Summer Happenings

It's been quite a while since I last blogged. Since I will be heading off to school on Friday I figured I had better update this blog and all it's subscribers on what my last month has consisted of. I just finished up working at the Mercantile on Friday and today was my last day at the Whaleback. Now I have 2 days to go to the beach, relax, and of course pack up all my belongings. Since I'm storing a lot at Justin's house I won't have too much to pack up, but it still takes time and takes up a lot of space in my little car.

Yesterday was my dad's day off so we decided to go canoing as a family down Crystal River. My brother had to work, so it actually ended up being just dad, mom, sis, and myself. We drove over to the canoe rental place only to find out we had to take kayaks because the river was too low to take canoes down it. Well, that didn't put a damper on our day and soon we were being pushed off the river bank into the Crystal River, without a guide to help us navigate our way through the wild and rushing 7 mile river.
As we looked back with smiles towards the camera we didn't know what was just up ahead...
Those may look like friendly trees, but they were really not nice! They tried to tips us over, turn us around, and get us stuck. I did have to feel sorry for them though because I'm sure they were just lonely and feeling abandoned, or perhaps they were just getting a little old.My dad may seem like a pretty tough, "has it all together", "cool in the face of danger" type of guy but obviously this river just got to him. Thankfully we all made it through the winding river with fond memories, wet jeans, sore arms, and tight abs.

Another episode in the life of Jess consists of sending her parents off on a cruise. Now, I didn't wrap up a gift certificate for a cruise and say, "Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad." But what I did do was make a trip to the dollar store to buy them a few essentials for their cruise. These included:Swim float-ies for them to use in the pool (or give to kids in Jamaica). Dad's was a blow-up vest and mom's was a monkey ring.
Postcards of places from home so they can show their cruise-buddies what their home looks like.

A photo album with Sponge Bob on the cover where they can keep their cruise pictures (can you believe mom's actually going to use it?). We also made them a card and bought them ponchos because as of now hurricanes are hitting the areas their cruise is cruising to, but they should be over by the time my parents get there.

One last recent summer memory/tidbit I had to share is that we have a few butterfly bushes in our yard and the butterflies have finally found it. This summer we must have 20+ butterflies that flutter from flower to flower. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap a few pictures since I had my afternoon off.