Back in July I visited my younger brother Baylie for the last time before moving across the country. The visit doubled as a “goodbye” and as a birthday visit since he was turning 18, and it was also an opportunity for me to see his new home and where he lived up in Jacksonville!
I rode up with my mom, my stepdad and my mom’s (many) dogs – one of which is quite large and loves to lick faces! 😛
The new house my brother and his girlfriend’s family moved into was beautiful, and they were super nice and welcoming to us the entire weekend. They have a really nice dock on a lake in their backyard where manatees swim up to say good morning!
Spending time with my brother was a lot of fun – I hadn’t seen him in a really long time and I missed him a lot! We had cake and played games for his birthday, including a game in which I drew a lifesize (and accurate imo) portrait of the birthday boy himself! 😀
Among the birthday festivities, puppy cuddles, delicious food and general hanging out, my brother took me on a jet ski for the first time! I even got to drive one by myself!!
The good news: Riding and driving on a jet ski is really fun and exhilarating! Even if you’re terrified of open water and lakes and everything that lives inside them, it’s pretty fun.
The bad news: I flipped the jet ski. I lost my glasses in the lake. When trying to recover, I panicked because of aforementioned fear of water and lakes, and I flipped another jet ski and caused both my brother and his girlfriend to fly into the water as well. (Sorry!!)
Overall, it was lots of fun – but for the rest of the trip, I couldn’t really see due to losing my glasses and so I spent a lot of time lounging by their very nice pool reading on my Kindle (which, let’s be real, is what my dream vacation is like anyway!)
Let's Get Galactic 