Field Trip – Elephant and Piggie Style

Posted on April 26, 2013April 26, 2013 by Amy

A few days ago, I started our morning by telling my girls we were going to the children’s museum to see Elephant and Piggie.

I case you don’t know, Elephant (Gerald) and Piggie (who doesn’t have another name) are the characters in a series of books by Mo Willems. We were introduced to Mo Willems recently by my Super Friend who gave Baby Sis the book “The Duckling Gets a Cookie?!” and a Duckling stuffed animal for her birthday. My girls loved Pigeon and Duckling, so the Easter Bunny brought them some Elephant and Piggie books. And, wonder of wonders, they love these too!

Needless to say, they were very excited when I told them we were going to see Gerald and Piggie and hear a new book “Elephants Cannot Dance.” They immediately rounded up all their books and started reading them (they have them memorized).

I managed to tear them away from the books so we could get dressed and make the 30 minute drive to the children’s museum with time to make several parking errors, fill a parking meter with most of my quarters only to realize that it had a 30-minute limit (you’re welcome red car that pulled in after me), finally find a place to park, and get inside, with time to spare before the program started.

The girls killed time with some construction vehicles,

mirrors and squishy toys and

vegetables.

It wasn’t planned this way, but we ended up meeting Super Friend and her husband and their kids for the show. Super Friend walked in with her kids, and her kids and my kids exclaimed simultaneously, “Our friends are here!!”

There was so much anticipation before the entrance of Elephant and Piggie.

They finally came in and…

Sat down.

Apparently the costumes they were wearing didn’t provide them with much ability to see, because both of them needed to be guided to their seats by a “handler,” and they did not get up again for the duration of the story time. At least Piggie waved a few times.

The girls were so excited to see them, they didn’t care one bit. I was the only one who was disappointed I think, becasue I thought E and P were actually going to read/act out the book.

The woman who did read it did a great job though and had the kids up and dancing and spinning and having a good old time.

We got to “meet” the immobile, mute Elephant and Piggie afterwards. It was a very stimulating experience…

The girls got to do a craft, making hula skirts out of paper afterwards.

While we were crafting, Miss got wise to the fact that it wasn’t really Elephant and Piggie there at the story time when she looked hard over at Piggie next to us and saw a gap in the costume at the neck. Some guy’s hairy neck was showing, and my girl figured that one out right smartly. Later she told me, “Mom, I don’t think that was the real Gerald and Piggie we saw today. I think it was just someone dressed like them.”

Afterwards the girls had lots of time to run and play with their friends and explore some of the rest of the museum.

We don’t go there enough. It has been about 2.5 years since we were there last, so neither of them remember being there before, but they’re already asking to go back.

We used up all of our usual school time to go there, so after we got home Miss asked when we were going to do school. Surprisingly she wasn’t that thrilled when I told her that our trip to the children’s museum was our school for the day.

It was a great “field trip.”

Would You Reschedule a Doctor Appointment for a Play Date?

Posted on April 5, 2013April 5, 2013 by Amy

I have a three-word answer to this question:

In. A. Heartbeat.

I also have a longer answer to the question, which qualifies the short answer.

All play dates are not created equal.

I would not reschedule a doctor appointment for just any play date.

I had routine, well-child appointments scheduled for Sis (one-year checkup) and Miss (four-year checkup) for this morning. I rescheduled them for a play date.

Oh yes I did.

I usually try to get together with a very good friend of mine and her kids for play dates once per week or so. But she just had a new baby about two weeks ago, and though I visited her and her new sweet baby girl in the hospital briefly, we haven’t had a play date in about three weeks. She has had family visiting, so today was the first opportunity we’ve had to get together since her baby was born. And it’s the last opportunity we’ll have before we leave for a week to visit my family in Kentucky. And it’s spring break for her kids so we could all get together instead of having one of her kids not present because of being at school.

This fortuitous coming together of circumstances to allow this one morning for a play date with some special friends was too much to pass up.

I’m so glad I rescheduled the appointments.

When we have play dates with these friends, our kids read together.

They also chase each other, play dress up, and do everything else kids do during play dates, but I just love that they regularly, and for a significant portion of our play dates with them, sit down together and read books. That is just like play date heaven for me. That and pretty much everything else about our visits with these friends.

We even have had evening “jammies, movie, and pizza” play dates with them when Daddies have worked late.

