Florida Trip Part Two

On our Second day in Florida, we went to the North Beach. This beach had much bigger waves because it was directly out from the Ocean -- not in a small bay like East beach. There was a teeny tiny little bay (maybe 300 feet wide), that split the beach. It was the neatest area to bring the kids because the water stayed rather shallow, even at high tide.

CJ slept the whole time!!

Elizabeth playing in the water

Lily splashed around in the water -- but didn't want to go out into the deeper water. Eventually, we got her to put on a lifejacket and go swimming -- but she whined a lot and we didn't want to force her into it, so we left her alone. Elizabeth was super scared of the water, so I splashed around with her in some super shallow water and she started to love playing there. I eventually got her to sit down and look for shells with me. Then, she let me lay her down so the water would rush up around her head -- I layed down too, right next to her and we just looked at each other -- giggling as the water came up around us and then fell back down. Her eyes were the same color of the water, just beautiful. It was an amazing moment with her.

Lily's favorite thing to do: go up on the beach, get all dirty -- then either rinse off and do it again -- or pour sand into the water. She is such a silly and creative girl. Always working with things and molding them or discovering -- just like I was when I was younger.

The girls brought their little pink chairs -- how adorable!!

The man's toes  --- hairly cute.

After playing in the little bay for awhile, we went to the real beach -- to the huge waves!
I loved it there -- the waves were amazing. The power of the Ocean is glorious. It's so beautiful, yet so furious.

super cutie!!

 We stayed at the beach for a very long time -- then left to get food because we were starving! It was bright and sunny --- no clouds around. After we had been in the store for maybe, 5 minutes, we heard super loud thunder -- then downpour. Out of nowhere came a huge thunderstorm and tons of rain! We hurried to purchase our things, because we weren't sure if our tent was closed fully or not. It was raining SO hard! I guess that maybe since you are right on the ocean like that, the storms come fast and unexpectedly??  

Rain!!

After the stom ended, we ate and then went to East beach to collect shells. While we were there, a crow stole Lily's new sandals!! It was fun to search around for shells with the girls. Lily followed me around and Elizabeth chased the sea gulls around -- giggling when they would fly away after she would 'RAH!!" at them. Cj, mostly stayed in one spot and ate sand.

Look! This is Sand! I think it's gross but I love to eat it!! I'm a BOY!

Creepy Raven -- eyeing our stuff. Eventually stole Lily's sandals!!

So somewhere between our family picture (of me and the kids), Lily took of her new sandals that matched her sister's. In the photo of Cj and Chris -- you can see them just down the beach behind them. Then, in the photo above -- you see Lily has no sandals on. Well, we walked maybe ten feet, turned around and then walked back down the beach. When we got back to the stroller -- we realized she didn't have them on. We searched everywhere -- but they weren't there. We suspect the Raven -- who had been watching us constantly, and now all of a sudden was gone -- is the culprit. Silly, Super smart, neat but creepy, birds.


So after the sunset, we went back to camp and made some nummy food. During the process, our momma racoon that sleeps in our tree -- opened our cooler and tried to steal our food!

pushing their brother around.

The next day -- we went and washed a bunch of clothes at a very beat down laundramat. Then, we grabbed some pizza and went to the North Beach again.

Baby racoon and his/her siblings eating from their Mom

They lived in the palm in our campground!

All ready to dig!

Cj loved to dig in the sand with the shovel -- he was so happy!

1st castle for Lily and Elizabeth and Cj -- made with help from Dad.

I got super, super, super, super sun burnt. ouchie ouchie.

Ugh! Mom! The water tastes horrible!!! (hahaha)

The ocean is my favorite place on Earth.

I spent most of the time diving under the huge waves (it was low tide so they were big-- like, shoulder level). The strength of them was amazing -- they could push you over very easily when standing.  I took some goggles and attempted to grab shells of the ocean floor. It was easy if you timed the waves right -- otherwise you'd get tossed and turned and *smack* and *skid* along the floor of the ocean (which was covered in broken shells were I was at); or you'd go up for air and get slapped in the face by a huge wave.

