Open Mic Moments, Traveler Personality Types, and Vacation Stories

In this episode of the Created to Be podcast, the crew takes a more story-driven approach as they reflect on meaningful moments from FCA this semester, the impact of relationships in spiritual growth, and the hilarious — and sometimes chaotic — realities of vacations.

From Open Mic testimonies that revealed just how much students have grown this year, to conversations about how transformation is often “caught” through community instead of simply taught through information, this episode explores how formation happens in everyday moments we don’t always recognize while we’re living them.

The team also shares unforgettable vacation stories involving international travel mishaps, language barriers, shark cage excursions in South Africa, travel stress, parenting on vacation, ATV wipeouts, drone accidents, and the unpredictability that always seems to come with trips away from home. Through all the laughter and storytelling, the episode highlights how travel often exposes our assumptions, stretches our patience, and creates memories that stay with us for years.

This episode is full of humor, honesty, meaningful reflection, and reminders that growth often happens through connection, consistency, humility, and simply showing up.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Created to Be podcast. We are on episode 21. Darius, we missed you for milestone number 20. Yeah. Last week. Yeah, but you inspired this topic today. So we'll get to that in a minute. But Justin here is with us. Yo. Of course. Doc. Hey, I'm back. And Brandy. Hey. Man, I go around the table left to right, but I need to start shouting you out first, Brandy. I just realized I need to change things up sometimes. Um, we do we're we do have a new social media channel, and so uh maybe people, I mean, this this is not like a spectacular studio or anything, but we do want people to have a little behind-the-scenes look since we don't have a video podcast. So when I say that about how I introduce everybody, it'll make sense when you see the picture, what we're working with here. Um, on the last podcast, we had Maddie Farmer, uh former Madison Madison, Maddie Kennedy, who played softball here, was an all-American. Um, and there was some really cool things that she brought up. I thought that I don't know that I've ever heard an athlete or even myself articulated, especially as it pertains to what her walk with the Lord looked like after. Like sometimes we don't think about that dynamic that everything flows through sport a lot of times. You know, you're praying for your teammates, you're praying for preparing for a performance or whatever. And that was just one of the things, takeaways that I kept thinking about after the fact. Did that catch your attention, Justin?

SPEAKER_05 1:25

It did, it did.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Yeah, so anyway, just a shout out to that episode. Of course we missed you, Darius. Uh, you were on vacation.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yes, I was on vacation.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

With Santana.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yes, celebrating eight years.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Eight years. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Come on, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:42

New beginning. New beginning. New beginning. You and okay, so Jeremiah and Shay, do they have y'all's anniversary is super close.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Ours is the 28th, and I think theirs is the 30th.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Okay. Because I always have in my head that theirs is in May for some reason.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

But yeah, and and and it's crazy because I I know about five couples whose wedding anniversary is at the same time, around the same time as ours. So it's Jeremiah. I didn't know Jeremiah and Shayla's was, but when I found out it's like, just add it to the list. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Yeah. Y'all y'all's is May 31st. Oh, okay, nice. All these spring anniversaries. Ours is December.

SPEAKER_05 2:22

So we got married in the cold.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Yeah, we did. Um, one of the things that I mentioned on the last podcast was that it was a follow-up from after the Arbor Day podcast about your plant. And I might have mentioned, might have mentioned. Might have. That Jeremiah really planted your plant. Yes. And that you might have shoved some dirt on it. That's the story I heard.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

So I gotta give some backstory content to this. So, you know, we discussed it that he was going to come down, him and Shayla was coming down, and so we were gonna spend some time. Well, you know, we went to the mall. So I have I have on mall gear, gear for an outing.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Hold on, but aren't you at your house?

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Well, so we eventually transition to the house. But because, you know, we at the mall, we're out. I have on my Mississippi State jersey pinstripe that I hardly ever wear. So that's like a it's a it's very luxury item. Right. So I don't, I'm not just doing anything in that. And then I have my Jordan zone. Well, Jeremiah, he's just a worker. Yeah. So he's just like out of nowhere. Okay, let's go plant the plant.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

And I'm like, You weren't prepared.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

I really wasn't ready. So when we went outside, I'm thinking he's gonna tell us a good place we can plant it. Not like literally plant. But I really wasn't thinking like we was going to actually, actually plant it. And so um, I know we talked about it, but you know, it's it's one thing to talk about it, but it's another thing to actually do it. Yeah, and so when they got ready, I'm still like in my maul gear. So I just told I told I told my wife, you gotta go give me some more shoes. I can't mess these up. And so she went and got me some uh more shoes. And I'm not gonna talk about the shoes.

SPEAKER_05 4:11

That'll be a bonus addition. Yeah, that's my good.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Hey, she got me some more, so she went and got me some more shoes. Meanwhile, he's already working. I'm talking about he's clearing out a spot. And so uh what I did help him, now he planted the tree in the ground. He did do that. He put out, he did a lot of the handiwork. I did help carry the soil. We had a bag of soil. I helped him carry it. I scootered a little dirt on it. I officially watered the plants. Yeah. So it wasn't like, you know, with talking to these athletes, everyone has a role.

SPEAKER_04 4:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

He was the most important player, but I played a very important role into winning.

SPEAKER_04 4:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

You know, it was a winning effort. So, hey, the tree is doing fine. You know, uh, it's looked like it's starting to sprout a little bit, so I'm excited about that. But yeah, Jeremiah did do the book of the work. I'm not, I'm gonna be honest. He did do the book of the work.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Is it called christen? Did he christen the plant?

SPEAKER_05 5:10

No. No, they don't call it christening.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Like bless the plant. You you finished the job by putting the water on the plant?

SPEAKER_05 5:15

I mean, if we can call it whatever you want to call it, it's just doing what the plant needs. It needs water.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

I'm just trying to elevate that step that you did. Well, see, this is sealed the plant.

SPEAKER_05 5:26

There you go. Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

See, when he when you said Chris and then trying to elevate, and then Justin was like, no. It really just really took the I'm trying to do that.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

So you wasn't trying, but it's just like I mean, I'm trying it.

SPEAKER_05 5:42

It's like he put the last piece of the puzzle in.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Okay. And without that, the puzzle is still incomplete. Yeah, there you go. No, right. That'd be a better analogy. I was looking at the biggest.

SPEAKER_05 5:53

You didn't do any of the edge pieces and put the frame together or fill in a lot of the middle.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Hold up, I did do something else. If it wasn't for me transitioning the plant from Starkville to Tupac.

SPEAKER_05 6:06

So, so like So you did do some of the edge pieces. All right, we're good. We got you.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Just making a point. Yeah. Um, okay, so today we're gonna talk about vacations because Darius did just get back from vacation, but also we're approaching summer months where people will go on vacation. And so I thought it would be immediately when I thought about this topic, I thought, we got some pretty wild stories in the Pigot house, so there's probably some other great stories. So we're gonna get to that. Um, and then just before we get into that topic, FCA, we finished up our semester um with huddles and everything. Let's go. And I just wanted to get y'all's feedback on what stood out to you at Open Mic, because that was our last, you know, huddle what we did. And so open mic is when anybody can get up and share just about how they've been impacted through FCA. And I mean, in general, just in their walk with the Lord, but also sometimes it crosses over for their involvement with FCA. And so I have a few things on my mind, but I'd like to hear from you guys what you thought.

SPEAKER_05 7:07

Elijah Griffin. He was amazing. So Elijah is one of our access students, and there's such a great core group of students. They also play United sports, so football, basketball, and um Elijah got up and shared about his knee injury and working through that and how much he loves to play on that team, and how much he loves this FCA community and how important it was to him, and he was just thanking the group, and it was just a really special message. And uh, I just looked back at Bethany, I was like, Man, that's why we do it. Yeah, right there.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

And Taylor Troutman and Matthew Mackey are two student leaders who have invested in that group. And Taylor wasn't here because they they were at the SEC tournament for softball. But I text her and she was pumped that he got up there. But a huge special moment. Yeah, but a huge, like I mean, just shout out to those two leaders because they've really invested in that group to I'm sure help give confidence for someone to walk to the front of the room and do that.

SPEAKER_05 8:02

FCA is for all.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Yeah. Very good.

