Family Therapy

Update

We're back!!!  As many of you know we are very, very behind on our blog, actually about a month. We've received a lot of phone calls asking us about our location in relation to the tornado's. We've had several scary and close calls both in Atlanta and Virginia. We were able to witness the destruction first hand in Raleigh, NC and spend a few days volunteering w/ some amazing, courageous people. We feel very blessed as we have felt the loving, guiding hand of the Lord in our life. We are currently in Washington DC and have had some very special experiences as a family this past month. We look forward to sharing them as we continue to catch up on the blog.

Florida

It seems like ever since we left Boise, Idaho on January 3rd we've been chasing the sunshine and warm weather. The cold can start to wear on you after a while as many of you know, couple that with being in a space of  about 200 sq ft day in and day out and you've got the formula for some on edge, grumpy boarder line crazy moments. Sooooo, after our fun time at the U of Alabama we decided to make a mad dash for the sunny beaches of Florida. We'd received a tip from a friend that the most beautiful beaches were in Destin, Fl. It was a ways away but we decided that we had to have some sun or it was heavy medication time! We drove all night and arrived in Destin about 2am, parked in the Home Depot parking lot got a few hours of sleep and anxiously awaited the sunrise so we could hit the beach. Could it really be that easy..........nope! When we got up it was about 42 degrees, gale force winds that shook the RV and the forecast called for another week of torrential rains.....Par for the course! Two ways to go, curse the weather, scream a couple I told you so's, ask ourselves repeatedly why we came on this trip......or throw on the loin clothes and hit the beach. We opted for both!

Brave Boys led by a fearless little girl!!

After a long day of surfing

After getting some feeling back in our extremities we sat down for a family pow wow around the space heater. This was not what we had anticipated! We reflected back on the videos of traveling families we had watched prior to leaving Boise, you know..  the happy, clean, smiley families, frolicking through the meadows, laughing uncontrollable, hugging each other, not wanting the trip to ever stop! What were we doing wrong, so far the only videos I could see our family being apart of was a special documentary airing on the Jerry Springer Show!! Family therapy seemed inevitable and I wasn't sure if we were all going to go back to Boise in the same vehicle. We had to find sunshine and fast!!!  We got in the RV with a renewed determination and headed south. We drove until we found sunshine, it took us 12 hours and we ended up in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Addy's face sum's it all up!!!

We decided to take the money we were going to spend suing the families for misrepresentation on the "The Perfect family, takes a perfect vacation across America" video and spend it on some real family therapy at Bush Gardens and Sea World. Money well spent!! Family crisis averted!!

One thing Ally and I have noticed is that we can't ride the rides like we used to. This was Ally after the boys took her on the "Death Spiral", a picture is worth a thousand words. I was consoling her behind the camera.

Where's the Barf Bag??? In the end, the "Death Spiral" sent everyone to the restroom!! Of course the boys went on it about 25 times.

Colton....."Why did I do that".."I'm going to die"!!

After living in the RV for 4 months

we've got good at checking each other for fleas!

Brotherly Love

Sea World

Colton on the far left. He felt pretty special to be apart of the show. He still sleeps in his costume.

Addy Loved seeing the animals

Shamu soaked us!!

Codey got to be in a parade

Addy enjoying the parade. Only Addy could get away with this outfit



We found a great place to stay. It had a pool, bike paths, showers, electricity, running water, and clean toilets. We were in heaven!!

Addy's first bike ride..didn't like the hat!!

Orlando Temple

We were just going to stop and reverently walk around the grounds and take some family pictures, but....... once again it turned into an Addy photo shoot!! Ally get's mad anytime someone stops us and says what a handsome little boy we have so as a result Addy wears the biggest, brightest bow's I've ever seen, sometimes I think she looses her balance due to the bow's. We could probably do a whole blog just on Bow's.