Layla-Bayla, Days 3, 4, 5 and 6

We could have stayed forever! There were dinners out, dinners on the boat, snacks from Fresh Market, fireworks, boating, museums, the beach, and the zoo. On the boat, there were talent shows, beauty padgents, games and swinging from the port hole. There were crabs and shells and barbies and movies.

There was ALOT to do in six days and she made the most of it!

Here's a few pics from the rest of her trip!

The Lord has done great things for us! We are glad! Psalm 126:3

Layla-Bayla: Days One and Two

I just bubble on the inside when I think of writing this post. Layla (our 6 year old granddaughter) was able to come down to the boat for a few days this summer, and SHE WAS A HOOT!

It's amazing how amazed a 6 year old can be over things that we, as adults, take for granted.

First let's start with the plane ride...

Once we're 40,000 ft. in the air - "Ba, I never knew the earth was this big"

In route, over the ocean, in Florida, when lighting struck - "Ba, do you think Mama, Brynn, and Cale are okay. They don't like storms." (Remember they are in TN)

We're flying over Ft. Lauderdale after dark - "Ba, I never knew Florida was this beautiful at night".

Ge and I both smiled and smiled and smiled at her innocence, wonder, and openness to the world.

On the plane, she decided that she wanted to be a pilot when she got older. Ok, not a bad idea. However, the decision to be a pilot was further cemented when we got to the airport, and she saw that there was a pilot Barbie. Thinking we could get one cheaper at another store, we told her not yet. Bad decision....

We spent half of the next day going to stores to find "Pilot Barbie". (By the way, it doesn't exist outside of the airport, so Layla was happy to get Dog Sitter Barbie, which she played non-stop with for the entire trip).

Our next quest was for a life jacket.....pink, by the way! After looking at several stores, we had to have a LONG TALK that pink life jackets do not exist in Miami. Although, there was a little crying (I mean, who wouldn't cry if their life jacket couldn't be pink), she settled on a periwinkle one with pink and a girl water skiing on it. AND,.....we might as well throw in some new sunglasses for the boat, too!

So, as you can tell, day one and two were, mostly, spent shopping!

Next we're off to the fun....




In every thing give thanks...1 Thessalonians 5:18

Sisters

Let me start by saying that my sister is a "girly-girl".

Next, let me say that she was, also, my first "guest" on the boat in Florida!

I knew it would be interesting from the beginning when she showed up and her suitcase dimensions were 3 feet by 2 feet by 18 inches, and the things on her feet weren't, lets say, exactly what I would call "boat" shoes.

Did I mention that my sister is a "girly girl"? She doesn't go anywhere without a blow dryer, curling iron, and a bag of makeup.

Our boat, on the other hand, is much more of a "camping" experience. You know, the shower optional, same clothes for 3 days, mirror and electricical plug in different rooms kind of vacation.

As always, she and I had TONS OF FUN! She and I don't have "to do" anything to have fun together. We just, simply, like being in each other's presence.

So, in honor of my "girly-girl" sister and our "first boat guest", I make this post.

My sweet sister, I'm looking forward to many more trips with you!

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly...1 Peter 4:8

The Weekend Alone

Gary is in Florida.

I am in Tennessee.


No new news, right?

However, he has Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. I have Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off. So, it seems so useless for him to be in Florida and for me to be in Tennessee.

Really, I wish I was going there. He is moving the boat to a new slip, checking out the town of Coconut Grove, going to a new Marine store to buy the stuff we still need for the boat...fun stuff. Stuff we like to do together.

I will, definitely, go down next weekend.

I know it's the "adult" thing to do - to stay apart this weekend, but it is NOT FUN!

So, I'm, officially, turning the blog over to Gary. It's his turn to post about his life in Florida this weekend.

I hope for adventures!

Matt 28:20 I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.

The Last Day

I was hoping that I would have pictures to add to this, and the last few, blogs. But, guess what? They're in Florida and I'm not. So, I decided to go ahead a post about our last day and add the pictures later.

We only had about 20 miles to go to get the marina where Gary had decided to "make his home" for the next month. We thought that would be an easy 20 miles, but NOOOOO....we were wrong.

We had stayed in North Miami the night before, and we never realized how massive Miami waters would be.

The first "massicivity" (is that a word) was the Port of Miami. You know those interstates that have about 25 bridges going "every which direction". Well, trust me, Miami makes those look like "a dirt road." So not only did we have to go under bridge, after bridge, after bridge, but boats were coming from every direction and there were "so many options" on which way to go.

