groundspeed

An Opportunity to Poke Fun at My Husband

Opportunities to make fun of Kevin don't come often, people. 

I'm taking advantage.

You know those marriages where the wife is always right? And the husband expects this? And then everyone is happy?

I didn't end up in one of those marriages.

We are both opinionated, stubborn, head-strong people, well-educated, as well as smart within our particular areas of expertise. With Kevin, if you are playing an updated version of Trivial Pursuit with pop culture questions you will totally need him on your team to answer anything that comes up about hip hop or rap. Meanwhile if you need a Gilmore Girls or Jane Austen novel expert, I'm the one to come to.

In those areas, we bow to the other's authority.

In many, many others we butt beads.

I knew I was in trouble when, while we were engaged and picking out our first set of bedding, Kevin had an opinion! And, like, vetoed stuff I wanted. Um, as the female don't all the decorating and design choices automatically fall to me? Apparently not. (Although, in this house I did get him to agree to a lavender-walled master bedroom and that's something, I think.)

He disagrees with how I cut tomatoes and loves to make fun of how I eat corn on the cob.

I'm a little hen-pecked, I tell ya. Or in this case I guess it would be rooster-pecked?

But I'm a strong woman and I use my middle finger a lot, so it's all good.

(Gasp. A missionary wife did NOT just write that.)

Ok, so on with my little window of opportunity to make fun of Mr. Always Right.

Last night we went to our First St. Lucie Mets game as a family of five. Kevin has taken Kaden and Blue many times, but it was mine and Toby's first go. Of course Toby fell asleep on the way there. Of course he did.

So... I pulled up and let out the biggest three boys. Kevin, upon getting out, instructed me to, "Look for them at third base around the second level." No problem. I've been in this stadium many times dropping off and picking up Kaden from baseball camp. I know where third base is. I proceed to park, wake up Toby, deal with his I've-been-woken-up grumpiness, feed him a little dinner (we ate Tropical Smoothie wraps while he was asleep), and get him going.  

We walked up and skipped the entrance that would have dropped us over first base, gave our three extra tickets away and continued to pacify the growing anxiety of my three-year-old. After a stop at the potty we headed over to third base and started looking. And we kept looking. And kept looking. 

I told Toby we are looking for Daddy and Kaden and Blue and he wanted to find them and I can tell, I can feel, that his anxiety is growing because we haven't found the. Plus noise and people and smells and... we need to hurry up and find them. He's getting too big for it, but I held Toby on one hip (because at this point if I let him walk he'd be throwing himself to the ground) and manage to fish out my phone from my Rhode-Island-sized purse.

Me: We're at third base. Where are you?

He: We're here. Just look around.

Me: We have been looking around. Toby's getting anxious. WHERE ARE YOU?

He: (With that you-are-being-stupid edge to his voice) Do you even know where third base is?

Me: YES I KNOW WHERE THIRD BASE IS!

He... He who played t-ball and then baseball for... forever. He who played intermural softball at UF on a team that won National Champs. He who is currently assisting his oldest son's baseball team. He said (After a moment of silence where he inevitably mourned his own stupid mistake.): I meant first base.

Me: I am SO making fun of you for this.

And because I also know where first base is, we walked right over to them, but luckily, on the way, I passed someone Kevin works with and got my very first chance to tell the story.

Justice.

And then we were together.

To watch baseball. (And see... SEE where this picture was taken. Above FIRST base.)

No, we weren't really there to watch baseball. Apparently we were there to let the boys run around at the top of the stadium and stress this mama out that they might be hit by a foul ball.

I felt better when they sat under here:

We also met Klutch.

Danced to the music:

And stayed to the very end, a first for Kevin, Kaden and Blue, but good because then the kids got to get on the field and run the bases.

The final score ended up with the Mets falling to the Palm Beach Cardinals. Booooooo!

But, it ended up being a successful night. New experience for Toby. Fun for Kaden and Blue and ammo in my arsenal for when Kevin critiques my tomato cutting. No fingers will be raised. I'll just smile and say, "At least I know where third base is."

Marriage. Fun stuff.