I’ve been to many play dates. Some great ones. A few, um, less than awesome ones. Most would not prompt me to want to reschedule an appointment for my kids.

But today, this time, I missed my friend. I missed her kids and wanted to see her precious new little one again.

Appointment, schm-appointment.

I never really understood the treasure that is an awesome play date until I discovered this friend and her kids (and also experienced some not-so-good play dates). These play dates are no fuss, no muss, no worries. Our kids play well together, and my friend and I practically read each others’ minds as we chit chat and help each other with holding kids, making lunches, wiping mouths, pouring milks.

I love that my girls have friends like these.

I love that I do too. Every mom needs at least one awesome go-to Mom Friend. Truly, it is a must-have for maintaining sanity.

I’m so glad I have my friend.

Making Memories

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Amy

We were in recovery mode today. Yesterday we partied hard with our friends. This statement takes on a whole new, yet still quite accurate meaning when you consider that “we” is in reference to four adults with our six children under five getting together for a fun evening of grilling, trampolining, swinging (on the swing set), running, sandbox-ing, exploring, chasing, and s’mores eating, with grown up conversation in between. The three “little kids” (under 2) went to bed after s’mores and the three “big” kids (3 and 4) got in jammies and stayed up to watch Snow White while the adults visited around the fire pit. My husband and my friend’s husband had spent what seemed like an hour getting that fire started. They didn’t use a lighter or any matches. Just some old-fashioned cave-man fire-starting stuff. I was literally on my way to get the lighter (because it was way past time for s’mores!!) when I saw smoke finally rising from our fire pit. The manly men prevailed, and it was good.

We had a wonderful time with friends. The kids all got sufficiently sweaty and dirty and scraped up to consider it a true summertime playing extravaganza. They explored our “woods” (treed area around the perimeter of our yard) and jumped themselves silly on our new trampoline. My husband, hero of the evening, played a new game with them, which involved getting on his hands and feet under the trampoline and chasing the kids by pushing his butt up into the trampoline from the underside while running around bear-crawl style. I wish I had seen this and gotten a photo. I heard the laughter and screaming of the kids, but I was putting Sis to bed while this was going on. So I, like you, have only a (very hilarious) mental image of these antics to go by. Oh how I love that man.

Needless to say, we were all feeling a little worn out today. Incredibly, the girls only slept in a little bit past their usual wake up times, so they were pretty tired and crabby today. We got lots of good down time in though. Nothing like being pooped to bring a family together for some serious bonding. The girls made breakfast with their Daddy.

They love helping him cook eggs. They work the pepper mill and really get into pinching and sprinkling the salt from my salt pig.

We read lots of books and just relaxed.

This afternoon we went outside for more backyard fun. I love watching the big girls run and play in the yard. They go on “adventures” and make up scenarios involving monsters and giants and castles and rescue missions. We got them sufficiently tuckered out again this evening.

This is the stuff of memories.

Simple

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Amy

This weekend I’m enjoying simple things. Lilacs in mason jars on my counter and table. Big smiles and hugs from my girls. Playing outside in amazing, warm weather. Watching imaginations bloom and sister games develop. Great times with wonderful friends. Date night. Some lovely real snail mail notes from my Grandma and a sister in law. We’re not doing anything extravagant or big this weekend, but doing simple things together is exactly what makes me happy right now.

Miss has had some trouble with a bit of eczema. We discovered it was probably largely being caused by her frequent wearing of her “ballerina costume.” So I have had to tell her she can no longer wear it and explain why. I was worried this might lead to an all out screaming fit. But to her credit, Miss has taken this in stride and is now just working on expanding her dress up repertoire. At a play date on Friday she was a doctor. Yesterday, she was a princess. She had been wearing high-heeled play shoes and carrying a Snow White purse in addition to her tutu and crown, but in preparation to go outside to play, we discussed every princess’s need for real shoes and sunglasses. She chose boots. It’s a good look.

I believe this stick was supposed to be some sort of weapon for fending off the “Evil Queen,” her sister.

The weapon of the Evil Queen? A watering can.

Miss chose this rock as her place from which to defend herself.

“Here she comes!!!”

Terrifying, eh?

The battle.

It was epic, of course. Miss alternates between enlisting her sister in the roles of “Monster,” “Evil Queen,” and “Prince Charming.” Lass plays along happily. It’s so fun to watch.