The ICW goes away a couple of times and we are in "who knows where", and then, we were back in the Intercoastal again.

Once we got through that, we hit open ocean to Coconut Grove. That wasn't scary...Just BIG!

It's a little overwhelming to see the big, wide ocean in front of you and know you're going "that way".

Through some "snazzy" GPS monitoring, Gary found Dinner Key Marina, where he would be staying and we began our decent into the Marina.

What we didn't know was the Dinner Key is the training center for Olympics sailing.

Oh My! There were, what seemed like, 1000's of sail boats. They were like flies, coming up on us all of a sudden, swarming around us. We were engulfed. Unfortunatley, we were so overwhelmed with navigating through them that I forgot to get a picture.

Then they were gone as quickly as they came. I still don't know where they went.

Now, we're inside the marina, and we are told to dock in Slip 56. Okay, sounds easy enough. Once again, not so. There are 580 boats "living" at Dinner Key, and we looked like a "little fish" in a "big pond."

It took us an hour to get the boat in the slip, the boat tied up properly so that we wouldn't be back in the ocean during high tide, and then we were there. (picture of "there" below)



A hot shower and a Chart House dinner later, we were relaxed, even happy.

Monday, I had to leave him. Not too happy about that, but, for the that day, we enjoyed the moment and be were thankful that we, not only, made it, but LOVED it, and are looking for to whatever God brings to our future in Florida.

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Thanks, Cala and Craig...

Just wanted you to see the glasses you gave us. When I washed dishes, I washed 7 of the 8, so they are, definitely, being used.

Ge wanted to "model" with them! Exciting, huh?

Should I Be Scared?

Ba: Should I be scared, right now, because I'm not.

Gary: No, but you should be tense.

Ba: Good, because I am.

That was our life on Saturday.

We traveled 35 miles in 6.5 hours. It was COLD, RAIN, AND FOG!

Fortunately, we were in manatee zones for most of our travels. That's good because boats can only go at idle speed. That's bad because it takes 6.5 hours to go 35 miles.

Things didn't get tense until the Intercoastal and the open ocean met. The only thing, between the two, was a sea wall.

As Cara says about Gary - he has a plethra of useless information...The sad part is that I think it was a compliment.

Anyway some of Gary's information regarding the ocean and the Intercoastal meeting was this...when we get close to the open ocean the air will cause fog (I can't remember why), and will move into our path. BOY, was he right.

The other unfortunate piece of the puzzle was that collision of air hit right when we were beside six, yes, six, cruise ships. We looked really small when sitting beside really big cruise ships. Thank heavens, they were sitting still. Between the fog and the cruise ships, it was, to say the least, intense, but we kept plugging and got through it.

We didn't make it as far as we had hoped, which means we have another 20 miles to go on Sunday. But, then we should be at our "first" final destination - at least, for a month.

Psalm 37:7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.

75 L O N G Miles

I think, Friday, we learned, first hand, what we've been reading for so long. You cannot manage or depend on a "time-schedule" when you are on a boat.

On Thursday, we went 70 miles in 5 hours.

On Friday, we went 75 miles in 8 hours.

Remember, the map I showed on Thursday, the one we had to navigate through. The WHOLE trip Friday was like that. We saw some really cool cities...but ALOT of cities...I think that was part of the hang-up.

To name a few of the cities we saw...Jensen Beach, Stewart, Juniper, North Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Pompano Beach, Boynton Beach, and ended up in Delay Beach (really close to Boca Raton).

We didn't realize how exciting bridges could be until those are the only things, besides water, to see!

We got R E A L L Y nervous when we took our 10 ft. boat under an 10 1/2 foot bridge. I drove...can you believe it....so that Gary could watch to make sure we weren't going to hit the bottom of the bridge.

We, also, came to a 6 ft. bridge and had to wait, in idle, for 15 minutes for it to open so we could go through. We've heard about waiting HOURS for bridges to open. We were happy that we only had to wait 15 minutes.

The most exciting things, though, were (1) IT WAS WARM....74 degrees and our first day of warm weather since we've been gone.

(2) We took the boat into the open ocean. I cannot put into words how amazing, terrifying, glorious, and nail-biting that was - all at the same time. The water was soooooooooooo blue it looked fake, like a water ride at Universal. But it wasn't fake. It was God, and I found myself in awe of Him and His creation, yet again.

