Insta-Summer

Well, we've hit that panicky end-of-summer point, where our fun time is quickly coming to a close.  We're torn between totally lounging at home and soaking up those last lazy summery days, or filling our remaining schedule with play dates and other activities.  It's always a toss-up, but this year we're essentially combining the two.  In fact, we've even managed to squeeze some back-to-school shopping (gah!) in there as well.

 

In the meantime, here's some insta-shots of what's been keeping us busy lately.

 

 

Besides catching a few games at the League Stadium, we also paused to enjoy the amenities at the nearby park.  I'm still a little skittish there, recalling when Ava broke both wrists on the monkey bars last year, but I tried not to let that stop our fun.

 

 

Of course, we've made excellent use of our Holiday World season passes.  This year, I think we did a nice job spreading ourselves around all the various attractions and swimming areas.  Never a boring day there!

 

Both kids enjoy the Jasper Riverwalk and its playground area, so anytime we're in Jasper with some extra time, we try to stop there for a bit.  That always gets a few smiles.  Plus, while in that part of town, we've also stopped at the theatre to catch some good movies: Despicable Me 2 and Turbo.

 

These shots (above and below) are from the Fourth of July.  We had a fun, family-filled independence day, sprinkled with all the traditional events: a cook-out, swimming, catching fireflies at dusk, sparklers, a fireworks show, and smores to finish out the night.

 

Our most recent stop was CMoE, another favorite of ours (below).  It was a beautiful day in Evansville, and although I was in favor of visiting the zoo, I was out-voted by everyone else.  We spent a few enjoyable hours there in between eating at Steak 'n Shake and shopping for school shoes at Shoe Carnival.

 

Although we're in that tricky transitional time before our lives switch into school mode, it's nonetheless been a lovely summer with a stretch of beautiful weather.  Here's to focusing on life's simple pleasures (sleeping in, Popsicles in the backyard, taking a walk in the evening) as we finish out these last few days of our summer break.

 

Enjoy!

Holy Sink Surprise, Batman!

(This is the last post that still pertains to our Destin trip.  After a four-day technology conference last week, I managed to snag a wicked virus on my personal laptop.  I’ve since had it completely retooled by a professional, and I’m ready to get back on the blog train.  I’ve got a lot piled up, so brace yourself for an onslaught of end-of-summer posts.)

We had been in the minivan for fourteen hours (minus a few bathroom breaks, a fantastic brunch at Cracker Barrel, and a quick late afternoon nosh at Wendy’s).  Miraculously, the kids had been unbelievably well-behaved in their car seats.  They played their Leap Pads.  They colored.  They watched DVD’s.  They were—in a word—good. 

We needed that.  We really, really needed that.

Because there was something ominous waiting for us at home.  We could never have predicted it, nor prepared for it.  Our house had been waiting for us for a week now, ceiling fans motionless, air conditioner turned off, with the slight musky odor of an unlived-in building pervading the air. 

After fourteen hours on the road, we were exhausted.  Our dirty clothes were shoved into suitcases.  Sand littered the bottom of the van.  Our Florida tans had turned our skin slightly crinkly.  We wanted our own beds, a long sleep, and the chance to reclaim our normalcy. 

It was almost 9 PM when we finally pulled into the driveway.  Both kids were unbuckled and on the front porch before I could blink.  Yeah, they were ready to be home.  Once inside, they ran around happily while Erik carried in our stuff.  I wanted to take baths, but Hudson was starving and requested scrambled eggs and toast.  After a cursory glance at our fridge and pantry, I was amazed that we actually had eggs and bread. 

I instructed him to wash his hands in the bathroom, and I began to make a quick late supper.  Thank God my little man chose the left sink for his hand-washing, because the right-side sink held nothing but trouble for us, though we didn’t know it yet.

I made scrambled eggs and toast.  I sat with my son at the kitchen table and let the tranquility of home settle around me.  I chose not to remember the scuttling sounds I’d heard in our attic before departing for our trip.  We had assumed it was a nest of mice (though with all those annoying feral cats that our neighbors feed and encourage, it’s a wonder any mice could survive our neighborhood).  I just wanted to finish up this meal, complete baths, and go to bed.

Then I went into the bathroom.  I saw Hudson had left his hand towel strewn across the sink.  I went to pick it up.  I noticed a dark blur in the right-side sink.  I let my brain process that, and then I screamed. 

