So much for paradise!

     I’ve decided that I’m going to start writing more often; even if it is only to write a few paragraphs of what I’m thinking or what is going on. I’m going to write even if it isn’t something happy and spectacular; after all, how many people’s lives are always happy and positive?

     This weekend was one of “those” weekends. We had all of these plans, everything planned out and it was going to be an awesome weekend. We are in a very pretty area where there is so much to do, mostly with water; at Crystal River – where only a few weeks ago we swam with the manatees. The place we decided to stay was a bit pricier than where we have been staying since we have a membership at Thousand Trails and can stay for pretty close to nothing with our membership. Still it wasn’t a bad price; we just decided since it was a bit more we were going to make sure that we actually do something – have fun that is! 

     Well, we arrived here on Thursday, February 23rd. First we had to set up then we hurried off back to the Orlando area to get our baby Gizmo back to the veterinarian for follow ups and checkups to make sure she was okay. As I’ve stated in a previous post, she has been having blood in her urine and we’ve been very concerned. We are hoping it is just that she has an infection and the antibiotic isn’t working, so the infection is just resistant to the antibiotic that she has been taking. Anyway, it was a long day of driving all the way to Orlando and back! We left about 1:15pm, arrived there about 4:15pm (even though we should have been there by 3:30pm, left by 6:15pm, and arrived back on time to basically watch a little tv and get ready for bed. We figured Friday we could enjoy what the area had to offer.

     Friday comes and my back is killing me! I really couldn’t believe it! The weather was a little weird but definitely not cold or dreary. None-the-less, I thought a little relaxing and resting (i.e., napping with a heating pad, meds, and my neuro-stimulator) and I’d be fine so we could have fun later in the day or at least the next day.  While I rested and relaxed, Frank and the kids went out to see how much the boats and wet suits cost to rent, if there was a way to swim with the manatees without worrying about a boat, etc. They tried to see the manatees from where we saw a bridge and people looking off when we were swimming with the manatees a few weeks earlier. Nothing, from there you couldn’t really see anything they said. So, they come back to the RV and decide to go swimming and swam while I was still resting.

     Saturday came and went with more back pain and worries of Gizmo. We received word that it’s possible that Gizmo could have kidney failure. Not that she does, but that she can have it. Just the thought of that scares us. We aren’t ready to say good-bye. We are truly hoping that this isn’t true and that we’ll have Gizmo for many years to come! The kids had a good Saturday playing and having fun. They had the opportunity to see someone fish for crabs and they had a lot of fun seeing the crabs rush around in the cage! The fisherman catches them, puts them in a cage in the water, and pulls them out as he is ready to eat them! It was interesting to see the crabs up close and personal! I’m hoping to get a picture of them to put with this blog post!

     Since we didn’t get to have as much fun this weekend as we thought we would, I planned a whole bunch of outdoor activities for Sunday. I figured we can walk the trails near Crystal River, go on some geocaches, swim at the pool, and whatever other outdoor activities that came up including fishing (as Brad had hoped)! Unfortunately, we awoke to pouring down rain. We quickly checked the weather and found out that it was supposed to rain for the entire day along with the next day! How terrible! Maybe we should check the weather before we make all of these outdoor plans? We do not get local tv channels; but, we can easily check the internet… we just often times forgot since we are in sunny Florida! Darn it! Hopefully we can come back another time and enjoy this paradise – but for now, we decided to make the best of this awful rainy day by having a movie day (including Puss ‘n Boots) and following that up with a game night! It was great because we ended up teaching the kids one of our all-time favorite games, Spades! The kids have fallen in love with the game, especially Kristi! She has specifically asked if we can play the game every day! So, I guess, this weekend that could have seemed to be such a bad weekend – turned out to be a great moment to be remembered!  :-)