Florida vacation...Beach day 1

1. Okay...little confession. It might be possible that even though we planned this vacation and saved for it and then drove 2 days to get to it...I didn't really think it would be that fun.

I was thinking it would be a whole lot of schlepping and sunscreening and head-counting. (of course there was all of that!) But it is so so so fun!

The water is warm and cool at the same time. The sun is hot but not too hot. We are looking for little shells and playing in the sand. We are riding the waves in on the boogie boards. The baby loves it. And we all love it.

2. We now know how to make ramen noodles in the microwave. I beats sandwiches for lunch every day.

3. I admit that I briefly considered finding a Hobby Lobby and buying a few bigger shells to secretly hide for my kids to find. But, actually the kids are finding lots of little shells and they love them. And if they're happy, I'm happy. We will treasure our miniature shell collection.

4. We spent the morning on the beach, had lunch in our rooms, let Everly take a nap and then spent an hour in the pool/splash park only to get bored and head back out the the beach until dinner time. We found more shells and Ethan saw a stingray. Mark made two trips to Walmart today to procure groceries, flip flops and water shoes and a large beach umbrella to protect Everbee from the sun.

5. We stumbled upon a great pizza place...Island Pizza and had huge amazing ice cream cones/ cups at the Pink Pelican. I highly recommend a scoop of "Heaven on Earth".

Florida trip....travel day 2

1. We slept in a little longer today and we stuck around for the continental breakfast. I love how excited the kids get when they get to pick whatever they want. The choose frootloops 9 times out of 10, because we never have those at home. Then the move on to scrambled eggs and sausage. They wait patiently for a waffle to come out of the waffle maker, but they never eat more than a quarter of it because they need to go back and make a cup of cocoa and have a glass of orange juice and a carton of milk. They grab a banana and a yogurt on their way out the door, just to be safe.

2. The car ride is NOT going as well as yesterday. Everly is not thrilled that she is spending this much time in her car seat. I am hoping naptime will be very soon.

3. We stopped for another picnic lunch outside of a Flying J. The kids were looking longingly at a nearby Denny's, but you and I both know that our PB&J is way better than anything we would get at Denny's. (so mean!)

4. We finally arrived at about 6:30 pm. And it is so beautiful! I love our rooms...they are conjoined and each have a balcony overlooking the beach. There is a fridge and pantry area so we can keep a few groceries and plenty of space to spread out.

Riding the luggage rack back to the lobby. Whataya bet this turns out to be one of their favorite memories of the trip?

5. We went down to have dinner and then we walked out to take a look at the beach. The kids were amazed at the water and the idea of not seeing the other side. The sand is super soft and white. Everly sat right down in it and started burying her legs. Megan was nervous about crabs and jellyfish and being pulled out to sea by the current (she wasn't even in the water), but after voicing all her fears several times, began to calm down. I think she'll do better tomorrow in the daylight and she'll get used to the idea.

The view of the resort from the beach.

The sand was so fine it stuck to her sweaty little cheeks like sugar. She is going to love playing in it tomorrow. I can't wait!

No driving for 4 more days! Yippee!

6. The were showing "The Little Mermaid" out by the pool, so we stayed and watched the last half on the beach chairs. The tiki torches were burning and it was warm and balmy. NO BUGS!

Florida Trip....Travel Day 1

1. 8:05 AM: We are almost 1 hour into our trip and I am blogging in the car about it. That is due entirely to the fact that we bought a car that fits all of us (I don't have to drive the whole way!) and that Mark knows how to connect to internet under almost any circumstances. I'm starting to suspect that he may actually emit a wi-fi signal.

2. Let's see.  Here are the things I packed to facilitate a smooth day in the car:

Water bottles for everyone, to be refilled at gas stations
Cooler with lunch meats and a bottle of jam and miracle whip, 2 lbs of grapes
Three grocery bags of crackers, cereals, bread, snacks, fruit
Band-aids, Neosporin and glucose gel (for an MCADD emergency)
Coloring books and twist up coloring pencils (crayons melt in a hot car)
Everly's favorite book, "Whose Baby Am I?" ...already saved us from 1 meltdown
Every digital device we own, being passed around the older kids in 30 minute intervals
A healthy portion of our DVD library
Beach towels doubling as blankets for those sitting directly under AC vents and for picnics
Paper towels and wipees
Jordan almonds...the candy of the Celestial Kingdom
Ziploc sandwich baggies...THE KEY to effective and quick distribution of car snacks

3. 8:46 AM: We just finished "Spirit" (the first, because the last half is too scratched up to watch) and now we are having a rousing "Frozen" sing along.

4. We stopped at a gas station and found a grassy spot to have a picnic lunch. it was hot and a bit muggy but my frugal self was having a party in my brain. I was having flashbacks of family trips when my mom would have a bread bag full of sandwiches and we would have lunch on the road.

5. 9:40 PM: We are finally in Mississippi at the hotel for the night. I am tired and I feel a sore throat coming on. Everly seems to be coming down with something as well. So.....yeah. On the plus side, I convinced the girls that they wouldn't want to go swimming in the hotel pool. We took a look at it and it was...murky. Very murky.