(3) We backed into a slip. Yes, we, actually, parked in a slip. Oh wait, docked in a slip....I want to use the "right" boating lingo :) The dock hand said he would have never known that it was Gary's first time. He said - "usually when people tell me it's their first time, it's like watching bumper cars." Gary didn't hit a single bumper. He just eased us right in!

We ventured out of the marina tonight - our first time - to eat on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. They told us it was a famous street. I've never heard of it. (unless it's the one in Monopoly) Anyway, we found this great Irish restaurant. I had to talk Gary out of eating "black pudding" after I asked our server what it was. She said it was blood made into pudding! YUCK! I refused to get back on the boat with him if he ate it, so he, graciously, substituted it for Irish bacon. Oh, well.....just a little trivia.

We are only 1/2 day to Miami. That will be our destination for Saturday.

It's raining, and dark, and cold out there this morning. We have all our windows up. Hopefully, that will block most of the rain. However, it should be another interesting day with more lessons learned.

Keep you posted!

P.S. Pictures won't upload. Will add them later!

Genesis 1:4 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

Dolphins, and Islands, and Scares, Oh My!

As Wednesday was uneventful, Thursday was quite the opposite. We traveled another 70 miles, and I didn't even have to wear a coat.

Gary still wore gloves and a headband, but the weather quickly headed from "bearable" to "nice."

First the Dolphins....WOW, is all I can say. They were EVERYWHERE!

I'm sure we saw fifty or more during our 5 hours of cruising. The first pod we saw, (I thought it was a gaggle, but Gary said that is geese) we weren't prepared and couldn't get pictures. The second pod we saw, we were able to get pictures and a video.

The video is awesome, but we have to wait until we get home to upload it! They are swimming in the wake of our boat!

Now the Islands...it's time for a boating lesson.

Since we are in the water, everything looks the same and there aren't street signs to tell us where to go. So, we have charts that we follow to get from one place to another.

This was one of our charts today.

See all of the land, and numbers, and markings. We had to navigate through all of that without running the boat into anything except water. At one point, we were cruising along, and felt a little "bump". We had gotten ourselves into 1.8 feet of water, and THAT IS NOT GOOD in a boat!

It was difficult and beautiful - all at the same time. There was an island with about 25 houses on it, just sitting in the middle of no where.

My favorite passage today was the Sebastian Inlet. It looked like Nantucket, but southern! I think I even saw Jillian (inside joke for my friends).

Now for the scares...I don't think the dock should be the scariest thing that you encounter when you are boating down the Intercoastal Waterways. However, today it was.

The dock hands tied us up for the night, and nonchalently said, "when you want to get off your boat, you can just climb up this ladder."

Not paying much attention, we, both, said "okay", and sat down to watch the sunset.

Dinner time rolls around and we decide it's time to get off the boat. (Here's where the OH MY! comes in).

We have to walk down the side of the boat, which is, literally, 4 inches, and keep one foot on the boat while we reach across and put the other foot on the ladder. Gary attached a rope around a part of the dock so he could hold on to it while he "swung" over the water to the dock. Then he helped me across.

Getting back on was even more difficult because it was low tide and the boat was lower than it was when we got off. I would have LOVED to have made a picture but "my life was more important" at that moment.

We have GOT to learn to park in a slip!

Genesis 1:21-22 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth."

Sung to the Tune of Green Acres!

Inter-coastal is the place to be.
Ocean livin' is the life for me.

Water spreadin' out so far and wide.

Keep the land, just give me that oceantide.

da da da da da...

The breeze.....

da da da da da...

The ease....

da da da da da...

Fresh air....

da da da da da...

Everywhere....

This is the life.

Good bye, all the strife.

Inter-coastal we are there!

Okay, only until Monday, but hey, it's a start...

Cooking on the Boat

I cooked our first meal, on the boat, for breakfast this morning. Not only was it tasty, but mine was healthy too. (Gary's not so much.)

I had a breakfast burrito with broccoli, carrots, red potatoes, and an egg. Gary had a breakfast burrito with ham, bacon, cheese, and an egg. His red potatoes were "on the side".

I'm sure you're not half as excited about seeing this as I was about cooking it, but it's a first, so it gets a post!

Uneventful

Today was, kinda, uneventful. We travelled, approximately, 70 miles and were on the water for 5.5 hours.

The most interesting things today were the bridges. We went through this draw bridge.