Beach Discovery: Lightning Whelk Egg Cases

Thursday was my nieces last full day with us so we declared it "skip day" and headed to the beach. (No, Kevin didn't just not show up for work. He'd already arranged for the day off.)

We went to Bathtub Beach in Stuart/Hutchinson Island which is newly open again after more sand drudging and other construction. The beach looks great and the boys had a blast on the new sand walls (not sure if those are going to stay - especially doubt is as they are taking away over half the parking.) 

Mostly the boys just ran up and down the sand, but we also attempted some boogie board sledding.

Didn't work.

"Too much friction," said my engineer-brained husband.

But he tried again pulling just Toby.

"Bye-eye. Seeyalater."

This worked decently, but when I asked Toby if he wanted to do it again he said, "No. All done board." And that was the end of that.

Later, when we were already discussing leaving, this washed up on the beach right in front of our stuff.

It's an octopus arm! (Blue)

It's a sea snake! (Kaden)

It's a... (we were out of guesses)

So... we decided to pack up and take this guy/gal/thing over to the Florida Oceanographic Society and ask them. In the bucket it went.

Apparently it's a Lightning Whelk Egg Casing

(I went ahead and signed Blue up for a week of summer camp while we were there. Next time he'll just be our marine science expert.)

And it needed to be returned to the ocean so those suckers could hatch and fill the ocean with new baby lightning whelks.

Over to Stuart Beach we went where I first told everyone I saw what it was and told them to leave it alone should it wash ashore again...

Whew. Beach discoveries are a lot of work. (Well, when you're as naturally curious as our group tends to be.)

This morning we said goodbye to the nieces as they headed back to Tennessee.

The boys loved the attention and I loved the girl time.

Miss them already!

Florida Seminole Diorama

There's an easy way to help your child with his diorama assignment. You throw a shoe box at him and some crayons or markers and say, go to it.

OR...

Step One:
Think about how you can teach the kid about local Native American history. And ya know. Do that.

Take him to The House of Refuge because they have a time line of local history that includes local Native American information.

Realize in the car on the way home that the only thing that seemed to sink in with your kid was A: The pirate for whom this part of the beach is named and the fact that he was hanged and thousands attended. And B: The house of refuge keepers had problems with black bears.

Um. Not helpful.

A few days later happily discover a Native American section while on a trail walk at the Florida Oceanographic Society.

Ays, are not one of the tribes up for choosing in the assignment.

Of course not.

Actually walking through this structure still proved memorable.

A little helpful.

Next up: See what the library has to offer. 

Check out She Sang Promise: The Story of Betty Mae Jumper Seminole Tribal Leader

Turns out our book of choice is beautifully illustrated and lyrically written. It not only taught the experience of this Seminole women born in south Florida, but also nicely touches on the themes of women empowerment (Never mind that she became a tribal leader - she friggin' wrestled alligators!), the importance of education, and how to improve upon ones culture while still respecting it. Ok, so my kid probably didn't pick up on much in terms of these themes, but they're there. Promise. Good little book.

After reading the book we got on the internet for a little follow-up research. Spent some time clicking around here and reading here.

We read about "chickees" and knew we'd need to include one. We discussed how the chickee was different from the Ays structure we saw (no floor vs raised floor). We saved a picture to use as a reference for our model:

Step Two:
Hand kid a sheet of paper and a pencil and tell him to design the plan.

Compliment his idea to have a large tree in the middle dividing up the scene.

Agree with his layout and offer zero corrections.

But...

Decide you will make fun of him for-ever because he wrote, "flying animals" on the sky part instead of just, ya know, "birds." (Hey - the school system makes building their self-esteem a huge priority. We feel that at home we can keep it real.)

Step Three:
The actual making of the diorama. 

Tag team husband to take over from here.

Watch husband disregard traditional shoebox plan and break out the power tools. Watch 8-year-old's eyes light up.

Getting in on the drill action.

In the same day paint the base and glue on sand.

Next day paint the back and draw on some "flying animals" (all of which happen to be birds - not a bat or a flying squirrel in the bunch).

Collect foliage.

Glue foliage.

Watch Dad get started on the Chickee.

I'm not sure of the actual breakdown of the assemblage at this point and I slacked at taking pictures. All I know is that one night at almost 10pm during "project time" I heard a basketball bouncing in the garage so I went in to check "progress." Dad was sitting there in front of the Chickee while Kid was playing.

