Journal

Monday, April 14, 2008 10:26 AM CDT

Maybe it’s about time to write again.

It’s hard to come here when there’s nothing *medical* to report plus my days just seem to be incredibly full with the daily goings-on of a family of six.

When I left you last, I had lost my camera. It was difficult to be without my *eye* and one of the reasons I took a step away from writing ... a good story is always better with the photos that capture it’s essence.

But that all changed over the March Break. As a very last thought, Paul whisked us all away to Myrtle Beach for seven days. Crazy I know, but that’s typically how things go under our roof as best made plans never seem to come to fruition. Thursday night we were undecided as to what we were going to do and by 5:00 am Friday morning, we were packing the van and on our way. And it was F-U-N!

The older boys had been on long - two day long - road trips before, but we didn’t know what we would be up against with the King and lil Princess in our midst. Miraculously, they were awesome ... the first day, that is. We did have to suffer through the *When are we going to be there?*, *How much longer?*, and *When’s the next rest stop?* but overall we managed quite nicely. We made it to our home away from home right on schedule - 4:00 p.m. Saturday.

When we arrived, the weather was sunny but cool. However, we didn’t much care as we had just left the most wicked snow storm of the season back home (we travelled through some of the snow, sleet, freezing rain and yuck). We could easily get used to this weather. As the week progressed, the temperatures rose making it possible for the kids (and Paul) to take a dip in the ocean.

We took in many of the sights that Myrtle Beach is known for ... Ripley’s Aquarium, Alligator Adventure, Broadway by the Beach, Nascar Racing, the Carolina Opry, yummy restaurants, mini golf galore, and of course, the Beach. Our mornings were spent dawdling along the beach either digging, shell seeking, making sand castles, burying people, playing frisbee, playing volleyball and of course, making our daily trek to Starbucks for a decent cup of coffee. For all of us, that’s what made the trip so great. On our way home, we asked everyone what they loved the best about our trip and unanimously it was *our mornings on the beach*. It just goes to show that it’s the simple things in life that we treasure most.

Part of the reason we took off on a mini vacation was Paul and I were celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. We kept flip-flopping between going somewhere *adult* or *family friendly*. And in the end, family won. Anyway, on the actual day of our anniversary, I had gone shopping with my friend Christine (she’s our neighbour and they very, very last minute decided to follow us there) to buy an outfit for the Opry that night (remember we were very last minute packing). At the same time, Paul slinked out to buy us a BRAND new CAMERA ... Digital Rebel XTi. I was flabbergasted when he presented it to me on the beach, of all places. I couldn’t believe he did it! My immediate reaction was to have him take in back, but I’m thrilled that he insisted on keeping it. So now, I have my *eye* back and have been experimenting a bit. I’ve been reading all the hints that photo gurus like Scott Kelby and my all-time favourite self taught photography wonder herself, Ree (www.thepioneerwoman.com), have to offer. It’s a huge learning experience. Who knows, you never know where this will take me.

April is a relatively quiet month for us. Hockey ends, swimming ends, baseball begins and somethings like Kumon (for Lucas) continue. Maybe that will mean more time to write ...

Anyway, thanks for checking in. Eventually, I hope you come to visit us at our new blog. Email me for the address.


Frances (and the crew)

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