I'm Back From Vacation!!!!!!!

     I am finally back from vacation!!!!! It has been awhile since I have posted, but I'm back now. I am going to make the LONGEST and the MOST BORING blog post you can imagine, so you might have to hang around for awhile. Grab some popcorn and turn on a movie, and about the time the movie is done, you will be done reading this blog post. I'm not joking.
     Well, on Thursday morning(June 16), my family left for Florida. The trip was very short, it felt like, but in about 12 hours we were at our grandparent's house. The next morning, we left for Panama City to set up our campsite. We picked up our rented camper and set up the site, then slept peacefully until the next morning.

Saturday, June 18

     We got up at 5:00 A.M. to go to a family reunion that we managed to interlace with our vacation schedule. It was a boring three hour drive, and all I did was stare out the window. When we finally got there, we hung out with our first cousins some before the reunion started.
     This was a reunion for my great grandmother, who is very old and close to passing on. All of her 7 children and 14 grandchildren were there, plus some of her great-grandchildren. All of her children talked about how great of a mother she had been to them, and how it had helped them raise their children in God's Word. Then we watched a video with stories from her children about their life with her, and it lasted for over an hour. After that, we had lunch(fried chicken, assorted sides, and homemade deserts. Then, we all came back into the sanctuary(by the way, we were in a church that my great-grandma and great-grandpa built) and sang some songs. Some of the children gave testimonies and talked about how God had gifted them with a great mother who had always helped them in their struggles.
     What we all thought would just be a get-together quickly seemed to turn into a moving church service. We all sang many hymns and at many points, people would get up and give testimonies about my great-grandma. Then they would talk about how God had blessed their lives. It made me happy to know that I'm blessed with a family that loves God.
     When we got back, we went to swim. The flag was yellow for winds and caution, but it is almost always like that in Panama City. We swam until we were tired out, and then went back to the camper to sleep.
     I don't think I have ever mentioned this, but I sleep walk every night. Don't laugh!!! I can't help it. The first night of our vacation, I ended up sleeping in my sister's little bed. She woke up in the dead of night to find me peacefully sleeping in her little bed and patiently moved me back to my bed.
     This night, I ended up at the table booth.

Sunday, June 19

     I woke up, still sleepy, and wished my dad a happy father's day and gave him a big hug that about popped his eyeballs out. Then I ate breakfast and laid back in bed.
     After about ten minutes of this(once I wake up, I can't go back to sleep), I got up and welcomed our relatives, who were at the reunion and came down to the campsite next to us. They were my dad's younger brother, so my uncle, wife, and three cousins were there. Three cousin's names are Kristina, who is 16, Nicholas, who is 14, and Anna, who is 8 and the youngest cousin.
     My grandparents on my dad's side(so the parents of both my dad and uncle) camped at the spot next to my uncle's, so we were all right next to each other. We had to book in January to get those arrangements.
     We immediately whipped out a grill and started to make pork chops. They were delicious! P.S. Are you getting tired of reading? Because I'm getting tired of typing.
     After lunch, we rounded up a group of cousins to go to the Jetties, a spot to swim in the bay right before it hits the Gulf of Mexico. We had a good time there and then came back to the camper while our cousins knee-boarded with some new jet-skis they bought.
     For dinner, we had our big meal of the week: steaks on the grill. They were great! They weren't the steaks we usually buy, though, so I can't say they were my favorite, but they were good, just the same. After dinner, we hung around with our family and talked about what had been going on lately. The adults did most of the talking; we kids played board games, card tricks, and talked about how our lives were going.
     That night, some of the boys went fishing in the bay, while most of the girls(and me) continued playing board games and card tricks. After awhile, some of us went to our uncle's camper to watch a movie, and I went to bed, where I had restless sleep and crazy dreams about the next day.

(If you're still reading this, I have to admit, you're doing very well. Here comes round two.)

Monday, June 20

     Well, on this morning, I woke up and realized what had happened that night. My dad told me that I had slept in his bed for part of the night, and that he had told me to go back to my bed, which I did.
     I got up and realized we were out of those little donuts you get at the store, the powdered type, so I went back to my bed, thoroughly depressed. But after awhile, I decided to skip breakfast, even though we had cereals and such.
     Today we went back to the Jetties to snorkel. It was so fun to see the little fish that you don't usually see in fresh water. The Jetties had little blue ones and red ones and eels and crabs and manta rays and sting rays-well, basically, they had a lot of different fish. My family saw all listed above, except an eel.
     After swimming ourselves sore, we came back to the campsite for a bite of lunch and went to the gulf. It was yellow flag again, but that didn't stop us. We enjoyed the big waves, the crashing water, and the feel of the water in your toes. We didn't like the undertow, though, and it pulled my younger brother out one time. It was kind of scary.
     Now we came home really tired. My parents plopped down to take a nap, naturally, and I went to my cousin's camper to play card games and watch movies.
     At nighttime, one of our cousins decided to come and sleep in our camper. And so another day passed.

Tuesday, June 21

     Today we woke up and pretty much did the same thing as yesterday.

Wednesday, June 22

     On this day, we went tubing out at the bay.
     It was amazing!!!!! You really had to hold on tight. At one point, my cousin playfully called his dad a  
 "little wimp", so he decided to take my cousin on a special little ride. And boy, did he fly off.
     When we were done tubing, I just went back to my camper and hung out for the rest if the day, exhausted.

Thursday, June 23

     The same as Monday and Tuesday.

Friday, June 24

     We came home.


     A special thank you to my family for taking me on this vacation, and to you, if you took the time to read this.
     Thanks!!!!!