Well, when school ended for the boys last month, my job did, too. (just temporarily) Working at the school has a definite perk: summers off! I am abso-freakin-lutely LOVING it.
Somewhere in May and before school ended, I saw something somewhere about doing "epic shit." It wasn't this, but it was something pretty similar. I'm pretty sure it was something I saw shared on Facebook (heretofore known as "FB") which is pretty ironic when you read the next few sentences, actually. I read it and decided, "YES!! That's what I need to be doing: epic shit!!" So, I decided to quit FB for the summer since it takes up way too much of my time. I have a love/hate thing with FB, anyway. I check in on it 5 times a day or so and find that I've been sitting there for a good 15-20 minutes per sitting. That adds up to over an hour a day that I waste just reading stupid stuff on FB! It doesn't even make me feel better or anything. I do love seeing pictures of friends babies and stuff like that, but it's almost not worth it to have to wade through all the other junk. At least not as often. Trust me, I have way too much going on in life to be spending that kind of time on the computer. My house would look totally awesome if I spent even half of that FB time tidying or cleaning. That would also mean I could start pina colada happy hour a half-hour early every day!
Simple choice.
Besides, these boys aren't getting any younger (neither am I) and I don't want to miss a thing. I won't remember what happened on FB this summer, but I will remember the smiles on everyone's faces as we hang out and enjoy this summer of family fun. So, thinking about it that way made it even simpler; I promised myself that I would take this summer and make it epic. You know, do cool stuff that enables me to say I spent my summer doing really epic shit! So far, so good-- I may never go back to FB! (I'm having so much more fun without it.)
We kicked off our summer of fun with an EPIC, three-week road trip to Sanibel Island, Florida, for my family reunion. Less than a week after school was out, we kissed Lola goodbye and left her in the capable hands of an old friend. Over the course of the next three weeks, the ole minivan tacked on a neat 3,525 miles to the odometer and we now have a new bumper sticker to show we arrived at our destination--it's right next to my Show Us Your Gritty's! bumper sticker. My favorite bumper sticker is actually the one I gave Skip for the Volvo- it looks like THIS- but I didn't want to be a copycat and have the same one on the minivan. So, instead, I'll show you my Gritty's. They're not as pretty as they once were, but if you really want to see them...
Anyhoo, as far as getting stuck in a car with
Skip did most of the road trip driving. He says it's because he likes to drive, but I think we all know it's really because I'm the better navigator...
Blowing bubbles helps me navigate
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Rest Area break in CT-
everyone rolled their eyes when I suggested a photo op. Little did they know, it was just the beginning!
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Lightweights!
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All smiles at this gas stop as we neared Florida...
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The boys thought the name of this gas station was totally hysterical
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Here's a closeup, in case you couldn't see it in the first pic.
Note how the El Cheapo ass is kicking high gas prices...
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We loved Sanibel Island, though not so much the no-seeums/sand fleas/whatever-they-weres! Rocco and I were totally eaten alive--it has been 3 weeks since we were there and the bite scars on our legs have just now disappeared! The good news is that the gross bites all over my legs made me appear to have something contagious. Why is that good news, you ask? Well, no strangers wanted to sit near me the following week as we moved onto Orlando and lounged at the poolside... The lounge chairs on either side of me always remained empty, so I had plenty of room to stretch! The weather in Florida was crazy hot and sticky/humid, but we didn't mind it so much since we were in the warm ocean water so much of the time. The beaches of Sanibel were just covered with shells- an amazing sight. We stayed at this place right on the beach and we shared a cottage with my mom & dad... which was really cool. The boys got to get up early and go ocean fishing with Dad a couple mornings. Unfortunately, they weren't with him the morning he caught a shark, but he video'd it for them before releasing it. Dad is now treated with rock star status in the boys' minds!
Owen & Rocco- enjoying one of their daily "siestas" in the cottage
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Dad & Skip grilling chicken for 40+ family members on a
wicked toasty hot day
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Owen & Oscar digging for crabs on the beach in Sanibel
(they didn't find any)
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My cousin's daughter, Maya, and Owen went kayaking there in the Gulf of Mexico.
In this pic, Skip had made them paddle back to shore because he had forgotten to give them the "square dad" speech about staying where they could see land, etc. (So glad he did. It looked really fun, but was a bit unnerving to watch as a parent!) Even after the speech, Skip grabbed the binoculars so we could see them way out there on the horizon!
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Kayaking Teens
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Rocco- happy beach dude!
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Skip has turned into quite a sun bunny...
note the '70's-esque unbuttoned shirt!
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Mom & Dad at Sanibel Island- cute pic!
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On one of those deliciously warm nights, my cousins, Skip & I all walked down to the beach at 1am. It was gorgeous down there: sooo dark, with a warm-but-also-cool ocean breeze whipping onto the beach and all the stars you could imagine up in the sky. Nothing but dark ocean and stars everywhere we looked. We thought it was so beautiful that we went back to our cottage to wake the sleeping boys and take them down to the beach. It sounded like a hassle to walk back there to attempt waking three sleeping boys, but this was epic stuff and- well, this is the summer of epic- so it was the only thing to do!
Well, not only was it kinda epic, but it became TOTALLY AMAZINGLY EPIC as we carried the boys back down to the beach. Suddenly, my sister appeared- running past us in the dark- saying something about there being a turtle down there. When we got back to the dark beach and our eyes adjusted to the dark again, there she was: a green sea turtle making her way out of the ocean and up the beach to lay her eggs. I can't imagine any of us will ever get to see that again in our lives, but we can hope. I can't even say how cool that was! Of course, even if I had my camera with me at the time, I wouldn't have been able to take a picture since it would have scared her away. Far be it from me to be the one who scares an endangered species from laying her eggs! Instead, we just stood there and watched her and she made her way back into the sea and swam away. Without any photgraphic evidence, you'll just have to take my word for it: it was THE COOLEST.
The Sullivan Five on Sanibel Island!!
This is my new fave pic of us
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The magical gates!!
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Waiting for the Magic Kingdom to open...
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Me & Rocco at Disney's Philharmagic
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The boys in the castle at MK
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Everyone loves Dumbo!
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In front of Tom Sawyer's Island
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I thought this would be hilarious: a picture of Skipper in front of the
"Attn: Skippers" sign as we waited in line for the Jungle Cruise... I guess it was funnier in my head
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Getting ready for 4th of July fireworks at the most magical place on Earth!
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This is my favorite parade at Disney- I remember seeing it with my Nana & Grampy when we visited their house in Florida
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Pete's Dragon blows off some steam
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The rest of our trip looked like this:
- After Orlando, we headed up the coast to the Cape Fear area-- my Aunt Chris has a place there, so we planted ourselves in North Carolina for a few days and had a really good time. Skip worked for most of the time we were there, but the kids and I checked out Historic Downtown Wilmington via trolley and we also enjoyed their serpentarium! (It smelled totally awful in there, but it was really cool!)
- Then we drove to Philadelphia for a whirlwind visit to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall before tossing down some philly cheesesteaks... Crashed there for a night and then we were- finally- homeward bound!
We've been home just over a week and I already have more to report, but that'll have to be in the next post... Right now I've got epic sh*t to do!
xoxo k.