It was super fun -- I'm pretty sure I could do that every day of my life and never, ever be bored.

So at this point -- my back was unbelievably sunburnt

Wouldn't mind at all,, to have white sand, everywhere -- making things 'dirty' but beautiful.

 

After the store, we drove back to the North beach to catch the sunset there. Chris took the girls on the playground, while I fed Cj and watched the sunset. We were leaving the next day -- so this was goodbye.

 

I was hard to leave.  More than anything -- I feel that God made me with a heart for the Ocean --- it speaks to my soul and entrances me with Joy and Love and Peace. It's the most beautiful thing on Earth to me -- so powerful, mysterious. Just waiting for me to come and be in tune and in love with it everyday. Before I had met Chris, I was going to be a Marine Biologist and work with Hammerheads in Hawaii. It was always my dream, goal and mission to live next to the Ocean (or in or ON it). That all changed when I fell in love with Jesus in April 2006. I started to live my life for GOD and not myself and He has had other plans for me. I know that, even if I never get to take part in the Ocean living during my time on Earth -- maybe He will make for me a wonderful Ocean on the new heaven and new earth someday. I know that I will have magnificent and great things to do here on Earth -- even if the Ocean is not part of it -- and honestly, I'm at peace with that. 

Goodbye Ocean -- I carry you in my Heart! 

After leaving the beach we went back to our campground to shower and make food. I was absolutely miserable at this point -- I had chills and couldn't stop shaking. My burn was super super bad and the aloe only made it worse. I stayed in the tent and just tried to sleep while Chris made food because I couldn't stop shaking/crying. After getting to internet a day later, and looking up info -- I now know that I most likely had sun poisoning.  I prayed that God would make it all go away, and he did. The burn stayed but in a matter of 15 minutes the 'poisoning' disappeared and I could function again. My burn was still very severe and it hurt really really bad! 

The next day, we packed up our little place and headed for Sea World in Orlando!! (about 2 hours away). My burn was still super bad -- I couldn't even move, and if I got into the sun at all-- It would feel like it was on fire. For the first time, in -- a year and a half -- I used a modern medicine/hospital type product on my skin. I bought some topical anestetic and put it on in the Walmart bathroom (took me like 30 minutes!! haha). After that, my skin felt better and I could actually move without screaming in pain (NOT exaggerating). And I have a pretty good tolerance for pain. I also grabbed some Burt's Bees Sun Soother and put that on my arms and legs.

Here is our Sea World Adventure:

Looking at the Stingrays

Elizabeth touched a stingray!!!! (Lily wouldn't)

Looking at the Dolphins!!!

Then we saw a show -- Lily LOVED the people dancing with ropes above and in the water. 

She said that she was going to do that someday. Me too, honey!! What fun that would be!

Super pretty moon after Sea World.

It was a HOT day, so we got ice cream!!!

 We stayed overnight in a hotel, then the next day started on our trip home. The trip took two days, since we were a little more leisurely about it this time.

 My sunburn hurt like crazy after the cream wore off. But the Burt's Bees Sun Soother stuff made it go away SUPER fast. I combined that with luke-warm baths (to hydrate the skin and help healing) and the burts bees stuff -- and prayer. And the burn was better in TWO days!! This was a VERY bad burn -- so bad that my skin was swollen out an inch and a half from the non burned areas of my body. (it was nasty looking). I had blisters everywhere and the skin looked purple. It felt like it was going to rip apart. The internet said that burns like mine would take 3-4 weeks to heal normally. Mine took two!! (: (:

So that is the lowdown on our Florida trip -- for the most part. I will be posting a few videos sometime soon and a list of firsts and special things for the babies.  

Thank you God for an amazing trip, that we never should have been able to afford!