I got it in my head that I wanted us all to go kayaking. To keep the adults to kids ratio even, we invited my mom and called it her mother's day present. (Then she paid for lunch and called it my mother's day present. Win - win!)
I was pretty positive at least one kid would end up in the water, but nope. Even towards the final stretch when Toby started getting restless and Kevin and I kept passing him back and forth between our kayaks - we managed to keep everyone in a boat.
FANTASTIC morning.
Breaking records.
I ran in my first official 5k yesterday morning. That was my number. Blue's school put together a big team of teachers and parents.
I started jogging mid-January. Well, walk-jogging. I used the Nike app on my phone and just tried to jog a little longer every time I went. Eventually I managed a mile, then 2, then a 5k. But I'm a slow jogger. One could argue I'm more like a bouncy walker. My fastest 5k time remained 40 minutes even for a long, long time.
Until this Saturday.
I came in at 37:56.
Then I was off to meet Kevin and the boys at Blue's Belt testing.
See - Blue has a white belt. That's the very, very beginning of the Tae Kwon Do journey.
He passed, so this Friday night we get to go to a belt ceremony. Then he's officially a yellow belt!
Walking to the van after the ceremony, I saw my favorite Bird.
Then we were off to Bookfest, the 3rd annual, of this local event where they give kids free books, have local authors selling their books, have book characters out and about, a tent where Mother Goose reads stories, another tent where kids read to local school administrators...
Here's Kaden reading to his principal and Blue (who picked the book).
Toby sat in this spot pulling books from these baskets for like, forever.
After bookfest we were supposed to be off to Baseball, but thanks to a downpour the night before the morning's games were cancelled. At least since Bookfest was at the St Lucie Met's stadium the boys got to watch the pitcher warm up.
So they got their baseball fix while Toby continued to page through book after book after book...
At 3pm Kevin and I then drove across the state to La Belle to meet my dad, Vannoy Banks, for dinner and then to see him at his lastest go with community theater, The Bottom Line. Meanwhile the kids were left to spend the night at my mom's, our favorite free Babysitter!
Psalm 8
1 LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
We HEARD the waves while still walking up the sidewalk, long before pavement gave way to sand. And then... Red flag. High tide. We weren't sure how our beach day was going to work out.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
The kids enjoyed dancing in front of the waves but even later in the day when the tide receded and things smoothed out, Kaden was too scared to get in the water. He'd heard and seen the strength of those wave breaks...
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
Meanwhile Kevin fully enjoyed God's handiwork.
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
This troublemaker? A little lower than angels? God IS gracious. :-)
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
And brothers. Because here Toby has his brothers under his feet.
9 LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Yesterday it was animals. Today it was ocean, surf, and sand. There have been times in my faith walk when my intellectual side has leaned toward atheism (just being honest) but in creation... I can't imagine it all occuring by chance. Surely this beach, yesterday's peacock were the design of The Artist.
And if I accept a Master Designer, then I can accept that He is perfect, and I am not, and there must be a bridge to overcome that gap.
Today, more than any day, I humbly acknowledge Christ's sacrifice in creating that bridge.
But on this side of the cross, it's not such a solemn day. There may be the dark skies, heavy thunderous waves... but they give way. The skies brighten. The sea calms. The beauty reveals.
I know. I've seen.
In nature. In my life. In the life of my kids.
So this solemn day was not so solemn. We played at the beach. We lunched at the Jensen Beach Mulligans. We napped and watched Star Wars. I shopped for our church's Easter breakfast and worked on vases for table decorations. Preparations...
THE day of celebration for Christians is almost here!
On Tom Sawyer Island at Magic Kingdom. Could there be a funner bunch?
Hmmmm. Where have I been all week?
Blue got sick Sunday and missed school Monday which got us off to a weird start.
We just didn't do much.
I did pull down the balloons I'd strung up for Daddy's birthday.
They're still all over the house, and that makes the kids happy, but no, that's not very exciting news.
The Alabama cousins are in Florida for their spring break but spring break came and went for us already so no plans to see them. Until, that is, I found out they were going to Disney on Thursday. Then I scored some tickets and arranged for a day trip.
Getting the boys out the door by 7:15am? No problem. Entertaining them in the car with a movie and snacks? Easy. Getting them in their Gator gear, sunscreened up, and out the car? Cinch. Folding the stroller and getting 3 boys and a stroller onto the parking lot tram. Oy. Not fun. Forgetting I could have gotten Toby a special needs pass until we were already 2/3rd through the day? Oy. Not smart.
