And now… for vacation pictures (edition #1)

You know a vacation is going to be good when day one ends with pie and alcohol.

Yeah….

AND I got to put my foot on the table which I would never be able to do at home which was pretty awesome.



We stayed in a very cool condo in Marathon Florida, my only complaint was despite the owners ensuring us of the perimeters safety, I lost my beloved Cannon Powershot Camera, it was stolen the 2nd day.

That SUCKED.

Moving right along.

Thankfully, we didn’t lose too many pictures and Hank had his camera with him so we still got plenty of great shots.

The condo was right on the water with a private beach, we used every day.



It was especially cool because we could snorkel right there too,



And look for seashells every day if we wanted (I waited till the last day when it stormed like crazy to get mine)



Also, there was the grand sport of shuffle board, which even further convinced us that Ethan is really a 75 year old man trapped in a 6 year olds body.



We took 2 snorkeling trips which were awesome.



The second one Ethan drove the boat for 15 minutes by himself. Kidding? No.



I’m not sure which he liked better, be a sea captain or a diver in the making,



I definitely enjoyed the water. I’ll never forget how surprised I was the first time I saw the huge reef and all those schools of gorgeous fish. I gasped so loud the captain yelled from the boat, “Whadda ya see?” It was awesome.



As for Hank, the world diver, he was happy as a clam, watching all of us. He got 3 dive trips while we were down there which was great.



Lizzy showed off some of that Jacksonville style,



And before we knew it, the week of snorkeling and diving were through. Here Ethan has Hank’s flippers which are about 2/3rds his length…




If you ever make it to Marathon, go snorkel or dive with Abyss – They took great care of us and instead of having 25 people on the dive boat, there were 6 – An awesome experience.

As for the rest of the vacation, I’ll post it tomorrow.

Its about pumpkin time here and I’m feeling mighty orange…

Oh the agony! (a true life summer vacation planning story)

If someone would have told me a few weeks ago, when I first started this journey,

“Megan, summer vacation planning is…. Well, not fun. And finding that cute, quaint, charming little rustic beach house you see in your dreams is going to make you….. well, bonkers.”

I would have stood straight up and laughed in their faces.

HA!

HA! HA! HA!

You get the idea.

No one is laughing now.

Certainly not I.

For as I sit here today, I kid you not, surely I have invested over 80 hours into this venture, if not more.

And where am I now?

6 spreadsheets in, all cross referencing each other in a sideways sectioning pattern that will do loop de loops like nobody’s business all ringing loud and clear,

“yeah, but this isn’t really what you where looking for.”

And maybe what I’m looking for just doesn’t exist.

At least not in Florida.

And not in our budget.

(sigh)

Still I search.

Because I am sure that this is entirely true.

Or maybe, what I’m looking for and what I will find delightfully pleasing in the end are two entirely different things.

(They often are you know)

Something truly disappointing happened 2 days ago, I found what I thought was the place for certain!

An absolutely perfect little house in the Keys with a red brick oasis surrounded pool, French doors, two darling little bedrooms with that birch wood for the real Florida feel.

All for the bargain price of $500 a week!

(It was a monthly rental normally)

Turns out the week she has available in July is the only week that Hank can’t take off from work.

Ohhhhhhh……

We have decided to go to the Keys so that Hank can go diving, though he is willing to go anywhere – I don’t think it’s fair to make the man of the house who is making the only income right now, pass up on the thing that would make it a ‘real vacation’ for him.

The Keys, I’m finding, is not a place filled with beaches, so I’ve decided to look for a house with a pool.

This is far easier said than done.

Considering that most places in the Keys with pools are either multimillion dollar estates, or condos.

It’s exhausting.

Ultimately, we will make some sacrifice somewhere.

Hank is so easy going; he doesn’t care, as long as we stay in budget.

I’m so tired of looking at properties, I’m ready to just pick a place and be done with it.

I have spent 5 weeks researching; the one thing I’m sure of is I under no circumstances EVER,

For ANY reason,

Want to be…..

A travel Agent.