Dad, "This floor is taking forever."

Mom, (eye roll) "If he's not helping he could at least go to bed."

Kid did work on the roof and sweep the garage of all the scraps. So there's that.

Last step: Kid glues store-bought figurines to project, poses for pic, and brings to school one whole day before it's due!

So there's your Florida Seminole Diorama How-to.

Looking at this picture it is clear that Kaden's hair is the project we need to tackle next.

And after all this talk about Seminoles there is only one way I can, in good conscience, end this post:

Go, Gators!

MLK Beach Day

We spent our morning at the Florida Oceanographic Society and then continued on to the beach. I realize that it was a momentous occasion as Obama's inaugeration coincided with Martin Luther King Jr Day. but these boys...

These boys just need to be outside.

Now they are finally wore out and in bed and this mama can go make some tea and catch up on the day's events with a little help from the DVR.

My (not-so) Little Pumpkins

Are they getting too old for pumpkin patch pictures? Don't tell me. I don't really want to know.

Although I should be happy to forgo this tradition. Our Octobers are rainy and hot. The ground was soggy and my attempt to get to the patch early in the morning so they wouldn't have sweat running down their faces only worked so-so. 

But. All Villages had a fun new photo spot.

And pumpkins, in spite of the glaring, hot Florida sunshine reflecting off their shiny surfaces, still manage to put one in a fallish mood.

Extra bonuses this year - All Villages had free face painting and a free bounce house.

Um, make that arm painting.

The kids even managed to finagle some extra cash out of me for cotton candy and popcorn.

But my picture taking attempts were mostly just that, attempts.

Daddy wasn't with us, and without him standing behind me making goofy faces, it's hard to get the boys to look and smile.

So I used my picture taking standby... "Tickle, Toby!"

At the end of it all I think we brought home the tallest pumpkin in the patch and on that accomplishment alone - successful morning? Check.

First-Day-of-School Eve Checklist

Backpacks packed? Check.

Forms filled out? Check.

New clothes and shoes laid out? Check.

Homework done? Check.*

Lunches packed? That's next.

Final beach trip of summer vacation enjoyed? Check.**

Discussion had about shining God's light at their schools? Check.

Prayed for teachers and classmates? Check.

*So about that homework... Blue had to do an All About Me page. We picked it up at Open House on Friday and it's due tomorrow. Homework before school starts! For a kindergartner! We also had to decorate a fish and of course Blue chose to use sequins, so he and I had a very sticky, gluey time with that Saturday afternoon. First kindergarten assignment completed? Check!

**As for the beach trip... A little before 4pm we told the boys to get their swim suits on. We hit up Subway, and then we parked ourselves on Jensen Beach to enjoy a picnic dinner and squeeze out every last potential fun minute of summer vacation.

Boys wore out, in bed, and ready for a good night's sleep before school? Check! 

1st Time Paddle Boarders. Oh, and Blue is Crazy.

Our church got a group rate on kayaks and paddle boards, so yesterday a big group of us had a fantastic afternoon at the Stuart Causeway splashing around. My mom came with and we all got up no problem even though it was our first time paddle boarding.

Toby's climbing off here, but later I got him to stay on with me for a long ride. Here we are coming back:

Old broad, new trick :-)

Notice how Blue is never on a paddle board. That's because Blue didn't want anything to do with us. He has this habit of joining up with other families when we go to the beach. We're old hat, after all. This time he made the wise choice of buddying up with the paddle board rental people's son. So he scored his own small paddle board at one point and mastered that all by himself thankyouverymuch. He also scored a mask and snorkel.

And he didn't waste any time either. In fact, when we first got there. Before we even had the car unloaded. He hopped on a kayak. We hadn't paid yet. We hadn't laid our towels on the sand yet. We had at least sunscreened up but only because I make the kids to that before they're allowed out of the car. So here's Blue on the kayak he scored (stole).

Kevin and I noticed this. We also noticed that he was doing remarkably well paddling for himself, but because we are bad parents we failed to notice that he wasn't wearing a life jacket.  