SPEAKER_05 8:05

And uh athletes of all kinds. And these this that crew has blessed us exponentially this year, yeah, more than ever. And um Elijah getting up in a chair was just man, just like cherry on top.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah. Any other highlights, thoughts? Um, I I just kind of observed and took back from everybody. Uh I was very admirable of the boldness of a lot of the students to get up and share. Uh, it was one young lady, I can't remember her name, but she's on the track team, but she's an introvert. Uh probably Nyla. Uh I think, yeah. And she said she was an introvert, but to because my wife is an introvert, and I understand how tough and challenging it is to get up in front of people and to express your feelings. Like that's just and to see how she got up there and shared, was open and did a great job. Uh, just so many different people. Like, I every time I I guess because I always look at them in the light of when I was at their age, and they are just doing things that I just wasn't even open to doing. And so to be able to see that and then to see the growth, like when we first started with some of them, and how they are interacting were more open as time went on. You could see like their actual growth through the process of time of the huddles. And so that was that was something that I really appreciated. And then I like the mixture. You know, you get it from the student's perspective, and then I know Brandy, you shared, Jeremiah shared, uh, Mr. Brad. Like you get it from some of everybody, like what everyone is thinking, what everyone was able to grow from. And so that was, I think it's great that we do that because it allowed us to see, you know, how effective that the huddles in FCA has been, especially when you're hearing people talk about things that happened at the very beginning of semester. It lets you know something stuck that long that they are willing to talk about it at the last one. So it's good. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I did.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Yeah, I was just gonna say too, like it was a smaller crowd. So at first I was like, oh, this isn't really gonna take long, but so many people spoke. Um, and I like, like you're saying, the variety of people. I like hearing from them. I wish that we did it more often because I actually like hearing like their walk and what they're going through and how they face it, even when it's like a challenging situation, because they did a few of them opened up to like some very personal things. Um, and then I guess maybe the one that stood out to me the most was the football player who hasn't been, but like just him sharing um because he just got back, like him just sharing his story. Like I said, okay, that was probably his first time here. I haven't seen him. He might have been here. Since he just has coming back, I was like, he got up and just shared, like he was comfortable in the room. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

His story was so cool. Just of he was a walk on here, then transferred and had really had dreams to be on scholarship here. And so now he's back on scholarship. So he was just encouraging people that you know, like you might have this idea or dream in your head, but it might not go as you planned or like how you saw it, but it still came to pass, just not in the way that he expected.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

But I guess what amazed me about his story is, and I'm not trying to preach so we don't need the organ, but I I do want to say this it's amazing how God took him back. Yeah. And then gave him what he was praying for, and then took him forward. Yeah. It's like you walk on, I'm gonna take you to a lower level, and he even testified he didn't do as well, wasn't as successful. He just kind of getting ready to settle there, and then it's like, come back up, you know, and so that was it's like to see how God moves, like you said, even through the people's, like even uh, and I I just thought about this too. The the guy that runs track, but he tore, he said he entered his hamstring and he had to red shirt. Yeah, and he talked about how it wasn't what he thought as far as the year sports-wise, but what I took from him is every week he looked, he looked like he was joyful. Yeah, like I wouldn't have never knew he was red shirted and had been injured if he wouldn't have testified of it because you could see the joy on him. And I feel like that's what FCA did for a lot of them this year. It kind of gave them a consistent place of joy and a reminder of what what it's all about and who they really are outside of just being an athlete. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:34

Ben Ben's worked through some other injuries this year too, and has been able to run and do some things, and so it's pretty amazing just to see his perseverance through it all and really his perspective in the whole thing, which really been cool to watch this semester.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Yeah. So there's several athletes who have made decisions to incorporate FCA in their schedule as a priority. And that was one of the things that I saw just in hearing them talk, like so many have made that decision and they have been so consistent. And the challenge was kind of like evaluate that investment, and I bet you're gonna discover this was not a waste of your time, you know? And so that was really cool to see just them be consistent and then be able to testify of just what has been happening in their life. And then the other thing that Justin and I kind of thought about after the fact was that I said that was one of the best open mics, I think. I mean, we've been doing ministry in different places for like 15 years, in some ways, but it was a good one. No, and that's not a shot at any former night, but like this is why though, this is why it stood out to me. People were able to clearly articulate what they were, what they have learned and how it has looked applied to their life. And that ability, that's a skill. And I haven't ever, there's some people who could do it in the past, but I felt like literally everyone did. And that's the first time in listening and being part of something like that that that has happened so clearly. And so we were talking afterwards, and we think this is just our you know, observation is Justin said that's a testament to small groups. Like we went we committed to that. We committed to these small groups and the leaders leading every week, and people that came and spoke, whether it's staff or outside, like we committed to shorter messages so that they had that time to interact. And I don't know, I mean, we're making those connections, but I agree with Justin that I think that since they had practice in doing that, then they were able to get up, which encourages me because it doesn't like of course we're in this safe setting where they can do that, but if they can do that in there, then like at practice they can do that in a classroom with a friend, they can do that with their family, they can do that. But that's a very hard thing to know something and see maybe pieces of it applying to your life, but then be able to like use words to explain. That's a bit it can be very hard for people. Um, and so it takes practice, and so that was really encouraging to me to walk away from that night and seeing that happen.

SPEAKER_05 15:00

I mean, we looked at it more of like you know, like what's the fruit of you sticking this out for a year? Yeah. You know, you're gonna leave um with some skills that you didn't have coming in. You're gonna know how to communicate, you're gonna know how to share practically what God's doing in your life with other people. You're gonna be able to process those things. Um, you're gonna grow in maturity and navigating things with other people and openness, honesty, a variety of things, you know. Um it was just kind of cool. It kind of felt like we had a lot of returners there that night too that have been with us the whole time. Yeah. And uh I I think another thing that highlighted for me was the track group. And again, shout out to Jeremiah and Shayla. I feel like we do it every time. Yeah, um, because what they've done with Growth Room, how they have um just continue to build that family and just the timing of it all. Great group that's come in this year, how they have bought in. Um, and and just hats off to Jeremiah and Shayla and their continued investment over the years. Um, it's cool to see what's being built and what's gonna happen for years to come. I hope this group, this core group stays together for many years to come.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

A lot of the things that you mentioned that were areas of growth that people might not have even known were happening is just a result of them being in relationship and conversation with other people. And that kind of goes in the direction of what I want to talk about today. I know we're talking about vacations, but and we'll we'll tie a bow on this episode at the end so y'all remind me, but just this thought of like how much formation can happen when you're just in relationship, having a good time, having a good hang with other people. Like so often we it's I think it's a human tendency to want a prescriptive thing. Just tell me the three things I gotta do and I'll go execute it, right? Or do it to the best of my ability. But, or you could come to FCA and just put yourself in a position to receive and then give in that time of small group, and you might actually mature quicker than if I just gave you three things to apply to your life. Does that make sense? It's a very dynamic thing that's happening that you don't you might not even be aware is happening, but transformation is actually taking place and maturing is actually taking place.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

I know he talked about this last year, but ever since he said it has always stuck out to me and it fits what you're saying. Created to be connected. Like there's so much we take, because like even hearing from different perspectives, you hear things from them, it's like I wasn't even thinking that way, but man, I need to shift a little bit in the way I'm looking at things, the way I'm seeing different things. And so, like you, you, you know, I think sometimes we miss the beauty of what can come out of relationships when we are connected. So uh that's something that I think that could be a great encouragement, like you said, to us um as staff, but also encouragement to for to the listeners that are on who you know are coming back. That could be a plug-in to also encourage other student athletes to come be a part, right? Testifying like what took place in your life because the growth took place. Right and and and even when Justin was talking, one of the things I thought about too was you can literally come with nothing, and FCA is gonna help you have some form of clarity. Yeah, that's good. What God is saying, how he operates, what he's because sometimes I can see what he's doing for me through listening what he's doing with someone else. Right. And it's like, well, you know, that has been happening for me as well. And it's like, well, maybe God is speaking to me in this way. It's like it's a lot of information, but it's a lot of clarity. You're gonna a lot of things are gonna be made clear as you are part, you're listening. And and so I think that it's it's just great. The the year was great. Like I I I've I mean, I'm coming, and sometimes I'm coming off the road, so I'm coming in, not knowing what to expect. Yeah, and you leave like, man, I'm so glad I came. Like, like, because it I took in something that that was so amazing. So um I'm just excited about what is to come, you know, and um we got a great thing going.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Yeah, you said something really impactful where it's like, you know, you have you could somebody could get up and share a message, and this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just just an opinion here, but like how somebody could share a message, hey, you should think this way, you should see life through this way, like challenge your perspective, right? But you mentioned something like when you're in a group and you hear someone's perspective, you kind of do this thing, probably you're not even consciously thinking about, and you kind of maneuver and kind of think like, maybe I should think different. You're probably gonna be more receptive in that moment to shift how you see things because you've met someone with a different perspective versus someone telling you you should.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

And it's not confrontational. Yeah. Like it's it's more like uh uh, I don't know how to say it, but it's not confrontational. It's and and you know, I'm learning this, there's just certain levels of impartation that comes not by speaking, but just being around. Right. You know, and that's why when you're talking about being connected, there are certain things we'll start picking up from one another as it relates to whatever you you see. Um, because I think about when one of the students talked about she was getting ready to have surgery and she had had an injury. I think she may have been a cheerleader or something, but you start hearing other people, hey, I've been through this. Right. Let me tell you, this is what it's gonna be like I had one person, I'm hearing one person talking about they know what it's gonna feel like. The first, and you could see the weight of where that person kind of had a fear of the unknown, right? That weight started to be lifted. But it's like if you wasn't a part, right, that could have been something you missed out on.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

Yeah, you know. That's good, that's really good. So we'll keep talking a little bit about like formation in that sense of like just being around. And that's what we encourage people, to like just show up.

SPEAKER_05 20:59

Putting people in environments where things can be caught, not just taught.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

That's a bar. I think that's a good thing. That's a bar.

SPEAKER_05 21:07

But I mean, think about the things you remember things that you some of the things that you were taught, right? I mean, you're gonna go back to those things, but most of the things you watched and saw in other people or heard from others in a different way, not just like a teaching type deal. And it's caught. You see it and go, oh.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

Yeah, it's modeled for you. Yeah. That's the one-liner. That's good. Okay, so we're gonna transition into a time of talking about what type of vacation are on you, are you for the stretch time? Because when Darius came back from his vacation, I was we were talking about how you and Santana are different in how you vacation. Like she's an adventurer, wants to go out and do stuff. Um, so I have a few that are on here, and I want y'all to tell me what you think you are before we take this quiz. So you have laid back lounger, prefers relaxing by the pool or quiet beach, enjoying um in room dining, zero stress. Um, you have the Adventure seeker who thrives on activities such as hiking, exploring, high energy sightseeing. You have the balanced vacationer enjoys a mix of both worlds. Action in the morning, maybe relaxing later. And then the cultural explorer, explorer. These are hard words to say in a row. Um, focused on museums, historical landmarks, local cuisine, things like that. So what do you think that you are, Justin, before we do this quiz? I'm more balanced. Yeah, you think so? I'm more balanced.