Last night I think my husband and I finally reached real “grown up” status. We had a grown up night and play date in one. It was awesome. Our friends came over with their three kids, my husband cooked ribs, the kids played, no one got hurt or threw a tantrum, my friend and I chased kids around and had a some great grown up conversation (as only moms can do while managing five kids running and climbing all over and one newborn), and our husbands consumed a couple of grown up beverages while talking about manly things and occasionally bouncing a baby. Good food and good company led to a supremely enjoyable evening.

The four oldest kids all crammed into our tiny sandbox. This thing was the entertainment hit of the evening. They all played in there, even dumping sand over each others’ heads, and never once was there an argument amongst them.

It was beautiful.

This little munchkin was the star of the show. She loves to be outside, and she rocked the bouncy seat when she wasn’t eating or napping in her swing inside. A good time was had by all.

Today we’re having a lazy Sunday at home. The big girls are outside playing with their daddy. Our garden is starting to produce a few items ready to be eaten (radishes and lettuce). We have lots of leftovers from dinner last night, so I won’t have to cook. This is the life. Happy weekend to you.

Did I Say I Thought Pink Eye Was Yucky?

Posted on December 9, 2011August 17, 2012 by Amy

Yes, I did. When Miss first started school I typed this post, which I stupidly titled, “Bring on the Ickies” (why would I ever type such a statement?). At the time I was grossed out because I thought she had pink eye, which she actually didn’t have, by the way. I was writing about how I knew she would bring home lots of germs now that she had started school and blah, blah, blah. Yesterday I got a much better sense of the truly icky. Picture it. I wake up at 4 AM to Lass’s crying. It was a “something’s wrong” kind of cry, so I went in to get her thinking maybe she’d had a bad dream or something, and I’d just rock her for a bit. Instead I found that Lass had puked all over herself, her bed, her floor, and then me as soon as I picked her up. Okay. I got it all cleaned up, put both of us in clean jammies, and began rocking her to try to get her back to sleep. Naturally, she puked all over both of us again before I managed to run her to the bathroom and get her over the sink. Again, I get it cleaned up and go back to rocking her. And that’s not even the really icky part…

Rewind about 8 hours to Wednesday night. I had received a text message from a babysitter telling me that her roommate had just found out she has scabies. Oh yes. I thought pink eye was gross? No. No, scabies is gross. Gross as in make-my-skin-crawl-give-me-the-crazy-heebie-jeebies kind of gross. Unfortunately this babysitter had been to my house three times in three days, including Wednesday afternoon for a little while while I took Miss to gymnastics. At first I wasn’t too worried about it, since this babysitter didn’t even know if she actually had it, and I hadn’t seen any signs that my girls did, but still. I did vacuum every room where this babysitter would have been, rugs and furniture. And then as I was sitting there at 4-something AM, rocking Lass again after changing both of our clothes for the second time, I couldn’t help but imagine a little bit what yesterday might have had in store for me. I pictured two puking girls, perhaps being sick myself, and needing to scour and sanitize my house and medicate my girls to get rid of little tiny mites that had burrowed under their skin and gotten into all of our clothing, bedding, furniture, carpets… Perhaps this was a bit melodramatic, but I was sleepy and my mind was wandering on it’s own. And really it wasn’t really too far fetched to imagine that could have been my day.

Amazingly, Lass went back to sleep (though I never did – see thoughts running through my head, above) for a little while and when she woke up she had no additional symptoms of a stomach bug. She kept down everything I gave her to drink and eat and was her cheerful happy self all day long. Miss never got sick, nor did I. Score 1 for Mama!

Unfortunately, I did get a text later in the morning that my babysitter does in fact have scabies. Even more unfortunately, I couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment until 4:30 in the afternoon to find out if my girls or I had it. So, though I tried not to worry about it, I was kind of freaking out that we were infested. There were no real signs that any of us had it, but I started imagining that every little red spot on my girls or any itch I felt myself was a little mite trying to find a home. I started stripping sheets and doing laundry. And then I did the most appropriate and merciful thing yesterday afternoon. I let my girls watch a rare bit of afternoon TV and I called my mom to whine.

TV Glaze

It was quite therapeutic. My mom did what all good moms do. She listened. She sympathized. She made me laugh. What more could a girl ask for (other than having said mom living nearby so she could have come over to help with the laundry, which my mom would have happily done, of course…).

