Vacations Rock!!

We had a few really great vacations this year! We try to do a few short vacations every summer instead of just one big one. This year we combined and did both.

In May, Jerry, my mom and I went back to Vegas. It was awesome, as Vegas always is. This time we hired a car & driver to take us to the hotel from the airport. Way worth the extra money! We didn't do any shows this time around either. Just kinda' hung out in the casinos. No big wins this trip which was a bummer but, when we ran out of money for the day, we went to the room and watched National Treasure 2 one night and Alvin & the Chipmunks the next. We still ended up with enough comps to get our room and all of meals free plus we had a limo to take us back to the airport. We flew on Southwest for the first time on this trip and it was a great flight both ways.

We decided to celebrate 4th of July differently this year too. We spent it in a huge cabiin in Gatlinburg TN. Britt & Keith drove up the day before the rest of us, did the grocery shopping and had the cabin all set up. Jerry & I, Kaylor, Davin & Carl went up on the 3rd. They had a Midnight Parade. It's the first Independence Day parade held in the country every year. We had a great spot and the parade was awesome! Maliyah seemed to love it even though it way waayyyy past her bedtime. We, of course went shopping and to the dinner show at the Dixie Stampede. Those are 2 can't miss activites anytime we go to Gatlinburg. On the 4th at 9 PM they have a ginormous fireworks display downtown. It was the most impressive I'd ever seen!

Later in July Britt called and said "We're out of school on Friday, let's go to the beach!". Jerry & Keith were going fishing on Friday, Keith had a tournament on Sat, Jerry was working Sat night. Davin and Amber couldn't go so Britt, Maliyah and I loaded up on Thurs afternoon and headed for Gulf Shores. I used the laptop on the way down to find us a cute little condo right on the beach. It was Maliyah's first trip to the beach. Up to this point she had been to Vegas & the mountains so we were excited to see if she liked the beach too. She love love loved the sand! She played in it, tried to eat it, dug it up, mixed it with water, whatever she could do with it. She HATED being inthe ocean though. Not even standing at the edge so it washed over her feet! She wanted it in a bucket, safely away from the water's edge so she could put her shovel in it, dip her fingers in it and lick it off (ICK!!) and mix it with sand, though. We ate dinner out both nights, had great naps in the afternoon and hung out on the beach and by the pool the rest of the trip. It was one of the best beach vacations ever!!

In August we had a big family vacation to Puerto Rico. Amber was working so she didn't get to go but Jerry & I, Britt, Keith & Maliyah, Kaylor, Davin & Carl all caught a flight out of ATL and headed out. Let me just say FIRST CLASS IS THE SHIZZZ!! The flights were great and the trip itself was a blast! We rented a condo on the beach. It was 3 bedrooms with a living room, kitchen and an upstairs penthouse/terrace with a sleeper sofa. Kaylor preferred to think of that as his own little condo LOL We went shopping, sightseeing, visited an old fort on the oceanside in Old San Juan, ate at a small local restaurant with wonderful food. Our last night there we went to a little out of the way restaurant on the beach called Pamela's. That place had the most amazing food ever! The atmosphere was nice, the people were great. It was $$$ but totally worth the cost! Afterwards, Jerry & I took Kaylor, Davin & Carl to a casino at the Ritz Carlton. It was their first trip to a casino. Davin & I played Roulette and 3 card poker. She hit up a couple of slot machines. Kaylor played mostly slots with a few hands of 3 Card Poker. None of us won :-( Except Carl......the boy sat down to play 3 Card Poker for the first time ever and walked away with over $400. Then he went to a $1 slot machine and walked away with over $150. We stared to leave and he ended up cashing in all his chips for a total of $660!! Lucky!!!

We came back on a Sat. night, had Sunday to rest up then everyone went back to work and school. Maliyah and I started hanging out every day and things are still all good :-)

I love vacations. Time away from the norm with my family, making wonderful memories......AND means we're getting closer to Thanksgiving/Christmas again!!!!!!!!

The New Journey Begins.......

So Britt & Amber finished up their academics at Gadsden State this summer. Britt ended with an overall 3.96 GPA, Amber had a 3.34. We were sooo proud of both of them. They filled out about 6 dozen forms, sent in the proper admission work to ask for acceptance to the registered nursing program then they waited.....and waited.....and waited....and waited. FINALLY after about 100 weeks, the girls were at Britt's house and I went out to the mailbox. There it was, the long awaited letter addressed to Amber with a return address of Jacksonville State University School of Nursing and Health Sciences. It was a white letter sized envelope. The writing was black. I held it for a nanosecond then called the girls "THE MAIL CARRIER IS ON HER WAY TO YOUR HOUSE AND THE LETTERS ARE HERE!!!". I jumped in the car and took off up the street to Britt's. We waited anxiously by the mailbox for the carrier to come back up her side of the street. We told her why we were waiting and she said "Yes, I've got your letter" and handed Britt a big 8x11 brown envelope addressed to Britt with the same return address as Ambers. At the same time we all got a sinking feeling. The envelopes were different so obviously they didn't contain the same information. We were right.......Britt's letter started with "Congratulations!"....Amber's started with "Unfortunately". We were all crying. Crying with happiness for Britt, sadness for Amber but mostly for the fact that their journey together would end here. They started taking college classes together in the Fall of '06 right before Britt gave birth to Maliyah. They had done it all together. They were encouragers for each other. They pushed each other to do better. Now it was stopping. They were on their own.

After things calmed down, Amber called the advisor at JSU. He told her that they only accepted 50 applicants...Amber was #54 on the list. He told her that if anyone didn't accept their slot, it would be given to the next person on the list. Again a wait. This time worse than the last.

There were a couple of people in their microbiology class who had also not been accepted. They came home from class a few days later and said the guy who was number 1 on the list got his call. I was at a car dealer with Kaylor on about August 7th or so. My cell phone rang and it was Amber saying "So I need to get my schedule worked out and all because I GOT IN!!!". The advisor had called her at work (big no no to answer her cell phone at work but she knew who it was and was totally not going to NOT answer) She was so excited she talked about a 80 miles an hour!

We went to Fuji Japanese Steak House to celebrate (for the 2nd time, we had already celebrated for Britt). The second they saw each other there, they ran, screaming, jumping....you'd have thought they had won the lottery.

Classes started Aug 28th. This semester they're studying Pharmacology, Nursing Fundamentals and Health Assessment. They're going to classes Mon-Fri 8-3 or so. They leave home at 6:45 every day. They stay after class and have formed a study group with some classmates. They're working so very hard. I know they'll do well. It's going to be a long road...a hard road...but so very very worth it in the end!

Hopefully, if you're lucky, someday after Dec 2010 you'll look up from your hospital bed and see Britt or amber taking care of you. :-)