15 days until school starts!  I can't believe it's the middle of August.

Before our calendar becomes slaves to school, Avery and I headed out on one more vacation -- and we had a blast.  Once again I went several days early and I am finding this is key for me to relax and slow the world down a bit.  It results in me feeling like I was gone way longer than I was.

Towards the end of July we flew to Orlando and traveled down to Cocoa Beach.  We spent 3 nights at Beachside Suites.  I admit, I chose it because it had a lazy river and I knew Avery would enjoy it.  It was also very close to shopping, good food, and the beach, so it worked out perfectly.  For my own notes - Nolan's Irish Pub was so good, and Guinness with black currant syrup is next level delightful.  On our first night we walked to the beach hoping to see an 11pm SpaceX launch, but it was scrubbed.  By some miracle it actually launched on our final evening, we got to see it -- and it was amazing.  It was a falcon heavy launch, and the reusable side boosters returned to the ground - sonic booms and all.  It was so very cool.

I had initially planned to go to the Kennedy Space Center, but Avery wasn't feeling it, so I didn't spend the money for the tickets or transportation to and from.  We'll do that some other time down the road, I am sure we'll be through Port Canaveral again.

From there we headed to get onboard Mariner of the Seas.for a 6 night cruise.  Avery wasn't quite tall enough for the ship water slides, but with all of the other water activities on this trip she didn't even seem to care.  She spent some time in Adventure Ocean, but not a lot.  Mariner is in great condition for her age and it was a very nice trip.  The entertainment was good, we only saw the ice show 2x this trip.

Our trip took us to a new to me port in the Dominican Republic where we stayed in the port area (much like we did on our previous cruise).  It was really nicely done.  We spent some time at the free pool and lazy river, checking out the made beach areas, and snagging a few souvenirs.  Sure shopping inside the port area was a bit pricier, but we did come home with some DR chocolate and cocoa that is amazing.

Next we went to Labadee (private island in Haiti) which was remains a delightful destination.  We managed to snag a covered swing mat near one of the beaches that we used as our home base for a portion of the day.  We also spent some time at the splash pad.

Finally, we went to Cococay (private island in the Bahamas) which also remains amazing.  I miss the old Cococay too, but I do love what they've done with it.  They've built up a lot with the goal of pumping people to spend money, but you can easily do a free day there and have a blast.  We spent time at the giant pool and even more time at the free water play area (pirate ship, slides, and splash pad).

I'm so grateful for my time with my baby before she heads off to school.  I'm extra grateful that we managed to come back without being sick.  Everyone I know that has been on vacation lately is bringing home a bit of covey.  We front loaded vitamin c, d, and zinc (I also took n-ac) and continued our vitamins though the trip.  There were numerous ppl on the fb page for our sailing that reported coming home sick, so my prep was definitely warranted.

Now that we're home it's paperwork and appointments, gathering a bag of schools supplies, and all those things.  My favorite egg tended to the cat and the garden while I was gone.  He also hung up my birthday present (a ceiling hanging storage rack in the garage) and a few new lights that I've purchased to upgrade from the builder-basic fixtures in my dining room and kitchen area.

Tomatoes were delivered to three neighbors since my last garden report multiple times and I still have several bowls full rotating in the kitchen -- that is of sweet 100s.  I have one roma ready to come off and I've pulled a few small "beefsteaks" that were trying to rot before they even ripened.  I pulled another round of banana peppers and a few small bell-like peppers (these too were trying to rot before growing/changing colors).

I plucked the last two beets this afternoon and need to cook them to do one more batch of pickled eggs.  Maybe I should can more of them.  Still no pumpkins forming and the broccoli plants mock me (I'm so disappointed).  I had harvested one bucket full of potatoes before we left.