And to make a very long story short, the girls napped, we went to the doctor, and we found out that we do not have scabies. And I learned a lot about scabies that made me feel better all around, like that scabies can’t live long at all in clothing, furniture, etc. That washing every article of clothing and bedding in our house wasn’t really necessary, though I did it anyway. That scabies show up fast and move fast and itch like crazy. In other words, if you have scabies, you know it. Since we didn’t have it and our poor babysitter had not been around for a while, the likelihood that we would get it was nil. Score 2 for Mama!

And, since we did not have scabies, our other babysitter, whom we had scheduled to come over so my hubby and I could get out for dinner, was still happy to come. So we had a nice dinner out and relaxed away the craziness of the day. Score 3!! I am still a little bit shocked when I think about how crummy yesterday could have been and then about how relatively not-so-bad it really was. I feel like I dodged a major bullet!

And to top it all off, since we don’t have scabies and my testimony for this morning got postponed (thankfully, because I wouldn’t have had a babysitter!), we got to go to a much-looked-forward-to play date with some great friends. My friend had a Christmas cookie decorating play date at her house this morning, and it was a blast. Lass mostly just ate a cookie and played in the frosting.

Miss had lots of fun decorating the cookies and eating them. She had a little bit of a hard time though with the idea that she could only eat one of the cookies she decorated and the rest we had to just decorate and save to take home.

Miss made a special cookie for her Daddy.

A good time was had by all. Hooray for no scabies!

Tomorrow we go to my parent’s house for a week. I am so thrilled to spend the week with my Mom and Dad. But, that likely means there will be very little blogging from this girl until we get back, as my parents live in an internet black hole. I’ll be back in about a week!

A Long-Lost Friend is Found

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Amy

Have you ever found a long-lost friend? I mean, truly lost touch with someone dear to you and then found them again after many years? This happened to me. Eight years ago, I lost contact with a dear friend, “C,” due to phone problems and cross-country moves. I tried to find her several times. Back then, I don’t think she really did much with email. Not sure if she even had an email address, so I couldn’t just send her a quick message with my new number and address. I tried good old-fashioned snail mail, and that didn’t work either. When Facebook came out, I searched for her with no luck. I even searched the friend lists of people I thought she would surely be friends with if she were on FB. Nothing.

Yesterday was another friend, “S’s” birthday. I popped over to S’s FB “wall” to wish her a happy day, and whose name did I see there also sending her birthday wishes? Yes, my long-lost friend, C. I just about fell out of my chair in my haste to send her a friend request. Then I waited nervously to see whether she would accept my request and “friend” me. See, I’m not a huge FB user. I don’t choose to be “FB Friends” with everyone I ever knew. I don’t necessarily want to be found easily on FB, so I don’t put my maiden name in my profile, nor do I use a photo of myself as my profile pic. And due to one of the many and seemingly arbitrary changes that FB has made recently, you can no longer send a little message when you request to be someone’s friend. So, I was nervous that C wouldn’t know who I was and wouldn’t friend me.

I needn’t have feared. The next time I checked my FB page I saw a happy and heartfelt message from C that just about made me cry tears of joy. Evidently, she has missed me too.

The last time I spoke to C, I was finishing my internship at the end of my doctoral training program. I wasn’t married. I didn’t have kids. She was already married and had four little ones. Now her kids are so big. One just graduated from high school! So much has changed for both of us. I can’t wait to hear more from her and get caught up on everything that has happened in the last eight years. My heart is so happy because I have found my dear friend again.

Although I don’t use it a ton, right now I am thanking Facebook with all my might.

Happy Fall

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Amy

Fall is my favorite season. I love the crispness of the air, the colors of the leaves and their lazy floating to the ground. I love pumpkins and apples and squash and chilly morning trips to the farmer’s market where all the season’s bounty can be found. I love open windows through which cool breezes bring the scent of burning leaves. Fall makes me feel cozy and productive. Like I want to snuggle up with my Loveys, but also to get out and go do stuff.

Last year around this time, we went to a local farm where they have pumpkins, apples, animals and a big rustic playground. We had a lot of fun, though I ended up a bit overwhelmed at the end of the day, struggling back to the truck with a newborn wrapped to me, a toddler and a big bag of apples in one arm, and pulling a wagon completely loaded with pumpkins with my free hand. Thank goodness for the kindness of a stranger who came to our rescue. Here we are in a photo from last year.

