Working vacation in Fort Lauderdale

I can hardly believe a month has already passed since our trip to Florida! Time has flown by lately.

As soon as we found out that John was being sent to Fort Lauderdale to teach a class, we planned on me and possibly Aaron coming along. It is really wonderful that John has a job that is ok with me and Aaron joining him on business trips. Florida is certainly one of the nicer locations he has been sent. So we began planning a working vacation right away.

What a great way to take a trip together. Since it was trip for work, John's airline ticket, hotel and meals were covered. John was scheduled to work for most of the week.  We decided to extend the trip by a couple of days so that we could spend time enjoying the beach and sightseeing.

After a lot of discussion, we chose to have Aaron stay with my parents instead of joining us. I knew it would be really hard for me to leave him for a week. However, it was definitely the right decision. So much of the trip was spur of the moment, running from place to place and evenings at restaurants. It would have been tough to entertain him all day and keep him under control while out to eat with John's boss. He adores his Nan and Pops so I knew he would be happy and in good hands!

John and I had a wonderful time! John's teaching went really well. He got the go ahead for the next level of teaching courses for his company. I spent the week catching up on reading, catching some sun and of course walking up and down the beach. On John's off time we went to a bird refuge, Everglades National Park, visited a sea turtle rehab facility, enjoyed the beach, kayaked in the everglades and visited the Miami zoo.

The highlight of the trip was definitely kayaking in the everglades! We did a five hour trip that took us through mangrove tunnels, estuaries, a bird rookery and the bay. The mangrove tunnels were almost creepy, they were dark and very swampy. We saw osprey, anhinga, herons and even had a couple of dolphin swim near our boat.

Thanks to family and John's job for making it possible to go on fun vacations! We feel so blessed to be able to take the trips we get to take while only spending a small amount of money. We both love to travel and really wouldn't be able to do as much of it without ways to lessen the expense. Fort Lauderdale was quite memorable. What a treat to have some time alone together. Who knows when that will happen again!

Crested Butte 2012

I can't believe it has taken me this long to write about our Crested Butte trip! We had another wonderful trip to Crested Butte this year! Crested Butte is my family's favorite mountain town. There is so much to love about the area. Gorgeous views, lots of hiking and mountain biking, a quaint downtown with plenty of fantastic restaurants. 

The only sad part was that John was too swamped at work to join all of us. As much fun as we had, I kept wishing he was with us! Thank you John for working hard to provide for our family! You are a hard worker and wonderful husband. I appreciate your selflessness and that you were happy for Aaron and I to have a good time. We love you!

My brother rode with Aaron and I. It is a 6 1/2 hour drive for us so I was glad to have the company and the help. The three of us joined my parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles. I was wonderful (as always) to spend time with everyone.  I am so thankful for my wonderful family. It is truly a blessing to be with you all!

We packed in as much fun in as we possibly could! We mountain biked, hiked played games and enjoyed the town. One of the days I was out the door by 7 for a three hour hike. After returning to the house for a quick bit my brother aunt and I were out the door for a mountain bike ride. The funny part is that this pales in comparison to my brother going on three mountain bike rides a day!

Aaron hiked with us one of the days and did awesome! It was a three hour hike and he did most of it on his own. I was especially glad he hiked so far because he is getting heavy to carry in the Deuter pack! I think the pack with him in it weighs about 50lbs so it was great to not have to carry him for long! 

It was a wonderful trip but it went too fast. We are all quite attached to Crested Butte. There are already plans being made for next year. I am already looking forward to it!

Wild flowers! Monks hood, Common harebell, Sneeze weed, Mountain blue bell, Elephant head, Blue flax and Monkey flower. There were not quite as many wild flowers this year due to dry weather.

 Hiking Scarp Ridge with my mom and aunt. It was a beautiful hike on a gorgeous day. From the ridge we could see four mountain ranges! It was amazing.

 Aaron did awesome hiking as usual!

Melbourne Beach, Fl (minus one)

I decided to the name this post based on the fact that although we had a wonderful trip, someone was missing. It was so much fun and so many neat things happened on the trip. However, the void was obvious. One member of our group was missing. My Grandmother, who passed away just days before our arrival. 

She would have loved it. Sitting on the balcony enjoying the view. Laughing at everyone's antics. Marveling at the incredible bond between her first born son and her great-grandson. She was missed greatly. If we had our way, she would have been there. But God had other plans. We are so thankful that although we miss her, she is at peace in her Lord's loving arms. 

It was a terrific trip! We are truly blessed by my parents generosity. They planned the trip, rented the house, bought airline tickets and treated us to some delicious dinners! The house was gorgeous and very fancy. The weather was much better than we thought it would be. Because of tropical storm Debbie, we were expecting a lot of rain. The storm hit our area later than expected so we enjoyed plenty of sunny days. 

Since June is nesting season for sea turtles, we were really hopeful that we would see one. Melbourne/Cocoa Beach are places that usually have a large number of nesting turtles. We were absolutely thrilled when we saw one come ashore the very first night at the beach house. She came up fairly early, so Aaron was able to see her too! Every morning when we would wake up, the beach was completely covered with tracks. It was like an invasion every night! We saw quite a few Loggerhead sea turtles over the week. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. 

Sea turtles weren't the only animals we saw. There are a number of birds in the area including: Osprey (they were all over the place!), Black Vultures, Turkey Vultures, White Ibis, Least Terns, Black Skimmers, Wood Storks and White Egrets. One of the days we went to a little lagoon. There were two Manatee just hanging out in the shallow water! We also saw dolphins near the lagoon and out in the Atlantic. Being an animal lover, seeing so many critters was a real treat! 

Aaron had a good time. He was a good little traveler especially for an almost three year old. He enjoyed swimming in the pool, playing in the ocean, building sand castles and digging holes. On the last day, we took him to Gatorland. He really enjoying seeming all the alligators, crocodiles, snakes and birds. 

John spent 90% of the trip fishing. I am exaggerating, kind of... he did fish a lot! He caught a couple of Blue fish, a couple of Whiteys (which were very tasty!) and had a shark on the line! Even though he didn't land the shark, he was still excited to have hooked one. Also, he had no idea what he would have done if he had gotten the shark on land so maybe it was a good thing it got away!

Friday we had a lovely memorial service for Grandma Sarah. It was simple, just a small gathering of family to remember her and say goodbye. Although it was sad, it was also beautiful because it brought family together. We don't see these family members very often so in a way it was a blessing that Grandma Sarah brought us all together. It was really great to spend time with aunts and uncles and cousins, some of whom I haven't seen in over 25 years!

Although it wasn't the vacation we had planned, it was still a wonderful time together. None of us wanted the trip to end. We made a lot of memories and had a lot of fun!