*Friday night I got to go on a date with my husband. We went to Mexico.... Or just had amazing Mexican food at El Tequila. And I had some pretty good company, too! We finished with dessert elsewhere...with some caribou! My Mint Condition was so good as we watched bolts of lightning fill the sky!
*After going to Mexico I became a storm chaser (my dream job!!)! Bryan and I were surrounded by storms: lightning, thunder, storm clouds, with a little dollop of tornado sirens! It was a good beginning to my weekend vacation. And somewhat ended with a beautiful rainbow! Some of God's handiwork.
*Saturday started beautifully! I got to have a little "me" time on my vacation. (Although I did get paid for this part of my vacation!) I got to take an hour of my time and share some of my pitching knowledge! I'm working with a young lady who is turning out to be a great pitcher! It's probably the only thing I do anymore that is actually me (didn't genesis out of marriage or motherhood)!
*The next part of my vacation took place in the tropics of Faribault! We decided (after constant requesting from our daughter) to take the family to the Aquatic Center. Here we traipsed around in the waves, splashed in the blue water and played a little chutes and ladders (ok, just me and my little girl)! It was during our slides down the chutes that I was asked to "Tell me when to hold my breath, Mom!" **My daughter is very independent! So to ask me for help gave me hope that she might still need me at times in her life! (wipe the tears)**
*The second day of our vacation ended with storm spotting -- again. Although this time we got to do it via the news station (lol). We decided to stick this portion of our vacation out in the basement. The kids even got to spend some time sleeping on the comfortable concrete floor in our tornado shelter, due to the tornado sirens once again sounding for us! I didn't know they (whoever "they" is) would be sounding the trumpets for our exciting and fun-filled vacation! The kids actually did really well, too! They slept through our storm spotting portion of the vacation. Fortunately, thank God, we were safe and could then retreat back to our beds, drifting off into sweet slumber, getting our energy packs ready for the last day of our vacation.
*Well, this is the last day of our wonderful and family packed vacation!! We started out this blessed Sunday with a continental breakfast in La Cocina Voracek! The very talented Mr. Voracek scrambled up some eggs to go with the scrumdiddlyumptious, made to order (by me) chocolate chip pancakes! We, of course, partnered it with fresh red raspberries and a tall glass of whatever we wanted to drink (ie. chocolate milk, white milk, orange juice, or the wonderfully homemade mocha/coffee drink that my husband makes!)!! This day was starting out tasting very good!
*Next, arguably my favorite part, was going to church as a family! Like one member of our congregation said, "Sunday gives meaning to my week and worship gives meaning to my Sunday." This is so true in my life, but that's another blog. Although this Sunday was full of vacationing moments in itself! It started out with coming in after the song began (which is definitely NOT unusual for this family of 6!). Then a wonderful friend wanted to hold our Peanut, so in the middle of another song I crossed the aisle to hand her over! Of course, we sit in the 3rd pew, so only the whole church sees :). When it was time for "Noisy Offering" (the cute little kids dropping their "noisy" coins in the large soup pan) my daughter came back with a coin still in her pocket. Was she stealing from us, or from the "Noisy Offering"? So I made her go back and put it back in there! So we continue to worship until my husband looks over at me towards the end of our revival saying that our little Peanut is going to have a blowout if I don't change her! YAY! So, I get to go sight seeing around our church in order to go change a dirty diaper. Oh well, it gave meaning to my Sunday somehow, right?!
*We were on the homestretch of our vacation! We thought it would be fun to sight see around Faribault...on our bikes! Alright. We figured we would pull two kids behind one of us, and the other two behind the other one of us. Well, evidently the travel guide was observing the Sabbath and wasn't there to help us out. It just wasn't working with having to put our Peanut in her infant car seat and still have room for one other kiddo. So, we had to ask our Nature Boy to ride his bike. And wow was that the most gratifying part of this whole vacation to me as a MOM! Our sightseeing of Faribault was just shy of 15 miles...and that included a lot of hills! And my 7-year-old son biked the whole thing!!!
Of course we did stop to sight see. We smelled the wonderful aroma of pigs on the farms we passed. We got to ride on newly laid asphalt. We ate lunch in front of Cannon Lake. We biked past and eventually stopped at a beach for the kids to pick up cool rocks and shells with living creatures in them! And, of course, since the trail runs right into Dairy Queen's parking lot (genius move on the owner's part!), we decided to stop and get a family treat!
*We finished this wonderful summer vacation back on Autumn Dr. I don't know that a travel guide could have helped to make this vacation any more enjoyable. And the thing is is that much of this vacation was FREE! It was filled with love and smiles and joy (mixed with a little bit of sweat)! It's a vacation that I hope to someday plan again! And the thing is: I don't think I would change anything!! The Lord blessed me and my family with the time we got to spend together, and for that I am so thankful!
