Cross' Vacay in Panama City Beach!!

On a Thursday night, Andrew and I began packing before heading to Gulf Shores after my last day of work on Friday. Last minute, I know. But, if you were there…it was quite an event…digging into boxes to get our necessary vacation clothes – undies, swimsuits, shorts, t-shirts, and whatever else we could easily get to in our packed boxes for the St. Louis move. NOTE: we had to have the apartment packed before we left for vacation because it was only going to get more hectic once we returned. Meanwhile, Andrew stops packing because his hysterical laughter was uncontrollable! I’m a bit confused (and it was a scary laughter), but realized he is laughing out of frustration…he can’t walk 2 feet without moving boxes and find his t-shirts!! So yeah, it was eventful and that was just the beginning!

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Friday, we headed down to Gulf Shores to stay overnight with his parents. My younger sibs drove to Panama City Beach (PCB) overnight. My parents stayed a few more days with my grandparents to make sure their pacemakers are treating them well :-) On our way down, I finally release my stress and have a breakdown all while driving. Just a mixture of emotions, stress, and feeling overwhelmed. We planned on this vacation to be stress free and to NOT think about moving nor talk about anything other than the family vacation. That became very hard throughout the week. We were on adrenaline high and having more people on a trip…makes it harder to make decisions, to be spontaneous, and at times please one another. As the week progressed, it became a bit easier to loosen up.

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This was Andrew and Ashley’s 1^st vacation with the Cross’! Us Cross kids warned them that there is LOTS of beach time – like 10a-5p. There were lots of other 1^sts for some of us: Andrew and I’s 1^st FULL week vacation together (and boy was that a TEST!), Clayton and Tilden’s 1^st time parasailing, Andrew’s 1^st time driving a Go Cart (seriously and he’s 30!). Although it was a bit hectic and there were some hair-pulling time, the vacation ended with a BLAST! Our last night, we stayed out late putting and Go Carting! In addition, some of us had some moments that were unforgettable! And there are some highlights that will be memorable…

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Mallory’s moments:

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- Mom, Mal , and I are relaxing on rafts in the sea, talking, catching up and all of a sudden Mallory screams with a horrified look on her face. Of course it’s contagious and caused mom to scream and nearly fall of her raft! I’m laughing uncontrollably only because I knew there were green algae floating around and saw it swift between her fingers!! Just had to be there!!

- I saw a sign, “$5 for the Sky-flyer”!! Hey, that’s a GREAT deal!! Andrew says that before insurance, and Mal responds, “that’s for not being strapped in.”

- As I sit on the edge of the pool, Mal has her hat and sunglasses on and gets in like she’s going to touch the bottom…when it’s 6ft deep! Yup, she goes under…hat and all!

- Andrew makes a comment about a green bump on the last hole of the putt-putt course that looks like butt cheeks (seriously). Well, he putts and the ball gets stuck what looks like between the butt cheeks. Mal yells out, “Oh you got a Dingleberry.” Ashley couldn’t even putt after that and I’m confused. Of course, I had to ask them to explain what that meant.

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Tiffy’s moments:

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- I go for a walk with mom and Mal, meanwhile a HUGE bumble bee is trying to cling on my shoulder like a little puppy trails your feet. Needless to say, beach spectators were entertained while I tried to scat it away, twirl around, run, and it still remains right on my back!!

- I’m notorious for not pronouncing things correctly, such as: “The Karshanagans”, “Pom-paynos”, and, “Keltics”. Meant to be, “The Kardashians”, “Pompanos”, and “Celtics”.

- Decided to make yummy mimosas as a morning treat for everyone. Began to unscrew the twist on the champagne bottle until the cork POPPED before I got it fully untwisted! Scared all of us, but it scared the daylights out of me! Andrew asked if I needed a pacemaker. Said we should get a group discount!

-The last day, we decided to play it all out in the ocean (despite the gunk of green algae or what looked like slime). We went inside for lunch and I went to the restroom and found I had a Shrek booty!! I was covered in green algae – YUCK!!

