Calamity after Calamity

We went on vacation to Florida for 10 days. We had to drive because all of the cheap airfares were sold out - it was spring break - and spending $1,000/ticket was beyond comprehension. Well, a day or 2 before we left we remembered that our portable dvd player went on the fritz on our last car adventure. So we ran out and bought another. Best money ever spent!! It was the same price we paid for our last one, but this one didn't skip once - even with all the bumpy roads we went over, the kids could hook up their Plug-and-Play video games to it and play video games - while the other kid watched a dvd on the other screen! That was fabulous as we didn't have to hear "Are we there yet?" every 5 minutes from Katie!

Prior to leaving for vacation, Mike had some testing done for some intestinal pain he was having, but the doctor said it was no big deal - change your diet and things will settle down and be fine. Well, alrighty then. After several weeks, with no change and pain increasing, we wondered whether he would even be able to make the trip. With the thought that this was the first vacation we've taken in 9+ years, and it really wouldn't be safe for me to drive 1,100 miles (one way) with just me and the 2 munchkins - I suggested calling the doctor to get painkillers so he could enjoy the vacation and have a surgeon's appt. for a 2nd opinion set up for immediately following our return. Well, after numerous calls to one doctor, only to discover at 4:45pm the day before we were leaving that he doesn't prescribe pain medication (could you have told us this the DAY before when we called originally????), we called Mike's primary care physician who ordered drugs immediately. Thank you!!!!

So that evening was also our Homeowner's Assoc. annual meeting/election, which I'm helping with. Great, so drive fast as I can to the pharmacy - only to be told at the drive through by this psycho-b*&^h that they had no prescription for him - and did I mention she was completely rude? So I told her it was an "Urgent" prescription and could she please ask the pharmacist. About that time, the pharmacist came over and started griping at her because she failed to notice the Rx sitting on the fax machine that was labelled "Urgent!". She gets all pissy that she's wrong and then tells me that I have to come inside because I'm holding up their line. Ok, does she see that I have red-hair???? I'm in a hurry - since Mike REALLY needs a pill - to get to the HOA thing, and I'm late picking up a neighbor to drive over there because of this mess to begin with - now be a b*tch to me and tell me to come inside. Yep, I went inside.................and proceeded to rip them up one side and down the other. I had that Rx in my hand within a couple of minutes and the pharmacist apologizing profusely for them missing the Urgent Rx and for the psycho at the window. Considering the amount of money we spend there every single month, he'd better be grovelling!

Ok, so anyway, made it home quickly (ok, I was speeding), picked up the neighbor and got to the meeting.....albeit 20 minutes late. We aren't there 10 minutes when a neighbor arrives and asks me what's going on at my house. Say WHAT???? "Yeah, it's crawling with cops with guns drawn". Yeah, right......... Then another neighbor comes in and says the same thing. So prior to freaking out - I call home. Mike is clueless and walks outside with the phone in his hand. "Cops are everywhere and they're telling me to get in the house and lock the doors". About that time, our neighborhood patrol officer (who's off-duty and coming to talk at our meeting) shows up and says nonchalantly "yes, there is a man with a gun that ran into a house and is holed up there.". Helllllllooooooooooo????? That's my next door neighbor's house!!!! He then quickly went downstairs and got the scoop - which turned out to be pretty funny. Our neighbor had a friend who came over to borrow his pellet gun. He took him out back to show it to him and the friend aimed it at the back fence. The neighbor behind them (whom they do NOT get along with) called 911 telling them that a man with a gun was pointing it at her dog and she was afraid he was going to shoot it and her next. All that high-blood pressure for a stupid neighborhood fight. Ah well, pretty funny really.

Anyway, we go on our trip and Mike does very well (thank you hydrocodone!). We hit Sea World and Alligator Farms, the beach numerous times, as well as the swimming pool. We also drive through this state park that is a swamp. They have these "scenic lookout" point where you can pull your car over and take pictures or fish, or whatever. So we stop at one of those so the kids can get a first-hand feel of the swamp. As we're standing there my mom says she's hearing something rustling in the brush behind us. Hello? We're in the swamp - why am I the only one concerned? Then the rustling happens again and Mike says it's fawning season and maybe it's a doe with a fawn. Oh, well now that could be really cool for the kids to see! So, Mike finds a rock and tosses in the area where we were hearing the sounds from. All of the sudden a hoard of black, wild hogs go running up the embankment behind us. I jump and quickly tell the kids to start getting back into the car right as Mike decides it would be fun to let out his AR Razorback pig squeal he learned on our stint living there. great idea. So all the sudden, we hear this wild hog squeal back at us and start running back toward us! You've never seen 6 white people jump in a minivan so fast!! We were all freaking out - including the pig caller! We finally decided that he must've learned the mating call and that hog just came back looking for love!

So that was our vacation excitement! This vacation won't be forgotten anytime soon!!! All of the things that have happened since we got back is another post unto itself. ugh........