Spring break

Sometimes you plan trips, you have a destination in mind and you meticulously plan it out, each detail...at least I do.  

Josh, however, is a fly by the seat of your pants kind of guy, some call that spontaneous, I call it nerve racking...

For spring break, we had planned a brief trip to Georgia, but upon a weak moment, I let my control guard down and Josh swooped in with his spontaneously, clever self and cracked my control freak shell as only he can after all these years and so after 15 minute warning, we were calling and reserving a house on the beach of North Carolina.  And within hours of that we were packed and gone for a 11 hour trip. 

I can honestly tell you it was the best place for our family to be at the time.  We needed the sun, sand, and separation from life for a little while.  

 

Virginia Beach

The Friday of Memorial Day weekend around 3:30pm, I ask Josh if he wants to go to Cedar Point the next day, "it's free." I say (for military). He says "do you have anything going on this weekend??"

Nope, nada, nothing planned.... this NEVER happens for us, one of us has something planned ALL THE TIME. He says "let's go to the beach", hmmmmm...."OK..."

We get on the horn, start calling hotels for the next night, we finally find something on the ocean and start packing. We drove until it got to late, stayed in a hotel and started out the next day. Traffic was AWFUL! everyone and their brother had the same idea I think! But we wrestled through and finally got to the beach, it was magical (as it always is). I love the ocean, the sand, the waves all of it!

Here's a view of the hotel to the right and down the beach -


The boys had NEVER BEEN to the ocean, had NEVER knocked over by the waves, had NEVER tasted that salt water, had NEVER built real, honest-to-goodness sandcastles, had NEVER seen a sun rise on the ocean or seen dolphins in the water but that weekend we rectified all of that! We played for hours that first day and then went to an ALL YOU CAN EAT seafood buffet. It was mediocre, but that didn't even matter because we walked the beach after in the dark, and then walked the board walk.


The next day we did it all over again.... and the last morning we were up at 5:45 like everyother day, but this day we actually didn't go in for a while after the sun set, we stayed out in the ocean and played and played.


There was sand EVERYWHERE! and the kids were THROUGHLY BURNT! and the trip ride home was very, very LONG!! But it was worth every second, every moment to take them to Virginia Beach

MIni Vacations

In theory mini-vacations sound fun, you get away for a brief time in the middle of the week, this time without children and with 2 other really cool people (Ryan and Rachael) and enjoy each other's company.. Right? Well apparently if you include horses in the mix, you have exceeded the mini vacation fun and BAM, the bubble burst and you have Vicodin for the next week.. but I digress

Here is the cabin, beautifully 1880's cabin restored, setting alone on a acre of land, with it's own trail.
Wood burning stove, stocked with fire wood, swing on the front of the wrapped around porch, wonderful 6 person jacuzzi on the side of the house. Stuffed animals all around, including a raccoon that didn't look very happy to be there!

The day after arriving we got 6 inches of snow, as we sat in the jacuzzi, the snow melted so fast it was like rain, it was gorgeous sitting there looking at the snow capped trees all around us, joking and laughing over Josh and Ryan complaining about their fingers getting too wrinkled...

We decided to go horse back riding, we went to a ranch about 35 minutes away and decided on the 1hr 1/2 ride, we all got our horses and went to the stables for a "orientation", along the way my horse, Sky, wanted to go see his friend behind the fence, I was moving him toward the stable and he wasn't very happy with me for that and decided to buck a little. Ryan saw it and asked if he'd bucked at me, I said yes, and we laughed and mentioned if I fell to just not hit my head... hahaha I said. After orientation we started on the trail, the trail was gorgeous, it was in the county, up steep hills, through narrow passageways and around streams, Sky bucked again along the way, and he would try to squeeze close to the tree to hit my foot along the tree, I thought to myself, "well aren't you a meanie horse", then we started trotting along, I was in the back and next thing I know, Sky bucked again and I was in slow motion going through the air.
Slow motion, it was the weirdest feeling, I was making a conscious effort while going down to not hit my head and tuck and roll. My shoulder hit first and then my back, but the scariest thing was all the air was knocked out of me.

Maybe you've experienced this before, but I hadn't. I literally couldn't breath, I would suck in and nothing would happen, I flopped around like a fish out of water trying to catch my breath, it was terrifying, all the while doing a mental exam of my body, "could I feel my toes? could I move my feet? legs, fingers? arms?" I was fine, I pulled my back and it took me a while to even get up, I remember telling Josh, just go on without me, I'll just lie here, (I was on the snow floor), of course that's not what happened.

We were about an hour out and that meant we had to get back to the ranch. I don't know what would have happened if it had been a serious emergency, but luckily I didn't need to find out. Josh helped me on the leaders horse and she tried to get on Sky, but Sky was given her problems too (I was secretly relieved to know it wasn't just me). Finally we set off again, and with every single step, it was intense pain. I had to get off the horse once while we were going down a steep hill that was narrow, it was a combo of not being able to sit properly due to pain and just plan fear...

We finally got back to the ranch, I got off the horse, hobbled to the van, layed in the back seats and after medication and Josh and Rachael's help able to get into the cabin and lay down there. Luckily Josh and Ryan got some hiking in, but that pretty much ended our vacation, I felt bad, but if it was going to happen, well I am the magnet for all things clumsy...

Went to the doctor the next day, I had torn muscle fibers in my back, and was layed out and on steroids, muscle relaxers and vicodin for about a week, but feel better now. I think I'll stay away from horses for a while though