Road Tripping Again

We love a road trip. The kids pop out of bed way before dawn, dressed and ready to go, super-pumped. Part of the excitement might be the enormous quantities of fun junk food we know we'll be consuming on the road, not to mention the hours of movies to be watched on the laptop (not by Steve, he has to drive).

The fact that we start our trip out with a stop at our favorite donut shop (the Lighthouse on Indian Rocks Beach...yum!) and an extra-hot Starbucks, extra-caffeinated doesn't hurt. By 9:30 when the sugar buzz has worn off and the kids are clamoring for the Holy Grail of road trip stops (that would be McDonald's, in case you don't have kids under 10), we fill up on carbs and sugar again and are good to go for another few hours, um, I mean miles.

Anyways, our last trip was 2 weeks ago, and we were headed to Ft. Walton Beach, FL, where we'd been stationed at Hurlburt Field from 1994-1996. We love our church family there at Hollywood Boulevard Baptist. They shower us with such love, care, prayers, and make us feel like we're back home after a long absence. The body of Christ is an amazing thing.

Oh, yeah. And they feed us very well, too.

On the way home, we had planned to stop at the Armament Museum near Eglin AFB. Nate had been talking about it for months, but that last morning, as we got ready to leave, we were told that it was closed. Instead of getting angry or sulking (like I would've done!), Nate told Steve, "Dad, that's ok. Let's just be thankful for what we HAVE gotten to do on this trip." Wow. Amazing.

The cool thing is that, while the inside of the museum was closed, the outside, packed with static aircraft displays was open, and we had a wonderful time exploring and taking pictures. The gift shop was open as well, and everyone got a great souvenir of our visit. We all cheered and clapped, thankful for God spoiling us with a mini-vacation, an encouraging time with friends, and, oh yes, great eats (McD's notwithstanding!)