This became a problem when he flipped his kayak in too-deep water.

And he got a little panicked.

By that time Daddy was on a paddle board and I was in a kayak with Toby and our friend D.

We were talking to some people on paddle boards who were warning us that Blue was getting too far out and would soon be in a current that would take him under the bridge. This bridge:

Yes, Blue was way over there.

It was as we were talking to these people Blue flipped his kayak.  I was about ten feet away and I got to him and grabbed him and then Kevin came over and we shoved Blue up on his paddle board.

We may be bad parents but we have good timing.

Blue was unscathed. He never returned to his kayak, but as I said, he and his new BFF came up with other sorts of fun.

And so... Blue continues to build his reputation around the county.

As we were packing up, I went to return the mask and snorkel, and the lady commented, "Oh your Blue's mom." The infamous Blue. Whose name ensures he won't be forgotten. Will that be good or will that be bad? Something to put on your prayer list for sure!

Friday Beach Day

I've declared Friday to be beach day throughout the summer and we're rotating beaches each Friday. 

3 weeks ago it was the inlet beach by Kaden's camp, last week it was Beathtub Beach, this week we're off to Dubois.

Good times!

 

Hitting Summer Hard

There's a saying that Florida really does have four seasons. Ours are just a little different: Tourist Season, Lovebug Season, Hurricane Season, and summer.

I didn't want anybody in the house to get confused, so I made a banner using extra scrapbook paper to show what season we are in.

So far we're hitting summer pretty hard.

Week 1 - Kaden had camp in the mornings, we hosted a Splash Party Play Date, one night we attended a free lava lamp making workshop through Parent Academy, and we had a beach day. Oh, and there was the day that I decided that while Kaden was at camp, Toby, Blue and I were going to play tourists in Ft. Pierce.

First we walked around by the water downtown where we sat on the seawall, chased some birds and spent some time by the fountain.

This is the face you get when you ask your kid to look up and smile, but oops! that puts him looking right into the sun.

This one's better.

Pondering deep thoughts?

Then we walked across the street to the library to check out their children's section.

Toby happily dug into a cart filled with board books and shared the stories with the locals.

(Meanwhile Blue made pals with a bigger kid playing on a computer.)

From there we were off to the Manatee Center, a place we'd visited once before, but it had been awhile. We didn't see any manatee. At least not any live ones.

But there were other critters to check out.

And some silly photo ops:

At the Manatee Center we were given the tip to take the next bridge and drive up A1A into Indian River County and go to Round Island Park. Here we were guaranteed manatee sitings, but if not, at least there was a playground. Off we went.

First boardwalk... no manatees.

Pretty cove though.

Then we found our way to the bridge that takes you over to one of the islands. At the bridge we hit the manatee jackpot. Half a dozen sea cows just rolling along...

The boys were interested but mostly I think they liked stomping across the bridge.

We explored the island a little, but it was buggy so after making it across and to another deck we came straight back. I've since looked up the park and have seen that there's an overlook tower on the other side of the island that we missed. Oh well, guess we have to go back!

On our way back across the manatee were gone but we did spot a three foot nurse shark. This excited Blue more than the manatee. That boy.

Finally, we hit up the playground.

Hmmm. Looks like there's a Blue in there.

Yup... found him.

Toby liked the tunnels too.

After enough monkeying around...

We went back to the bridge for one last mantee check and they were back.

Also, Toby took his shorts off and ran in the water.

I had to football him (my term for how I have to carry him when he's mad and doesn't want to come) so we could load up and get back to Kaden... just barely in time!

And to think, I wasn't sure how we would kill three hours in Ft. Pierce and wondered if we'd just end up shopping at Wal-mart.

I love playing tourist in my own town. Especially when all it costs me is $1 (for the Manatee Center, as in $1 for all three of us!) and gas.

This week the busy continues... Toby has swim lessons every day. Kaden went riding with Oma on Monday and will go riding for a day camp on Thursday. Meanwhile Blue did My Gym day camp on Monday. And we all hit the beach again on Friday. 

Have I mentioned that I totally love summer?

I have?

Well, I don't get tired of saying it.

D and D Family Farms

This is our last produce box of our CSA season.

(CSA = Community Supported Agriculture.)

