Five Things Florida Edition

We spent the majority of the kids’ spring break in Florida. Flight prices were high and I never could snag a good deal so we decided to rent a car and drive. I swung back and forth like a pendulum on this decision, even contemplating doing Priceline for tickets when I couldn’t stomach the thought of 26+ hours in the car. Ultimately, though we stuck with the plan and the four of us and Callie headed down to warmer weather for a few days. In our thank you card to L&R and the girls, we made a top ten list – Top Ten Best Things about our Trip to Florida but of course I didn’t snap a photo so I will highlight five things about our trip.

-Easter Sunday Relaxation – this was actually the last day of our time in Florida L I started out Easter with a nice 6.2 mile run. I saw dolphins and enjoyed the warm air.  We went to brunch when C woke up from her morning nap. After that, we took some family photos and just relaxed. We had the traditional Easter egg hunt, and then capped off the fun with a water balloon fight.

In case you are curious, it takes over an hour to fill and tie 500 water balloons…and 5 minutes for the actual fight. Even though the people tying had some sore fingers, it was well worth it and we had a blast. And possibly the best part about the day…bunny cake for dinner! We were all mostly still stuffed from the big brunch, so we had cake before we hit the road about 6 PM.

-Zoo Time – we took a trip to the zoo and had a very nice time. The kids played in the water area first, but some rain showers dampened that fun after about ½ hour. So we headed over to see some animals once the rain ended. Because it was a cooler day, the animals were active and mostly all visible. The monkeys were hilarious and James may now be a certified bobcat whisperer. Lois and the girls (including Keely) left to put C down for her afternoon nap, and James and I stayed longer with Quinn so we could do the kayaking around the zoo. For $6 a person, this was well worth it. We saw lemurs and some other animals from different views and had fun slowly kayaking around the manmade river. We had a fun time!

-Beach and Pool Time – what would a trip to Florida be without some time at the beach and in the pool. The weather wasn’t great this visit, but it was still warm enough for some swimming, playing in the waves and building sand castles. We really love being just 2 blocks from the ocean and free beach access. We took two trips to the beach – one in very windy, cool conditions and one in sunny, perfect conditions (low 80s). The kids love it, and even little C got to splash in the waves!

-Playing Games – I would be remiss not to mention our nightly games. We played Anomia (of course!) one night and Indian Poker another. The game of Indian Poker lasted until nearly midnight, and Quinn was the big winner! The rest of us were just tired and may or may not have gone all-in just to be done J There were definitely a lot of laughs as usual.

-Fountain of Youth – on our way down, we stopped for the night outside Savannah, GA and then broke up the trip to Melbourne the next day with a stop to the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine. They were pet friendly, so that was the main selling point and only James had been there before. It was a nice time, albeit windy and cooler than typical for north Florida in April. We learned about the settlers in the 1500s, saw a gun shooting and canon firing, and drank the infamous water! It was a nice diversion on the long trip.

Those are the main high points of our trip. It was a nice diversion from the busy-ness of everyday life, and we had a fun time with the family. And now I know we can survive driving through the night – although some of those hours were painfully slow and I was pretty darn tired the next day!

Top News Flashes: April Fools Edition

-Each quarter in Social Studies, Quinn has to do a project. They are given three choices in which to deliver the project – one of which always seems to include a diorama. He is very hands on and prefers creative projects so he tends to pick the diorama. His first two have been very creative and scored him high marks. For the 3^rd quarter, he chose something slightly different. He made a model of a steam engine to signify that development in United States history (the unit is mostly geared towards Westward Expansion). He used mostly Styrofoam, with some spray paint and created a very unique and creative project. Thank goodness I took pictures of the final result, because his teacher is keeping it on display in his class and he got a 100 on this effort!

-April Fool’s Day came and went without too much fanfare. Overheard at our house – Keely to James: ‘Dad, I wore flip flops to school today.’ to which he responded that she knows she is not allowed to wear sandals until the end of the year, and not flip flops at all and to which he was given a prompt ‘April Fools!’. James to Quinn when he asked what was for dinner: ‘We’re going out to eat!’ and when Quinn surprisingly asked, ‘Really?!?!’ he got a sharp ‘April Fools’! All harmless, but a little bit of fun on what was be an otherwise normal weekday.

-This weekend we visited Gunston Hall, George Mason’s home. It is located just down the road a bit, at an exit off I-95 where Quinn happens to have a basketball game each Sunday. Keely was just recently discussing learning about and seeing photos of the home in class (it’s Virginia Studies for 4^th grade) and when she saw it at the exit on a sign, she was insistent that we make a trip there. I love that she loves history and actually wants to visit places such as these (I wasn’t really like that as a child) and I love that we live so close to so many historical places. Now we have visited Mount Vernon (Geo. Washington), Monticello (Tho. Jefferson) and we hope to add Montpelier (James Madison) and Oak Hill (James Monroe) to the list this summer. Keely really wanted to compare Gunston Hall to the other two we have seen. I know she loves the fanciness of the houses, and imagining what life would have been like in those days. Something that she said fascinated me and showed me that she’s really thinking about what she is learning – why would Geo. Mason have had slaves if he believed in free rights for all people? Honestly, I could answer her other than that he was a bit ahead of his time in that belief. Anyways, the house was quite lovely and a bit more practical than the other two historic homes. I would choose Gunston…for the size and practicality of the house, and the peaceful grounds on the banks of the Potomac. I also thought it was humorous to think that in those days, Geo. Washington was his closest neighbor – because of the ease of arriving by boat. It was a lovely spring afternoon, spent exploring a lovely piece of Virginia (and really US) history.

-I have new hope for my running legs returning after two runs this weekend – one a slow, painful 4 miler and one a speedier almost pain free 4.6 miles. I am feeling stronger and I think I just need to pick my days – when I feel good, I can run but when I don’t, I probably just need to know not to push it (even if the weather is nice or if the stars align for a run). It also helped that my soccer game was canceled on Saturday due to unsafe field conditions. I think it would have prevented the good run I had yesterday…but it was also bad because now when I play again (2 weeks since the first game) I’m not sure my muscles will remember and I could end up just as sore as last time. Hopefully next time out my mind will realize that my body is not 20 and it won’t be as bad afterwards. I’m still looking forward to another game, just being a little more realistic about how far I can push this aging body.

And that’s only 4 things, but I’m going to post anyways since a new week is upon us. A little over a week until we head to Florida for some hopefully sun and fun with the family J