SPEAKER_05 22:27

Yeah, I like the adventure piece. Like, let's go hike a mountain. Yeah. Like if I'm in a mountain, like, let's go. I want to do that. Yeah. Obviously, you got kids in the back of the house. Does it depend navigating that?

SPEAKER_02 22:36

But does it depend on the setting? Like if you're in the mountains, you're gonna go hike. You're not gonna sit there, but like if you're on the beach, are you gonna feel the same? Like I have to get in the water.

SPEAKER_05 22:43

Uh yeah, I need to get the little bit of beach time. Okay. Yeah. Not not crazy though. Like I don't want to go be like nuts. I would like to get started.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Do you want to go do excursions and things like that when you're down? No. I don't think so. I just make sure I I knew you. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Darius, what about you? I'm balanced. Yeah. I'm pretty balanced. I'm I'm not over the top with the adventure, but I don't I'm also I don't like to just sit in the room either.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

So I like to be able to balance out, have moments where I go out and then have moments where I'm resting and relaxing. So I'm a little, I'm a little bit of of both. So well, we'll I know we'll get into a little more, but I'm I'm just gonna say I'm balanced. What do you what do you think, Brandy?

SPEAKER_03 23:24

Depends on who I'm going with and what I'm doing, I would think. But probably the second one. What was the second one again?

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Adventure seeker.

SPEAKER_03 23:31

Yeah, probably that one. I don't just sit well, even like if my my my kids are definitely that, so like I have no choice with them. But even like I was thinking if it were just me and Brett, I'd probably still want to go do for a majority of the day. Like our honeymoon, we went to the beach, but like we literally went to the water park. We did like all kinds of things. We didn't just go sit at the beach.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

Yeah. So I feel like I'm somewhere between the adventure seeker and balanced because I do get tired sometimes. And I mean it does depend. Like I'm just saying, if you're taking your kids somewhere, it's not a vacation for the parents at all. Like that's pretty rough.

SPEAKER_05 24:07

If you take your kids anywhere, like it is a vacation for me and you that would be great.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Um, we went to was it Pittsburgh?

SPEAKER_05 24:15

Oh, yeah, that was great.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

I mean, that was for a wedding, but we were able to, yeah. I mean, I can think of times like that, like if we were leaving for a wedding or that we've had some time to do some things.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

I was gonna say Mary Ashley's gonna get married, but it's gonna be in Tupelo, I think. So no, not Tupelo, it's gonna be somewhere Petal?

SPEAKER_03 24:32

No, the small town outside of West Point. Petal. Not Petal. Montpelier. It's Montpelier. I promise.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

You're gonna have to fact check this. Well, what the reason why I brought that up, because I was gonna say, y'all could have another, but then it's like, yeah, it's not Pittsburgh. No, it's not Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_05 24:50

Is there a mountain in Mount Pillier?

SPEAKER_03 24:52

Uh Airbnb out there in the middle of nowhere.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

That's so funny. A tiny house. Yeah. Okay, so here's the quiz. And so just tell me what you think. I'll mark your answer. Your ideal vacation morning looks like sleeping in, coffee, no plans, up early for a hike or workout, something active but not too early, or walking through the local market and grabbing culture uh coffee at a cultural spot. Ooh.

SPEAKER_03 25:17

B for me, the up early, whatever, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

I can do the coffee at a uh cultural spot. Cultural spot. Okay, Justin.

SPEAKER_05 25:27

Man, I'm kind of like an A. Sleep in for once. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

That's funny. And I'm probably this other one. We're all over the place. Your travel itinerary is A, what itinerary? Uh B packed from sunrise to sunset, C planned, but with flexibility. D centered around key sites, food spots, experiences.

SPEAKER_05 25:49

All right. Mine's D. I would like to.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Okay, I'm gonna need the choice multiple chores again. What itinerary packed from sunrise to sunset, planned, but with flexibility, or centered around key sites, food spots, experiences.

SPEAKER_05 26:06

I want to get to know. I want to know, like, that's the best here. I want to, I would like to try the best thing. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

I'm gonna learn a lot about Justin in this podcast anyway.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

See, I'm a little bit of C and D. You gotta pick one. I know. I'm right there with the one. I need to phone a friend.

SPEAKER_04 26:21

Yeah, yeah, because flexibility.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Because I'm A or C. If we if we plan, I'm planning around a spot.

SPEAKER_05 26:29

Well, my plans are the best places we can go. So give me C. Just give me C.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

C is flexibility. Yeah. Okay. When picking a place to stay, you care most about comfort, views, and relaxation, proximity to activities and adventure. A mix, nice, but also well located. Um, being in the heart of the culture or historic area. A. A.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Comfort. I want comfort and a nice view. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

I'm gonna say a mix for me.

SPEAKER_05 26:55

Yeah, I'm with Brandy.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

Mix. Um, okay. We were we knew that one. Um, I'm gonna skip a few. Um, your reaction to a free day on vacation. A, yes, finally. B, let's fill it with something exciting. Maybe relax, maybe explore. We'll see. Perfect time to discover something local. I'm gonna go with D on this one. I think I would look at it as an opportunity of like, oh great, we don't have a plan, let's find a cool place to go.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

I'ma I'm gonna see. See, maybe because a lot of these questions are very circle. Yes, it's very circumstantial. Like I'm having to make a vacation.

SPEAKER_05 27:38

The day before was hard. I need to sleep, and then we'll figure it out later. Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

That's what so that's how I feel. And then it too, and then I'm gonna say this too. It also depends on where you go. Yeah, yeah. Because like certain vacation spots.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

So maybe think about your ideal vacation and an ideal okay, B. B. Let's fill it with something.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

For an ideal vacation for somebody who don't who don't go on vacation a lot. Look, I don't I don't even know if I have a thought about my ideal vacation.

unknown 28:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

Okay, I'm missing an answer from Justin. D. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:06

I'm with you on that. Okay. That's a fun day. I would love to do that if we had to do this up. No kids for that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

When you come home, you want to feel rested and recharged, accomplished and energized, both rested and fulfilled, inspired and enriched.

SPEAKER_03 28:24

C for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Same. C. Okay. I think everybody, I mean, truly. We all gonna be on C on this one. We're all gonna be on C.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Everybody don't see.

unknown 28:33

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Look, I will say this though. I just a memory popped up in my head, and we're not there yet, but I gotta say it. Inspired. Have any of you been to Disney and seen the show at the end of the day on the castle? I mean, I don't know what it is to me about that.

SPEAKER_05 28:51

Pulls all your heart strings, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02 28:52

It just, I don't you, I feel like you leave that and you're like, I can literally do anything I ever dreamt about. When Tinkerbell flies in and stuff, yeah, just the light show and the music and like all that stuff.

SPEAKER_05 29:05

I don't know if Tinkerbell still flies around.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 29:07

I don't know. We went when Lee Parker was like four.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

But it like did something to me to watch that level of execution of a creative idea and like all the things happening. I was just my mind was blown. I was like, literally, you can do whatever you want to do.

SPEAKER_03 29:21

And I was like, this is what Disney does to you. So funny. I did not have that thought.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

I was like, Brandy's like, are you talking about that lame light ship?

SPEAKER_03 29:30

I was like, well, I was trying to think. It's been a while ago. So I was like trying to think, I know I was there.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

I'm like, I just remember being like, I just remember being like, yeah. Now I have felt similarly when I've gone to national parks. I've kind of had that same feeling too. That's kind of what I want to do. Yeah, go ahead. It's very fun. Your ideal travel memory is watching the sunset with no agenda, reaching the top of a mountain, or completing an activity, a perfect day that had both fun and rest, a meaningful moment tied to place or culture.

SPEAKER_05 30:04

Yeah, I'm B.

SPEAKER_01 30:06

I'm B. Fabrial.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

Not the color, but I should have said it at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Oh my gosh. I have the same thought.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

I guess B.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

So we're all granted doesn't sound too confident to him. I know.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

I was trying to be sad. I'm like, this is hard. I'm gonna have to just like put the results later because I cannot do all that in my head right now.

SPEAKER_05 30:32

I mean, a day of rest and a day of fun. That sounds like a win, too.

SPEAKER_03 30:35

So B is oh wait. B was the best of both worlds, I feel like with that. Oh no, it wasn't. I don't know. Yeah, so maybe I'll reveal that on the social media page.

