Family Fun

Yesterday, our family returned from a much needed summer vacation.  We stayed for 5 days at a house on Anna Maria Island.  The house was perfect for our family.  It was located literally one block from the gulf, had two bedrooms, was decorated adorable, and had an amazing pool.  My (Kelli's)  parents  came for 3 of the days which made the trip enjoyable and also easier . 

 On Wednesday, Rick and I enjoyed taking the kids to the beach for some body surfing.  The boys really enjoyed using boogie boards and Bekah liked being in the water with her daddy.

On Thursday, my parents arrived at the beach house.  We were thrilled that they were willing to drive 8 hours for a three day vacation with us!   Rick took my dad out fishing on Thursday afternoon which turned out to be quite the fishing experience for both my dad and Rick.  

 Rick hooked into a huge tarpon which he ended up fighting for 2 hours.  My dads job was to drive the boat as Rick fought the fish. I am glad to see that the chemo has not weakened Rick's drive to catch a big one.  Rick tells this story much better than I do...but the quick version is that Rick was fighting the fish, when all of sudden his line went slack, and he actually thought he had lost the fish but really the big tarpon was trying to get away from a much bigger fish that was trying to eat him.  When Rick realized he still had the fish on, he reeled as fast as he could until he finally landed the fish!  The tarpon was missing his tail and was bleeding everywhere in the boat.  Rick thinks that the tarpon was probably attacked by a  shark.  WOW!  Check out the pictures!

Friday morning Rick and my dad spent a few hours fishing but unfortunately there was not as much excitement as the day before.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the inter coastal, swimming, snorkeling and of course eating!  We seem to do alot of eating on this trip.  It seemed like we were either in the boat, swimming, or eating.  

Saturday morning my mom and I took the kids out to the beach for some pictures.  Why do I always think....this won't be so hard....yeah right.  One kid smiles , the others frown.  One kids eyes are closed, the others look great.  I bet I took 30 pictures and only a few came out!  I guess I need lower my expectations of a 5, 4, and 2 year old!  

We spent the rest of the day relaxing at Egmont Key.  The boat ride out to the island was uneventful.  The guys dropped my mom, me and the kids off at the beach for a few hours while they went fishing....again no real action.  We spent the morning playing in the water and again eating!  

We tried several times to also get a family photo and this is the best we got!  

We had an amazing vacation!  We are really appreciative to our new friends who let us rent their beach house for these few days!  We are now all relaxed and sun kissed!  

The last thing I would like to ask from all of my readers is to remember to pray for Rick and his dad.  They are currently in flight to Indiana for Rick to meet with the doctors at Indiana University Hospital tomorrow morning.  He will have blood work done and another CT scan.  We should get the results from the test tomorrow afternoon.  We are praying that the cancer is GONE!   I feel a little anxious over the whole thing but God continues to comfort me with his word and through many of you.  Thank you all for the sweet encouragement!  I will update the blog as soon as we receive news!