A Weekend in the Swamp

Last Saturday, at 4am, we started our journey to the swamp (aka Tallahassee, Florida). We had to leave at this absurd hour because the night before I had been in charge of a fundraiser (a babysitting night where the young women watched almost 40 kids 2-9 years old for five hours! We raised almost $500!) for the week of camp I am in charge of for the young women in our ward. Needless to say, we were really tired when we started our journey...but really excited because deep in the swamps of Tallahassee (aka about 20 minutes from the airport) were my brother, sister-in-law, mom, and step-dad.


We had a packed two and a half days with the fam: went canoeing on the Wakulla River and saw alligators, turtles, fish, birds, and-- the highlight-- manatees (we could have reached out and touched them we were so close!); had a really yummy Cajun dinner downtown; went to the beach on St. George's Island, played some games, swam in the Gulf Coast, and ate a tasty picnic of chicken, ribs, and pineapple; went to the Tallahassee Museum (which is really a zoo). And, we did all this while the six of us shared Lish and Whitney's two bedroom, two bathroom, cozy apartment! It was tons of fun, and we left with the best feeling-- wanting to hang out more with the family.

My mom, Lish, and I all felt a little depressed Monday night and Tuesday morning after having such a concentrated amount of time together and then all of a sudden (thanks to modern day travel that never fails to amaze me!) we were spread across the country again, living our separate lives. I am truly grateful to have family I love to spend time with!