Merry Christmas Vacation!

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" was a reality again this year-- that is, if you're talking about the white sands of Cape San Blas, Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico. Poppy and Mimi rented a house for a week for the family, and we had a wonderful time biking, swimming, beach combing, kayak surfing and kayak fishing.

On Monday, we biked three miles with the older children down to the lighthouse-- which was closed the first half of the week. But, at least the six-mile round trip was enough to convince our leg muscles that they needed more exercise, and I was sore for the next two days. On the way back, we took a birding trail that went out towards the bay, and along the way, we discovered some very smelly piles of poo that we thought must be from deer. When we got home, we googled it and found that they were the droppings from the Florida black bear. That definitely explained the smell.

Migrating Monarchs getting nectar from wild lavender blossoms

A wonderful feature of the house we rented was the heated pool. It stayed a balmy 80-85 degrees, regardless of the air temperature. The outside temperature actually reached 73 for a couple of days, which made the pool even more enjoyable. The twins practiced their newly-enjoyed skill of jumping off the edge of the pool into the water (in their floating swimsuits). Bubby enjoyed looking underwater with his goggles ("gargles"-- we're going to miss that one), and Precious discovered that her wetsuit gave her enough buoyancy to paddle around the pool without anything extra to help her float. Cousins Z and E zipped around and under the water like fish.

Rosie traveled with us for this trip, and we mostly enjoyed her presence outside. At first, she tried to get in the pool; but after being tied up for this attempt to go wading, she left this idea alone. Pets were not allowed in the pool, which was only a concern with Rosie when it came to protecting children. This dog generally dislikes water-- a quality I like a lot.

Things Rosie loves to do are to play with plants and dig holes: two things the beautiful landscaping at this house gave her ample opportunities for. I spent the last two days filling in her holes in the sand, only to have her re-dig them. Finally, before we left Sunday morning, I filled in the last hole. We had to tie her up to protect a few of the smaller palm trees from her vigorous rain-digging. When New Daddy went out to scold her, she cheerfully showed him her spot, demonstrating the wonderful smells she'd been discovering at the base of the palm. I guess life is just a little too exciting when you're a puppy in the rain at the beach for the first time. She enjoyed her morning beach walks/smelling expeditions, and barking at Aunt Mo's chihuahua, Daisy whenever Daisy went for a walk. The size and voice difference between the two was quite amusing.

Tuesday night, the guys all went flounder gigging in the kayaks with waterproof LED lights that New Daddy had rigged up. It was a little windy, but Bubby was able to spot several small fish and a red drum in the bay. New Daddy enjoyed the constant observations from his little fishing buddy.

On Wednesday, it rained-- all day. The kids watched at least four movies. The forecast said to expect rain for at least the next three days, and we all agreed to pray for good weather the rest of the week. We had a wonderful evening service in the living room, complete with a sermon from Poppy and a nativity play from the kids.

Thursday, we woke up to sunshine, a high of 73, and we went to a local restaurant and ate lunch outside in short sleeves. After that, we went to the St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, hiked some nature trails, and the kids played on the playground. We collected dead horseshoe crabs that had washed up on the shore of the bay. We were thanking God for the wonderful weather, because Wednesday had been almost miserable.

On Thursday, we discovered that Precious is more valuable than New Daddy's new iPhone 4S. He was busy with Rosie, when he turned around to see what he thought was Precious struggling in the pool. She had actually just finished saying, "Mimi, watch this!", before she ducked underwater. But, New Daddy, having been distracted by the dog, promptly jumped-- fully clothed, iPhone in his pocket-- into the saltwater pool. He spent the rest of the afternoon trying to revive his phone, before finally putting it in a bag of rice and sending it to a water-damage repair center somewhere in Florida. We should find out the outcome of that in a week or so.

Friday, the kids swam a lot, we had Christmas dinner and the kids opened their multitude of presents. When dusk fell, I found the switch to turn on the pool lights, and the kids stayed in the pool for at least another hour, enjoying the warmth of the water, the fuschia lights, and New Daddy tossing everyone up and into the water.

Saturday, New Daddy and Cousin Z kayaked two miles into the Gulf and scared the daylights out of Mimi and Uncle B when they almost disappeared beyond the horizon. Z caught a sea trout, which he was pleased with. They saw jellyfish, a school of friendly dolphins who gave them a nice show, and plenty of clear water. Another beautiful day-- completely opposite of the forecast of three days ago.

Saturday night, we had a fire in the fire pit (yes, this house was awesome) complete with s'mores. We packed up the car to get ready for the 10 AM checkout.

On Christmas day, we drove home. Since our usual navigator, the iPhone, was on its way to the repair shop, we used the new TomTom GPS that New Daddy had gotten me for Christmas. It took us on a completely different route home, and right past the largest grassfed beef producer in the state of Georgia, White Oak Pastures, the farm that supplies Whole Foods and Publix. The gate was open, so we made a u-turn and pulled in. I snapped a few pictures, peeked longingly in the farm store windows, and grabbed sandwiches out of our cooler for lunch. On the way out the driveway, who should drive up but Will Harris, himself, with his daughters holding a newborn lamb in the back seat of his Ford truck! They were probably wondering what these crazy people were doing on their farm on a holiday, and I quickly told them we were huge fans of theirs who happened to pass by on our way home from the beach.

In the ideal world, our real-life heroes would be farmers like this gentleman. He was down-to-earth and interesting as he offered advice about building free-range chicken houses and training Great Pyrenees as livestock guardians (they have six). It's been said that great people make you feel like you are great. Mr. Harris is one of these people. They offered to let us take the newborn lamb home with us, which commenced a yelling fit from our back seat. We declined, and Bubby's lip stayed in a pout for at least the next ten miles.

The rest of the trip passed quickly and uneventfully, and we were surprised when we arrived home before dark. We are thankful to God for the great weather He gave us, and to Poppy and Mimi for yet another exceptional vacation with our wonderful family.