Around here, July means one thing. Birthdays. Mine, Steven's, Kenzie's, other family members... even America. So, last week we celebrated my birthday along with that of our great country. This week we moved on to celebrating Aunt Danielle's (my sis-in-law) birthday along with our anniversary.
We didn't do a ton during the week after Steven returned to work following the Fourth of July holiday. He left Wednesday morning for work and then headed out to Melbourne until Thursday afternoon. Hopefully that was set to be one of his final visits there for a while. He shouldn't be going back this week unless there is an issue and then we go on our Keys trip so hopefully he won't return any sooner than the week after we get back. (Though there is a good chance he will be back that week.) Because of how his work week ended up, he was able to take a half day on Friday. We didn't do too much other than run some errands but it gave us some family time. We probably should have been spending the time mowing the lawn or something but we opted out of that. Now, we are kicking ourselves though because we now have extra work before we go away but we will figure it out. We always do.
Saturday started our fun weekend that let us check another couple of items off the Summer Bucket List. Yay! We are moving right along. I'm also realizing an item or two I should have added this year but forgot... like building a sand castle. Oh well. Gives me things for next summer.
We started our morning by heading out to St. Augustine where we met up with Nana, Uncle Rick, and Aunt Danielle at the Bridge of Lions. Papa was nearby too but he elected to hang out in the air conditioned martini bar while we braved the Florida summer heat to take in the water and bridge. We started out by walking up to the crest of the bridge. It's funny. Anytime I get near a bridge like this now I find myself comparing it to the Clearwater Causeway that the Iron Girl runs over (twice). Note: This bridge is no where near as high but that is mainly because it is still a drawbridge and and the Clearwater Causeway was changed from one many years ago so it has to be tall enough now without opening to allow boat traffic underneath. This walk was much easier than the Iron Girl run. The kids thought it was cool once again. Kenzie loves drawbridges. Will has never seen one in action, I think so I don't know if he truly gets it yet. Eventually he will and I can see him being just as enthused. She wanted to talk all about how it works and when I finally made it to the top as I was bringing up the rear with Slowpants McGee aka Will, she told me all about the mechanical workings inside the tower on the bridge. She didn't know what they did but she knew they made the bridge open and that was exciting enough for her. Will was just enamored with all the boats. Everywhere he looked... more boats. Then he wanted to watched all the fishermen near the bridge. One woman caught a fish which we all enjoyed watching. It wasn't huge but she still caught one.
When we made it back down the bridge we walked over to Plaza de la Constitucion right across the street. The kids wanted to see the canons. We didn't have too much time before we had to head out but they liked looking at the canons and Kenzie insisted on climbing on a pile of canonballs for some reason. She is strange. She was also pretty interested in the seeing eye dogs that were being trained in the park. They were obviously out with their trainers for a walk together to practice their skills.
After all that we headed over to Salt Life Food Shack where we met up with Grandma and Grandaddy (and Papa who was picked up by Nana) for lunch. As usual, the food was really good. The kids enjoyed playing with these wax stick toys that they were given with the kids' meal menu. It was good because it kept them mostly busy. We went around the table and opened gifts for the July birthdays we were celebrating (mine, Danielle's, Grandaddy's, and Steven's). It was nice to have lunch with everyone.
After lunch we packed it up and drove up the road to Anastasia State Park. Our bucket list included trying out a new state park and the bonus was that this was one with a beach. Danielle and Rick went over with us, as well. Other than the crazy long hike to the beach and having to push/pull the wagon across super soft sand, it was awesome! This was a very long beach. As in, from the dunes to the water's edge. It was low tide, so that helped. We set up the tent and chairs and despite protests, I carried Will into the water. He calmed down quickly though and we jumped waves for a while with Kenzie, Steven, and Danielle. Rick stayed back under the tent to "guard the stuff" as he said. We were all having a great time until this crazy rogue (HUGE) wave came and wiped all of us out. It was so big that people were yelling warnings at others in the area and it even went over Steven's head. The funny thing to me was that despite Will not wanting to be in the water initially, when the wave went over his head and after I found my hat that had been stolen from me by the sea, he laughed and told me, "We went under water! The wave went over my head. I spit out all the water. Bleh." Crazy kid. He isn't actually bothered by the water, he just doesn't like the rough waves. After that, I was feeling a bit waterlogged so I took Will back to the tent for a while. When everyone else got out of the water, the kids and I went down near the water's edge to build a sandcastle. We had a great time doing it. That's where the adding building a sandcastle to the bucket list would have been good. Eventually we all went back to the tent as we noticed the sky was darkening and some lightning was starting the distance. We weren't worried but apparently everyone else was because it was like a mass exodus and the beach cleared out. As the storm got closer, the lifeguards closed the water down and made everyone get out. We planned to ride out the storm as this is Florida, and they often don't last long but the tent was being pulled away by the wind so we decided to close it down and head back to the car. I kid you not... as we put the tent in it's bag, it started raining and it poured on us the entire way to the car. Then it stopped. Typical Florida. Oh well, we still had a couple hours at the beach and had a great time. Danielle and I talked about going sometime later this summer or maybe even in the fall to Vilano Beach to hunt for shark teeth. The kids would love that. We got changed and parted with Danielle and Rick. Both kids ended up falling asleep on the way to Grandma and Grandaddy's house.
