Vacation

Okay, so I've mentioned a couple of times recently, on the blog I deleted, that we are going on vacation soon. This is the first real vacation for our family, and we've been married for nine years! This trip will even be much bigger than our honeymoon!

My oldest brother is about to retire from the USMC, so we will be going to his retirement party this month. In New Jersey! ROAD TRIP! Even with the gas prices, it is much more economical for us to drive with a family of 6. So, we will start out in Wagoner at Myles' nephew's wedding. If the wedding is late in the day (I can't remember the time), we may try to go to the zoo before the wedding. Probably won't happen, now that I'm thinking that one through! What have I been smoking?! Okay, so we will likely go to the Tulsa Zoo the NEXT day. Once we leave the zoo, probably sometime in the afternoon, we will hit the road for New Jersey.

We are planning to arrive at my brother's house a couple of days later. There is no hurry in getting there, so as long as we're there in a couple of days or so, we'll be doing great! My SIL, the wonderful person she is, reserved and PAID for us to stay just down the road from them at a church camp! I am really looking forward to that! We will have access to many of the amenities that the campers have!!!

We'll just be hanging out around their place, visiting with them and enjoying the company of family. Oh, and they live on the bank of a lake! I think they have 2 or 3 different kinds of boats. I may be wrong, but I think they have a paddle boat, row boat and canoe....at least two of those. We'll get to do some fishing and maybe swim. I can't wait!!! We will spend several days there and then we will head to the beach!

My children have never been to the beach before. I think that is what I am looking forward to the most....their expressions when they see the ocean for the first time. That wide-eyed wonder as they look across the vast expanse of the never-ending blue. It will be awesome indeed. We're reading up about the ocean and beaches a little so we can be prepared with activities and just so they will all know what to expect, to some extent. This beach guide is excellent, and it is from New Jersey! And it was designed for teachers to use in the classroom! Perfect! We're also coming up with all kinds of fun beach crafts for us to choose from. We'll have to narrow it way down though since we will only be at the beach for two days. I would LOVE to do a dolphin watch boat ride, but it doesn't look like they'll be open on the days we will be there. I'm sure there are other options though for taking a boat out on the ocean. Myles is also interested in touring a tugboat (he's been watching Theodore Tugboat WAY too much lately!) and wants to visit the Cape May Lighthouse. We may go camping there too! And while we're in the general vicinity, we also plan to visit the Hereford Lighthouse. We definitely will leave time for splashing in the water, building sand castles and finding all kinds of treasures on the beach. I want to try to find a private beach to explore, but we may not be able to until we get there. I've never been in the area before.

So once we leave the very busy, fun-filled two days at the beach, it will be time to start making our way home. (sniff, sniff) However, the fun is not quite over yet! The minister who married us 9 years ago moved to Pennsylvania, and we plan to go see them. He was Myles' spiritual mentor when he was still single, before I met either of them. They live just 6 miles or so off the highway we will be on, so how can we not stop by? We haven't worked out any details with them yet, but we will probably visit with them for several hours one day and then the next day I want to visit and tour an Amish village that is only a few miles away. Again, how can I pass up the opportunity???

Then we will be headed straight home. No more planned activities. We will probably spend two more nights in motels and try to find some parks along the way for the kids, but Myles really wants to have as much down time as possible at home before he goes back to work.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!! This will not be a cheap trip, that's for sure, but we are going to try to keep the cost of accomodations and food to a minimum so we can put more money towards the fun stuff. Please pray for safe travels for us. It is still several days away, so I have plenty of time to pack. I'm surprised I haven't even started yet, considering how excited I am. I guess it's because I'm behind on laundry again. Ugh!