Ok sometimes we were a little over our head with the amount of eggplant we got, but I can now make eggplant parmesan and baba ganoush without referring to a recipe. My kids like (LIKE!) cabbage and brussel sprouts. I have not only learned of the existance of things like broccoli rabe and watermelon radishes, but I can now cook them too. 

If you are in St. Lucie or Martin County or heck, even Indian River and north Pam Beach, and you haven't been over to D and D farms and tasted of its bounty, then you are missing out.

Here is the final email we recieved from the farm.  I am so excited to know we'll be able to get eggs and berries next year!  

 

Dear All,

This week will be our last week of the CSA for this season. We hope you have all enjoyed this program, and thank you all for your patience as we go through our learning curve of this program. We are always trying to come up with new ways to improve our service and would definitely appreciate any feed back you would like to give, as well as any special requests as to types of vegetable for the new season.

Unfortunately due to the very slow growth of our blueberry, raspberry and BlackBerry plants we were not able to provide any this season although it looks like we will be able to around Easter of next year, (that is when they are producing berries). We thank you for your support this year, it has helped us achieve a lot, including getting additional fruit trees planted, such as peaches, apples, mangoes and avocados. These are small trees and will take a few years to start producing in any quantity, but you have to start somewhere.

In the last month we got a grant approved by the Dept of Agg, for a hoop house, which will allow us to now grow things in a controlled environment over the summer. We have also purchased a 200 foot hoop house which is being put up right now, and will house our airponic, and hydroponic growing systems that will be functioning in the next month. This will allow us to produce, 100% certifiable organic produce on an immediate basis which we will be having during the summer. If you are interested in this let us know and we will let you know when the produce is available. 

we value you as customers, and again appreciate your support, with out it we would not be able to survive the season during the current economy. Due to this we are offering special discounts to those of you that would like to sign up for the new season. If you sign up by June 30 and pay in full you get a 25% discount off the full season. There are also special discounts for those that are on subscription and easy ways to pay. Go on line to www.danddfarms.com  for full details. 

As a further service to our CSA members, we are offering you the first priority on Free Range, Cage Free Farm Fresh eggs, all produced within 7 days of delivery. These are not part of the CSA but are additional, but are available to you first before sold to our other customers. Let us know on this when you sign up if you would like to be put down to reserve eggs on a weekly basis. There will be a limit of 4 Doz per customer.

We hope to see you all again next season as returning customers, let us know one way or the other as soon as possible, even if you don't sign up right away, as we offered a two week trial on Groupon, which had an overwhelming response. Based on the response we are sure we will sell out our shares rather rapidly once they have been made available to our Groupon customers. who are also going to be offered early sign up discounts. remember space is limited in the CSA.

If any of you would like to refer friends, call us or email us for a referral code. You will get a 10% credit usable towards your CSA or produce from the Farm. Refer 10 friends for the CSA and yours is free.

Some of you have attended our Easter Celebration, and following in its tradition with a fall festival, including, G-rated haunted house for kids, games activities, a more teenage, adult haunted hay ride, pumpkin patch, sunflower maze, BBQ, bounce house, face painting etc. And then for Halloween, we may also be doing a special market with family friendly vendors, so that you have a nice safe environment to bring the kids to go trick or treating.

We will be doing a winter wonderland, for the holiday with Santa workshop, Santa Clause, festive hayrides, hot chocolate, face painting, and much more, as well as hosting our first annual Foster Children's Christmas party, where those in foster care can come and get a little more love and support from caring individuals in our community.  Did you know there are over 1000, children in Foster care at any given time in Saint Lucie, Martin and Palm Beach counties. We'll keep you posted as plans develop.

Hope you all have a wonderful summer. 

Thank you again,

Dean and Tania Bruschi Owners D and D Family Farms

Marcus, Fanny, Brian and Brooke, Grandpa Phil, Christina, Walter, "D and D Family Farms" Family

I quickly hit reply and thanked them for a great season of produce. I also volunteered my help if they needed it for their Foster Kids Christmas party.

What a fantastic part of our community.

Oh, and if you sign up for the next CSA season, and it's your first season, consider this post a referral and mention me so I can get the discount! :-)