Florida, How Do We Love Thee?

 Every year on the way to Fort Myers, we pass right by Sarasota and Siesta Key Beach.  I have a lot of memories there from when I was single and it's pretty sentimental to me.  I mean, I loved it so much that once upon a time my old roommate and I had job interviews lined up and were planning to move there until God very clearly closed that door.  It's a good thing too, looking back, even though we were pretty sad about it at the time.  But I digress.

So finally this time around when we made really good time, we took a couple hours to stop by Siesta Key.  It was really fun for me to see it again and drive around Sarasota again, even if it was only for a really short time!

And after a very long time stuck in car seats, we finally made it to the bridge to get onto Estero Island.  Once we hit bridge traffic we let the kids out of their seats since it takes a good hour to cross!

Sunday afternoon, first round of ice cream and yummy juice sampling at Sun Harvest Citrus.

It's pert 'near impossible to get a good family picture! 

Monday morning our condo place offered free doughnuts.  My children were very happy to lick all the chocolate off of theirs and then be done:)

Tucker's first swim!  And only swim.  He didn't hate it but didn't love it and our baby float thing just wasn't quite small enough for him.  So we didn't mess with it after that.

Sooooo much fun to play on the beach!

Soooooooo much fun to dig and dig and dig and dig and...

A dream come true- slurping up a plateful of spaghetti and not even using silverware!

Hey look!  We got a decent one!  I sure do love this crew:)

There's a pretty sweet library close by and when we went there one morning Summer was loving this doll that was about as big as her!

We went for an evening swim one night but it was windy and cold outside of the water so we bundled Tucker all up and he was good to go!

One night Danny's parents came and watched our kids while we went on a short date.  A walk down to the pier and ice cream was just the break we needed from corralling three little kids day in and day out.

The alligator is a favorite with the kids!

So many babies!  

One day we took a tram ride.  Sawyer was in the height of his glory.  Smiles all around!

We found a cute little cove in the nature preserve we visited.  We stayed until we noticed ants starting to crawl all over us.

And one last sunset on the pier before we had to go.

Growing up we always took road trips, visiting lots of different places in one vacation.  I would love to do that once our kids are a little older, but I do have to say, there is something fun about returning to the same place year after year.  We do love FMB!

One Half Of A Year!

Our sweet and happy Tucker Joseph is a whole half a year old!  I think time goes faster and faster with each kid because it sure seems like I just had him a few weeks ago!

He is just the sweetest lil guy though.  He is super laid back and typically only cries when really necessary.  He smiles easily and loves to be talked to.  Even if he's across the room and I start reading a book or something to Summer and Sawyer, he perks right up and looks over and smiles.

He's not sitting up on his own yet, but he does great on his tummy.  If he's on the floor he'll spend most of his time on his tummy, pushing himself up to see what's all going on.  He's not a great sleeper but not terrible either.  Typically we have to stick his paci in anywhere between 1 and 3 times.  Up until he was three months old he didn't even like his paci and would go for 8 or 9 hours at night without making a peep.  Then one day he decided he liked it and now he's so dependent on it to go to sleep:(  I try to make him go 8 hours before I feed him but sometimes it's just not worth it and he only goes 7.

One of his favorite people ever is Summer.  She can make him laugh like none other.  It's pretty cute to watch them interact.  Sawyer really likes Tucker, but I'm not sure it's mutual.  Sawyer tries to play with Tucker like he is another two year old and that usually results in some tears.  First from Tucker because Sawyer sat on his head or something, and then from Sawyer for getting in trouble for sitting on Tucker's head.  All in good time, buddy, all in good time.

We sure do love our lil buddy!

A Farm Boy He Is Not

Ever year about this time my dad gets a fresh batch of baby turkeys.  And it's always a good day if we happen to be out there when a new flock comes in.  It makes me laugh though, the difference between Summer and Sawyer in the turkey house.

Sawyer just walks along, paying no attention to where he's going.  More than once I had to rescue a poor little bird that was suffocating under his boot.

He's way more interested in the gadgets and equipment than the turkeys themselves.

He has no interest at all in holding one, even if I'm right there with him.  It was a stretch to get him to touch it while I held it.

Meanwhile..... we have the turkey whisperer.

If she's awake in time (and she usually is), she goes out to help dad with the chores.  Mostly she'll just sit and play with them if they're still at this stage.  But she'll also help him carry any dead ones to the door!