We went back to the same farm yesterday. My how things have changed. We’ve upgraded our equipment,

and the girls have grown so much. They were both charged with the task of picking out our pumpkins.

Lass took a relaxed approach to the job.

Miss, on the other hand, was all business.

She searched through all the pumpkins and even hauled the ones she chose toward the wagon.

We met up with some good friends, and had a wonderful day.

Back at home in the afternoon, we took full advantage of the glorious weather and the mass of leaves fallen from our beautiful oak tree.

The girls had a blast jumping and rolling in the leaves. Daddy got down in the leaves with the girls too, and even got buried.

And yes, I got buried too. I don’t know the last time I played in a big pile of leaves. I was a little shocked by how wonderful the leaves smelled and how the scent transported me instantly back to my childhood. I had completely forgotten that smell. It’s a fantastic smell!

Happy fall to you!

Finally! Giraffes

Posted on October 4, 2011August 17, 2012 by Amy

Yesterday, I lost my Mommy Mojo. I was adrift on a sea of preschooler tantrums and disobedience and toddler crabbiness. I couldn’t seem to do anything right from nap time to bed time. Miss wouldn’t listen to a thing I said. She didn’t take a nap, so she was cranky and whiney. My attempts to redirect and/or to discipline her left both of us frustrated and frayed. I could not seem to find my usual groove with my big girl, and to top it off, my normally sunny, cheerful Lass was a crabby mess. By the time I took Lass up for her bath, I was in tears. I managed to rally and get Miss bathed and in bed happily and without struggle, but I ended the day exhausted and unhappy with myself. I vowed to get it right today.

Today, Mama got her groove back. Today, we went to the zoo with some friends and had a blast. Both girls were wonderful. Lass even sat in her stroller the whole time with minimal protest!

Miss was fantastic. She listened well, helped with her sister, and was my usual happy, if sometimes slightly mischievous, girl. She had so much fun. Of course, there was plenty of goat feeding.

Lots of excitement over the big llamas. These were thankfully fairly well groomed and free from matted, poo-crusted fur (click hereif you missed the post about matted, poo-crusted fur).

Lass made a new friend.

Miss played chase with her friend all over the zoo.

She was really interested in this tortoise. The poor thing kept trying in vain to fit through these posts, and Miss was calling to it, “Come here big turtle. Come here so I can hold you.” It was kind of pitiful.

And then. After months of asking for them. Three “zoos” and many animal encounters later, we finally saw the giraffes.

Initially Miss was timid about feeding them. She wouldn’t do it herself, until she saw Baby Sister do it. My little fearless girl.

After she saw her Sis do it, Miss gave it a try too.

The tall guys were definitely the highlight of the zoo. It was a great day with friends. And to top it off, both girls stayed awake for the entire hour-plus drive home (right at their usual nap time) and took fantastic naps after we got here. That never happens. It must have been some cosmic freebie to make up for yesterday.

But really, yesterday probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I had just managed to pick my battles a little more wisely and maybe count to ten a few times. Yesterday I was not my best Mommy self. Okay, let’s be honest. Yesterday I was an ugly mess. Today, I got myself a little perspective, took a deep breath, and got my Mojo back.

Feeling Crafty

Posted on September 19, 2011August 17, 2012 by Amy

We went to the park on Friday for a play date.

Before I talk about how much fun we had, I must make note of the fact that these pants were the worst possible choice to put on Lass to go to a park where the ground is covered with mulch.

They’re not just fleece pants. They’re extra fluffy, nubbly, super-fleecy fleece pants. Watch, and take note. Don’t put super duper fleecy pants on your kid if there’s mulch at the park.

A little while after I took the photo below, I put Lass in the sling so she could have a little snack. The whole time I was holding her I was picking mulch off her pants. I didn’t even make a dent in the matted, embedded mulch stuck in these things. The big pieces came off, but the smaller fibers seriously got matted into the fabric and will not come off. I took them off her the minute we got in the door, tried a little while longer to de-mulch them, and then put them in the trash. They are that far beyond saving. Who knew?

We did have a wonderful time at the park. It was a great park.

And we were there with great new friends. I just have to say how much I enjoy finding a new mom friend with young kids who is easy to talk to and fun to hang out with.

