PBnJ5 Adventures

One never knows what kind of adventure each day will bring. Fort Lauderdale brought a very unexpected challenge. We spend the first two days chilling at the resort and spent most of the time in the pool. We watched the Super Bowl in peace after sending the boys to bed, thankfully. On the third day we were supposed to move sites within the campground as we had a little hole in our calendar that they were able to fill for us. Packing EVERYTHING up and moving 100 yards is a little annoying but I guess better than sleeping in a Walmart parking lot. But Monday morning at about 5:00 one of my worst fear came true. The love of my life is in the bathroom puking his guts out. NNNNOOOOOO! That is a horrible way to be woken up. Luke does not get sick that often especially with a stomach bug and especially the first one to go down. What the heck. So of course my mind starts racing. Food poising from the fridge not working, I thought I threw all of that out. He didn’t eat anything that everyone else didn’t. Crap! Is it a stomach bug? Please God no, that is my ultimate nightmare living in an RV. Okay well lets see how this rides. Poor Luke was sick over a dozen times, fever, chills, just wanting to sleep, feeling like death. Normally not great but not the end of the world. It was sunny we can hang out outside and swim more or whatever we need to do to let him rest, but today was not that day. We had to move sites! So the boys and I take a leisurely stroll, as you do with Zac, over to the office to plead our case. “Please! Is there anyway we can have a few more hours before we have to move, maybe he will stop throwing up long enough to hook up the truck and the 5th wheel.” Ok, we can have till 12 but we have to be out by then because the new people will be there at 1. So we head back to the RV to tell Luke he has 1.5 hours to gather his inner strength and make this happen. I am working on everything I possibly can to be as ready as possible. Toys packed and moved to the new site, rugs folded and moved, stuff shoved in the “garage”, and the slides ready to close. Last thing I have to do, that I have never done, is empty the tank and put away the sewer hose, water line, and power. This is not my domain. I have watched Luke do it several times but I like to stay in my lane, if ya know what I mean, when it comes to that type of stuff. He does it with such grace and ease there is no need to be part of that. Well, today is my lucky day. I am a bit of a stubborn soul and when I decide I am going to do something, I do it. I get it from my mom. So I dive in, not literally, to the poop center. I get the tanks emptied, that is easy, its folding up the dang poop hose that makes me cringe. Not today. I do my best with the “help” of Max to get it unhooked trying not to touch anything of ill-repute, and what do you know, my phone rings. I do not want to touch my phone in my current condition but it is the office, I have to. Miracle!!! They have had a cancellation, they moved people around, and we don’t have to move after all! Thank you Jesus! The best blessing when we needed it the most. Ok crap, literally on my hands, what am I gonna do with my half done mess. Absolutely nothing! It was in a stable and secure state, so I walked away. Luke can deal with that tomorrow. And that he did. He was only down for 24 hours and strong enough to do his “jobs” in the morning. When the other half of your team is not in fighting condition you rise to the occasion when absolutely necessary. But I cannot describe to you my sheer joy when I knew I didn’t have to do it on my own.

So we missed going to the Fort Lauderdale beach, but I will trade a beach day for no one else getting sick! ? Thankfully Luke is good at controlling his germs and doesn’t run around drinking other people’s waters like some other members of our family. We headed out the next day back to Miami.

Last week we were in the North Miami area this week the farm land of Miami. Who knew! We are literally in the middle of tree nurseries and fields. We look out our back window at an apple orchard, and there is fruit on the trees! It’s February! This does not happen were I come from. It has been a wonderful few days at the Miami Everglades resort. We have made some new friends, spent hours in the pool, took great naps, reorganized parts of the RV and had some adventures.

I have always wanted to take an Airboat ride through the Everglades. We can’t be this close and not do it. And we have three little boys who are a touch obsessed with things with large teeth. We had the best time. We saw gators, turtles, birds, beautiful trees and plants, jumping fish, and some very large snakes. The snakes were in cages back at the dock. We were 3 feet away from the gators, thankfully in a boat, and just an FYI, I will never sign up for a survival show in the Everglades. Did you know: the Everglades is actually a huge very slow moving river and home to 1.5 million alligators. Fascinating.