SPEAKER_05 30:46

Getting out of an escape room in time. That's good, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Oh man, we have some good escape room stories. I've never been.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

I've never been.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Really? Now I'm gonna tell you this for you and your children, your family, it'll be great for y'all. Because y'all are very adventurous, very energetic, and just working together, I think it'll be something that y'all can accomplish. We do well. I I've almost made it out of both escape rooms. I've no three. No, me and Santana made it through one. And then the other two, I was with a bigger group, we didn't make it through. It's a lot going on. You really have to work together. But escapes rooms, they are very interesting. At first, I was like, Man, I don't want to do this, but when you get there and you get those, I feel like I'm in CSI.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

Can you imagine? Can you imagine doing this with Abby and Eli? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:35

Well, I was just about to say, I'm just picturing us. We would leave Brett. He would be still in the back room. And we'd like to be like, come on.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

No, look, we've talked about it's not necessarily a challenge. This escape room, it wouldn't be like a challenge, but we have talked about things we should do as a staff. One of those things is me and Darius has to play one-on-one once I get my results back from my MRI on my knee. And then uh, but that would be a fun thing. Tuscaloosa has an escape room. Our staff should that could be fun. Entertaining. Really? Maybe a July activity. Okay, so um, we'll see if what we predicted as our vacation styles end up matching. I cannot, I cannot do that right now while I'm like uh talking, but I'll figure that out. We'll post it. Okay, so I've heard that vacation styles can really it really can cause problems. Like when people want to go and just rest versus people that want to go, go, go. What do you think?

SPEAKER_05 32:30

Yeah, you got to have the you gotta choose the right family to vacation with. We've talked about that. Now, if you get thrown into your whole family, you just gotta go with it. And everybody's got a little different and you just make it work because it's your family. But like if you're gonna friends, yeah, like the Teal family in Austin, we love them, we miss them. We could vacation with them.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

Because there's things that happen that you realize some people eat a certain way, yeah, and are very particular about their food choices and like what you're gonna cook together, whatever, and if it's processed or if it's not, or if it's this or if it's that.

SPEAKER_05 33:00

Or and some are like, we need to all go together to things. Some are like, man, we'll just split into our own, and you gotta be on the same page.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

And that family in particular, they run a CrossFit gym. So physical activity is very important even when they're on vacation. So they're doing CrossFit workouts every day. So yeah, it's and then also as a parent, Brandy, I don't know if you've experienced this, but also sleep schedules. If people care if their kids get to bed at a certain time on vacation, um which we emphasize more when our kids were small because they would be crazy the next day or whatever. Or like, do these do these families make their kids nap during the day if they're younger, or do they just roll with it? It's so many different things. When it's like the families, you know, but I've gone on girls' trips with my sisters and my mom, and we gel pretty well because we all we kind of settled on the whole like let's make an itinerary, but also we're gonna make a list of all the cool spots that we think based on blogs and different things. And then like we'll just kind of take the day as it comes to us. Like we'll start with that plan, but if it changes, who cares? Yeah. And that's worked out really well. And but some of those other things that people value that they don't some people have an off switch when they go on vacation. It's like I'm on vacation, so I don't practice any of my normal habits, I just flip a switch, and other people continue to do their habit. I mean, it's crazy. Well, I I'm looking like I'm making you tired over there, Danny.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Um, not every year, but every other year. Um, and is is what Justin was saying, it's like when you got such a big group, because we have like it's like almost 40 to 50 people because it's the people that work there and their spouses. So it's like that could be tough because it's like everybody's operating so different, and even though you can have a mindset to do stuff as together, but the way people are wired, the way people move, is like you can't do that. And then what has also made it challenging for us at times is we've gone out of the country. So when you go out of the country, you really want to kind of try to stick together a little bit more, you know, because it's like, okay, we got to kind of look out for each other, you know. So it's that is a little different. Now, when I have gone with my like my family, I haven't gone with my full family, but sometimes I may go, and I'm this type of person, like, cause Santana is very adventurous. She's very adventurous. So I a lot of times like if her sister can come, because they are a lot alike, so I don't have to have the weight of So they can go do their thing to do everything. Right, well, right, because it it keeps because I'm gonna say this you like you you was asking that question, you think about it. If you want to relax and somebody else wants to do a lot of adventurous stuff, sometimes it's like pulling teeth. Because even if I go, I'm not the best me because I really don't want to be here. Yeah, and even if she stays, she's not the best her because she was wanting to be. So it's like sometimes I look at that like I'm so thankful for the help. I don't get mad, I don't get jealous, like we make sure that we uh prioritize our moments and times, but like, yeah, it it does depend on who you go with. And I'm I'm just this type of person. Like, if I'm going to relax, I don't want to take a problem. Like, I like my like I'm I'm saying this. I learned this. Home is gonna be home when I get back. Yeah. So the last thing I want to do is to be away from home and everything that the vacation is meant for. I can't do that.

SPEAKER_03 36:34

I thought you were meaning you didn't want to take a person that was gonna be the problematic.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

No, no, no, no, no, that's what I mean. No, no, no, that's what I mean. I don't I don't want to, like I'm saying, if I'm going with someone, and it's it's amazing because Santana being an introvert, I was the type of person, when we first got together, I want to take other people. And she would just want it to be me and uh us. You remember I asked y'all one time, like, if it's just so like, but now I've changed. It's like I do like it just being me and her. Uh, I am being more open. It's kind of like we we kind of mesh in a little bit. She's she's kind of coming a little bit over to my side and vice versa. It's like so. Yeah, we got a good mix. That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

You married a good one. Man, I was thinking about a mission trip that we were on where that makes it very difficult because if you have any personal preferences, because you're just you gotta pretty much eat the same thing, do whatever, and we've just experienced just where uh Barbados.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

A week. No, no, I'm saying like how long you was having to be there, a week. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

Um, and so like I just remember someone being there who she needed like food from a particular place every day, and anyways, outside of the main group. And so you just see like it's just interesting how it affects group dynamics, or like they might try to get a different car because they're not gonna ride in the bus or whatever it may be. And so even mission trips can be a little challenging too that way when it's like it's very hard to be custom to everybody's preferences because we have such a that's what I was thinking of when you said a company trip.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Like you have such a big number that you're trying to, you know, but you think about trying to make it through TSA, yeah, trying to make it through all these different things with a big group, and then you're trying to make sure nobody gets left. And then of course you have people who are just I'm just gonna do my own thing, right? I'm with the group, but I'm not with the group. And it's it's so it's just it could be it can be very challenging. Like it really can, but you know, yeah, we make it work.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

Well, it's a thing, and I don't think I realize that even growing up, we didn't really vacation very much. But when eventually, as you live more life, you start realizing you're like, people vacation different. And some people don't want to be bothered, some people want this. It's hard to please everybody, but anyways, Brandy did us the nice service of adding up all these things. Um, so I am I'm the balanced, we all kind of what I don't even remember what I think. Yeah, Darius, uh yeah, you are, and then Justin and Brandy tied between balanced and no, no, no, no. Brandy was balanced and adventurer seeker, and then Justin, which this is a fun discovery about you today, balanced, but with a value you tied with cultural explorer. So it's good to know.

SPEAKER_05 39:17

I have an appreciation of that. I'm not like my Uncle Richard, though, you know, he's Mr. History, yeah. You know, he's gonna go look at everything and read everything and knows everything.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Yeah, yeah, that's that's like my uh my cousin. She's like that. Santana's like that too. Like we if we go to a museum, they want to know the square footage of the building. When was it built? Yeah, when was it built? What kind of windows are these?

SPEAKER_03 39:41

Threats like that. We went to the zoo, he was reading every single word on every single thing, and we're like, we're at the next animal. I'm like He's like, I'm I'm learning something.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

That is hilarious. This thing's got three stomachs. Did y'all know that? Okay, so before we move on, who plans the vacation?

SPEAKER_01 40:01

Santana do it for us.

SPEAKER_05 40:02

Okay, Bethany.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Yes, I already planned their vacation. I did one, I was so excited, and we're gonna talk about that one.

SPEAKER_05 40:09

Oh, we will.

SPEAKER_02 40:11

But I was so excited, I haven't even told Justin this yet. But I was like, for some reason, it made me so happy to think about this type of organization for him. On his Gmail, I made a separate folder for all of his like flight confirmations, tickets, everything that's already labeled, and all the things are moved over to that. And I was like, I can't wait to tell him that. Like that I've made this trip with his guys. Oh wow, I'm so excited. You're awesome. I'm like, you just log into your Gmail and it's all there in this particular tab, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 40:40

And yeah, I don't like the planning behind it all. But our our vacations are very easy. Like we do what we want to do. We go with my parents, my brother, and his kids. Most of the time it ends up me and Brett taking the kids, including my oldest two niece and nephew, and we just go to the beach and they come when they want. Like they sleep when they want, they do their own thing, and then one night they'll go eat on their own, and we eat where we want to eat or cook in. Like it's very so there's not a whole lot to plan.

SPEAKER_02 41:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:09

But I will say, my mom did a whole notepad on a trip she took to Alabama, and it's got links in it and everything, and I was super excited because we're going just like a four-day at the end of May. Oh, no, and so I'm just using everything she put to fit our schedule. It's nice.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

It's hard. My sisters and I, my mom, we went to Boston one year and then we went to Charleston, and my sister Leah planned the Boston trip, and then I I said I would do it for the next one so she wouldn't have to do it. And I will say, when I sat down and I was like overwhelmed, yeah, I was like, oh my gosh, there's a million places that like I'm just it was a and your time is so short, you want to make sure you see the right things. Yeah, which I'm thankful for like Instagram and things now, or people will document so that you can kind of know. But I was like, it took a lot for me to figure out. Yeah, that was yeah. And Yelp. There you go.

SPEAKER_05 41:58

You nailed the Utah trip though. That was good.

SPEAKER_02 42:00

Oh, yeah, we did take that trip as a family. But anyways, okay, we're gonna transition into stories because I just know we have them, and we might have to do a part two because that this is probably gonna get too long. But I want to shout out somebody that listens to this podcast because what I would love to do with this is as we share our stories, if people would submit their stories, and so I'm gonna I'm gonna call out Brad Smith right now. He listens to our he listens to our podcast, and so um, Brad, I'm talking to you right now uh that you should leave us a comment uh with any stories that you have about vacations that you think are um, you know, you'd want us to repeat on this podcast.

