Five Fabulous Years!

This past weekend was our 5 year anniversary!  It's hard to believe that five years has gone by so quickly!  Since Chris was down in Miami with the Coast Guard, Ethan and I packed up in the car and headed down to see him!  We went out to the Everglades, since Chris had never seen them and has a fascination with alligators.  

We spent a lot of our time at the Everglades Holiday Park, and driving around the 50+ miles of roads going through the Everglades and Indian reservations. 

While I was all prepared to see alligators, wild hogs, snakes, and deer, I didn't expect to see peacocks, but we saw quite a few at the park!  

I am definitely very lucky to have such a great husband who loves Ethan and I so much!  

Batting Down the Hatches...didn't I do this a few years ago?

I don't know if it's just my luck or what, but right before we moved away from Jacksonville (3 1/2 years ago), we got hit by four hurricanes.  Actually, Chris was safe in Mississippi while I was stuck here alone for all four.  Now, after coming back to Jacksonville only 4 months ago, I am experiencing deja vu.  Chris is down in Miami, where Tropical Storm Fay barely brushed him with a few gusts of wind and about 3.8 inches of rain.  Ethan, Inca, and I are up here in Jacksonville, where the meteorologists predict Fay will hit as a category 1 hurricane on Thursday.  Now I am trying really, REALLY hard to remember why we thought it would be a good idea to move back here.  Did the previous four hurricanes not teach me that when Chris leaves, the hurricanes come?  

Chris has called several times to make sure we are okay.  Despite his insistence that I get plenty of sleep tonight to be able to handle everything the next two days, I find myself up at 12:30am completely glued to the weather channels to track the movement of the storm.  It's not that I'm worried, it's just this darn storm has changed course so often since this past Sunday that I'm curious to see where it will go next.  A category 1 usually just means a lot of rain and winds strong enough to knock down tree branches or power lines.  It's more of an annoyance than anything dangerous, especially if the power goes out.  

Fortunately, we are as prepared as I feel we can get with plenty of canned food, water, dog food, flashlights, candles, batteries, and a healthy supply of movies and books to outlast the bad weather.  We are also fortunate enough to have wonderful friends among the Coast Guard wives and in our church who have called or stopped by to make sure we will be okay or invite us to stay further inland with them.  (We are only 10-15 minutes from the beaches, but not in the evacuation areas for anything smaller than a category 4 hurricane.)  

Hopefully, I'll wake up in the morning and the storm will have changed direction or died down....we'll see!! 

Back to Reality

Okay, as many of you know I have become addicted to the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer.  It all started about 8 months ago, thanks to a great friend (thanks, Joy!).  I was very excited to get the newest, and apparently last, book in the series that came out last Saturday.  I dove right into reading it and finished it early Sunday morning (thanks to my wonderful husband who put up with my nightlight in bed all night).  Without ruining it for those who haven't finished it yet, I won't say much.  But it wasn't quite what I was picturing, and felt ambivalent.  So, as with all of the Stephenie Meyer books I've read so far, I decided that I needed to reread it.   I just finished my second go-around.  I am pleased to say I now love the book, and am only sad I don't have a fifth book to wait for.  But.....there's always the movie coming out!!!  I wonder how many times I'll have to see that!  (Poor Chris....he's already sure I'll have to drag him to see it at least once.  He still doesn't get why I am in love with a series about vampires and werewolves....Oh dear...how do I explain?!)