This is what I saw:

 

 

It wasn’t hanging upside-down.  No, it was curled in a ball in the middle of the drain.  It wasn’t moving, and I didn’t care if it was dead or alive.  It was a bat.  In my house.  In my sink.  I knew instantly that it had come from the attic, and that I had been hearing its little wings beat instead of baby mice those last few weeks.  I had hoped that by ignoring the problem it would go away, but instead it had ruined my homecoming from Destin.  Fabulous.

Erik took the news less well than I did.  He was ready to bolt from the house to the nearest hotel and pay for one more night away from home.  But once I settled down, I knew I wasn’t leaving yet.  This was my home, and I wanted to sleep here. Plus, I thought the bat was dead.  While Erik spouted statistics about rabies and shots, I got a couple of big spoons and a Ziploc bag.  How hard could it be to dispose of a dead bat?

It stank. Badly.  It had to be dead, right?  I secured my Ziploc bag inside an old plastic pitcher and held both spoons steadily in my hands.  I was moving in for a scoop-style method and felt pretty BA that I was handling this situation better than my husband.  Then I actually touched the thing, and it HISSED at me!

It was ALIVE!  In my sink!  In my house!

I flew from the bathroom, the spoons clattering to the floor behind me.  I slammed the door shut and informed my family that I wasn’t sure we should be sleeping in the house.  What if there were more upstairs?  After some speculation, we discussed our options and then called my parents.  It was nearly 10 PM by now, and we needed somewhere to crash. 

Still no baths.  Still in our fourteen-hour-traveling-clothes.  Still thankful my parents live less than five minutes away.

 --------------------------------------------------

So that really happened.  We had arrived home on a Saturday night, which meant that the next day was a Sunday, and it was impossible to get ahold of any reputable pest-control people.  Luckily, my dad knew a guy who ended up giving us quite the 411 on our little bat situation.  (1) Most pest control businesses won’t mess with bats.  (2) This guy had already been contacted by several of our neighbors, who had also had bat problems.  (3) Apparently a nearby church had similar bat problems and did a sweep of their bats, sending them out into our neighborhood to find alternative housing.  (4) My next-door-neighbor had recently purged nearly fifty bats from his chimney.  (5) In the end, my own father had to use a special tool to remove our single bat from our bathroom sink.  I’m not sure what he did with it afterwards, and I’m still not sure I want to know.

Here’s something you don’t realize when you have a bat in your house.  That bat itself isn’t really the problem.  It can be removed and forgotten rather easily, but it’s the lingering threat of additional bats that really wreaks havoc on the mind.  How many bats were actually in our attic?  Could there be more lurking away, just waiting to appear in our bedrooms in the middle of the night?  You’d be surprised how little we slept during the next week or so, waiting to hear those similar tell-tale signs of bat wings fluttering up in the attic.  We even went so far as to find the actual hole where our bat had escaped into our bedroom and then down into our bathroom.  How did we know?  There were tiny bat turds underneath the hole.  Eek!  So far, nothing new has surfaced, but I’m not sure I’ve had a full night’s rest since finding our sink surprise, and I’m not sure I’ll ever fully recover from the shock of it.    

Destin Wrap-Up

Well, as you can see, we had a fantastic time in Destin, Florida. 

This was the kids' second time to see the ocean (we spent one day on Daytona Beach last year during our Disney trip), but it was really their first opportunity to experience the beach lifestyle for an extended period of time.  Although a week-long trip with young children is never the easiest kind of vacation, it was certainly worth it.  We made wonderful memories and got to spend time with Erik's family in a relaxing getaway.

I even got to check-mark some very important items off my summer to-do list: Get a tan.  Read some books.  Renew my spirit.  Check and mark!

 

Best of all, the kids got to play with their little cousin Cy, whom they both adore.  Thank you, Smiths, for a great experience!

 

Fun Festivities

Sometimes, when I travel, my natural instincts are to pack as much fun as possible into every single moment.  I will peruse guides and pamphlets, looking for just the right combination of activities for our family.  Although in Destin I did briefly consider visiting the local aquarium, taking a cruise on a pirate ship, and a few other more pricey interests, I will say that luckily we opted out of those options.  Instead, we focused more on relaxing on the beach and swimming with the kiddos at their leisure.  Anything else we did was just icing on the cake for us.  And that, I believe, made all the difference!