SPEAKER_05 42:37

But he's on the road a lot too, so I'm sure he's got some stories, some weird trips.

SPEAKER_02 42:41

So anybody can submit a comment though. We'd love to read your uh vacation stories. Um, but I was just gonna say that uh in a serious sense, formation is always happening. We've talked about that, but even in good times, and maybe we don't think about that so much, you know, a lot of times we think formation, it's work, it's like we got to submit ourselves, all this stuff. But and that those things are true. Uh, but even in good times, you're being formed in shape because formation's always happening. And so we get to talk about those fun things um today, that those things that we are having fun doing, that you know, yeah, we're being uh shaped as well. So who wants to start with a good story that you've got from a vacation that you would like the listeners to hear about?

SPEAKER_01 43:23

She said a good story.

SPEAKER_03 43:25

I know it's kind of pressure. Pressure. I could give you an example funny or whatever you want that you think would be entertaining.

SPEAKER_01 43:34

We went to uh I want to say it was it was Mexico, but I can't remember exactly where we were at. But it was a place had ex uh it was an all inclusive state. And so me being mean, um I made it a thing to go live every time. Because it seemed like something would always happen. So I would always go live and tell a story. So we're in Mexico and And this we we go to this one place that has um it's not it's a beach, but it's it's like a beach with a lot of other things that are part of this beach. They got like a little shopping center, um, then they got another area where it's a restaurant, then they got like a smaller swimming pool with a basketball goal in it. It's like people would come from where we were to there to just experience, and then you would eventually go back. So this one place gave me so many experiences. When we first get there, so at this time I'm with C Spire and forgot to change over my plan to international. So my phone is literally not working, so I can't get in contact with anybody.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

And wait, was this before you were married?

SPEAKER_01 44:50

No, this is while I'm married. Okay. So me and Santana together. Matter of fact, this is our uh first year. Okay. This is our first year. So um, and how God worked this out, we really didn't plan for our anniversary, but it was the same time, our anniversary was the same time our company was taking a trip to Mexico. So it's like, so for our one year, hey everybody, what did y'all do? We went to Mexico. So when we get to this place, I go to the front desk, and it's a little comical. So most of you know, the people they speak Spanish, different things. And so I go to this place and I said, I asked the lady, I said, Can you help me with the Wi-Fi?

SPEAKER_00 45:29

She said, Uh, they went that way.

SPEAKER_04 45:33

Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_00 45:35

I said, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

I said, Wi-Fi. Like, why? Like I was trying to make it like I was trying to show, because when you can't communicate, it's like that, I'm telling y'all, that's that's the most nerve-wracking. And she said, uh, they went that way. Like, and so I am like upset. So I was like, just forget about it. Look, so I go out to the pool where everybody else is, and what do you call the things that people lay on at the beach?

SPEAKER_02 46:02

Uh like the chairs?

SPEAKER_01 46:04

Like the chair is, but is is it I need a certain name for it? Oh well, well, anyway, I go, this is at the same place. I go sit down at this at this on this beach chair. I sit my backpack down. Well, I didn't know that if it had a tile on it, it means it belongs to somebody. But me, I've never been to the the beach before. I didn't know this. So I go and sit my happy self down, put my backpack, and a Spanish guy comes over there and he's going off on me. But he's speaking Spanish. I don't know what he's saying, but I can tell by his antics. I can, you, you just, I know he's mad. And so he's he's going off, and I'm like, I don't know what you're saying. I'm like, I don't know what's going on. So my dad's a little bit. So I'm like, like, I'm like, I don't know what you're saying. I'm like, what is it? But I can you can feel the energy. And so what helped us was one of the ladies that was a god, she comes over there and so she speaks American and Spanish. So she said, so she's American.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

I'm sorry. I mean, she speaks English. Hey, crop that out. We don't want our listeners hearing that. Listen, she speaks English. Oh my God. Listen, she speaks. I must have known you're about to say we love our country.

SPEAKER_05 47:28

We love our country.

SPEAKER_00 47:29

We really do. Look, so she speaks English and Spanish.

SPEAKER_01 47:34

So she comes over there, like, and by this time, I'm getting upset because the guy is mad at me, and I'm getting upset because I'm like, I can't understand you, but I don't like this energy either. Like, so she comes over, like, like, so she comes and she says, um she says, she tells me to wait, you know, and she started speaking to him in Spanish. And she looks at me, she said, This seat was already occupied by them. She was like, I'm just gonna tell you this. If you see a towel draped over it, it's it's already belongs to somebody. So I looked, I said, Oh, that's it. So I grabbed, I said, I'm sorry. Look, he said, it's okay, my friend.

SPEAKER_05 48:14

No, that previous stuff is not okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:16

So this is what I'm saying. He could speak English, but I feel like he just wanted to cuss me out of his hands. He was like, it's okay, my friend. I said, unbelievable.

SPEAKER_03 48:28

Maybe he only knew that one line in American.

SPEAKER_00 48:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:34

In American. Oh, Brandy, nice.

SPEAKER_01 48:37

So yeah, we when I tell you, I was so upset. Like, just just everything I experienced in a short period of time, it was just so overwhelming. And so I had to let the people know, like, I need to make my way back to America. I need a minute. Like, I need a minute. Yeah, because it's just was it was a lot. Too much, God. It was a it was a lot. Yeah. It was a lot.

SPEAKER_02 48:59

We have a South Africa story that is wild, y'all.

SPEAKER_03 49:02

So I don't want to take too much time to mirror good because um our stories are not going to be super funny or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 49:08

So we don't know. We might laugh.

SPEAKER_03 49:11

It might be American. It might be. As long as you speak American.

SPEAKER_05 49:16

Learning how to speak Mexican.

SPEAKER_01 49:20

Man, I gotta work on that. That's tough.

SPEAKER_03 49:22

It's okay.

SPEAKER_01 49:23

Speaking American. Oh there is. But but what but I will say this sometimes being in America and we're not we don't go a lot of other places, yeah, you really could think the whole world is American. Like everybody speaks American. I mean English. Yeah. But you know what I'm saying? Like it's easy to feel like that. And it's like until you go to another country and really And there's a lot of languages.

SPEAKER_05 49:44

You know, like in Europe, there's a lot, and you don't have to travel far, and you're experiencing a lot of different languages. So, like for us, it's a big place. It's accents. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

But if I go on anywhere out of the country, the first question I'm asking, do they speak a lot of English? Because if they don't, it's gonna be it's gonna be hard for me.

SPEAKER_05 50:06

Yeah, we do have some better translator stuff.

SPEAKER_02 50:07

So you know? Yummy. I mean, how old were you at the time? I was twenty-seven. I think that there are some things too, especially when you travel, that you just don't know. Like I didn't know that about beach chairs for a while. Like, I just you just don't know what's custom or like what is the rules of the situation.

SPEAKER_05 50:29

Everybody's got their own little thing.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

You know, and so then you have to like learn as you go. Like, I don't even know. I mean, I'm thinking about non-vacation examples of like hosting a shower at your house, like all the things that you're supposed to do, or uh just stuff like that that you just don't know unless someone tells you or you've seen it before. And so sometimes it can be a little brutal to learn. Well, I didn't want to get into a brawl to learn that part. Like, let me just move. Yeah, I'm like thank you, my friend. Or whatever it was he said, okay, South Africa. This was the trip that Justin planned for us. So our friends went really well. No, it did, but we I have uh uh an entire almost 24 hours that you're gonna think that I'm making up these stories. That's how crazy it was.

SPEAKER_04 51:14

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

Okay, so our friends, we were one year into marriage. Our friends were um Andy and Elna, they were athletes here, part of FCA. She played tennis, he played baseball, and they got married in South Africa. That's where she's from.

SPEAKER_05 51:29

We're all best friends.

SPEAKER_02 51:30

It was incredible. Like, we didn't even think we'd be able to go, and then the prices of plane tickets went down, and so we're like, we're gonna do this. And so this just for the record, this is pre-Airbnb. This is, I mean, this was 20 years ago. So not quite 20, but anyway. 17. So we go on this trip, we do the whole wedding, everything. There was some uh front end of that story, but I won't share that because I want to get to this particular day. So we leave the wedding. We had booked some time to do some other things after the wedding had ha happened, before we came back. And so, like we were, we did, we were in Cape Town and did Table Mountain, which was really awesome.

SPEAKER_05 52:10

We did Robin Island, which is where um Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years. That was kind of that was quite an excuse.

SPEAKER_02 52:17

Yeah, we did that. Wow. Um, but the craziness of these stories.

SPEAKER_05 52:20

And when you think of South Africa, you think of what? Sharks, great white sharks. So I was like, man, let's put that on.

SPEAKER_02 52:25

Okay, so yeah, we had a shark adventure excursion. No way. Okay, no, but Darius. Okay, so first of all, we leave, and in South Africa where we were we were traveling, it looks a lot like places in Mississippi where there is literally not a gas station and you're just on the open road. Well, we thought it would take only a few hours, I think, to get to this town. Do you want to say the name of the town? Uh George. No, no, no. It was Hansby or Gansby. Oh, Gonsby. Yeah, Gansby. Yeah. Anya's gonna get me for that. She can say it way more legit than me. Yeah, you've got to do this thing in your throat to say the name of the thing.

