In lieu of our normally scheduled Friday Favorites Bucket List Update... today we bring you a Monday Funday version. But I'm still calling it Friday Favorites so I can tag it correctly. =)
But enough of that... onto a recap of Week 6 (plus a couple of days) of our Bucket List. We checked a couple more things off the list this week.
Friday we packed up and headed off to stay with Nana and Papa (an item on the list). The kids and I left in the afternoon with Jack and Steven came when he got off work. He was working in Cocoa for the day so it made more sense for him to go straight from there rather than home first. Plus, with Jack we were limited on space in my car so we almost needed him to drive his truck just for the added space. The trip up was uneventful except for some heavy patched of rain. Steven got a lot more rain on his trip but both of us made it within about 30 minutes of each other. We all went to dinner at La Hacienda, a super yummy Mexican restaurant in Palatka. Palatka doesn't have a lot going on, but that Mexican restaurant is always yummy. That evening we just hung out at the house and relaxed. The kids share a bed at Nana and Papa's and they took a bit to fall asleep because they were playing around. The adults sat outside and enjoyed some margaritas and the cool-ish night on the back porch.
We were up bright and early the next morning thanks to kids that rise early when they aren't in their own beds. Oh... who am I kidding? They get up early regardless. They just tend to be even earlier when they are not at home in their beds. We got ready for the day and then drove over to St. Augustine to meet up with Grandma, Grandaddy, Uncle E, Aunt Juju, and Evie for lunch. Eric, Julie, and Evie were in visiting Grandma and Grandaddy so we wanted to try to get together with them as we don't see them often enough. We initially planned a beach day but there was some concern over the possibility of a high number of jellyfish so we elected to just do something a bit more low key. Also, a beach day is actually a lot more work than one might think (at least for us since we are typically in charge of the tent and have to keep both kids from leaping into the ocean and being pulled out to sea. Haha!) and we were hoping for a more relaxing weekend. Combined with driving over an hour each way from my parents' house, it ended up much easier for us to do lunch. We had a great lunch at Salt Life Food Shack. We really like that restaurant. I want to go back when it is cooler out and sit on the top deck. Definite plan for this fall or winter. We had a great visit with everyone. Evie and Will were cracking us up as they continually tried to one up one another with crazy antics. Will was just stoked to have an audience that was actually interested in his craziness. The kid is always trying to put on a show for us. That afternoon Uncle Rick and Aunt Danielle came over to Nana and Papa's house to have dinner and celebrate the early July birthdays. We had a yummy cookout before a cake that had a little something for everyone. My mom had a cake made that was half chocolate (Steven), half strawberry (me), and had cream cheese icing (Danielle). It was quite yummy. After we got the kids to bed (at which point they fell right asleep despite Will taking a nap earlier in the day), we sat down and watched The Greatest Showman. It is definitely one of my new favorite movies. Everyone enjoyed it. The story is great and the music is even better. Danielle and Rick left after that and we all turned in as we knew we would be up early again the next day.
The following morning we got up early and drove over to Rick and Danielle's house. They had a yummy breakfast waiting for us when we got there. After we ate (and played with Maverick for a few minutes) we went over to their neighborhood pool. Let me tell you... our neighborhood is slacking. They have a splash pad that then uses a zero entry into a full pool complete with small waterfall. It was such a nice pool. They also have a great clubhouse with a gym, covered picnic tables, and super nice grills for resident use. It was really nice. The kids had a blast in the pool. Will seemed to really like the zero entry option and Kenzie swam around showing off her swimming skills to anyone willing to pay attention. We also didn't have anyone else in the pool with us until about 15 minutes before we left so we basically had it all to ourselves. After that we went back and got changed before going to lunch at Steak n Shake and then driving back to my parents' house. We spent some time at their house and then had to pack up to leave and head home. We had a great weekend.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were basically the same. We cleaned up around the house including mowing the yard in sections after Steven got home from work because we are leaving soon and don't want to get a letter from the HOA while we are gone. All the rain has made our grass go into overdrive. I worked on laundry and cleaning up some around the house and started running errands related to the trip and Kenzie's birthday party as we only have 5 days after returning to get everything ready for the party. I also had the fun job of trying to pack for another weekend away while simultaneously packing for a week long trip. That was... interesting but I started working on it early. It was definitely sort of crazy. Thursday we went to a program at the library with animals. The kids enjoyed it. And then finishing up our packing and prepping for our crazy weekend and upcoming week away.
