Summertime, and the Living is Easy

SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE!!! I for one cannot be more excited.   A couple weeks ago I planned and created our Summer Chain of Events.  We were scheduled to start our activities on Monday but since Huck made his arrival over the weekend, we started on Tuesday and doubled up our activities.  This was an extra special week because Nana, Grandad, and Mima got to share it with us. 

Here's how our first week went.

Our Chain



Monday, June 4th: On the schedule for Monday was making homemade ice cream (we actually did this on Tuesday). This was a really simple recipe and the kids really enjoyed it. Justin helped them with this project. Click HERE for the recipe.

 Eating their yummy ice cream

Gotta have sprinkles!



Tuesday, June 5th: As of Tuesday we were back on track.  The kids have asked several times over the school year to go to the public library.  Since they go at school and we are always busy with sports and other activities, I never made the time to go.  On Tuesday Justin took two happy kids to the library where they each picked three books.  Seth has really gotten into reading in the past few months so he has already finished one library chapter book plus another store bought one (more on that later).  We're going to try to go the the library every Tuesday this summer. 

Reading one of his books



Wednesday, June 6th: Wednesday was a cooking day.  This time it was McKayla's turn to cook dinner.  They both enjoy helping me cook so I thought it would be a good idea to let them pick a meal and do most of the work.  McKayla chose to make lemon pepper salmon with rice, broccoli, and carrots.  She did a great job and we all enjoyed it. 

Thursday, June 7th:  Now it was Seth's turn to cook.  He chose one of his favorite meals, breakfast for dinner.  We made tons of food.  On the menu was biscuits with sausage gravy, scrambled eggs with cheese, and cheese grits.  Yes, I realize there is almost nothing healthy about this meal but Seth LOVED it and so did everyone else. 

Friday, June 8th: Nana got to take over on Friday. My mom LOVES to read so she was thrilled to hear how much the kids enjoy it too. After camp, we picked them up and headed to Barnes and Noble. They each got two books and a cookie. Huck got two books too. When we got home Nana, Seth, and McKayla headed for the back porch and immediately started reading. They stayed out there for two hours. I couldn't believe it. They both started and finished chapter books that day.

Leaving Barnes and Noble



Saturday, June 9th: On Saturday we had a very special mission, making Father's Day presents.  For obviouse reasons I can't reveal what we were up to, but I promise to post more on this later. 

Sunday, June 10th: Last summer we did our summer chain of events but the only record we had of it was this blog.  This summer I decided that the kids should keep a summer journal.  Sunday we started that journal and we'll add to it each Sunday.  Hopefully they'll keep these for years to come and look back on all the fun we had. 

First week of the journal



We're off to a great start and I can't wait for the kids to find out what other summer activities await us. 

May Wrap Up

As May comes to a close I realize it's been awhile since I've done a post. This month has been a pretty busy one. The first event we had this month was Seth's school performance. The show itself was a pretty big production but Seth's class only participated for one song. Here he is...

The next event this month was the long awaited trip to Boston.  Justin posted about this a couple weeks ago and the kids still talk about it on a daily basis.  They're all dying to get up there again. 

The kids and Justin got back from Boston the day before Mother's day. The kids left for their mom's early Sunday morning but before they left they gave me their gifts they made at school and a beautiful pair of Pandora earrings they all picked out together. On Sunday Justin and I celebrated by going to the Mother's Day brunch at the FSU University Center. It was absolutely delicious! I've never seen such a variety of wonderful food in one place before. We decided we'll have to make it a yearly tradition.

Throughout the month t-ball continued and Justin and Seth thoroughly enjoyed it.  Justin proved to be a fabulous coach and all the parents and kids really enjoyed the season.  May 22nd the season ended and we celebrated with a party at Beef 'O' Bradys. 

Last but not least, Memorial Day weekend.  We were lucky enough to have the kids with us for the long weekend so we spent as much time outside as possible.  Saturday we headed to Carrabelle beach for the day.  On Sunday we went to Trousdell pool here in Tallahassee.  Seth wasn't swimming very well at the beginning of the day but by the end of it he was a regular fish again.

