Saturday, July 13... Wave Action!!

Today was by far the WAVIEST day yet!  I guess there are some storms out on the Gulf, and the result for us (today anyway) is FUN waves to ride!  We had a blast!  The only hindrance was the sporadic clap of thunder that would send us scuttling inside to wait a bit.  :-)

We started out today EARLIER than usual... Matthew bounced into our bed at 7:30 (oops - I should've already been up for my run, but I stayed up too late trying to finish "Redeeming Love").  I was NOT ready to get up!  Nonetheless, we finally rolled out of bed and had breakfast (today I had cantelope, blueberries and strawberries with my yogurt and granola... DELICIOUS).  Jeff fried up the leftover pork tenderloin and made egg sandwiches for himself, and the kids opted for cereal this morning (Matthew added peaches, raspberries and blueberries to his!  We're not going to be able to afford to feed this kid much longer!!).  Maddie ate Cinnamon Crunch and just had some peaches BESIDE it.  :-)

I was determined to finish my book today, so when I rolled out of bed I went straight to the lanai to read before breakfast, and I finished... then I had that bittersweet feeling of satisfaction from finishing a long book and the sadness that it's over!  Redeeming Love is quite possibly the best novel I've EVER read.  Such an incredible story and illustration of Jesus' redeeming love and call on our lives.  Loved, loved, loved it.  Can't wait to read more Francine Rivers.

We spent the morning playing games - Chips and then Quiddler.  We played some more games after lunch since we heard thunder right as we were taking our last bites - variations of SET.  We tried going back out to the beach finally, but after about 15 minutes, it thundered AGAIN.  DONE.

We showered and cleaned up, and the kids worked on some school work for the first time since we've been here.  Matthew is writing a book report on one of his summer reading books, and Maddie did some extra practice in her workbook and then started re-reading one of her summer reading books.  I'm so proud of them!

Finally, we ran some errands and were able to listen to "Virals" - that book is soooo good!  We had to run to Office Depot so Jeff could print the tickets for our surprise excursion on Monday (woohoo!  the kids have no idea where we're going!), Publix to get some water bottles for the trip, and then to Enzo's to pick up pizza (voted the best pizza on the island).

We devoured our pizza - it lived up to it's reputation!!  Then we settled in to the chairs in the TV room for some Cake Boss.  Matthew and Jeff squeeze into one chair, and Maddie and I squeeze into another. :-)  At our intermission, we stopped and fixed our nightly Ben & Jerry's.  Tonight we made some milk shakes and I had REAL icecream instead of FroYo.  Living on the edge!!  ;-)

We tucked the kids in with Jesus Calling and Maddie's sweet prayer, and then Jeff and I watched Season 1, Episode 1 of Downton Abby.  Ready to re-watch them all!!