Big OL RV TRIP...THE END of the road!

We woke up and were driving by 7:15am on the morning we left.

We left most of the kids in bed sleeping.  

I knew THE END would eventually come.

I think my sadface was contagious!

The sign as we exited our home..

The blurred campground & fishing bridge in the background as we drove away..

Oh how I missed it all instantly..

I also miss the palm trees..

The sunrises...

The boats & fishermen..

The beautiful scenery..

And mostly just the "LAID BACKEDNESS" of it all!

I can tell he missed it too. He fell asleep in his swimming goggles!

The kids were SO GOOD on the drive. We decided to get out and go to FAMILY DOLLAR at the end of our first day traveling home and let them all pick out one thing..

We got..A rainbow pad of paper, a police set, a New Testament, glow bracelets, a plastic knife, plastic earrings and BALLS for the baby. ALL WERE THRILLED!

UNTIL.....

THIS TRAIN WRECK HAPPENED. Bits stuck his finger in one of Lollis balls..

And it got stuck...I MEAN REALLY STUCK...

He was hysterical..which made me a bit hysterical...

THANK GOD The Captain remained calm..

AND THEN IT GOT WORSE...

MyMy came up and calmly said "MOMMY, I HAVE A PROBLEM."

His older sister who protects and looks out for him AT ALL TIMES decided to "REENACT" his   action to see if she could find a way to help get her brothers finger out

AND GUESS WHAT??

YUP!!!

2 balls stuck on 2 fingers and 2 kids WAILING as we drove down the highway.

At this point The Captain of our Ship decided that it was time to pull our rig over and check things out..... He got out his bag of tools...

And the surgery on both kids was performed. 

He did a fantastic job remaining calm as I remained a BASKET CASE!

THE "DOUBLE FINGER BALLECTOMY" was a SUCCESS!

Then it was time to handcuff the baby so that no more ball incidents happened again!

We stayed in a our usual Wal-Mart parking lot that night and headed out the next morning early. We wanted to be at our friends house by supper time so we had to put the pedal to the metal. I showered while going down the road and then it was The Captains turn..Which means I had to drive the big rig. It was the longest I've ever driven er' and YES, I know I didn't have my seatbelt on. I WAS SO NERVOUS I guess I just forgot. I held er steady while The Captain got his shower in. I was white knucklin' it ALL THE WAY!  You get quite the jolt when the semis pass you. It's kinda scary.. Maybe one day I will take more of a role in the driving but I am hoping not!

We arrived at our friends house in time for dinner! YUMMY!

My friend of 10 years! 

We've been through a lot together and I was THRILLED that we stopped by to see them!

T was happy to spend the night in the house with the girls!

That is what is SO NICE about the RV..You can go visit, hang out and not feel like whoever you are visiting is inconvenienced by having to find a place for 9 people to sleep!

My friend and I stayed up talking after everyone else crashed out until we both started nodding off on the couch after midnight! It was such a blessing to catch up!

We woke up to my friends FAMOUS homemade Cinnamon rolls!
I can still taste them now.. DEEEEEVINE!!

The girls..

The boys..

You don't know my friends husband holding Blakely here but let me just tell you...

He is one of God's favorites..

He did ALL SEVEN of our adoptions including Blakely's embryo adoption.. He is a compassionate friend and attorney. We will be forever grateful for his unselfish service to our family. He (with God's help) is the reason that we have some of our kids and we are so thankful for him! Lolli loved him!

All the kids before we headed out!

Our last stop before home!

Waving goodbye!

Several people have asked me if I missed home.. If I am happy that we are back in our house.

I am, don't get me wrong but HONESTLY I cannot think of one thing I missed. I missed a couple of people but I think I could have stayed there forever. In a beautiful place. meeting new people, where the weather is always warm and the atmosphere so relaxed. A place where I didn't have to share my husband with his job or farm work-that's a BIGGIE! A place where we had no "running around to do" and could soak in the beauty of God's creations daily..

I didn't think I would survive 30 days in our RV with 9 people but it was extremely easy.. and fun.. The Captain is already talking about staying longer next year and I am game!! Especially as I look outside at the snow today..NOT A FAN!

I am thankful to the Lord for our time away to love our kids and bond as a family. A time that was ALL OURS. Memories made for a lifetime!

I DO HAVE SOME OTHER NEWS!!

I AM WRITING A BOOK!  

I have 4,000 words typed so far. and I WELCOME ANY ADVICE ON BOOK WRITING, PUBLISHING etc.. that any of you has.

I am still pondering the name but am considering the name of my blog as the book title. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT?