SPEAKER_05 53:00

Everything's a throat over there.

SPEAKER_02 53:02

So so we leave and we left later than we should have. And we also did not have any kind of cell service. Like we didn't pay for a plan or nothing. So we're driving like seven hours to this place. We're supposed to get checked into this Airbnb, or not, well, it wasn't Airbnb, but like this BB place, and we get there and there's nobody there. Like, there's nobody there. And it's it's it's like pitch black outside, nobody's there. We think that we've also booked this shark excursion for the next day. So, and Justin was like, We'll find something eat on the way. There was we passed nothing, so it's like late. We hadn't eaten. So we drive further into town, and oh, on the door when we got to the bed and breakfast was this sign that was like, if you get here and I'm not here basically, call me. Well, we don't have a phone. So we go down the road, try to find a place to eat. Everything's closed except this little grocery store. So we grab some bread and peanut butter and water, and then we check out, and then we had we got some change because there was a payphone outside. Some of you listening might not even know what a payphone is, but much less like using a payphone in a foreign country. Like we're like, I mean, you're just like in survival mode at this point, like adrenaline. You're like, we're gonna have to figure this out. This is wild. So I put the coins in, somebody does pick up, but I guess there was a limit on like how long the phone call would last.

SPEAKER_04 54:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 54:24

So we had exchanged just enough information for us to know he would meet us back at the bed and breakfast, and the phone just cut off. Wow. And I was like, I think we just gotta go back. So then we get back, he gets us settled in our room, and then Justin tells him we're supposed to be at this shark excursion, but we hadn't gotten an email confirmation or anything. And the guy was like, That's kind of strange. You probably should have gotten something. So he was like, I have a friend that has, you know, he was like, You're not signed up to go. Like, if you hadn't got anything, like you're not signed up to go. So Justin he says, just be ready at like seven or something like that, and I'll knock on your door if my friend has spot on the boat for you. And so we were ready, we went, and this was a little boat.

SPEAKER_01 55:04

I don't know. Oh no, I got a question. Y'all was going, y'all were actually signing up to go on a shark. Great white shark.

SPEAKER_05 55:11

Yeah, I already thought I'd signed up.

SPEAKER_01 55:13

No, no, but I'm I'm I'm just trying to make sure that I'm hearing this right. Yeah, you were signing up to be in the vicinity of a shark. Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:23

So these are the these are the great white shark excursions where they put a cage on the side of the boat and you get in the cage.

SPEAKER_01 55:30

Hold on.

SPEAKER_02 55:30

Okay, dear. So you're gonna be in the water? Yeah. Oh no. Okay. So we get to the boat, and I do get a little bit like motion sick. And I don't, I I might have taken dramamine that day, I don't know. But they also I think served breakfast or something. So like I was trying to eat a muffin and like just get myself settled down, and I was like, this isn't gonna be that bad. And we were like hitting the waves to get out to the spot, but then when we got out there, the boat like goes back and forth. So then I'm starting to feel miserable. And they have this little pad at the front of the boat that's for all the sick people. So I had to go lay on the sick people pad.

SPEAKER_05 56:05

We had bought an underwater camera, so Justin is like taking filming like stuff because he had planned to go in the cage, but then they were saying, like, man, you can't see like a foot in front of you. And I'm like, Oh, I don't want to be stuck in the water, and then this thing just goes past me, and I'm like, Whoa, you know, like I would like to see it coming. Yeah, it was in the summer, those were the summer months for them, and so the water's murkier in the winter, it's a lot more clear, and that's what I was hoping for. So, did I borderline chicken out? Yeah, there's probably a little bit of that.

SPEAKER_02 56:34

You chickened out.

SPEAKER_05 56:35

No, no, no. It was borderline, but I was like, man, I'm getting great footage with this camera, I want to see this, you know, and I was getting some great shots, and it was good.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

So I'm setting up this story because the the anyways, the catastrophe happens after all this, and you got to know the context. So I go up to the part of the boat, and I'm like just so sick, and then I can't even imagine, like, you got to get in this full body wetsuit. And I'm like, I can't even imagine standing up, much less like getting in a wetsuit. So I was like, I'm done. And then Justin decided not to get in there because of what he just said.

SPEAKER_05 57:05

And then checking on you a little bit too.

SPEAKER_02 57:07

Yeah. And then as I'm laying there, good job. As I'm laying there, a bird poop's on my head, and I get like all the bird poop in my head. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 57:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:18

So now I'm like sick and I'm like on dramamine and I've got bird poop in my hair. I just want to get off of this boat. So then we get back to the bed and breakfast, and this is New Year's Eve, and that's important for other reasons. And so we get back and we were like, we should go try to find a cool place to eat tonight. And so I'm like, I gotta get this bird poop out of my hair. And then, but Justin also is like, hey, I got this great footage on my camera. I want to show it to you. So he's like trying to hook it up to the TV, and I'm like like in and out. Like, I'm a I need to take a nap because it's dramatimed. And then he's like, You're not even watching my footage. Like, I got this. And I'm like, I can hardly open my eyes right now.

SPEAKER_01 57:56

Just forget about my life, seems like it's crashing. Just didn't read the room real well.

SPEAKER_02 58:00

He's like, I've got this great footage. And so then finally, I don't know if I took a nap or not, but anyway, so then I got up and I have to deal with this bird poop. And um, I go to the bathroom, shower's not working. There's like no water pressure. And then I go maybe to the sink, no water pressure. And I'm like, we I mean, it's not easy to like get in contact with these people, whatever. And so then I'm like, oh, I remember seeing a hot tub on the very top floor. Really cool setup. And so I go up and I just put my head in the hot tub and like we're she did. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 58:32

Then I think we'll do.

SPEAKER_02 58:34

Then I come back down and I did not have a converter for my hairdryer, but we were in a different city than we had been in, and the the outlets looked the same, yeah, like as what I had, my American hairdrier, a hairdryer. So I put it in the wall, and it's like ring. Then like next thing I know, lights are out. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 58:57

Yeah, and so then we're like this guy was outside already working on the water issue situation. And now we're like, dude, we just blew a fuse.

SPEAKER_02 59:05

Yeah, it's like, hi, I'm sorry. It's New Year's Eve, and I'm like, he probably has plans, and I'm like, oh, I'm sorry to add to that. Um, and then we go try to find a place to eat, and all these places are booked, like everybody has. I mean, we're right and we're right on the beach.

SPEAKER_05 59:22

But we're like, come on, somebody's got a place to sit, right? And it's like they got all these special things.

SPEAKER_00 59:26

And it was just y'all too? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 59:28

Yeah, so then we ended up finding a place where you could pay a hundred dollars a piece, which at that point we were already like maxed out. We're like, but it was the only place to eat, and so it was like Was it a hundred dollars?

SPEAKER_05 59:39

It was a hundred like.

SPEAKER_02 59:40

No, I think it was like a hundred in exchange rate. I it was a lot because they brought you out like multiple rounds of appetizers, and like, so then we were like stuffed and we were like, we can't eat another thing, but we you paid for it. So then you're like, eat the food. I think you spilled your drink on you. Um I did, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 59:58

Yeah, that was great.

SPEAKER_02 59:59

That was just a portion of our trip. We were just really thankful to get on the plane to go home because there was other things that night was a good night.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:05

Like that was a good place to go.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:07

But it was just kind of crazy with the um Great White Shark adventure.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:11

And then getting out of the country was a little bit of a challenge. So we uh I'm like, hey, we're gonna go get gas, and we get gas close to the airport, fill it up close to the airport, all that stuff. They've all had cards, so we haven't had to deal with it. Like a card reader, yeah. A card reader. Okay, okay. Well, we get to I'm like, let's get one close to the airport. Well, I didn't take a previous exit that had a lot of gas stations. I'm like, well, because it's a little bit closer. Um I go to one, it happens to be one that doesn't have a card, I don't realize it. I tell the guy, fill it up for me. And so he fills it up.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:40

And I owe him as a clam, that guy.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:43

I owe him like 40 bucks or something, you know. And I only have like 20 in in South African.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:49

Like No, you had a combination of cash.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:52

And I had like a $20 bill of US, and then I had like a combo left over. I don't have the rest. And I'm like, dude, I thought I had a card. You said fill it up, I was just gonna use my card. We don't have card reader, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, his manager comes out, big old issue. He gets mad at his guy for not asking from the beginning. And I'm like trying to go to like little ATMs around. Yeah, they said happening. Well, there was like go try the ATM. So I'm like walking around this not a good part of town of where we're gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:20

Left me in the car. Yeah, and had to go out of sight. Like, people are mad.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:24

I don't know who people are. There's language barrier. Yeah, I'm in a not a good spot. And I'm like, and my wife's in the car. We are trying to get out of country. And I'm like, flight, international flight, you need to get your butt to the airport. Like it was brutal thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:40

What ended up happening? He just ended up telling you to go, just give me what you had.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:43

Get out of here. And I took it out of that guy's paycheck, I think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:48

Did you give him all the cash that you had?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:51

American all of it.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:52

Take what I have. Wouldn't the American have a little bit, more value.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:58

But it was not up to the amount that needed to be of the gas that I just spent.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:02

Man, some cash. One of the funny things about that trip, too, is that we rented the cheapest car that we could, and we called it the box on wheels because it was seriously tiny. The box always. I remember you talking about this. Yeah, and we had stuffed our suitcases in the back and just like huge suitcases just across the back seats, yeah. Okay. Well, our friends that had gotten married, they had a little bit better model of a similar car, but a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:24