Celebrate and Pack

1. Unlike many summer mornings, we knew we needed to get everybody dressed and hair braided first thing in the morning. We had a full day ahead and failure to do so would result in jammies and bedhead in a lot of celebratory photos.

2. We attended the neighborhood bike parade and I said a prayer of thanks in my heart for the low humidity and coolish weather that seems to be sticking around.

I think Ethan probably realized that he was the oldest kid riding in the bike parade and if he hadn't been wearing a patriotic goatee, would have felt a little silly. Nothing says, "I'm not taking this seriously" like stick-on facial hair. 

Everly seemed pretty revved up about the whole deal. She was rearin to go. She even let me stick a festive headband on, something my babies usually hate. 

About two blocks later, I was wearing the headband and she was out. 

3. Between Mark and I, we managed to keep the laundry running almost all day and I'm pretty sure we ended up washing almost every piece of clothing we own....the towels and swimsuits twice. Somehow we got everybody packed up for the trip by 5 pm. If only that were all that had to be done....

4. 3 of my kids packed for themselves.

Oh, yes.

5. Hey, Mom! The kids are wondering if you know what this bird is?

It has a light yellow belly, if that doesn't show up in the photo very well.

Thanks!
Hope you are having fun camping!

Rocket Shake Lake

1. Oh my, I am tired. It is late and I plan on staying up to run several loads of laundry through and playing the commercial game to get the main floor clean. Y'know.  The commercial game....where you watch a show and don't fast forward through the commercials but get as much cleaning as possible done and then run back to watch when the show comes on. I have to believe that somebody out there plays this game too. It's one of my main methods of getting myself to clean my house.

2. We went to Lake Olathe for a few hours today to soak in the sun and the second day of amazing, cool weather. It was the perfect day for it.

3. Ha! Just got back from a commercial and I got the entire living room picked up and half the dishwasher unloaded! It's amazing what can be accomplished in 3 1/2 minutes. Highly satisfying.

4. We went over to Prairie Creek Elementary to launch rockets with the Flynns, McDonalds and Adams and then even though it was already 10 pm, we stopped for half price shakes. I shared mine with Everly, so on the way home I traded seats with......be right back! Commercial!

Table cleared. Silverware unloaded. Laundry switched.

Anyway...I traded seats with Megan and sat in the back with Everly so we could share our shake.  For the first time I was able to sit back there and watch the movie. I have to admit...it was pretty great. Being a kid is pretty sweet.

5. Tomorrow we need to get a whole heckofalot done.

What's new?

Autumn in July

1. It was a freakishly gorgeous day. The high was maybe 72 degrees.

Maybe.

The humidity was missing in action.

It was like a 24 hour gift of sanity. It was the kind of day that makes you forget how miserable and hot the other days have been. Like, "Oh, I guess summer really isn't that bad".

Yes. It is that bad. Have you already forgotten how you were swimming in your own sweat yesterday? Just like you forget how bad morning sickness is and how tired you will be for the first 2 years of every childs life?  It is that bad.

But not today! Today was a bee-you-tiful day. And we loved every second of it. And I think I said, "How about this weather?!?" at least 20 to 30 times.

2. Did I already mention that there was NO humidity?  I did? Well....I gotta say...there was NO humidity!
And for a girl raised in the west that didn't have a clue how horrifying (and also moisturizing) the humidity can be...a day off from the humidity is as awesome as mother's day with naps. Or a really fun birthday with naps. Or even Christmas! With naps.

3. We ventured over to Loose Park to check it out and it really was a gorgeous place nestled in a very wealthy, manicured part of Kansas City. It's the kind of place I could spend hours just driving up and down the streets and rubbernecking. I'm a succor for mature trees and freshly mowed lawns. The park itself was lovely and we spent a couple hours playing in the sand, tossing a baseball and looking for a geocache.

Ethan found it...which kind of ticked off Mathew, but he got over it and rallied for the picture.

 We set off in search of the splash pad so we could come back sometime when we are desperate for relief from the heat. The children could not be denied an opportunity to run through, even though I knew they were going to be shivering within minutes. Surprisingly, Everly took one look and made the face she makes whenever she drinks something really cold....the "brrrr" face. She's a smart cookie.

Nothing anybody can say would make her get in that water.

Anna gets adventurous and really gets soaked.

Ethan begs Laney for a corner of her towel.

And the big kids all settle for the stone bench because it has retained a bit of warmth from the sun.

The whole chilly experience lasted maybe 10 minutes. Then we drove on home to throw together something for dinner and shuttle the girls off to gymnastics. Everly treated herself to a hummus leg scrub while my attention was otherwise engaged.

Which is kind of a bummer because I was actually planning on eating that.

5. And we finished off the day in the driveway with our chalks...which are getting perilously nubby.  We got to where long pants and jackets and socks and I couldn't stop myself from saying "How about this weather?!?" just a couple more times.

Like I said....a beautiful day.

Things are going as planned

We have reached to halfway point to summer. 6 weeks to go.

And, yes, the Summer Bucket List is close to completion...just a trip to Florida and an obstacle course to go....

But the BEST parts of summer are taking place on an almost daily basis.

Any frozen treat we can get our hands on:

Spending our evenings making chalk masterpieces....

Thinking up new treats to make. And lick. On the countertop.