Finally, Vacation begins

Friday September 20, 2013

Last night we picked up Kayna from Gymnastics and Kristi met us there with Bubba (Christian) and all their bags..  We got a phone call from Lynne that Matt had just been in a pretty serious wreck.  Someone rear-ended him and ran underneath his trailer where he was pulling a bobcat (no, not the animal – even though that is what Kayna thought).  He was just banged up, thankfully, but very, very sore.  

So with us, leaving out early we have : Nana, Bop, Mema, Bubba (Christian) and Kayna.  Dan and Genie will head out around 3:00 p.m. today, and Kristi and Seth, Lauryn and Kelsi will follow about 5:00.

We were up early this morning, packed the truck, picked up Mema, and headed out to Jacksonville.  Kayna and Bubba have their headphones plugged into Bop’s Iphone and are happy travelers.  Lunch time – one of our all time favorites that we can’t get at home any longer, Sonny’s BBQ. Yum.

Friday Night – Hotel : Spring Hill Suites; Jacksonville, Florida -

Dinner – We ate dinner at the Seafood Kitchen ( a small hole in the wall diner that has delicious seafood).  Dennis and I ate there many times in years past when we went to the annual Jacksonville Pastor’s conference.   We had to make a quick Wal-mart stop for a few things before boarding the ship in the morning.  After checking out, I remembered we needed change for the Jitney Bus in Nassau later in the week, so Dennis took everyone else to the car, and I went back in to the store.  Dennis (Bop) told Christian (Bubba) they were just going to leave me, and he said “NO”!    When Bop asked him why, he said, “because I wuv (love) her” -  awwww, so sweet J    Back in the hotel,  Christian and Mema played cars while we all waited on Dan and Genie to arrive, then Kristi, Seth, Lauryn and Kelsi, later that night.   

Friday night and Saturday morning, I was able to get a lot of my weekly student messages graded and responses posted so I did not have to buy minutes  until Tuesday night (buying minutes is expensive on the ship. I am used to my Travel Agent Platinum privileges on Princess and Cunard where they are FREE), so no day by day blog – everyone kept me too busy to write each day (not complaining about that, though – loved every minute.  My feet didn’t – but I did).