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Dill’s moments:

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- Andrew spots a jelly-fish while we were floating. I quickly swim towards shore, meanwhile, we’re all watching a guy go towards it and picks up…a jug!! Oh, we are such wimpies!!

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Clayton’s moments:

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- Cleans off the putt course before he putts and Mal sarcastically yells out, “I hope you make a hole-n-one for clearing your path!” What do you know…he putts a hole-n-one!!! But he and I tied as the winners :-)

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Tilden’s moments:

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- The living room has wall mirrors, and as he was talking he’d pause and slowly bring his arm to a 45 degree angle and return to his conversation.

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Highlights:

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- 1^st night (Sat. night) shopping at Wal-Mart – a BIG no, no!! Andrew and Tilden stay at home while we think our grocery shopping trip is going to take an hour. Even though it was only 2 miles down the road it took 3 hours!! 45 min of it just waiting in line – then I forget the Taco Seasoning right as they ring up our items, and ran an obstacle course to the seasoning like I was on Amazing Race! Needless to say, I barely made it!

- Shopping at Pier Park

- Imagine 8 people trying to decide where to eat!

- Margaritaville…2.5 hour wait! Then taking 2 hours to figure out where to eat next or what to do! End up at Olive Garden and had a great time :-) Plus, it was a more pleasant environment.

- The level 5 “white water rafting” on the Banana Boat out to the parasail boat (in fact, I was so sore for a few days, I couldn’t even finish my week’s workout!).

- Parasailing with my little brothers

- The restaurants: Pompano’s (probably all our favorites), Schooners (touristy and loud), and Olive Garden

- The Red Box movies: Legion (AWESOME and kind of scary), Shutter Island (way better than I had expected and NOT scary like I thought), ToothFairy (cute and great family movie), and Alice and Wonderland (Johnny Depp doesn’t make a bad movie!).

- Go Carts and Putt-Putt (and boy were we competitive!!).

- Trying to get 8 people to take family photos and make it look good in mom’s eyes! If you can just imagine.

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Andrew ended up having a great time overall even though he thought the beaches are over-rated (i.e. the long restaurant waits, all the peeps, and whatever else he can’t handle ;-) As we headed home, I began to think about the loaded apartment, getting the Uhaul, my parents and Tilden sleeping on whatever space we can create, Andrew’s graduation dinner, Sunday night’s event, and moving to St. Louis Monday!! Oh, the reality of life and stress has returned! And, I’m wondering if we’re really going to relax on our LA and Tahiti “late” honeymoon?! Maybe, since we’ll already be moved and set up :-)

Heading out to parasail...

Clayton & Ashley went 1st...

Our view from 1200ft of rope!!

Beach time...and this was daddy's and Andrew's favorite spot...under the umbrella :-)

Playing PeePaw & MeeMaw's Bocce game...

The process of taking family photos...

Another night....

Finally!!

Mom knows how to have fun and make it stress free ;-)

Andrew says we need to use this picture for our annual Christmas card...

GO CART TIME!!!! And yes...I won...

Unfortunately, it wasn't fair for Mal...her cart broke down and they gave her another free ride...

Watching Mal racing like Danika Patrick...

Fun-filled, LATE last night...totally worth it!!!!

And Tilden's 1st time parasailing....

Preparing for the BIG move!!!

As mentioned in previous post, the complicated history of moving our things (furniture, wedding gifts, seasonal items, etc.) from our Louisville condo, my parents, and Chris/Andrea’s attic ALL into our 860sqft apartment ALL in 1 weekend!!!! And let’s not forget to mention that we had to get Andrew’s bedroom set (5 pieces) and our 2 couches to pack up for home in KY.
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I am so thrilled to finally use our wedding gifts (except for the formal china and crystal vases/bowls - saving for our permanent place to prevent breaks). Needless to say, we tried to get rid of as much as possible to make room in our new condo in St. Louis. That meant selling our bedroom set and couches to my brother and his sweet gal, Ashley – at a low family price ;-) It also meant giving away our beautiful casual white dish set to Andrea so her and Chris can have a full set of dishes for nice dinners (Andrea is an AWESOME chef and LOVES to cook for everyone – so dishes were much needed!). Of course, there were other things we sold – washer/dryer, vacuum cleaner and giving away smaller items.
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As we’re cleaning out…we managed to purchase additional items that will be needed in St. Louis – a desk with bookshelf, and guest bed (3 pieces of furniture on our list). I happened to find them at a GREAT price on our work bulletin board (like an employee craigslist). The challenge…was getting it to our apartment! Thank goodness for family…Andrew’s aunt and uncle who ironically lived close by the sellers, had a truck and offered to let us use it. Although, Andrew wanted to wait and pick it up the day we move, I convinced him to use their truck that way we can load it all at once. They did warn us that it barely works but does the job :)