We met up with our cousins. I got to see a college friend. A childhood friend who lives in Orlando and has season passes joined up after her kids were done with school. It was a full day seeing great people. But. Oy. Holy lots of work for this Momma.
Toby hated more rides than he liked. We had one anxiety throw-up incident and then at the 10pm after a long, long day we were misdirected during our WALK to the van (no way I could do the tram again with the stroller that Toby was then sleeping in) so even though I knew where I was parked (Heroes lot, Simba 20! I STILL remember.), it was a long while getting there with an exhausted Blue cyring softly as he walked. :-(
But the boys slept most of the way back, were all tucked in their beds by 12:30am and just when I was about to congratulate myself on such a long day I got on facebook to see that the rest of the world was up either at the Hunger Games or watching the Gators basketball game. So we were all up together.
And today on during school drop offs (oh yes, they were made to go to school today. They can rest up this afternoon.) we were happily chatting about favorite rides and events.
Me: Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Toby calling out his name every time they asked another audience member his/her name.
Kaden: Barnstorner! Two Times!
Blue: Buzz Lightyear Space Rangers ride (two times!), Orbiter
Toby: He was still in bed for this conversation. (Kevin is home sick today.) but he seemed happiest running around Huck Finn's Island.
Ah. The Magic of The Mouse.
This time last week we were on the west coast with my dad at the Fort Myers Imaginarium.
A big hit of the day was the area where you chose a sport, and then threw the appropriate ball or whacked the appropriate puck or whatever at a screen and then it told you if you had a good pitch or got the shot (or whatever).
They could have stayed in this spot forever.
The second big hit was the sting rays. During the feeding time they splash all over the place expecting to get food from all the little hands, even the ones just trying to pet them.
There was were also horseshoe crabs.
But we were there about four hours so we covered a lot of ground...
They had a blast. They got wore out. Mission accomplished.
Friday night we headed down to Jonathan Dickinson State Park for a one night camping trip.
Kevin and I had some big camping adventures pre-kids.
We went tent camping once when it was just Kaden.
Kevin took Kaden and Blue a few times last year.
This was the first time we went with all five of us.
It was... a good decent first try. We were all set to book a site in the Keys/Bahia Honda for a longer family camping trip later this year, but now we're thinking we're gonna wait on that.
Set up in the evening was fine. Picnic dinner. Tossing around the baseball. Roasting marshmallows. The boys inviting a stranger for some marshmallows (they did, we shared, it was fine). Kaden read the littler boys a few stories.
Blue eating attacking a marshmallow.
Reading in the tent time.
I'm so talented. I can hold a flashlight and take pictures.
Aside from some sand fleas and the fact that Kevin beat me at Scrabble, it was a nice evening.
And then came bedtime.
Toby just didn't sleep. First he wouldn't go to sleep. Luckily our tent is so big it actually has two rooms, so finally we zipped him into his own room and let him cry and fuss until he passed out. That was around 9:30pm. He slept soundly till about 2am and then that was it. He woke up and thought it was time to get up. Blue slept through everything. The rest of us? Notsomuch.
Finally around 6am he crashed again for about an hour.
And then, big surprise, we had a cranky fussy Toby the next day.
We went on a short walk to a river overlook.
Some of the time Toby was into it and walking.
Most of the time he decided to stop. Because, you know, pine needles and sand are so fascinating.
So we took turns carrying him. This worked when Mom did the carrying, but if Daddy tried it was all squiggles and shouting for Mommy.
So that didn't work, but we still made it.
But then, for some reason (oh right, no sleep) Toby threw a big fit when it was time to walk back. Sadly for me, big fits these days involve scratching and hair pulling. Finally, beyond frustrated, I threw him in Daddy's arms and ran ahead on the path. Without me to act up for, he chilled and came along.
In addition to Toby's tired-two-year-old temper, there was another big hazard to this walk. Apparently there was a giant on the path ahead of us. He left some crazy tracks.
I did find it a little suspicious that the word "giant" was written in the middle of this print and that Kaden was walking ahead of us with a stick in his hand, but... you never know. If you go for a walk at Jonathan Dickinson and you come across a giant on the path, don't say I didn't warn you.
We survived.
We had a little playground time where Kaden and Blue played happily and Toby stomped around uber cranky at one point even breaking Daddy's sunglasses when Kevin went to fetch him because he'd stomped too far away. Oy.
