Rambo's Rampages...

  Taught himself to swing. Loves it. Every night. 

 Tuesday was our last full day in Florida. Insert all sad emojis here. But before we mourned the end of our vacation we had one more important stop : the beach. (shaaa!) Gulf of Mexico to be specific. Side note-oh my gosh, we swam in the Gulf of Mexico! I know people do that every day but I have never gotten to experience that before. It was super enjoyable to do that as a family together. Who knows if we'll ever make it back. We chose Clearwater where, you guessed it, the water is clear and the sandy beach is a white powder. It felt so good on your feet, and surprisingly, not too hot. The water was AMAZING. The temp was perfect. The waves were perfect. It was perfect. So perfect, in fact, that we got almost zero pictures because we were way too busy enjoying it. Every single one of us had a blast. And the Lord really held off the bad weather for us. The last 3 days of our stay were calling for thunderstorms pretty much all day every day. And though we saw a few bouts in those days

snorkeling / ˈsnôrk(ə)liNG / Learn to pronounce noun the activity or pastime of swimming using a snorkel. "the sea is incredibly clear, which is ideal for snorkeling" "Shaaaaaaaa!" in the words of our shredding, sport bike riding snorkeling guide.  I hear it was quite fun. Unfortunately, we weren't given all the pertinent information like "hey, we don't have enough wetsuits" "or snorkeling gear" "and also the water is only 72 degrees" . I guess I shouldn't be surprised - I'm sure his brain is overflowing with other important info like "ye ye" "shaaa" and "shredding it up". So we didn't all get to enjoy the actual act of snorkeling. (And despite my great uncle instilling ALL that confidence in me that an alligator would leave me alone if I happened upon one, I was actually solidly looking forward to it.) However, we have all gained some totally awesome cowabunga-ish type vocab that we wil

 The past two days have been full! We have gotten to spend time with Ben's extended family on their spring in Okahumpka. Only the 2 oldest kids have been to their home before when they were 2 and 3. We walked them through the guest house where we had stayed then and, of course, they remember nothing about it. So it is really awesome for them, and us all, to spend some time there making memories that will actually last this time. Needless to say their place is beautiful. Aunt Margaret Ann, Uncle Joe, and Cousin Russ were so hospitable and we thoroughly enjoyed the time we got to catch up with them! Their property boasts the deepest natural spring in Florida..... I think. And despite being 160' deep and home to alligators most of us went for a pleasant, totally nonterrifying, completely enjoyable paddle in kayaks. Okay, Ben and Israel did the pleasant, enjoyable, nonterrifying kayak trip. Emma and I hesitantly paddled out, made a circle, and came back before we got eaten alive. R