We then went over to Grandma and Grandaddy's house for dinner. They made ziti which was a treat as we didn't have to rush home in time for dinner. The kids like playing over there too. We had a good time relaxing and after dinner and dessert (cookies) we headed home. We were pretty late leaving and didn't make it home until close to 10pm. The kids stayed awake the entire time but fell asleep fairly quickly once we were home.
Sunday morning started as usual. We had church in the morning. Steven volunteered in the tech booth and I was in the nursery. After church we switched cars and headed out to Valrico for our friends' son's birthday. He is only 20 days older than Kenzie so that is pretty cool. It was a surprise party for him so we wanted to be there on time but we totally got down the road (a toll road nonetheless so you can't just make a u-turn) and realized we forgot his present. Going back set us back by about 20 minutes but we made it before the birthday boy so we could be there for the surprise. The kids had a blast at the party. They played with water balloons and played a game. Before we knew it, it was time to head back home. We hit some pretty serious storms on the way home but it didn't delay us too much and we made it home in time to make dinner. We had an easy night. We initially had plans to hit up the pool to test out our masks before we leave for the Keys this coming weekend but the sky was pretty black and we saw a lot of lightning so we decided to skip that. The kids went to bed at a fairly reasonable time and fell asleep pretty fast. They had a big weekend. They were tired.
This coming week we have a lot to do before going on our vacay next week. I'm a bit worried about getting it all done. I know we will, but I get anxious. It's worth it though to get to spend a week where our toes don't go a day without touching the sand and water. We are ready!
We didn't do a ton during the week after Steven returned to work following the Fourth of July holiday. He left Wednesday morning for work and then headed out to Melbourne until Thursday afternoon. Hopefully that was set to be one of his final visits there for a while. He shouldn't be going back this week unless there is an issue and then we go on our Keys trip so hopefully he won't return any sooner than the week after we get back. (Though there is a good chance he will be back that week.) Because of how his work week ended up, he was able to take a half day on Friday. We didn't do too much other than run some errands but it gave us some family time. We probably should have been spending the time mowing the lawn or something but we opted out of that. Now, we are kicking ourselves though because we now have extra work before we go away but we will figure it out. We always do.
Saturday started our fun weekend that let us check another couple of items off the Summer Bucket List. Yay! We are moving right along. I'm also realizing an item or two I should have added this year but forgot... like building a sand castle. Oh well. Gives me things for next summer.
We started our morning by heading out to St. Augustine where we met up with Nana, Uncle Rick, and Aunt Danielle at the Bridge of Lions. Papa was nearby too but he elected to hang out in the air conditioned martini bar while we braved the Florida summer heat to take in the water and bridge. We started out by walking up to the crest of the bridge. It's funny. Anytime I get near a bridge like this now I find myself comparing it to the Clearwater Causeway that the Iron Girl runs over (twice). Note: This bridge is no where near as high but that is mainly because it is still a drawbridge and and the Clearwater Causeway was changed from one many years ago so it has to be tall enough now without opening to allow boat traffic underneath. This walk was much easier than the Iron Girl run. The kids thought it was cool once again. Kenzie loves drawbridges. Will has never seen one in action, I think so I don't know if he truly gets it yet. Eventually he will and I can see him being just as enthused. She wanted to talk all about how it works and when I finally made it to the top as I was bringing up the rear with Slowpants McGee aka Will, she told me all about the mechanical workings inside the tower on the bridge. She didn't know what they did but she knew they made the bridge open and that was exciting enough for her. Will was just enamored with all the boats. Everywhere he looked... more boats. Then he wanted to watched all the fishermen near the bridge. One woman caught a fish which we all enjoyed watching. It wasn't huge but she still caught one.
