Girls’ Vacation
Are y’all ready for vacation? Yeah! We’re spending five nights there. I’ve never been to the Keys. I didn’t know they were islands. “Las Islas” means islands in Spanish.
Danielle and I talked about Danielle’s health and thought a family vacation would be great. We’ve been through so much with her doctor’s appointments. A trip would take her mind off things. So, I booked a trip to Florida, and we’re leaving this week.
I love seeing blue water. We’re taking precautions to stay safe from COVID, and I think Danielle will benefit from this time away because she deserves it. The girls are excited to go to the beach and do fun activities like snorkeling and visiting the Everglades. Maybe we’ll see dolphins.
The kids are excited, but taking them on vacation is always a risk. The priority is Danielle. I want to give her a great vacation. Hazel has an eye appointment coming up. She’s been wearing an eye patch, but we’re not great at reminding her to wear it every day.
Hopefully, it’s enough to make a difference in her eye strength. These appointments are stressful, with the chance of another surgery.
Here we go with packing again. I’m such an over-packer. Do you pack all your thongs, Crystal? Oh, I’m bringing my thong. Wear that in front of the kids? I wear mine backward. It fits better.
Look how cute this fish market is. These big tanks must be for lobsters. Let’s go look. We have a few more days left in Florida, and we’re trying to make the best of it. Today, we’re taking the girls to a dolphin rehabilitation center, but first, we’re checking out this local fish market for dinner.
Everybody pick one. No, don’t pet them. They’re not petting creatures. Hazel wants to kiss that. Ew, come here. I like lobsters, but I don’t like eating them. I want to name the lobster “Buddy.” Did you catch one? Just catch it with the net.
I haven’t seen Hazel turning her head lately, but sometimes you can tell she’s struggling with her vision. Like at the bird sanctuary this morning. There’s another owl in the back. Can you see him? No, still don’t see him. Come over here, Hazel. Let Hazel get through. She can’t see.
This eye patch wasn’t meant to cure Hazel’s vision problems, and we don’t know what to expect from these appointments. Our mom used to tell us octopus was fried mozzarella. That’s a good one. It’s not alive. Throw it on Parker.
Can I hold it? Hazel, you can hold it now. Take a bite. Does that look like cheese to you? It seems like it would taste like cheese. Why are we still on that? Look at that, Hazel. This is shrimp. We eat shrimp. They’re going to bite. You want to take them home? Sure. Show your sisters.
Hi, you guys. My name’s Anna. I’ll be with you today. You want to look at the dolphin? Yeah, come on down. We wanted Hazel to have her own big girl experience, so Adam took her to learn how they rehabilitate dolphins, and the rest of us went to see some dolphins.
Since we’re going snorkeling tomorrow, this dolphin center is a great opportunity to show the girls that not every ocean animal is a scary shark. We’re turning you into dolphin trainers. This is Luna, a 5-year-old dolphin. When the dolphins splashed us, she got us good.
Blakye wants to be a vet, so this is a step forward. Blakye, we do tons of husbandry, which is vet care. The first thing we’re going to do with Bob is brush his teeth. That’s a lot of teeth, isn’t it? Dolphins have around 80 to 100 teeth. If he didn’t want to do it, he would close his mouth or swim away.
Let’s do his eye drops. They help lubricate his eyes. Blakye, hold this about an inch away and put a drop in. Perfect. You’re hired. Blakye, you’re going to be a great vet one day.
This is one of my favorite things I’ve done this whole trip.
Come on, girls. Let’s decorate. We need to get everything done before Dee comes back. We’re surprising Danielle with a special anniversary dinner. We have a short time before she comes back. It’s our last night in Florida. I had my sister Blakye take Danielle out shopping so we could all decorate.
Mommy’s going to be home soon. I hope tonight shows Danielle that we all love her and she doesn’t have to do everything on her own. She just got here, y’all. Go give Mommy your flowers.
What are y’all doing out here? I wanted to do something special for you. This will be our 15th anniversary. You’ve been The Rock for our family, and it’s been amazing. This is just the beginning of the next 15 years. I love you.
It’s weird to think we’ve almost been married 15 years. We’ve grown and learned a lot. I never imagined our life would look like this. It’s definitely been the best 15 years of my life.
