Headin' for Sunshine...Let the Sunshine In!

Hmmm....to quote Rachel Ray "YUM-O!" I just enjoyed a really nice Sunday lunch/dinner with my hubby and kids. We went to the Original Texas Roadhouse. There are several in the area, but we went to the one here in Austintown. We could not have picked a better time. There was no one there. OK, there were, like two or three tables with people seated at them, but otherwise they were pretty dead. We had a great meal, steak of course. Afterwards, we asked our waitress if it was normally that quiet on Sundays and she said no. There are several local festivals going on, one of which is right down the street from our place. She said that it was most likely due to the festivals that they were so slow. Good for us, not so good for them. Afterwards my hubby treated me to a wonderful treat, a cafe mocha from a Starbucks, which just so happened to right across the street. That is the real "YUM-O" let me tell ya! I have not had Starbucks since my sister was home in November. It's a shame, really. Hmmm, but I'm enjoying it now!

So, as my title states, I'm heading for sunshine in just a few short weeks. Without all of the boring details, I am heading to Florida!! Yep, that's right. As of yesterday it is official. Merci and I along with my sister Cheryl and my Mom will be flying to Florida on June 27th and coming back on the 4th of July. My oldest nephew Matt is getting married on June 30th. All of our family lives up here and we have all been struggling to come up with the funds to purchase airline tickets to fly. The cheapest any one of us could find was around $200-$250. I could not afford that and neither could my mom or sister. Well, my sister Deb (Matt's mom) is the queen of discount airline tickets. She is always able to find the best prices. I seriously mean it when I say my sister Cheryl and I could find nothing cheaper then $200. Well, Deb called yesterday and said she was able to find ticket for $103 ($140 with taxes), round trip! NO JOKE! Do not ask me how. Then she offered to cover all three of our tickets and said that we could just pay her back when we can. Well, of course we could handle that. Not only could we afford that price, but Mike now wants to fly he and Camden down. Mike, unfortunately can not fly down with us due to the fact that he is in charge at work that whole week and his last day in charge is the 30th. So, we are working on getting him and Camden down from the 1st to the 4th of July. Even though it will only be for two full days and two half days, it is better than nothing. After 10 years of marriage we have only take one vacation together and that was back in 2000. We never even took a honeymoon. We are really hoping to work it out so they can come down. Mike has never flown before so it will be interesting to see how he and Camden do flying for the first time, alone. I can not tell you how excited I am. I seriously could not sleep last night. My mind kept going over all of the things that we will have to do before we go. We are looking at around 5 1/2 weeks before we leave and I know that it will go fast. So I started making lists already. As disappointed as I will be if Mike and Camden do not make it down (which I do not believe is going to happen), I can not lie...I am still excited. As it so happens my dad is going to drive down so that he can stop and see his sister in northern Florida on his way back. My sister from Indiana is trying to work it out to be there as well. So as of now everyone in my family will be there except my brother. It is going to be such a joyous occasion and I know that it will mean the world to Matt that his family is making such an effort to be there for his wedding. They have no family down there and if none of us went he would have only had his parents there from his family. I have been thinking about this a lot and praying something would work out. I did not want to miss his wedding. He and his sister Danni have always been more like my brother and sister than nephew and niece. He is 25 so there is only 4 1/2 years between us. It is going to be a great time and I am sure that there will be lots of partyin' goin' on!!

My lil' ones have finally settled down. Merci was fighting me to take a nap and she is now out. Camden is resting, watching none other than Tom and Jerry. After their naps and rest time we are going to take Camden bowling. It should be interesting. So, I'm going to go finish up a few things before we head out again. Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Here's to a good week....