We barely survived that day…what I mean by “barely” –the truck stalled on us while making a U-turn and we made it all in one piece without getting divorce!!!! In addition, Memphis has some serious pot holes we had to dodge to prevent furniture flying and banging. So, I had to keep telling Andrew to slow down (even though he said he was “only” going 40mph in a 40mph speed limit zone!!!) Oh, and while it’s 90 degrees and smoldering, the truck has no air conditioning…something Andrew’s used to since the air conditioning in his car went out!!! So if you could only imagine 2 young and married ones bickering, sweating, Andrew yelling out he needs Xanax and says “I didn’t even want to do this today!” and I’m worried about my heart for the next few weeks! To top it off, Andrew being a guy, got frustrated while unloading the furniture by ourselves in our streets with me telling him how to carry it through the door (all while people are watching from their balconies and the restaurant), and said some not so G-rated words. In the midst of the physical and mental heat…we did what we usually do – burst into laughter and talk about how we should have a reality show!

And…that’s not all…here are some other highlights of our hectic lives so far:
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1. Taking 2 days to find an apartment in St. Louis…it was a nasty, cool 2 days. While we were about to strangle each other in the midst of running around, we finally had to stop and pray that Sunday night before we left. Thankfully we did, because we were so relieved to seal a deal on a condo an hour later!!

Let me explain...here I'm trying not to go ballistics, or strangle my hubby. Below, Andrew crashes in between appointments. So yes, it was a crazy 2 days!!

2. Me driving home 6 hours to load up the trailer with furniture at our Louisville condo, unload in Brandenburg (in my parents basement) and load from my parents basement stuff going to St. Louis. Clayton, my awesome brother, drives him, Ashley, and Tilden 6 hours to Memphis with trailer and all (behind me). Hired movers to unload and load their furniture to drive back home.

Someone yelled while crossing the street..."Wow...I've never seen anyone fit their entire dining set in their car!!"

3. Living in-between and out of boxes (literally) – I’ve been packing for a month and organized EVERYTHING and made it VERY easy for Andrew to find his clothes (including labeling boxes with the items inside) and he still goes through my boxes of clothes thinking he’s going to find his boxers!!

Poor Andrew, he just wanted to get some CD's out so he could fix a professor's computer! He had to wait for me to get home so I could climb the mountain of boxes to get to them - good thing I labeled the boxes!!!

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4. I decided to run one last race before we left Memphis and ran my personal best time…26:04!!!!! Andrew has been my biggest fan!! Standing out in the heat to cheer me on!!

5. Planning the final details of our LA trip before our honeymoon…Andrew putting off renting a convertible just so he can find the “best” deal (so annoying cause he does some HEAVY research), and me being so indecisive in booking a place!

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6. Getting ready for a family vacation a week before our big move – that means playing hide-n-go-seek with our clothes.

