It’s been a long time since I’ve had a flying dream. The one where you are soaring through the sky with the birds, cutting the clouds in half, arms outstretched. I remember them, however, with vivid clarity. Don’t you? Flying dreams are the best. Hasn’t there been a time in your life when a child has asked you the question, “If you could have one super power, what would it be?” Of course you answered…..To Fly! This week…..I flew. Not in an airplane. No. It was just me…500 ft up in the air, soaring through the sky with the birds, cutting the clouds in half, arms outstretched. I went parasailing…and it was fantastic! I wasn’t really nervous, at first.  Especially since my younger nieces and nephews were going also. I figured, if they could do it certainly I could do it. Right? With 12 of us going, we filled the boat. That made for a really fun trip. The guys at Gators Parasail in Madeira Beach were super nice and the trip was a success because of them. I watched several pairs from our group go up, and they all came back down safe and sound with huge grins saying how awesome it was. How peaceful it felt up there. They told stories of seeing dolphin and sea turtles. I couldn’t wait for my turn. Next thing I knew I was being harnessed into nothing more than seatbelt straps with some metal clips on them. As they told me to make my way to the back of the boat, sit here, hold there, I found myself questioning if the chords of the parachute were tangled….  is that thing suppose to look like that?…..and does this go this way?….Are you sure? It was silly, really. They...

“I’m sure there will be many stories that come out of this trip. Even if it rains on us, bears eat our food, and we come back with ticks and a horrible case of poison ivy….it will make a great blog post, right?” 1. It rained on us, a lot. 2. No bears, but raccoons tried to eat our food. 3. We came back with 1 tick…so far. 4. Thankfully, no poison ivy. It was quite an adventure, and the weekend didn’t disappoint as far as stories go. We came back with so many great stories. I think that may be the point of camping after all. So that the next time you camp, you can say, “remember the last time when…….” Here is what we will remember. Going camping takes a lot of preparation. You have to think about every little detail, every thing you will need while you are gone from clothing down to dish soap. The frustrating thing is, you need all of that weather you are going for one night, or one week. We packed more food than we needed, and were on our way. FYI…it’s important to have a few empty bottles with tight fitting lids in the car when traveling a long distance…especially when traveling with boys. I’m just saying. We arrived at Juniper Springs Campground at around 5 pm. It had been clear on the entire hour and thirty minute drive, until the last 20 min when it started raining. Of course it did. When I pulled up to check in, I tried not to read into it when the ranger asked me what other adults where with me. None, I said. You are by yourself with the kids? When I said yes, she gave me a long...

Sleeping bags, tent, pillows and clothes. batteries, flashlights, a lantern that glows. Fishing poles, tackle, boat on a trailer. sunblock, bug spray, Owen’s fish scaler Camping chairs, cooler, books to read. no cell phones, computers, there is no...

I don’t know how it happened, but we are coming to the end of summer vacation. We have three weeks left before school starts. Three weeks to fit in all those fun activities that I thought we were going to do while the kids were out of school. Three. Weeks. So what have we been doing all summer? My husband and I have been working. That is new for me this year as I usually don’t work during the summer. I am usually free to be spontaneous, my favorite thing to be, and we go with the flow of the summer breeze. Whichever way it may blow. My kids on the other hand, have NOT been working. Quite the opposite. They have been staying up WAY too late, sleeping until after lunch, and then spending way too much time killing people on the t.v.. Now, I know it’s summer, and it’s ok if they do some of this. However, it really bothers me that they are not out swimming in the pool that NEVER gets used, or playing basketball or something outside. (To be fair, my oldest son does go long boarding very regularly. He is exempt from that complaint.) My youngest son who is 12, even though he is the worst at getting sucked into the virtual world, is the one who most wants to have some sort of an adventure this summer. He has been dying to go camping. He has been asking, no…begging,  all summer to go camping. Our family has camped often. We really enjoy camping. Maybe I should restate that. The boys and I love camping. Todd tolerates it. I think he enjoys it once he gets there and  the work is all done. That’s the problem with camping...

I decided to go in our pool this weekend. It was a big deal. When we bought our house 3 years ago, a pool was pretty high on the priority list. We had a pool at our first house, and the boys and I swam constantly. I used it as a way to wear them out when they where little so they would take naps, or go to bed for the night. It was a great form of entertainment when they had friends over as well. It also made a great babysitter if I needed to sneak in a nap. Oh relax…I’m just kidding.  My point is, we spent a lot of time in the pool. When we sold that house, we lived in a condo for a period of about 9 months before we bought the house we are in now. While we were looking, I remember saying, “We have to have a pool. I can’t have kids in Florida without a pool. What will we do in the summer?” So, we found a house with a pool. However, something happened in those 9 months at the condo. Something changed in the boys. They, outgrew the pool. Now, I don’t mean we had unusually large children, or a bathtub sized swimming pool. I mean…they no longer wanted to swim. “What? What do you mean you don’t want to swim?” It was mostly the older two. They were more interested in hanging out with their friends, riding skateboards, playing video games. I felt bad for my youngest who still did want to go in the pool, but lost his swimming buddies. Swimming alone is not quite the same thing. What…..Me?….No thank you. I just took a shower, and got dressed, and fixed my hair. We...