One thing we knew we wanted to do was putt-putt.  Both Ava and Hudson enjoy this, and there happened to be a really cool place called The Track just minutes from our resort.  It had two courses: The Island Course (think lots of fun water features) and The Mountain Course (plenty of cool caves to keep off the heat).  We played the first option after dinner one evening, then went back the next day after lunch to play the other one.  Since no one else in our travel party wanted to putt-putt, this gave us a nice opportunity to spend time together just the four of us.  Plus, it was a beautiful space to get our golfin' on.       

 

Of course, my favorite moments were those spent at restaurants around the Destin area!  If you know me at all, you're surely aware of my deep love of food. It's always fun to try out new places, as well as revisit familiar beloved chains.  We did a little bit of both during our vacation.  For the kids, this meant a lot of chicken tenders and French fries; neither one of them is a very adventurous eater.  Although I would have liked for them to branch out a bit, especially try some seafood, I had to remind myself that they are seven and four.  If chicken tenders and French fries keep them happy, then so be it.  Plus, we did visit a Mexican and a pizza place, so at least that forced them to try a few new options. 

 

(On a good note: now that we're home, we're back on the healthy train and eating good combinations of food again, so no harm, no foul.)     

 

 

Just for my own sake, here's a list of some of the yummy places we ate.  This is one of those areas that may bore others, but these are the details I enjoy reviewing long after the trip has ended. 

 

Merlin's Pizza (as delivery on our first night there)

Hog's Breath (great atmosphere and BBQ food)

Joe's Crab Shack (always a favorite!)

Shakes (best ice cream and shakes)

Pepito's Mexican (delicious cheese dip!)

TGIF's (Erik's pick, but at least the kids got slushies)

Outback (can't go wrong here)

McDonald's (a quick lunch with the kids)

The Mellow Mushroom (Hudson's favorite!)

Fudpucker's (Ava's favorite!) 

Silver Shells

 

(If you've been reading this blog recently, you might have put two and two together and realized that YES, I did travel to Florida while suffering from a colitis flare-up.  Holy cow?!?  It was certainly a frightening prospect, but I plunged ahead and actually managed quite well.  Without going into specifics, the first half of the week was touch-and-go (with lots of breaks), but by the second half my meds had really kicked in, and I was nearly back to normal.  While it's never easy for me to attempt these things with my condition flaring, I'm glad I did in this case.  We had a great time, and I felt like less of a victim and more of a normal mom on a trip with her family.  So I at least wanted to acknowledge the miracle of that situation before plunging ahead with more chipper details.)

First up: our resort, Silver Shells Beach Resort and Spa.  My in-laws planned this trip and graciously invited us along, so we had none of the usual vacation stressors and instead simply reaped all of the benefits.  Not a bad little deal. ;)  Our resort was right on the beach with a private area for guests only, so it was never crowded and felt very lush.  We had glass walls in our bedrooms with full views of the ocean, plus a lovely balcony with rockers, chairs, and tables.  We were on the eleventh floor, which of course the kids loved.  There was also a magnificent swimming pool; both Ava and Hudson actually preferred spending time there.

Now, much as this vacation was luxurious and decadent, it nonetheless required some kiddo consideration.  It took us a couple of days to create a schedule that would work for us in terms of keeping the kids rested and happy.  Most days, we ended up having breakfast, then swimming in the ocean or pool in the morning.  We usually came back to the resort for a light lunch (although we did go out for lunch a couple of times), followed by a rest/nap as needed.  Ava had more energy and often returned to swim in the afternoon, but Hudson was usually wiped out and spent most of his early afternoons watching TV, playing on his Leap Pad, or taking a nap.  Erik and I traded duties between overseeing these activities, and that worked out really well for us.   

 

Once our swimmers returned in the later afternoon, we took our showers and got ready for our evening festivities.  This always included eating out (my favorite!), plus other fun stuff like shopping, exploring, and playing putt-putt.  More on that later.   

So....

....we went to the beach!

 

Wow! I have a lot of posts to catch up from our recent trip to Destin, Florida.  It was a fantastic vacation with Erik's family, and like our Disney trip last year, I'll be breaking up our stories into multiple posts.  Since I've already completed our photo book (yeah, I'm crazy like that), I'll just be gradually adding things to the blog throughout the week.  Hopefully I won't bore anyone with our many little adventures, but it's so nice to catalogue our memories in that way.

 

In the meantime, enjoy these shots from our last night on the beach.  They are my favorites from the trip and really capture the beauty of our experiences there.  Once I've finished organizing our house and fine-tuning some cleaning, I'll be back with even more.

 

Enjoy your summer!  Fourth of July is almost here as well!  Can't believe how fast this summer is going.