When we made it back down the bridge we walked over to Plaza de la Constitucion right across the street. The kids wanted to see the canons. We didn't have too much time before we had to head out but they liked looking at the canons and Kenzie insisted on climbing on a pile of canonballs for some reason. She is strange. She was also pretty interested in the seeing eye dogs that were being trained in the park. They were obviously out with their trainers for a walk together to practice their skills.
After all that we headed over to Salt Life Food Shack where we met up with Grandma and Grandaddy (and Papa who was picked up by Nana) for lunch. As usual, the food was really good. The kids enjoyed playing with these wax stick toys that they were given with the kids' meal menu. It was good because it kept them mostly busy. We went around the table and opened gifts for the July birthdays we were celebrating (mine, Danielle's, Grandaddy's, and Steven's). It was nice to have lunch with everyone.
After lunch we packed it up and drove up the road to Anastasia State Park. Our bucket list included trying out a new state park and the bonus was that this was one with a beach. Danielle and Rick went over with us, as well. Other than the crazy long hike to the beach and having to push/pull the wagon across super soft sand, it was awesome! This was a very long beach. As in, from the dunes to the water's edge. It was low tide, so that helped. We set up the tent and chairs and despite protests, I carried Will into the water. He calmed down quickly though and we jumped waves for a while with Kenzie, Steven, and Danielle. Rick stayed back under the tent to "guard the stuff" as he said. We were all having a great time until this crazy rogue (HUGE) wave came and wiped all of us out. It was so big that people were yelling warnings at others in the area and it even went over Steven's head. The funny thing to me was that despite Will not wanting to be in the water initially, when the wave went over his head and after I found my hat that had been stolen from me by the sea, he laughed and told me, "We went under water! The wave went over my head. I spit out all the water. Bleh." Crazy kid. He isn't actually bothered by the water, he just doesn't like the rough waves. After that, I was feeling a bit waterlogged so I took Will back to the tent for a while. When everyone else got out of the water, the kids and I went down near the water's edge to build a sandcastle. We had a great time doing it. That's where the adding building a sandcastle to the bucket list would have been good. Eventually we all went back to the tent as we noticed the sky was darkening and some lightning was starting the distance. We weren't worried but apparently everyone else was because it was like a mass exodus and the beach cleared out. As the storm got closer, the lifeguards closed the water down and made everyone get out. We planned to ride out the storm as this is Florida, and they often don't last long but the tent was being pulled away by the wind so we decided to close it down and head back to the car. I kid you not... as we put the tent in it's bag, it started raining and it poured on us the entire way to the car. Then it stopped. Typical Florida. Oh well, we still had a couple hours at the beach and had a great time. Danielle and I talked about going sometime later this summer or maybe even in the fall to Vilano Beach to hunt for shark teeth. The kids would love that. We got changed and parted with Danielle and Rick. Both kids ended up falling asleep on the way to Grandma and Grandaddy's house.
We then went over to Grandma and Grandaddy's house for dinner. They made ziti which was a treat as we didn't have to rush home in time for dinner. The kids like playing over there too. We had a good time relaxing and after dinner and dessert (cookies) we headed home. We were pretty late leaving and didn't make it home until close to 10pm. The kids stayed awake the entire time but fell asleep fairly quickly once we were home.
Sunday morning started as usual. We had church in the morning. Steven volunteered in the tech booth and I was in the nursery. After church we switched cars and headed out to Valrico for our friends' son's birthday. He is only 20 days older than Kenzie so that is pretty cool. It was a surprise party for him so we wanted to be there on time but we totally got down the road (a toll road nonetheless so you can't just make a u-turn) and realized we forgot his present. Going back set us back by about 20 minutes but we made it before the birthday boy so we could be there for the surprise. The kids had a blast at the party. They played with water balloons and played a game. Before we knew it, it was time to head back home. We hit some pretty serious storms on the way home but it didn't delay us too much and we made it home in time to make dinner. We had an easy night. We initially had plans to hit up the pool to test out our masks before we leave for the Keys this coming weekend but the sky was pretty black and we saw a lot of lightning so we decided to skip that. The kids went to bed at a fairly reasonable time and fell asleep pretty fast. They had a big weekend. They were tired.
This coming week we have a lot to do before going on our vacay next week. I'm a bit worried about getting it all done. I know we will, but I get anxious. It's worth it though to get to spend a week where our toes don't go a day without touching the sand and water. We are ready!
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