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7. Andrew’s “Green Dragon” (aka ’95 Mercury Cougar) is on its last few months…battery loses connection (he fixed it once by placing a penny between the connection), windows don’t work, air conditioning doesn’t work, and door is about to fall off!! In fact, there was a day I volunteered to drive his car since my work is literally 2 minutes away. I had to park in the garage (of all the days) and made a mistake to park it sideways on a ramp. This day, I wore a pencil skirt, cute heels, and scrambled out the door all while trying to hold it back from swinging against the next car (for those that do not know…’95 cougars have huge, heavy doors). I knew I had to slam the door with all my might so it would close, only it decided to bounce off and I practically shuffled quickly to attempt to save the door from hitting the car next door – and…I didn’t make it in time - oops!!
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8. My last day at St. Jude is June 11 :(

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9. My grandparents decided to have some health problems even though Andrew and I have been praying for them to have a healthy, fulfilled retirement!!
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10. The night we return from the family vacay, is Andrew’s graduation dinner.
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11. The following day...we pick up a Uhaul and load, then party that night…it’s Father’s Day!

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12. Two days later, my parents and I move out to St. Louis to meet up with our movers (they unload for us at the condo). Meanwhile, Andrew sleeps on an air mattress and stays in the empty nest until June 30th.

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After all this, our honeymoon in Tahiti and Bora Bora…will be MUCH needed!!!

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Dill's SURPRISE 25th!!!!!

So I’m a little behind on blogging. Not to mention we’ve been out every weekend in May…including a couple surprises for family members – Mother’s Day for my mom and my in-law’s surprise 25th wedding anniversary! And a couple to prepare our BIG move – visiting St. Louis in 2 days to find our new home and 2 days of driving home to pick up furniture/wedding gifts (that have yet been in use!) in Louisville & my parents then driving the LONG 6 hours back to Memphis to load/unload (more later).

The short visit in Gulf Shores was WELL WORTH the drive and planning for the Dills!! This 25th has been in the planning phase since Christmas and the Dill kids were just getting more and more excited along the way. What we all didn’t know was how much the surprise would put Papa Dill’s health at risk! Little did we know that he was a “control freak” in his own way and did NOT like surprises!!

Let me spill a couple brief stories that should have been filmed and just might have made YouTube’s hit list! A little side note: Melissa, Andrew’s sister (daughter of Paula), did most of the coordinating. I just simply helped keep everything on track. She informed us all that Mom and Dad are NOT to do ANYTHING, nor pay for anything the entire weekend. This was a weekend ALL about them. Therefore, we do the cooking, grilling, driving, and so forth.

Friday night:
Melissa said we need to eat by 5:30p…so she patted down some burgers, started on some YUMMY baked beans, and informed her husband, Patrick, to start the grill. Soooo, Mr. Bill Dill wanted to start the fire. Oh, and let me mention that they called earlier to see if they needed lighter fluid...but didn’t get any since they thought there would be some there already.
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Melissa is inside preparing and Patrick let his father-n-law take over (he didn’t want to argue so he just watched)…Bill, the engineer, grabbed a coffee container full of bacon grease to scatter over the charcoal (thinking it would help the fire start faster). Not working, so he grabbed a towel – unsuccessful so, he grabbed some pill bottles filled with more bacon grease. In the meantime, everyone is thinking where they got all the bacon grease. Melissa has a meltdown since Papa Dill says we’ll start the grill at 6p. By this time, we arrive and I asked to help. So, I cut up some lettuce, tomatoes, onions and just do my own thing all while the commotion is going on. Andrew steps outside to help and makes matters worse….puts the burgers on top of 6ft flames! After the burgers were “so-called” ready, we finally had dinner and were very concerned about our health – pink burgers over pill bottles, towels, and bacon grease!!! Most of us do not eat rare burgers (except for Andrew) and I like mine well-done! Andrew leans over and says not once but twice, “Melissa, I think your cow says MOO.”

Notice the coffee container in the background ;-)
As you can see...the smoke is smoldering our burgers.

Friday, I got to spend a little time with our cute nephews :-)

Lil Thomas is just too adorable in Andrew's hat.

Saturday:
Melissa and I head over to the church to decorate around 3p. Andrew comes along and was supposed to leave in time to pick up the parents for our 5p dinner. The surprise reception was at 7p at the church. Andrew barely made it to their house before they left to drive themselves. We had dinner at a beautiful French restaurant owned by one of Mama Dill’s friends. We acted like this was their BIG surprise because Mama Dill didn’t know her aunt, cousin, and 2nd cousin were going to be there…she was VERY surprised!! Chris and Andrea bought a small cake at Wal-Mart with pink and polka-dotted number “25” candles to throw them off (FYI…they asked for a “real” wedding cake they never got). We had them do the wedding tradition of feeding each other the cake (all while laughing on the inside – except Chris couldn’t hold his in).