We went through another draw bridge under construction, which wouldn't be a big deal, except as we were going through, we got a call on the radio. Evidentally, they noticed that our antenna would hit the bridge and they hailed us to tell us to "back up." Gary crawled around and removed the antenna and right on through we went.

Parts of the day we were in the open water.

Parts of the day we were in very narrow landscapes.

Oh yeah, one other interesting part of the day was when we wondered into territory restricted by NASA. Oops!

However, there's always a silver lining....we saw a dolphin. If we hadn't "made a wrong turn", we wouldn't have seen a dolphin.

And...we decided to skip Kennedy Space Center. We want to keep on moving towards Miami, and maybe, have time to take a quick jaunt to the Keys.

Tomorrow....

Genesis 1:6-8 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky."

A Few Little Tidbits

ONE....Whoever said our bed is a "Queen" Size, must have been measuring a really little queen.

So, I move to the next bed.

TWO....In a boat, everything is compact. I woke up from "bed #2". I thought I was dreaming of getting a facial until I realized the heater we brought was blowing hot air right into my face. Then, I realized my feet were freezing. Being the "strategic thinker" I am, I flipped to "bed #3" and cooled off my face and heated my feet.

THREE...forgot to mention this the other day, but when we got to the Fairfield Inn on our first night, Gary was...dum da da a...DRUMROLL...Guest of the Day!

He got a bottled water, some hard candy, a nice little note, and a posting for all the "non guests" of the day to see ....

Proverbs 17:21 A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.

D-A-Y-T-O-N-A

A recap of the week so far - left my suitcase at home; spent an extra night at the hotel; left my billfold in the Enterprise rental car (do you see a pattern here?); found out the heater, on the boat, doesn't work; are in Florida when it is the coldest that it has been in 35 years...19 degrees tonight!

But, we are in the water. (Well, on the water, but you know what I mean.) This was the first bridge that we went under.




We took off around 2:30 and had a nice ride of about 1.5 hours. We were able to cruise fairly fast, even though, we did have to go through several "Manatee Zones". We haven't seen one yet, but they must be out there. Hopefully, we'll get a picture!

And now, finally, we are in DAYTONA.

Gary was really nervous about parallel parking the boat for the first time. He was, also, nervous about talking on the radio to let the crew, at the marina, know the Layla JoLee was coming into port. He did both, amazingly well.

Gary wants me to say that it was the MOST DIFFICULT parking that could have possibly, in the history of mankind, ever been done.... :)

We are, now, hooked up for the night and going to enjoy a nice, sit-down dinner at the marina's restaurant.







If we aren't FROZEN in the morning, we are heading to Titusville, Florida, and visitng the Kennedy Space Center.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

We're Getting There!

Today was supposed to be (1) shop for bedding, (2) shop for groceries, and (3) take off on the boat.

Instead, today was (1) shop for bedding, (2) shop for groceries, (3) put the name on the boat (4) shop for "who knows what", (5) shop some more, (6) decide we won't leave until tomorrow (7) check back in hotel.

We have been to Walmart four times, Walgreens three times, Cracker Barrel two times, Fairfield Inn two times, Lowes, Subway, and JT's Seafood Restaurant....but we haven't untied the boat from the dock.

That's GOT to happen soon because we only have five more days to get the boat to Miami. However, we did get the name on the boat and I think it's AWESOME.

The Lord will guide you continually. Isaiah 58:11

Go With the Flow

This is the conversation that Gary and I had, as we walked to the Southwest counter to check our luggage.......

Me (in panic voice): Where's my Suitcase?

Gary (looking behind himself): I don't know.

Me: I didn't bring my suitcase. I DIDN'T bring my suitcase. I DIDN'T BRING MY SUITCASE!

Oh, and by the way, it was the suitcase with ALL of my clothes and shoes in it!

We, quickly jumped into "what are our options" mode, and decided we could call Brandon and ask him to bring it, we could call Southwest and see if they had later flights so we could go home and get it, or we could go without it....in the end, we did all three!

We called Southwest, and all other flights were sold out for the day. We called Brandon and he made a valiant effort to go get it and bring it to us, but in the end we realized that he wouldn't make it in time, so the final decision was to go without it and do some shopping in the lovely state of Florida.

We did just that, along with eating lunch and watching the Titans game.

At the end of the day, I have clothes and we arrived at our hotel in Palm Coast safe and sound.

Looks like this is going to be a "go with the flow" kind of trip!

Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.