FL Part 2: A Vacation from Our Vacation

I am so thankful God led us to each other! Our personalities are opposite in almost every possible way...our values, goals and purpose however-a perfect match! It is a miracle of God we actually ended up together. Johnny's first evaluation of me happened in the school cafeteria when he was cued by his friend to "check out the new girl." His response, "She has got tiny chicken legs!" Good grief--I WAS 13!!! Fast forward a couple of years and he asks me out. One night prior to our scheduled date, we were chatting on the phone and he was telling me about an incident in which he either left out some key details or I completely misunderstood. I was appalled. Needless to say, we never went on that date. A couple of years after that, we eventually went on that date. We would end up engaged a year of so later. I got a case of cold feet some time later and broke up with him. He accepted a job as a youth minister in Lafayette, LA and moved. Nine months later, we reconciled. I flew to LA in November. He moved back home at some point. We were re-engaged in January and married in April of 1997. The rest...we are still living it!

As for our days in FL, we have gotten in a good weekly routine of school. Johnny and I go on a walk and/or bike ride every day.

We ride and walk around the campground.

And we have since ridden and/or walked that paved path. Johnny and I find it fascinating they invested the money for such a long bike/walking path in such a rural area. We are grateful! The river is receding a good bit every day. Most of the natural springs in the area are flooded out and closed. There is a spring at our campground but it is flooded out right now.

We see lots of deer almost every time we walk or ride bikes outside of the campground. They are usually in groups. There were 6 when I took this picture. Most of them ran when I lifted up the camera.

John Gannon likes to chat and play games with his friends online. He gears up and rides his bike to that pavilion in the back where he says the wifi signal is the best. Jackson often goes and plays too. Both boys have made some friends here--they are usually here on the weekends.

While the campground already has some interesting entertainment, they are in the process of creating a large recreation hall with unique games. They just recently completed this one. They have still got to put plastic on the lanes and do some other things, but it is operational. They call it Redneck Bowling! John Gannon thought it was genius--he has loved contraptions every since we did a unit of Rube Goldberg years ago. It works like normal bowling with these modifications:

You pull this handle down and it lifts your ball up and it rolls back on that pipe.

Then, you turn this crank and it lifts the pins and repositions them in formation!

And just for the record, I won the first championship between the boys and I. Johnny and I had checked it out a little earlier and I took the boys back to show them. We made a video, John Gannon will edit it sometime, and stick it on YouTube I suppose.

They almost have another game complete as well (minus the paint and finishing touches as with the bowling). It is a huge pool table that you can stand on. They said it would use several colored soccer balls and you kick them into the pockets.

As for latest adventure, we have traveled over to the Atlantic Coast to spend a few days. In Jackson's words, "We are taking a vacation from our vacation." Here are some pictures from our first day.

We have to show the boys how to kiss every once in a while. We are almost always met with a very loud, "Oh my gosh!"

This time, the display of affection lesson included the nice "I'll romantically pick up my woman and lovingly look in her eyes as I cradle her." So, when you have boys taking the pictures, you get him going in for the grab...

And instead of getting the nice part, they take the shot when he decides to scream out in pain and pretend he is going to drop me! Sorry ladies, this is probably the part they will remember!

They can occasionally take a decent picture!

John Gannon is non-patiently awaiting the day to get the best of Johnny. Johnny vows it will not happen. They were wresting around and...

John Gannon excitedly screamed, "Look...I've got him, I've got him. Look, Mom." I snapped a picture and smiled. Because I knew what was coming. The old guy was just getting ready for his move.