Life is good.

Vacations have to be one of the best things ever invented. I mean, seriously, vacations are a good thing. The Europeans are definitely on to something with their month long "Holidays".

Our house is great. It's really big (which is a must when traveling with 5 kids, a mother-in-law, a sitter and her sister). The kids love hanging out on the second floor, which, makes the third floor very quiet...which, again, is cool considering the number of kids in the house.

Mark and I rented kayaks for the week. We took them out for the first time yesterday. This being our first time kayaking and all...well, let's just say we had to learn a few things the hard way.

Lesson 1...It may sound like a good idea to push said kayaks out to the sandbar and then climb into them. In fact, it is not. It is actually very difficult for a 6foot 4inch, 200+ pound man to climb aboard a small floating water craft that is being rocked by waves. (It was, however, fairly easy for me... we chalked that up to the fact that I am half the size of the kayak as opposed to the same size as the kayak).

Lesson 2...The appearance of HUNDREDS of cantaloupe sized jelly fish surrounding you on the sandbar as you try to mount said kayaks will do one of two things:

1. Get your adrenaline pumping and cause you to board kayak in record time.

2. Get your adrenaline pumping and cause you to lose all sense of coordination

thus causing you to flip off of the kayak every time you try to board it.

I was up and onto that puppy in a shot. Such grace and skill...I tell you, I looked like an old pro.

My poor husband on the other hand...well, it took him 3 or 4 tries, tries that included flipping off the other side of the kayak, and breaking his middle toe. Yes, he broke his toe. He hit it on the side on one of his vaults over the kayak and back into the ocean. (He is healing now, and was only in severe pain for a few hours).

In his defense, the jelly fish were HUGE and they were EVERYWHERE. We both prayed that we wouldn't tip over amidst them. And, we didn't. Thank you Jesus.

So, today, we went back to the kayak place and registered for a guided tour in the "Blackwater". We should see various wildlife, and learn a few things about kayaking. Hopefully we won't get too close to the alligators.

While at the kayak place, we mentioned the mass amounts of jellyfish. The guy says that the jellyfish that we encountered were Cannonball Jellyfish... and not dangerous. Nope, NOT dangerous at all. He said we could have picked them up and thrown them at each other. Mark, poor guy, broke his toe trying to escape HARMLESS jellyfish.

Ahh, the joy of learning something new.

Oh, we took them out again tonight... we boarded on the beach and rowed out. See, we were paying attention.

In other news...

We celebrated Sophie's 7th birthday on Sunday night. We found a cake at the local IGA grocery store and asked the nice ladies in the bakery to write HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE on it. Let's just say that the friendly people at the IGA were not the sharpest crayons in the box. Mark handed them the cake back, picked up a blank one and bought icing so that we could personalize it ourselves...it was too funny.

We have been having a great time...watching the dolphins, playing on the beach, swimming in the pool, working puzzles, catching sandcrabs, staying up late watching Shark Week and then sleeping in late the next morning, and, the best part, watching our kids enjoy it all just as much as we are.

Life is good.