She will gently hold them and dutifully tries to get them to eat and drink.

Polar opposites, they are!

Hotel Fun

This past weekend we had a great time with Danny's family at our winter hotel weekend.  We loaded up the van and the kids, drove for about a minute, and then unloaded the van and the kids!  We just stayed local this year, and we can see the hotel from our house:)  I made the mistake of telling Summer and showing her the hotel about five days before we actually went and that was all. we. talked. about.  For the whole week.  Or so it seemed.

Unfortunately, for the third year in a row, she came down with a nasty cold right before we left.  And all the pool chemicals don't help.  So she had fun during the day with her cousins but she went to bed about three hours before all the rest of them:(

This kid just had a grand ole time!  So good that he stayed awake until 11:00 at night.  Not for lack of trying though!  We took him to the room at maybe 9:30 and he played and rolled around in the bed while Danny took a nap:)

Sure is fun watching these girls grow up together!

And Tucker did great.  He hung out in his bumbo or on my lap all weekend.  He's such a good baby!

We were all pretty tired by the time we came home because, you know, all sleeping in the same room.  But it was worth it!

Conversations With Summer

Well it's been busy and slow all at the same time over here if that's even possible.  Personally I am not too sick of winter yet but I can feel myself starting to get there.  This morning we were at a friend's house and when we were leaving, all the boots and coats and bundling up felt a little more cumbersome than it has so far this winter.  I always say I'm perfectly fine with snow until March comes and then I'm ready to be done.  Well, March is just 10 days away so I guess it's about that time!

Meanwhile, there have been a few conversations with Summer in the last several weeks that I have really gotten a kick out of and want to remember.  I should have a special place where I write down some of these things, but I don't.  So I'll just leave it here.

#1

We were walking through Wal*Mart a few weeks after Christmas was over and she just wanted everything in sight.  Most of it didn't made any sense- it was just random stuff she would ask if we could get.  But then she saw a doll she liked and fixated on that.  "Mom, can we get that doll?"  "No."  "Why?"  "Because we just had Christmas and you got lots of presents and you don't need anything else."  "But Mom I really like that doll and I really want to get it!"  "No...."  The back and forth went on for a little while until I said we were only going to get what was on our list and she needed to stop asking.  She was quiet for awhile, contemplating.  And then she said "Mom, can you put doll on your list?"  I think I laughed.  Or rolled my eyes a little.  Or both.  But the answer was still no!

#2

A couple weeks ago our kids were with my parents for a little while.  One night Summer asked my mom if she could have an ice cube.  She always thinks she wants an ice cube to suck on but then her hands get really cold after about 10 seconds and the ice cube ends up on the floor somewhere in the house.  I think she may have asked a few times and mom said she could have on in the morning but not right then.  A little while later she came back to my mom and said "Grandma, I'm really thirsty and ice is actually water, soooo.... can I have an ice cube?"  Such a stinker!  She still had to wait until morning:)

#3

Just this morning we were at the breakfast table.  She had already had two helpings of scrambled eggs and asked for a third.  We looked at her and asked her if she was really serious.  She grinned and said "I'm a beast!!"  She's a hoot, is what she is:)

Ah, Summer.  The thinker.  The intellect.  While Sawyer is more naturally funny in a silly and goofy sort of way, this is how Summer makes us laugh.  Sometimes she just comes up with the best stuff and we just love her to pieces!

Just Some Thoughts

These thoughts are nothing new.  They've been said many times before in many different ways by many different people.  But in the last couple weeks I've been looking through my 2018 pictures while I work on my 2018 scrapbook and this picture keeps bringing them to my mind.  They just keep rolling around in my brain so I'm going to get them out.

The story behind the picture is this:

We had left Maine the day before and spent the night in New Hampshire.  We had several different stops we wanted to make in Vermont- one of them being the Cabot cheese factory.  Typically in our family, I am the driver and Danny is the navigator.  I really enjoy driving and he doesn't necessarily.  I get carsick if I do anything but sit and watch the road.  And he is far better with maps than I am.  Usually I have full confidence in the directions he gives me.  Rarely do I question because he just tells me where to turn and we end up where we want to be.  This particular time I had little to no confidence.  We had pretty much done a U-turn off the main highway we were on and, as you can see in the picture, were now on a very NOT main road.  It was barely gravel.  Some places really were just a narrow dirt road.  It curved and dipped all over the place.  I am not sure how many times I asked him if he was sure, or told him we needed to turn around because he was probably wrong.  He just kept telling me all was well and tried to get me to just enjoy the scenery.  Because it really was pretty.  I kind of enjoyed it, but most of the time I was too busy being afraid we were never going to find our way off of these backroads of Vermont.  And then we came to the top of a really big hill and the view was stunning.  Like, stop the car and take a picture and appreciate what you are seeing stunning.  I know the picture you see above might not look like much.  It's not the whole panoramic view.  But I can look at that picture and remember the feeling of "WOW" I felt when we first saw it.  And guess what?  After that I relaxed quite a bit, enjoyed those back roads and just kept going where Danny said to go.  And sure enough, soon we came to an actual paved road where we turned left and there was the factory we were looking for.

The moral is this:

Sometimes that is how we are with God, isn't it?  And for me, sometimes means many times:)  We are pretty sure the way he is taking us is wrong all wrong.  We are nervous.  We tell him it's not right and we are sure we are lost.  And then the road we didn't want to take ends up being so beautiful.  We see things and experience things we would have never had the chance to had we gone the way we thought was right.  And we are so glad he took us the way he did.  Sometimes the road less travelled makes us say "WOW"!

And there you have it.  My not so new thoughts:)

Christmas Crazies:)

Christmas started off with a trip to Illinois for a few days.  Since we didn't make it out for Thanksgiving this year I was extra excited to go out there!  About 2:00 in the morning the night before we left, Sawyer woke up with the pukes:(  But the next day he seemed fine and away we went.  He scarfed down his lunch with no problems and we were out of the woods!  (Or so I thought.)  We were about 45 minutes away and had to stop for one quick potty break.  Tucker was sooooo sad that he was stuck in his car seat still.  He was ready to be DONE!

Wednesday night we went to the big Christmas program put on by the choir each year at my home church which is always a treat.  I used to love singing with them and so of course I get all sappy and homesick about it but it's still fun to go!  

Thursday morning I went to an old roommate's house to catch up for a couple hours and it wasn't near long enough!!  We could have sat and talked for two more hours.

Thursday night I went out with some of my cousins (and Tucker) for supper.  We embarrassed ourselves by wearing these fabulous sweaters to a "cool" restaurant.  It was great!!

Aaaaaannnnnnnd then I got home and discovered a very sad and sick little girl:(  The poor thing puked all night long every 20-30 minutes and we couldn't do anything for her.  She was finally done around 4:30 in the morning and then slept pretty much the next 24 hours with a few 1/2 hour breaks here and there to get a drink and try to eat a few bites.

Friday night my mom stayed home with Summer so the rest of us could all go to my extended family Christmas.  She was up helping me some the night before too, when at one point I was worried enough to call the on call doctor back home.  Plus cleaned up the first big round of puke while Danny was busy putting Sawyer to bed.  (That's quite a chore these days.)  Thanks mom!

By Saturday Summer was much better and was able to enjoy our immediate family Christmas.

Sawyer stayed healthy too for the rest of the weekend.

Buuuuut……. Danny and I both got it Saturday night:(  Even poor Tucker had a touch of it!  One of those things where I knew it was coming but was trying to convince myself that's not really why I don't feel great.  It's just because I ate too much junk, right?  Wrong!!  So I sat in the corner during family Christmas but I was still able to enjoy it some.

We thought about staying for an early supper on Sunday but decided we had kind of had enough so we hit the road.  The kids slept for a solid two hours in the van, which is pretty miraculous seeing as how it's usually only about 30 minutes when we're driving!

On Monday we did these cute little gingerbread houses that my mom sent with us.  She had planned to do them while we were out there but, you know, puke.

Then we had our own little family Christmas.

On Christmas day, we went to Danny's parent's house right after church, ready to spend the whole day there and waiting for the chaos to ensue.

Summer has been asking for roller skates for several months and she finally got them!  I love the combination here of the headband, messed up hair, and skates.  Looks like she came straight out of the 80's!

A couple years ago we had the famous Fear Factor Christmas.  This year it was Minute To Win It.  One of the games was "poop the potato", but you can't see any of those pictures:)  But we had lots of laughs the whole way through!

Each year the kids to the Christmas play and Summer and her cousin petered out.  They just laid on the floor and talked while the rest of the cousins performed.

We had a few days to recover from the madness of the week and then had one final extended family get together.

And with that, it's Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!