Westward Ho!

For many, many years the McArthurs flourished with their southern charm in the Sunshine State of Florida.  They influenced their community, were caretakers, served in many capacities, but as Dave and his 8 siblings migrated to different locations, Carl and Catherine found themselves away from family.  They were exemplary in their attending to needs of many loved ones as they finished their time on earth, but recently, they became the only ones in the family still living in FL.

After consideration and prayers, we were informed that this long distance was going to be shortened and they were pulling up stakes, leaving the humid and glorious beach for the desert of Arizona!  Arizona did have a big pull with 4 of their kids there with grandkids etc to be surrounded by.  This news was met with mixed emotions by us.  We LOVE visiting Florida, but having Carl and Catherine closer and surrounded by family seemed to be the perfect fit.  Of course, we couldn't let the exodus happen with out one last Florida fling!!

We flew out for few days during spring break to let Dave say goodbye and for all of us to get one last feel of that soft white sand.  We went to the beach the evening we got there, saw a bunch of stingrays and were ready to go again for day two.

Grandma and Grandpa were busy selling house items, they were so nice to make sure the big furniture

 etc was there till after our visit.  So, Dave and I took the kids to a perfect secluded location and we played 

and played.  Because we weren't at a popular, busy location, we didn't have public bathrooms nearby.  When Harrison exclaimed that he needed to go to the bathroom and we told him, just go in the water, we maybe should have explained how that typically works when you are swimming...We just looked up from our chairs to see this:

Luckily, it was a pretty much personal beach so no one was flashed and no citations for indecency were issued!!  We enjoyed our time so much, until we started to feel hot.  In my defense, I reapplied sunscreen as instructed on the bottle, but boy that Pensacola sun couldn't have cared less about our skin precautions.  Grant did refuse to put it on when his time was up 'to get a little color' he extended the time between applications, but none of us knew how badly those 30 min would burn him! By the end of the night, I'm fairly certain there were 2nd degree burns experienced by at least 2 of the kids.  Luckily Harrison fell asleep with beach towels over him, so he did not experience the worst burn of of his life like Brenna and Grant. 

After some aspirin, aloe, water, rest, Dave and I left the kids in their grandparents' capable hands and we went to dinner.  I will definitely dream of that Key Lime pie for all my days! 

Our final day we were able to go to the Lighthouse, 

which turned out to be fairly traumatic for Harrison.  Not really a shocker though-those hundreds of spiral steps are trippy.  But he made it to the top!!  We all did (minus Grandpa), even if Grant bolted before  a picture. 

 We were really lucky because the Blue Angels were doing a practice so while we got to explore the Naval Air Museum, we also got to 

view their show!  Pretty spectacular!  Everyone's reactions were pretty priceless.   And that was that.  Many trips and memories of Pensacola for me don't compare to the lifelong legacy that Dave and his parents have in the area.  But we sure have fond thoughts when we think about our beautiful beaches there.  We probably have permanent markings in the shape of freckles from the sun damage, so we are not likely to forget them! 

Dave earned extra son points because he volunteered to fly back to Florida about a week and a half later, drive across the country with his brother Russell to deliver the Penske truck with his parents belongings as well as the car.  From what I hear it was a LONG ride! 

But they made it and experienced rural American pit stops that they probably never would otherwise, so it turned out pretty great! Ha!

After that, it was back to normal/scary life...

This is the plaster for Brenna's Native American face mask...not sure they will ask me to help out with that again...some kids may be minus some eyebrows or peach fuzz because I didn't properly lube them up with vaseline.  I'm sure it grows back! It wasn't too bad...

Dave was happy to be back to work and had his annual Saturday CPA day with the kids.

  Only the boys could help because Brenna had a dance competition.  Harrison actually ended up needing an instacare visit due to walking pneumonia, so not sure how much assistance he was.  

Katelee had a commitment for the production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat that she was in with her friend Emily. 

 She had a great time and it was so fun to see her tapping!!