That's about it for May unless someone decides to make his debut in the next 3 days.  We'll keep you posted...

Planes, trains and Redsox games

Okay, so I am going to try my hand at this.  Let me start by saying that my wife Jennifer is amazing.  Not only is she thoughtful and creative on a daily basis here in Tally, but she did something a couple of months ago that topped it all.  She decided to surprise me on Valentine's day with a trip to Boston with McKayla and Seth!!!  Now, I don't remember if Jen posted the circumstances of when she told me that she was pregnant, but she has an uncanny way of telling me the most exciting things while we are in the most public places, causing me to have the most toned down responses given the circumstances!  She told me in the middle of a bookstore when she was pregnant, and while that was cause for my normal extremely LOUD self to respond in the only way I knew how to celebrate how excited I was, I instead had to hold it in.  This would be similar to putting your finger in a hole in an attempt to plug the hoover dam.  So, the same thing happened when she told me about the trip!  She told me while we were eating dinner at La Hacienda - a mexican restaurant that up until our last trip there had great service.  Ah well, that's not the point.  (Sometimes my ability to go off in a different direction rivals that of our dog Fenway)  The point is that I couldn't express my gratitude in an acceptable way given the completely amazing trip she had planned!  So first things first, once again Jennifer, thank you so much!  You're the best!

Now, onto the trip itself.  The days leading up to the trip were agonizing as Seth each night would say right before bed - "Dad, get ready for Boston!" and McKayla each morning "is it Thursday?!?!"  So finally Thursday morning arrived and they had just a few hours to go before jumping in the car to go hop on the plane and head north!  I picked them up at noon, and we made a quick two hour drive to Jacksonville Int'l. Airport, shuffled through security and began the wait to fly.  Here are the kids with their wings...

A couple hours and plenty of games of Rock, Paper, Scissors later and we were on our way!  I didn't take any pictures in the plane, Seth and McKayla kept me occupied with their homework that they were determined to finish before we got there so they wouldn't be distracted from the trip.  We landed in Boston at seven thirty and hopped on the "T" and headed out to Cambridge to our hotel.  Once we got there we decided to order some dinner.  Since it was our first night and I didn't know what was around, I asked the fella at the front desk for a suggestion and he gave me a menu to an Italian place up the street.  I called and got a pizza for Mickee and me, and got Seth some spaghetti.

With our bellies full and eyes getting heavy, we called Jennifer, said goodnight and fell asleep excited for the next morning!  On Friday we woke up and I don't think I have ever seen two kids get ready to go so fast in my life!  I had no idea that a toothbrush could produce smoke while it was wet, but I swear as fast as they were brushing their teeth I though the alarm was going to go off in our room.  Once they were ready, well honestly, I hadn't even put my boots on before they were at the door bouncing up and down - we took off for Fenway.  See, they knew we were going to a Redsox game that night, but what they didn't know is that we were taking a tour of the park that morning.

Okay, lots of pictures I know.  So, we took the tour and then went across the street and the kids got to pick out some souveneirs which is what the last picture is.  McKayla chose a Dustin Pedroia player t-shirt and a hat that had a sparkly "B" on the front.  Seth got a Carl Yazstremski shirt and a Ted Williams number 9 hat.  They both decided to wear their hats the rest of the weekend, no matter where we went, I think they would have slept in them if I had offered they could.  So, after that, we went to a place called the Bleacher Bar (no, they weren't drinking!) for lunch.  What was cool about this place is that it is located directly underneath the outfield seats in center field.  There is an opening in the outfield wall that you can sit at from the restaurant and see the field up until game time.  A really interesting place to eat lunch, there is some interesting sports memorabilia in there from the Sox and Celtics, and there is even a Boston Rugby shirt hanging up in there. 