A little bigger box on wheels.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:25

Yeah. And so we saw them at uh after their wedding, like packing their car or whatever, and we saw them like open this really cool compartment, like at the back of the car that's really inconspicuous. You would not know it's there. And we were like, that's so cool. But we thought our car was so small, we didn't even think to check if our car had this similar feature. So when we take our car back to the airport, we've just come out of this experience of the gas station. We're just like, please, like, just let me like do the full check and like let's just get out of here. That lady goes around, goes to the back, opens up the back of the trunk, and there is this hidden compartment we didn't know we had the whole time. We were rode around like doofuses with our stuff. Huge bags, like just stuffed in the back of the anyway. That that talking about how you learn things, we learned a lot of things on that trip.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:13

And we were just like running for our lives, just to get on the flight and get out of here because like I feel like somebody's gonna chase me down.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:18

It's crazy that we did that trip without a phone. Because even when we got there, we had to drive like seven hours to get to our friends. And when we got there, they were not at the house. They said they were gonna be at like the wedding party and stuff, and we didn't have a phone, we couldn't find them.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:33

So we went across the street. This is what Justin did. There's some neighbors. I knocked on the door and I was like, hello, stupid American tourist, need help. And a guy was kind enough to let them just use his phone and we figured out where they were.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:44

Yeah. And they could speak English. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:49

Yeah, I'm having to think about it now. And speak Afrikans and well, no, I that that uh you you was talking about getting back. I'm just gonna say that that is a challenge. Getting out the country is so easy.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:00

But getting back in.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:02

You gotta fill out customs and all that stuff. Oh man, please tell them we went through customs. And you have to tell this the first time Justin has been out of the country. I had been on a couple mission trips, but first time it looks so ticked and customs. And so, like, we're going through customs, and they have you tell I can't even say the story. They want you to say what's in your bag or whatever, you know, like what you're claiming on your form or whatever. Yeah, and in South Africa, they have the big five like animals are like rhinoceros, elephant, giraffe, zebra, lion. Maybe that's it, something like that. I might be wrong. You nailed it. I'm just thinking about that. So we had bought this like carving of Africa with the like big five on it. And so Justin just like looks, I mean, it looks like the color has drained from his face. Like, they're not gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:44

Like, would you get like what'd you bring? Like, what'd you claim? And I was just like, uh uh uh big big five. And that guy was like, huh? That's like all he could get out.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:56

I mean, I was like, Justin, you could say souvenirs, like, but he was like, uh big five.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:02

Yeah, if you don't know, it'll catch you off, it'll catch you off guard if you don't know. She didn't prepare me for the case. They didn't prepare me. And we had a guy, I remember I told y'all we had like a group about 40, 50. Well, his name that he goes by is different than the name on his passport.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:22

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:23

So when they booked his plane ticket, they booked it in the name he goes by. And so it was easy getting out. But coming back in, listen, it was this was the the and this is why it's so comical. That's why I always tell people, watch what you say. Because the whole time we were over there, he he making little jokes. If I get stuck, you know, I'll just do X, Y, Z. If I get stuck over here, and you know, we have some of those conversations. Man, if I had to stay here, something happens. What would I do? How would I navigate? You know, but he he just making all these jokes. Literally, we everybody's making it back. In and you know it's kind of one of those things when you cross over, you turn around and look back to see who else comes, and then like when somebody else comes, you high five, and then you tell them. And he's he's and he's red as a cherry. When I say he was scared to death, and it was so funny. Look, so by the time it now we're panicking because we're getting ready to board the first flight, and we don't even see him. And you know, once you get through the TSA, sometimes it's still a walk. Well, I'm saying, like, you can't go back, but sometimes it's a walk to where your actual gate is. So everybody now is at the gate. We like, and they like, all right, all of the uh A-listers, like they going through all this. Man, it's like he came through there, look like he was flying. Like, I'm still I don't even think his feet were touching the ground. He was he look, he was running so fast trying to make it, and he got there, everybody was celebrating, and me being me, I looked at him and said, See, I told you, all that playing. You were talking about staying over there, you like because really I don't know how he navigated to be able to get back to. Yeah, how they convince him. Like, like I don't know how he, but God, God was on his side. Because I'm telling you, coming into the United States, those people don't play. I seen a woman try to bring back, I don't know why she would do this. She literally tried to bring back Sam from the beach. Oh, you can't do that. And they, man, they went through all of her stuff. Like she was so mad and upset. And I'm like, come on now. You can't do that. You can't do that. Like, you know, no, you say, yeah, certain stuff you just like you can't, it's just certain stuff you just can't do. You tell that lady, you need better friends, lady. They would tell you you can't do that. And she was so she was upset because she felt like she was picked on. I'm like, ma'am, no, no, you can't do that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:45

But hey. Well, I had two other stories. These involve our kids, but maybe this will pick your brain, Brandy, to remember kids' stories. And these will be quick. The South Africa, I had to give you a little context, but one time when we were at the beach, Abby was a baby, and we were with Justin's family, and we brought this, we brought this extra like blow-up pool to bring beach water into the pool and let her get in there so that we didn't have to get her all sandy and go on the beach. And so her older cousins, who were probably like preteen or teenage, got in the pool with her, and all of a sudden they saw brown seeping out from under Abby into the because the swim diapers don't hold very well.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:24

No, no, yeah, she was having a she was having a little bit of a I think that we had given her prunes or something that was.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:30

I totally fed her every bit of that can of prunes, yeah, that jar of prunes that we're into.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:34

And so that was a memorable moment. She enjoyed them.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:36

Prunes prunes, like baby food.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:40

Oh, yeah, mashed up baby food. I was looking, you know, every episode it seemed like it's something I just got to learn.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:47

No, I'm sure everybody was listening to going prunes. Why are you feeding your kid prunes?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:50

That's how small she was, yeah. And then the other story was about Eli, and we were with some friends and on the Texas beaches, and our friend had gotten a new drone, and he was like checking it out. And Eli was terrified about this drone.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:04

He was having a meltdown of the drone. I'm like holding him and talking to him. It's okay, buddy. Buddy, it's look, it's not gonna hurt us or nothing.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:13

He's like, it's five seconds. Our friend was new to controlling the drone.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:19

Next thing we know she needs to control the drone, and it comes right into my face, hammers me right in the forehead, just dump, and I'm like, oh, Eli's losing it even more.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:31

Oh man.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:33

Because I'm sitting here holding him saying, dude, it's okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:35

The only thing I was mad about in that whole situation was that our friend did not have the audio on because it would have won us some money. America's funniest videos. You would have heard Justin say, it's no big deal, blood bucket's way over there.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:48

And then I stole this. You know, now and I know you gotta give you a story, but that reminds me of a friend. So we are on an excursion, and it's one of them that you either drive a go-kart, or they it's it's uh uh no a four-wheeler, or they got the little go-kart thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:05

Like a buggy, yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:07

Yeah, so while we're going, everybody's talking about what they're gonna ride. Now, I don't know how familiar y'all have been or your experience going out of the country and doing excursions, but the only thing I really don't like, it seemed like the excursion is forever and away from the actual place you're staying. Like, I don't like that, but I just had to plug that in. But anyway, while we're on our way, everybody's talking about what they're gonna do, what they're gonna do. So most people that are married, they're coupling up, and then you got some single sisters, they kind of gonna do it together, you know, who gonna ride with who, you know. And so I'm telling Santana before we even get there, I have never driven a four-wheeler. So this is not the time to learn. I'm not like I'm that type of, I'm this type of person. I would rather be safe than sorry. So we get out there, so I'm seeing all these people that's already doing it, and the four-wheelers are coming through, and I'm like, man, I ain't gonna have nothing. Because I don't know they got the little boxcars. I just think the buggies, I'm just thinking, so I'm like, man, I'm gonna have to get out here like and try to navigate this thing. And then you, I'm talking to people, they telling me, well, you know, one side is the break, and the I'm like, oh my lord. Like, so I'm I'm terrified. When we get out there, I see that we have the the buggies. So I'm like, that's what I'm driving. So the man is separating everybody because I'm in the buggy, I have to go last. We got it was so it's a guy there, he's it we his name is Al. This is my friend. We we talk about this, but this this was the highlight of the whole trip. So I'm like, Al, have you ever drove before? Well, no, man, but man, I'm my family, you know, he you know. It's in my blood, man. I said, I said, bro, I don't, I just don't think like I'm not trying to scare you, but I'm like, if you ain't done it, like this is not the time to be freestyling. No, no, no, man, I got it. I got it. So listen, so me, Santana, and and I was amazed because Santana is very adventurous, but she didn't want to get on the four-wheeler either. So it made me feel good because I didn't want to be the husband that let her down, you know. So she was, I was like, oh, we good. So we get in the buggy, it's me, her, and I think it was two other ladies that was with her. It was an older lady, and this woman, man, Bethany, you would love her. Because now she's like 80 something. At that time, she was like 74, but she was doing everything. Wow. Like she was different. So she's gonna ride with us. So Al is in front of me. So you you know, they tell you, they put your gear on, and then it's a it's a lot of us, so it's a line. I I say, Al, you sure? No, man, I'm good, man. Look, and I could tell just the way his helmet was on.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:42

This is gonna be a problem.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:44