Then Toby and I sent Kevin, Kaden and Blue off into the Loxahatchee river (we borrowed a canoe from one of Kevin's coworkers) and Toby and I continued on to a birthday party in West Palm.
Wait. What?
In that state I took Toby to a birthday party? Am I CRAZY?
Yes. There's that.
It still seemed a better option then sticking the kid in a canoe.
Also, I figured he'd get a needed nap during the 40 minute drive and if worse came to worse I'd just let him sleep.
He did nap, but I didn't let him keep sleeping. He wasn't happy about being woken up and right away getting a diaper change, but he was soothed by Teddy Grahams and a fruit bar and I got him composed before we entered the bounce house! kids! snow cones! and petting zoo! birthday hoopla.
Actually the petty zoo was what I'd known would be our saving grace. Toby loves "anmals."
There were baby chicks, bunnies, a piglet, a rooster, two ducks, a mini cow, a goat and two baby goats. I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy making sure Toby was being gentle.
Yup, a traveling petting zoo for a barnyard themed birthday party. LOVE it.
After leaving the party we returned to the park to fetch the rest of the fam. Poor Kevin... About twenty minutes before we got back it had started POURING. Kaden and Blue didn't mind because they love to play in the rain. Kevin was a bit grumpy, and of course it didn't let up for the packing up, canoe mounting, but by the time we were out of the car and gassing up? Clear skies.
Is there any better way to end a camping trip?
He might still have said that we can have 6 more weeks of winter but only because winter never really got started in the first place.
On January 2nd I was at the beach.
On February 2nd I was back at the beach.
The sand says 2-2-12. Toby is saying... who knows what Toby is saying.
A new beach for me - Indiatlantic in Melbourne, FL chosen because it is the halfway point between me (in Port St Lucie) and my (sophomore through senior year) college roommate (in Orlando). I dropped off Kaden and Blue and then Toby and I headed up 95 for a reunion and beach day.
We parked at James H. Nance Park and let the kids (my friend has an 18 month old son) explore around the playground for a bit before hitting the beach. The water was chilly but the sun and sand were warm and the boys loved splashing and digging around, and in Toby's case, chasing birds.
G is grinning but he is soooo totally unware of what is about to hit when his little brother gets here soon!
After about an hour and a half on the beach we cleaned up and headed over to the Mexican place right across the street. (There is also a pizza place, Starbucks, and Coldstone ice cream place right across from the beach. It's a good beach for families!)
After that it was just a reversal of my morning, back to 95, straight to Blue's school (My first time taking advantage of their aftercare program - well worth it.) then to Kaden's...
We missed Toby's My Gym class. I got my new van a little sandy. But a beach day, on Groundhog's Day? I love Florida.
My dad (Poppy) lives in the not-so-happening metropolis of Lehigh Acres. But we heard that a nearby community theater in Labelle, FL (even smaller!) was featuring a certain Dad/Poppy as Jonathan Brewster in the play Arsenic and Old Lace so we had to go over for a night.
Kaden accompanied me as my date while Kevin stayed at Poppy's with Blue and Toby. Poor guy couldn't even watch football (only TV at Poppy's is where Toby was sleeping) so he just got updates on his phone.
But before the play we all hit Maria's, a surprisingly good Italian place in Lehigh Acres, for an early dinner.
Because my dad was playing an ornery murderer with Frankenstein stage makeup he kept stressing to Kaden that it was just a play, Poppy was only acting... Of course the minute my dad got onstage Kaden thought it was the funniest thing ever.
At curtain call. Poppy/Jonathan is in black in the middle.
If you're a risk taker and you run into my dad anytime soon, tell him he looks like Boris Karloff. See what happens.
Even with Blue and Kaden still out of school, we kinda sorta got back into our routine as it was also the first Monday of the new year, and Toby had speech (but not OT because that therapist is still on vacation).
After speech we ate an early lunch of pb&js...
on the beach :-)
There were PILES of shells.
Look, Mom, my finger grew.
See that paddle boarder in the background? It was so flat they were everywhere!
Blue got quite wet but he just had to stay wet. Toby, on the other hand,
got to strip down because he had more clothes in the car.
I'd considered lunch at Chuck E Cheese but this was wayyyyy cheaper, wayyyyyy better. Never ran the other option by the boys, and what they don't know won't hurt 'em. :-)
First beach trip of 2012 - here's to many, many more to come.
