Friday, June 20, 2008

A Tale of Two Weeks


So it has been a couple of weeks since I last felt the necessity to comment on la vie Keaton. I spent a week preparing to go on vacation and a week on vacation and now I am back preparing to get back into life as usual, basically.


It has been almost two weeks since I ventured north to Prattville, Alabama to meet with the conference marriage and family therapist. As it turned out, this initial visit was just that--and initial consultation, a get to know you time that lasted only about thirty minutes. It was a bit of a let down since it takes over 3.5 hours to get to Prattville from Panama City and with the price of gas continuing to rise, it was a fairly expensive 30 minute tete-a-tete. Even better, I will get to go back the week after next (July 1 to be exact) to have the longer consultation in which we will discuss the results of my psychological evaluations that I took more than a month ago now. I am trying not to stress about this, and right now nothing is bothering me. I just may have had a decent vacation after all. The rest of the week was pointless since I was about to leave. I just had to make sure that things ran smoothly for Sunday (which I hope they did) and that I would be ready to walk right back in the next Sunday (which I hope to do).


So, last Saturday we left for central Florida. The only reason we ended up going to Lakeland was because every other time share in the Southeastern United States, with the exception of the horrible one we stayed at a couple of years ago, was booked months ago. So, with some reservations, we headed down I-75 toward Tampa. We had an uneventful trip in my little Toyota RAV-4. The girls watched the Brady Bunch most of the way down. We checked in 7 hours later at a nice condo with two bedrooms, a full kitchen, dining room, etc. It was nice.


We had planned to do little things and then maybe go to Disney one day since it was less than an hour away. We started out by visiting Cypress Gardens, the oldest amusement park in Florida, on Father's Day. A few years ago it was almost closed, but was bought out by Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Georgia, just up the interstate. It was a lot like Wild Adventures, especially the rides. The girls really liked it. Unlike most amusement parks, they had a lot of rides geared toward children, so we had a lot to choose from. Emma has not been real big on riding roller coasters, but this time around I got her to ride all of the roller coasters in the park. Most of them were really tame compared to the ones at Six Flags or Universal Studios, so I thought this would be a good time to experiment. We got to ride an old fashioned wooden roller coaster that used to be in Panama City Beach called the Starliner. She did not care for that one too much, but she loved the more modern ones, especially this one called the Swamp Thing in which your feet hang out the bottom. I had never been on one of those before. The things we will do for our children.



Monday we stayed in Lakeland and went to their Children's museum. The girls really liked learning and playing there. We spent the afternoon at the pool. Later that night we went to the Rib Crib for dinner. After this little outing, Mommy got sick. It seems that she has been having some trouble lately. Tuesday we went back to Cypress Gardens since we had a second day free. Mommy did not ride that day and we left kind of early because she still did not feel well. Daddy took the little girls to the pool that afternoon while Mommy rested.
Wednesday, we decided to go into Tampa and visit the Florida Aquarium. It is really nice, much like the Dallas World Aquarium. We had a good time looking at fish and sharks and other aquatic life. Mommy started feeling bad, so we cut our day short and decided it was time to come home. So, Mommy called the doctor and we left Thursday morning to come home to make an appointment Friday morning. So, Misty went to the doctor this morning and has to have a battery of tests because they think it is her gall bladder for real. We have thought this was a possibility for some time, but Mommy, much like Daddy, refuses to go to the doctor when she should. So, instead of leaving for Texas on Monday as she had planned, Misty will be having blood tests and a sonogram of some sort. She will then leave on Tuesday to go back to Texas for a shorter visit. So, pray for us. Misty is not worried, but we hope it is not something really serious. While she was at the doctor today, I decided to get a little sick myself. I am feeling better now, just troublesome allergies and a headache to boot. Welcome back to northwest Florida to me!

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