thoughts to occupy my mind.

Sea World:

We liked it so much we went twice. This is the greatest place to take toddlers! Everything is so kid-friendly--the animals, world's largest jungle gym (at least it looked like it to me), sandbox, waterpark, rides, and fabulous shows. Not too overwhelming to do in one day, but exciting enough that you can go back multiple times and not get bored. Observation #5: Animals are so amazing! When you see the awesome potential that animals have to learn and love, how can you doubt your own?

HolyLand Experience:

An experience I could have done without. This is supposed to be a theme park based on Jesus's life as recorded in the gospels. It stunk! These people obviously didn't ask themselves WWJD? when planning this park. Jesus/Yahshua is fun and exciting. This place was for old religious people who probably preach against fun. What happened to "Let the little children come unto Me"? Most nursing homes are more kid-friendly than this place. My mother-in-law was the one who wanted to try it, but she was equally disappointed. We still had fun hanging out and discussing how much cooler our own biblical theme park would be.

Favor:
Observation #6: It really pays to pray before you do anything. (Duh.) We prayed over the weather and that we would have a great time and make all the right decisions during our trip, and we got great results. As I mentioned before, we had no traffic at all on our whole trip... hello? Also it was supposed to rain almost every day we were there, but it always held off until we were back in the house for the night, at which point it would immediately start to downpour! And every time we went anywhere to eat, or do or buy anything, we'd be one of the first few people in line, then all of a sudden a huge line would form right behind us. We were constantly saying, "Wow, we got here at the perfect time." Yahweh is so good.

Fun:
Oh, and one more thing. We went to a Messianic church service with my Dad the last day we were in FL. It was awesome to get more insight into the Hebrew roots of our Christian faith, and we did these worship dances with the whole congregation -- so cool. But one of the things the pastor said was that our love of celebrating/partying is part of our divine DNA, and so is resting. Yahweh enjoys and knows the importance of these things, and so should we. Observation #7 is that our family is closer and happier for having gone on this vacation. Thank you for making the way, Yahweh.

For pics, go to: www.flickr.com/photos/lewinsons.