BIG OL RV TRIP Day 25..Last Day in Paradise..

WHY, you ask do I have my especially sad, (may I add very tan) sadface on???

It is because as I write tonight, THE FINAL packing up of the RV is being done..Bikes being disassembled, the wheels off the stroller, the pups outside fence taken down, evening candles blown out and packed away and the outside carpet all rolled up and put away...with only the outline remaining.. 

All kids and laundry scrubbed clean of the chlorine that has soaked them for the last 3 weeks.

It was a wonderful time for all of us..Let me just say that 25 days has FLOWN PEOPLE!

Packed Even MORE FULL than our physical things in this RV are THE MEMORIES that will pack our minds and hearts FOREVER! A special family time making more blessed memories than we even deserve. We are thanking God for it all. For allowing The Captain this time off, for allowing me to be able to homeschool our kids, for new friendships made, for sunshine & rainbows and fish and even for the stressful times. YES, OF COURSE there are stressful times with 9 people together NON STOP for 25 days! I just love my family so much and still remain in AWE of God's plan for us to have 8 children! BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE!

Here are the 2 gals I was blessed to hang with during our stay. Neither one of which was turned off by the number of children we have..

I took this pic yesterday during a 5 minute rainstorm we had. MORE PROOF that God is all around us, sending that rainbow to remind us of his promises to us. 

We will start making our 5 day journey home tomorrow and this trip is just more than I could have asked for. It just was..

OH SUGARLOAF KEY KOA, HOW I WILL MISS THEE..

I must go wipe my tears away now as we head BACK TO REALITY :)

BIG OL RV TRIP DAYS 20-21.. Groundhog Day?

Our internet has acted up so I am behind again...

Yep, VERY USED to our days here in Sugarloaf Key. Groundhog Day routine has set in..

Woke up day 20 with our new friend and neighbor Wade visiting as Bean "whittled" with his new wood working set in his coon skin cap..

Since it IS the weekend...NO SCHOOL means plenty of time for playing play doh!

Then it was time to get our squid bait and head out to fish. NOTICE Bit But still in his KUNGFU PJ's..

Have I mentioned, I have ALWAYS LOVED to fish...Could sit ALL DAY and do it.. I got pretty blessed today to catch enough for MY supper. I'm proudly holding my RED SNAPPER!

Little did we know that this GORGEOUS Little number caught by Bean was an endangered species so we had to throw him back.. UNLESS we wanted to pay $600 to keep him.

 Isn't he cool? LOVE THE BLUE STRIPE & squiggles!

Sisterly LOVE!

The Captain cleaning our catch with the AWAITING PELICANS VERY CLOSE!

While gutting the fish-it was super cool to find a WHOLE SHRIMP in of the fish bellies!

THEN GUESS WHERE WE WENT? LOL

Feeling like Groundhog Day to you yet?

These guys are always good free entertainment for us. Shortly after I took this, they both fell right out of this tree. WILD!

Lolli found a couple new obsessions..One was trying on Beans new Flippers and playing mermaid. LOVE baby mermaids!!

She even did well walking in them :)

The Captain bought Lolli her own small bag of Doritos..

This is what happens when you tell her to say "CHEESE!"

The Captain felt I was big girl enough to take Bean and AwBell night fishing..So I did.

We caught 2 fish..You know th $600 ones? Yep, had to throw em back. It was still fun taking em off the hooks myself and we enjoyed it. We also got the pleasure of seeing a HUGE SEA TURTLE and SEVERAL Stingrays cruising around. HAPPINESS!

The next day The Captain got the bright idea to buy the kids ONE POP to share.. Bad..VERY BAD Idea. Talk about an all out brawl. We RARELY give our kids pop so this was nuts! BUT..THE BABY WON!

On day 21 after our RV church service and weekly laundry duties were done,  we headed to...WELL YOU KNOW WHERE!!

 Lolli's new obsession was our empty water bottles..

Then she did this to all that were NOT in the pool.

MyMy striking a pose.

So precious!

WyWy doing a flying dive!

All that swimming wears the 2 little ones out fast! 

Here they are on the bottom bunk watching a movie and nuzzling in.

He loves his new woodworking set and is quickly realizing it is HARD!!

He has started carving on Coconuts instead..

He made these 2 mini boats out of coconuts complete with seats and oars.

Pretty inventive right?

Little brother carved his own version..

Although our RV has 3 TV's, we ONLY watch them at bed time and each evening a different child gets to pick one show or movie for all to watch. Keeps it fair!

We are ALL enjoying LESS time "PLUGGED IN" to all electronics! And being More plugged in to nature and each other!