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Andrew offered to drive home and we said, “see you all back at the house!” Driving to the church (which was just down the road) seemed like FOREVER! Andrew says, “let’s look around at some antique shops!” Even though we had his sister, Betsy and her friend, his parents, and myself. Papa Dill is getting impatient thinking we had to get back to unlock the house, says all the shops are closed. Then he tells Andrew where to turn to go home…Andrew accidentally (but purposely) misses it. So he yells out to take the next right turn…and misses again. This time, he got frustrated, impatient, and tells Andrew he was distracted (by this airplane and sarcastically asked where we live and comments on how we’ve never seen a plane before) and informs Andrew he needs to pay attention. In addition, he’s uptight about us taking the long route home.
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Well, we finally made it to the reception and they were shocked but relieved to see the final results! They were so emotional and even renewed their vows! It was beautiful and so memorable!!

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The Dills are spread out over the regional area and it was a FANTASTIC short weekend to all be together (except we had 2 missing grandkids and son-n-law). We even squeezed in some beach time and lots of family time. Bill and Paula looked stunning. Paula wore her original wedding dress and Bill wore his original tie. They both wore their original wedding bands. It was so sentimental which made it more beautiful!

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CONGRATS to Bill and Paula on their 25th Wedding Anniversary!!!

The Dill kids

The set up...their Anniversary cake :-)

And we finally arrived without anyone having an aneurysm ;-)

They were SUPRISED!!!!

A wedding cake they never had...

Renewing their vows in Paula's original wedding dress and Bill's original tie and they used their original wedding bands...so SWEET!!!

Mr. & Mrs. Dill...25 years later! And they couldn't look more BEAUTIFUL!!!

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Mother's Day Surprise!!!

This mother's day, Andrew and I planned to surprise my mom...and then MeeMaw. We were hoping to see my Grandmommy over the weekend as well and ordered her a special gift in case we missed her...but, I was so excited to see her as well!! Thanks to my little sister who helped us make this a success...well, somewhat a success. Mother's intuition interfered a little ;-)

We stopped by Kroger on our way home to grab a plant of Stargazer Lillies for them to plant. I called mom and acted like I needed a recipe just to see if she was home. My mom LOVES leaving the screens open, even if it's 90 degrees outside!! So, she heard us pull into the driveway and I thought she could possibly think it was my dad, but her motherly instincts just thought "what if Tiffany and Andrew are coming home to surprise me." She snuck outside as I was sneaking to the front door and I see my mother tip-toe through the garage!!! "MOOOOMM!" was my exact response! But, she was still surprised and was so excited!! I guess in the end that's all the matters ;-)

I'm a little confused wondering, how could she have possibly had the thought we'd drive 6 hours home in the midst of our hectic lives?!

On the way to MeeMaw's...Tilden went in and told MeeMaw he had a gift for her...then we came around the corner with some Lillies! She too, had an intuition but was really surprised when we showed up with Lillies :-)

We found the perfect card that had a button attached and gave it to mom on Sunday morning so she could wear it to church. Ironically, she mentioned the day before that Mother's Day was all about her - haha!!

Mallory was celebrating mother's day as well, this is my cute lil nephew, Manie!! Oh, I just LOVE him so much!!!

We were so blessed with wonderful weather and a weekend with our family!! MeeMaw picked up a game, Bocce, in FL with her friends. So, she got one as a gift and we all got to play and watch her get what Andrew called, "spicy"! She ROCKED!!

Manie, so cute...just sat right in the way. Mallory rolled one right at him...we don't think he realized how heavy those balls are!!

Then, he tried to help us measure - ha!!

"Spicy MeeMaw"

We were SO GLAD...we were able to be there this Mother's Day...it was a fun-filled day with our family :-) Nothing is more precious than time with family!