Missouri, Florida, North Carolina, and Back to Missouri

We moved out of our home the end of June and took off for a three week vacation with Summer.  It started with a  trip to see Melissa and her family.  We have the best time going to visit them and spending time at Jeanne's lake.  I sure wish I was rich and could afford to buy a house on that lake (if one ever came up for sale.)  The boys got a long well (as far as I know.)  The weather was absolutely perfect and it was just so relaxing to be outside soaking up that beautiful scenery.  Summer had fun chasing her frisbee and learning to swim.  She can swim without lifejacket but fetching a frisbee in the water without it proved to be too difficult so we had her wear the jacket.  Zach spent most of his time fishing.  I know that is suprising!

After Missouri, we headed to Florida.  We stayed with Billy and Kristen for a few days while Summer visited a petsitter.  It was the saddest thing ever.  The petsitter sent me pictures of Summer watching for us out the window.  Apparently she sat there most of the day.  It broke my heart.  But as usual, we had a blast with Billy's family.  We went boating several times, played in his pool, and had a front row seat to his city fireworks display from his house.

It was great to see Charlie and Mel with their beautiful redheaded children.  Henry finally warmed up to Summer.  But I think his favorite place to pet her was when she was in the kennel.  He didn't want to eat dinner because he was busy playing with her.

After a few nights at their house, we packed up and checked into a rental house with our friends, Lindsey, Greg, Gage, and Maddox Andersen.  Gage and Maddox are 4 and 3 so it was different being on vacation with little ones. Other than not sleeping well (which didn't bother us at all), they did really well.  It makes me excited for the day that my children bless me with grandkids.  We spent each morning exploring different beaches near Englewood, Venice, and Sarasota. Then in the afternoons, we'd play in the pool and finish the day with games.  We love to play games with Lindsey and Greg.  Their favorite beach was the one that is close to our home in Venice-Manasota Beach.  Greg loved it so much that he went home and told his mom that he wanted to move to Florida.  She said she'd follow him there. I love Pat so I need them to follow through with these plans.  Ha!

Lindsey and I are both petrified of lightning.  One day we went to lunch on the boat with my parents when a storm hit.  We thought it was cleaning up so we go back on the boat to go back to the boat club.  The storm got much worse.  Lightening bolts were striking around us.  The rain was pelting us to the point it hurt. My father could barely see where he was going.  It was scary!  Nate said he wasn't scared because he thought if lightening struck him, he'd die instantly.  Seriously, that's how scary it was for me.  I thought we were all going to die. Mario and Greg did get shocked from holding the metal bar on the boat.  They didn't tell us until hours later.   But we made it back safely and Lindsey and I will never forget that day, I'm sure!  

We went out another day on the boat tubing. I'm shocked Lindsey got back on the boat after that first experience.  But we had a lot of fun and no one got hurt thank goodness.

We got away on Sunday and spent some time with Grandma and Papa playing games.

Unfortunately, it was time to head back north. Mario and I long for the days we can live in Florida.  Each time we go, we get excited that it's getting closer each day. We decided to take a little detour and go through North Carolina to visit Michael and Rose.  Zach adores Michael and I can see why.  They have similar sense of humors.  Mario and I were laughing at how similar the two of them are but in reality, Zach is a lot like Mario who probably has same humor as his dad.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of North Carolina.

Then it was back to one of our other favorite vacation spots-Jeanne's lake.  Melissa was so nice and went fishing with Zach a lot.  Have I mentioned that he likes to fish?!  We discovered that Summer really likes to torment fish.  It was quite fun to see her go after them.  I don't know if you can tell, but she brings me a lot of joy!  Her shenanigans crack me up!

Then it was time to pack up again and head back to Nebraska to a new home.  What a wonderful three weeks we had visiting family and spending time with friends.  Thanks everyone for making it a memorable trip for all of us.