Our Holy Days

I hate to write this post. I hate to write it because I know that almost every where else in the country the temperature is way low and the snow is piling up. I feel a little guilty. So read this without any air of bragging - just sharing a little of our fun of late.

We are blessed to have parents who live in a gorgeous corner of the world. We left the north on Monday morning and headed for warmth, beaches, pools and grandparents. By 3:00pm we were in Naples, FL; by 3:07pm the kids had their swimsuits on and were in the pool; by 3:20pm Karis had made friends with a scuba diver practicing in the pool and had started in on her first lesson.


Seriously, 20 minutes into the visit and she's worked her way into free scuba lessons. She was brave. Real brave. And the teacher was oh so patient. The next day Eden and Justin were offered lessons. All three were amazing - going all the way down to the bottom of the pool. Now they can say that they've done something their mother has never done. And for free.

Now, take a little rewind to a few weeks ago when London was having the annual Christmas parade. I planned to take the kids but after a busy day I just couldn't muster up the energy to go. I got out of it by saying that there would probably be a parade in Naples when we visit (I crossed my fingers and hoped that they would forget about parades and maybe even Santa!). Wouldn't you know - Tuesday night was Naples' Christmas parade. It was magical - 2 hours of floats, marching bands, Santa and his beautiful wife Mrs. Claus.


And if you jumped around, danced and looked cute you'd get more candy than at Halloween - only it was like Halloween came to you! Needless to say, we came home with a lot of candy, fake teeth, toothbrushes, flags and even coupons for free Chicken sandwiches and free haircuts (already cashed in by big G!).


I'd like to say that I've been biking, running and enjoying the outdoors in an active way. But the truth is that I worked so hard in the days before coming here that I've pretty much crashed - sleeping on the beach and reading by the pool. And I feel no guilt.

The sun's been shining and promises to continue to do so.
The pool is 90 degrees.
The beach has a hole bigger than a bath tub dug in it - only to get bigger as the week goes on.
We are blessed with a vacation that we can truly call "Holy Days".