You know how you're looking at a person, a football helmet, and they help like I could tell, I'm like, I don't think this is gonna be, I don't think this is gonna be good. So he gets up, the man is telling him, telling him what to do, like everybody pretty much know how to do it. So he gets up, he's the last one before me. Al gets on his four-wheeler and he says, uh, goes up a little bit. Oh no, goes up a little bit. He goes on his back and said, no, uh, and went straight into the tree.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:17

Listen, now his four-wheeler was already pointed toward the tree. Oh my god. So he said, uh and when I tell you, it was the funniest thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:32

Listen, it was the funniest thing that man, if y'all could have seen him hit that tree. Now, I it was funny, but I was also worried because I'm like, right, they just told us not to crash. If you crash these things, you're gonna be responsible for. And so I'm thinking about that. And this is how I knew he he was hurt, because he got off and everybody was like, oh, you all right? He was like, Yeah, I'm all right. But you know, the little shake, he's he's shaking his arm and shaking his like like. See how things feel? I'm like, no, he's he's hurt. Then he he gets back on. The man, the I don't know. I'm telling you, God was with us. The man looked at him. Yeah, the man was like, Well, you you should, he was like, No, I got it. He gets back on, the man backs it up and straightens it up where he can he gets on this. Uh, he we go, we start this scourge, and and I want to say this, probably about man, he didn't go a hundred yards and stop and say, I can't do this. So he had to get on with the the actual guy that's behind me to make sure everybody don't get lost. He had to ride with him, and another one of the women had to get on the the four-wheeler and drive it. But I was like, bro, like if y'all could have saw that, like we talked about that for and see his the good thing was his wife wanted to go. She was with us on the trip, but she didn't go to this excursion because she was pregnant. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:54

I said, if she would have been on there with you, surely he wouldn't have taken her not knowing how to drive.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:59

I think he would have. His pride, you gotta think, for your pride to put you in a position to do something like that, and then after you wreck your pride is not killed enough, right? You steady like that was but that was the we talked about.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:11

I feel like that would make a good sermon, like just the illustration of man. Like he got all this forewarning, forewarning, warning, warning, warning, and then still went for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:20

And and one of the things that was super funny, as soon as he hit it, I'm talking about he was like, mm, um, uh, boom. Like he as soon he hit it, the older lady in our back uh that was riding when she said, see, that right there is the very reason why I'm not on the phone. Like, it was like a perfect sound effect. I was, man, we was killing ourselves laughing.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:37

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:38

But we didn't have like like that was some hot that trip was full of highlights, but like when you talk about it, but I think the good thing about moments like that, they give you not only stories to remember and live on, but it's like they actually help make the trip. Like they don't be fun sometimes in the moment, sure, but later they remember back. You're like, man, they actually that trip wouldn't have been the same without that. Yeah, that is so funny. All right, Brandy.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:02

Um, I would say all of my trips involved the beach, I think. We've had some from Darden, but I would have to, it's a lake we go to every year with just our family. I would have to ask Lee Parker, my kids, Brett, about funny things from that. I will say we felt like we were under a curse for that trip because this was which one the lake.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:21

We went every year, every single year. It's just our family. And um, like four years in a row, we the first night we were there, Lee Parker cut her foot open on like a clam or something in the bottom of the lake, got stitches, um, couldn't be in the water the whole time. So we're like taping it up, keeping it up out of the water. The next year, I think I busted my eardrum. The next year, the night before, Lee Parker does like a spin, and her foot catches Charlie Kate's toe, her pinky toe, and splits it open. She has to get stitches, and then the boat broke. Oh my gosh, like me. We're under a curse there. And this one trip or one place. Every year that like those were all one place. So we're like, but we have had fun. What was the name of it again? It's Lake Darden in New Albany. Gotcha. Or outside. Not going there. Um, but beach, um, we've been during tropical storm and we still brave it. Drake was like 10 months old. I remember it felt like BBs crossing the street. So I just like put him in the carry and put a blanket or towel over him. Um, we've been during the oil spill, couldn't get in. We did get to see Obama and them come through. Oh, wow. Their whole little caravan. Um, but I would say like interesting story. Last year, two years ago when we went, there was a um trolley that takes you from where we were staying to the beach. We don't like staying not on the beach because we spend so much time there, but we decided we're gonna stay there. We're gonna try it. It had a lot to offer for the kids. So you ride the trolley. Well, we're riding the trolley back at night. And we come to find out these people driving these things are like just some summer jobs. Like, I don't, they're not trained at all. And so we hear these people arguing and we turn around and there's this guy running from his car towards the it's my dad, it's like my whole family, my parents, my brother, they have three kids and his wife, and then our whole family. And he, this guy is livid, and so we're all like, just let us off. And he's like, No, it's fine, it's fine. Like he has us up on two wheels. Like, I feel like we're getting punked. I was like, There's about to be something, like some kind of show. Um, but he's like, No, it's fine. I got a gun in my car. Like he they were arguing about something. He's like, This is this started earlier. Um I know him, and I was just like, my dad was like, I don't care, let us off. He's like, We can't let you off. It's rules, we can't let you off. And I was like, the kids were like bailing from the back because it was like one of the long they were like bailing from the back, coming up and hiding. I was like, What are we even doing? And so now looking back, it's kind of funny because we were all in a panic and he would not stop. We passed the guard check and he's like telling them, Don't let the car in and don't let the people in. And he lets us off the elevator. We're all like, Whoo! Because we had eight kids, all 15 and under, 16 and under. It was intense. I was like, Dang, yeah. If you jump off, you're close to the person that's mad. You know, I was like, What do you do? So that was intense. But we've also had the stomach bug at the beach, and all seven of us slept in one room. At midnight, me and Brett were like, So do we go home? What do we do? So we asked my brother and sister-in-law, and they're like, Well, we've been around y'all this whole time at this point. At this point, and so we literally all seven slept in one room. It was terrible. Like we've had many like little adventures throughout but it's fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:32

Yeah, something also that you don't, I mean, you hope that you're healthy the whole time on a trip because especially with kids, it is can be a nightmare.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:39

Like it ended, and it was like trickling through. Everybody, like it started with one kid, then the next kid, then like on the way home two days later, Luke's like, I'm about to be sick. He has a very strong stomach. So like he gets sick once or twice and then he's done. He's like, I'm about to be sick. Like, literally, all I had was my pillow. He threw up all in my pillowcase, and I was like, throw it in the trash. We were at the gas station buying stuff to clean. I was like, This is a disaster.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:01

Yeah. I think one of the hardest times to vacation is when you the when you have your first child, yeah, and you have to go stay with, particularly if well, it could be family or friends, but I just remember we had to be so hard on Abby because she would not do certain things at certain times. And so it it we probably looked like crazy parents, but you're like exposed in front of like because everybody's like, we're all going to the beach now, and you're like, nope, she's gonna sit there and eat her breakfast. Right. And it's like just let her, blah, blah, blah. And we're like, she will be a nightmare for us later if we budge this much. But like, you don't have to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:37

See, that's how my sister-in-law is me. I'm like, oh, they're gonna take it with them on the way to the beach. Like, I'm like, which is not a good thing always for the kids.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:44

Well, for some kids, like it, but at that time in Abby's life, like she literally, like, if she didn't do it yes, like it was crazy.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:52

I got careless about being judged at that time too. I was like, whatever, this is what we're doing. All this to say, be down in a minute.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:59

First-time parents taking their first kid on a vacation, because it's a lot to like figure out, like you're in the middle of all these dynamics. Plus, also something that I feel like causes conflict when you're all staying in the similar place, can be like deciding on meals and food and um drive you nuts.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:15

You're like, we gotta have a plan, we gotta make sure we're doing it.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:17

Well, well, and then because there's certain things I think that you can mitigate, like you can like like take care of conflict before it happens if you just like think through. Yeah, you know. So lots of things that vacations can bring up. Uh, one thing that we're not gonna talk about today because we're winding down, but um, is like things that you've stumbled upon when you've been out on vacation. So we might have to come back and revisit that because I thought of a few things. Um, you mentioning uh Obama coming through made me think of that. Um so, anyways, okay, thanks for the combo today. Any parting shots shots before we wind down?

SPEAKER_01 1:21:50

Well, yeah, when you go on vacation, remember to get a lot of information about where you're going and different things that they do there that especially if you're going out of the country, yeah. Is not enough homework that you can do to be, you need to be over prepared. Because there's a lot of w we have a lot of luxury here in the United States and a lot of things that are just normal for us that are not normal, you know, in other countries. So they're crazy.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:19

The international phone plan.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:21

Make sure your phone works.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:23

Do you know? I literally changed phone companies. Yeah. All because of that. I'm like, I'm everybody with ATT, they can talk on their phone. They like it's I was I said, well, as soon as I got back, I'm telling you, I changed, I was like, I'm not dealing with this. No more.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:37

There are certain things that are life experiences that it's kind of wild that we can just go ahead and do without a manual for. Like vacation, these things we talk about. And then the other one that is very obvious to me is like when you have a kid and they're like, all right, you can go home. And you're like, uh, wait, what? What does this mean? Why you're you think I'm gonna be responsible for this? Like, I don't know about this. It's just wild. Some of these things we really don't have. I didn't have much, you know, heads up about all that was gonna entail. Um, but we wanted kids, so we started having kids, and then you just figure it out. Um, but as always, thank you for listening. If you have some vacation stories, we would love to uh hear about those so we can talk about them on the podcast. And also just a reminder that formation is always happening, even in these crazy moments, fun moments, stressful moments, maybe. Um, even when we're doing things that are like vacations or whatever, right? Day to day. So thank you as always for listening.