The other memorable adventure was on my sweet mint green Huffy. We had taken a family bike ride on the mile long trail that surrounds the RV resort. Getting everyone on their bikes and moving is a production in and of itself, not to mention the actual riding part. Tucker takes off like a fearless rocket, Max and his sweet training wheels are getting faster but tire easily, Luke pulls a bike trailer with Zac in it and he and I spend our time trying to ride slow enough to not fall over while dodging boys who randomly swerve infront of you and stop with no warning. It doesn’t really get your heart rate very elevated when biking as a family. But we are working on it. So we made it around one time with all 5 of us on a beautiful humid and sticky morning. Luke took one more lap by himself for a touch of a workout. I thought I might be so lucky as well, but alas Max has a hard time letting me do anything by myself. So Luke, Zac, Max and I set out for one more lap. (Tuck was on the playground with friends – don’t stress about that he was fine.) We got about a third of the way around and shocker, Max is tired and can’t manage to make it all the way around. So Luke and the boys take a short cut and I got to finish by myself! 5 minutes of alone time! Of course I beat them back much to Max’s surprise. We take a break and have a great pancake breakfast and enjoy being able to finally eat outside. But of course small boys are always up to something.

This mornings adventure involved Tucker’s bike, our wagon, and a bungie cord. Of course this happens while we are on a phone call with my mom discussing important papers. But it does not take much imagination to figure out that Tucker was trying to pull Max and Zac in the wagon with his bike. Of course 80+ pounds is a bit too much for 46 pound 5 year old to pull. But he tried his hardest. So Max decides he will get out and ride his bike next to the wagon to make sure that Zac is okay. Well, now were are down to 40 pounds and off to the races. I figured for the safety of my sweet baby I better abandon the phone call, grab my bike and get going. I have to give Tucker credit he made it about a third of the way pulling Zac in the wagon which is no small task. He got tired so we unhooked the bungie from his bike and put it on mine. Great, let’s just finish the circle and get back home. We are about half way around and Max melts. He just simply is too tired to peddle his bike any farther. I try all the cheerleading and motivation I can, but to no avail he is spent. Awesome, now what. Tucker was so far ahead that he has now turned around and came back to find us and I have to get creative. Let me just insert here, that we are not alone on this trail. There are several people of the grandparent age walking the trail making comments about how cute everyone is. So I decide Max can ride in the wagon and can drive his bike behind us. So let me spell this out for you: me on my sweet green Huffy, Zac sitting in the wagon, Max kneeling backwards with his hands on the handlebars steering his bike. Don’t forget it has training wheels so it doesn’t tip over. Now I am pulling over 80 pounds in the wagon with a bungie cord and a very noisy caboose with training wheels bobbing side to side. We had to make a couple tricky corners and cross the main road into the resort, but don’t worry, Tucker was out in front of us telling everyone that was remotely near to please get out of our way. Thanks Tuck, I was hoping for more attention. We were doing shockingly well amidst the smiles, snickers, and all out laughs that we are getting along the trail. It suddenly starts to get very difficult to pedal. What the heck! It feels like someone is putting on the brakes. Oh wait, that is Max getting tired of holding onto his bike. He is pressing it up against the back of the wagon so his front bike wheel literally has the brakes on. Me and my sweet mint green Huffy are on the struggle bus. But as I mentioned earlier I am a stubborn soul when I want to be, so I dig deep and pedal as hard as I can, all the while yelling at Max to not run it into the back of the wagon, to no avail. By the time we make it make to the RV my legs are on fire, I am out of breath, and dripping wet. Remember how I said it was super humid, yeah that makes lots of sweat super quick. We pull up and there is Luke lounging in his chair with look of confusion and of course a laugh. We made it and I got the good workout in I was hoping for, not really the way I wanted, but beggars can’t be choosers.

While the adventures this past week have not been grand, except the airboat, they are adventures none the less. We slowed down, relaxed by the pool, healed our bodies and refreshed our souls. We had a great campsite in a field with extra space and green grass for the boys to play in. It has been peaceful and pretty slow. With the exception of our trip to South Beach today, which was so overwhelming in crazy traffic and people, on a cool rainy day, that I didn’t even want to get out of the car (sensory overload) and we just kept driving and came home. We should have stayed with the theme and just hung out at the pool today too.

The lesson that I have been learning this week and leaning into is this: Trust, Peace, Pruning. In reading John 14 and 15 I pulled out these three words. The Bible says to Trust in God, to not be afraid but to have Peace, and from that He will be able to Prune us. To cut away the things that hold us back and to help grow and nurture all of the good. I have such hope in these promises. What a privilege it is to know a God that I can trust, that gives me peace, and molds and shapes me to be even more fruitful in life. That is just awesome. I am enjoying the adventures in my spiritual life as well on this journey.

Well today we head even farther south and check off the biggest item on my bucket list, the Florida Keys! We are excited to have Aunt Tammy coming to join us for a few days and explore the beauty of the Keys.

Live your Adventure,

Julie