When we first moved here I hated that I didn’t know any other moms for so long. It’s hard to be a new mom living far away from family and not really having any friends. Over the years I have gradually met some really cool mom friends. It helps more than I can explain to have other moms for support and just hanging out. Friends who understand that when we get together, conversations will necessarily be fragmented, between corralling kids, wiping noses, answering questions from curious two year olds, excusing oneself to change smelly drawers, etc. Friends who will grab your kid before she falls off the teeter-totter if you’re distracted for a second with another kid running the other way. It’s an extra special bonus to find a friend with whom I have things in common besides just being moms. The kind of friend with whom I laugh a lot and can talk about just about anything. I have a few of these treasured friends. Sometimes I don’t see them as often as I’d like, but I’m thankful to have them. Friday’s play date was with a new friend (and her kids!) whom I think is going to be this type of friend. It was a good day.

On a completely unrelated note, I have been feeling super crafty lately. The other night, while watching Chopped, I made Miss a new tutu. This weekend I finally finished a yarn wreath (I totally got this idea from another mom blog, Mrs. Priss) I have been working on for months. This was the wreath in June.

I really struggled with getting the wreath covered with the yarn. The straw wreath was not the best choice for this type of project. I chose it because it was half the price of the foam wreath, and I thought it might be kind of cool and rustic looking. It turned out looking fine (though not especially cool or rustic), but the extra hassle of getting it covered completely was not worth saving $3. And I have to say I do not know the trick (is there one??) to working with yarn. The above pile of tangled mess started out all nice and neat. It repeatedly got tangled beyond untangling, and I had to cut it and start again more times than I’d like to remember. Anyway, even after I finally got the wreath covered, I was so fed up with the project that I put it away for two months, until this week, before finally finishing it. It took some nice crisp fall weather and a desire for a pretty fall-ish wreath for my front door to prompt me to pull it out, along with some great fall-colored felt.

I made a bunch of felt flowers. Check out Mrs. Priss’s tutorials for these pretty and absurdly easy rosettes here.

Find Mrs. Priss’s pom-pom-looking flower tutorial here, and yarn wreath tutorial here. I told you I got the ideas from her!!! I’m totally giving credit where it’s due.

I love how it turned out! I swore I wouldn’t make another yarn wreath, but I like this one so much, I just might.

Next time I’ll get the foam wreath though…

A Photo Tour

Posted on August 14, 2011January 4, 2023 by Amy

We’re home. The trip was tiring, but fun. Here’s a photo tour of the week.

Baby girl – sweaty, but still oh-so-cute.

After attending a few wedding-related events, we went to my in-laws’ to spend most of the rest of our trip with them. My girls loved this little table there. Lass sure thought she was a big deal.

We need to get a little girl sized table, I think.

We traveled all over the state of Florida during the week, from the Gulf coast to the Atlantic and back again.

The girls did a great job.

The crazy traveling was for the purpose of seeing my Grandma and Grandpa.

The girls had a fun visit with their Great-Grandma. She pulled out all sorts of fun stuff for them, from a bin of Easter decorations

to hats and colorful golf balls,

and of course the musical instruments. There’s always music at Grandma’s house.

Somehow I didn’t get any photos when we visited my Grandpa this time, about which I’m quite disappointed. I think it must have been because it was pouring when we got to his place, and we just ran in with the girls, forgetting the camera. I hate forgetting my camera.

Miss really worked on her swimming this week,

and her, eh, use of multiple floatation devices.

She thought this raft was the coolest thing ever, and spent a good bit of time “sleeping” on it,

and sleeping,

and then…

“Tickle me, Daddy!”

Looking for lizards.

No trip to Florida would be complete without a day on the beach

with shelling and playing in the sand.

She loved the sand but longed to try out the water.

It was fun to watch my little one showing her fearlessness in the water,

and my big girl overcoming her initial fear of the crashing waves.

I used a new sunscreen that didn’t absorb into my skin very well and left me looking more pasty white than usual. I had to chuckle when a man and woman walked by Lass and me playing in the sand, and the man said, “From how far North do you come?” That obvious, huh?

The plane rides to and from the sunny state were pretty uneventful. Snacks, coloring books, an Ergo carrier, an iPad, and the magazines and other handouts in the back seat pockets of the plane made for happy little ones.

Tonight I’m snuggled up on the couch with my hubby. He’s watching a really bad movie and I’m writing. It’s chilly here, relative to the sticky heat of Florida. It almost feels like fall is upon us. We’ve got windows open and are wearing jackets in the evenings to play outside. As always, it’s so good to be home.