So you’re not too jealous

**In honor of vacation time, I’m sharing my two favorite vacation posts. This one was from 2009 when Matt and I went to Key West sans kids. Enjoy!!**

After my post yesterday about my 2nd honeymoon, I was feeling bad for you all since you didn’t get to go. That’s why I’m sharing this story with you….so you’re not too jealous!!

Matt and I spent one of the days in Key West snorkeling. It was incredible. Once I got over my fear of sharks and got used to breathing underwater, I was good to go.

We found some really cool reefs and were just enjoying all of the beautiful scenery—parrot fish, big blue fish, a fish that sparkled, moon jellyfish, silver fish, a shark!, and giant stingray!, the reef…

Just swimming around enjoying the beautiful water, the hot day, each other’s company…ahhh, serenity.

We had been snorkeling for about 2 hours and our heads were starting to hurt from the masks so we decided to head in to shore. This is when the giant stingray swam underneath us. We grabbed each other’s arms like “Holy crap!” and watched it swim…then it turned around and started to come back towards us! We swam away and treaded water and laughed about it.

We put our masks back on and headed in. All of a sudden I was in so much pain I stood up and started to scream.

Have you scene Talladega Nights? You know the scene where Ricky Bobby thinks he’s on fire and is running around in his underwear on the track? That’s what it was like. (Matt and I are laughing so hard we’re in tears watching it today b/c this is exactly what it was like.)

Matt’s looking at me like I’m crazy b/c there’s nothing on me but I’m crying and writhing in pain. I took off my top and didn’t care that everyone could see my deflated water balloon breasts. I just needed to get the pain to stop.

But it didn’t.

I started to get bumpy marks and red marks and Matt realized something had happened. He thought I had been stung by a jellyfish.

We have to get back to the boat b/c we’re not sure I’m alright. But I’m in so much pain, I don’t want to swim. But I do. We get back to the boat and the crew looks worried.

Uh oh…it must look bad. Am I ok??

Turns out I was stung by about 150 baby jellyfish. They’re invisble to the naked eye unless they’re in a group of 1000 or more. Which is why I swam right through them and didn’t know it.

They put vinegar all over me and kept watch over me on the 2.5 hour boat ride back.

Turns out it was really no big deal. Just extremely painful.

I was excited to be able to tell my kids that Mommy, like Dorey in Finding Nemo, was “takin’ on the jellies”. They thought it was pretty cool too.

Admit it…you’re not so jealous now, right?