From there we went downtown to a place called Faneuil Hall.  It is an outdoor marketplace that has alot of local shops as well as places to eat.  We already had lunch, but the kids were very interested in cashing in on some extremely good behavior and get some ice cream.  Seth had strawberry with American (red, white and blue) sprinkles and Mickee had some Green Monstah, which was mint chocolate chip ice cream with Fudge stripes. 

After the ice cream I asked Seth if he wanted some Macaroni and cheese later, which he first said yes to - until he saw the portions........

After all the fun down there, we went back on the T and back up to Fenway to watch the Sox take on the Indians!  Now, here is the part where I feel dumb.  I didn't take many pictures while we were at the game.....  I have to admit that I think I was just as excited as the kids that I was watching the Redsox play at Fenway.  I had yet to go and that made it even more special that I got to share that experience with them.  So, we went to the game, watched the Sox rack up seven runs on the Indians, then hold our breath collectively with 37,000 other fans until they closed it out 7-5.  Now, what I like to think happened was that we went up there and the kids were Boston's good luck charm.  As I am typing this they have gone on a five game home win streak!  So, it was a good night in Boston.  On the trip back to the hotel, we were sitting on the subway and Seth asked me who the best baseball town was and of course, I responded Boston.  There was an old fella sitting next to us, beard as white as Santa and a Sox hat that looked as old as he was.  He chuckled after the next exchange between the kids and me.  I asked them "if Boston is the best baseball town, then who is the worst?"  Both responded, without hesitation - NEW YORK!  Couldn't have been a better ending to the night.

The next morning started our last day in Boston and we went to a place for breakfast called North Street Cafe.  Mickee had chocolate chip pancakes as big as her head, Seth had enough french toast to fuel him to walk back to Florida and I had eggs benedict with some smoked salmon.  It was great!  Afterwards we went to Hahvahd.  (I think that is the spelling of a college we know down here in the south as Harvard)  Call me crazy, but I believe the city of Boston reserves the use of the letter R in their dialect when saying Redsox, Patriots, Bruins or Revere.  That last one of course is not sports related, unless the game is riding horseback with one hand while holding lanters in the other. 

Here's a few pictures of the visit...

So, there are a few photos of the trip up to Harvard.  I do have to say something about that.  When you first walk up the ramp from under Fenway into the opening of the stadium, everything is green and it feels like baseball.  It has the right smell, the right size being a smaller ballpark, the right colors, the right sounds - everything about Fenway just fits what baseball should be.  I've been to plenty of other parks and even if I wasn't a sox fan, I would still say that Fenway should be included in the definition of baseball in the dictionary.  I imagine that this is what Harvard feels like to intellectuals.  When you first come up the steps from the subway into Harvard square, you feel like you are one million miles from downtown Boston.  There is a pace to that area that slows you down and makes you feel almost deliberate, like you are required to take everything in.  The kids and I walked past the first couple of buildings on our way to the library as if we were walking in molasses.  We were walking SLOW.  It was then that Seth reminded me to speed up because I do plan to be back there again.  The day that we move him in as a student.  It only took him about two minutes to proclaim to me that this is where he wants to go to school!  (I believe I heard my wallet whimper in my back pocket at that very moment)  So, a few more trips around the campus to make sure they hadn't missed anything, and it was back to the hotel to get our bags and conclude the journey. 

The rest of the trip was filled with getting stuck on the T for almost an hour, being followed by a guy in a cruise ship captains hat going "quack quack, need some help?  Quack quack, need some help?", walking on foot three miles through downtown to get to the next subway station past the one where the train was broken down and using the grates on the street to listen for the sounds of the trains moving below us in the opposite direction to tell us we were on the right path, and finally arriving at the airport just in time - TO FIND OUT OUR FLIGHT WAS DELAYED BY AN HOUR AND A HALF.  We could have spent more time exploring Boston!  Ugh!  I guess if I embraced technology on my phone beyond Angry Birds and Youtube videos of rain delays in baseball games I probably could have found this out prior to arriving at the gate.  That's okay though, all in all, we had a fantastic time in Boston and I cannot wait to go back.  I still need to try the chowda....