Friday morning we got up the usual time and headed out to Palm Coast. We had breakfast along the way at Chick Fil A. We have hit the point that the kids can't share breakfast food anymore. =( We ate breakfast and then drove on to Tanger Outlets in Daytona. We met up with Grandma and Grandaddy there and did some shopping first. We managed to find a new bathing suit for Will and Kenzie's first day of school outfit complete with a necklace as an accessory. We looked for Will a first day outfit but didn't find anything so we will just keep looking. After some shopping we let the kids play in the splash pad for a while. They had a good time but it was HOT and almost lunch time so we packed it up and headed the rest of the way to Palm Coast. We had lunch and then went over to the pool in Grandma and Grandaddy's neighborhood. For some strange reason that we have never figured out, they chill the pool. It is downright uncomfortable to start but once you are used to it, it isn't terrible. The kids still had a great time. Eventually we had to leave the pool though (cue tears from Kenzie... but she did eventually calm down and we all left) so we could get ready for dinner. Steven, the kids, and I drove to this fitness place on the way to dinner to pick up our race packets and then met Grandma and Grandaddy at The Reef. We had a great dinner. The kids were really good and I think they ate their weight in calamari. Which was good because they didn't finish all of their chicken. We then drove to Jungle Hut and let the kids play in the sand a bit. They were covered by the time we left. Not surprising but we did somehow keep them out of the water the entire time we were there. Not sure how... but we did it. It was a super busy day and both kids fell asleep practically the moment their heads hit the pillow.
Saturday morning Steven and I were up bright and early and on our way out of the house to run the Bridge of Lions 5k. I'm not going to recap the race again, but if you are interested, you can read the recap HERE. When we got back to the house we relaxed until lunch time. The kids played so nice together. I love seeing them play nice together. It doesn't always last but Kenzie doesn't have a room to run away to and hide in at Grandma and Grandaddy's so she has to play with Will more than she may at home. My favorite was them laying in one of the beds reading books. Kenzie was reading a goodnight story to Will apparently and then he was supposedly going to take a nap. He didn't but it was a fun game. That afternoon we went to the pool again. The kids swam around like crazy. How they don't seem to feel the terribly cold water, I will never know. We did manage to wear them out though. So much so that while Steven and Grandaddy were opening gifts before dinner, Will fell asleep on top of me. We had a super yummy dinner of chicken parm. After dinner we went over to the intercoastal and let the kids fish. We didn't get any bites but the kids had a great time casting their lines and reeling them back in. Will also liked watching the boats go by. Kenzie was casting her own line by the time we were ready to leave. She did great. We had birthday cake when we returned to the house to celebrate Daddy and Grandaddy birthdays.
Sunday morning we were up bright and early but we didn't rush out of the house too fast. We had breakfast and then ran to Publix to get subs for lunch on the way to Jungle Hut. We originally had plans to hit up Anastasia State Park which would have checked off a bucket list item... but we didn't want to drive too far as we knew we would have to drive all the way home later, then drive to go get the rental car, and then finally leave for our trip the following day. The beach was beautiful. I don't recall the water ever looking the color it did that day at Jungle Hut. It almost rivaled the waters in the Gulf. Not sure what was different but it was a gorgeous day at the beach. We searched for shells, played in some of the shallow water (it was high tide so we couldn't see the rocks but we didn't go out because we knew they were there and we didn't want to get hurt on them), played some beach football (catch really), and had a great time. We had our lunch on the beach which is always a hit in our family. Eventually it was time to pack it up. It had rained on us a few times without thunder and lightning so we were okay sticking it out but when we heard the thunder start and could see lightning in the distance, we packed it in an headed back to Grandma and Grandaddy's house. We saw a gopher tortoise in the parking lot as we were leaving so that was pretty exciting. Eventually we headed home and then picked up the rental car so we could get ready to leave on our trip.
The next week was our summer roadtrip. You can read about those days here if you are interested:
Day 1 - Apopka to Pensacola, FL
Day 2 - Pensacola, FL (And the Blue Angels)
Day 3 - Pensacola, FL to Jackson, MS (And visiting family)
Day 4 - Jackson, MS to New Orleans, LA
Day 5 - New Orleans, LA to Moss Point, MS (And mostly NOLA)
Day 6 - Moss Point, MS to Panama City Beach, FL (And the #3 best beach in the US according to Dr. Beach)
Day 7 - Panama City Beach, FL to Apopka
We had a great time and Monday it was back to business as usual. The kids both slept in as they were still so tired from our trip and then we had errands to run before going to swimming lessons. This week was set to be our last week of lessons since we had to postpone the final 3 because of our trip. The kids did well. Will cried a bit but was mostly fine. Kenzie was a fish, as usual. We then rested a bit before setting back out for VBS at our own church this week. I was volunteering, Kenzie was attending, and Will was super excited to play with his friends because they were offering childcare for volunteers. Everyone had a blast. We didn't get home until close to 9 and both kids were so tired they pretty much fell into bed. Well, Kenzie was so tired she just fell. Repeatedly. She gets clumsy when she is tired.
The rest of the week was more of the same. Errands, swimming, resting (still resetting from being gone and trying to get laundry done) and then VBS. It was a very long week.
Since it has been such a busy few weeks and we are now winding down and gearing up for school starting, this will probably be our final two week (and yes, I know it is late) update for the Bucket List this summer. We will hit up a few more things before Labor Day when we consider our Bucket List timeline done but I will likely just do a simple update after Labor Day with what we did and what we may carry over to next summer.
But enough of that... onto a recap of Week 6 (plus a couple of days) of our Bucket List. We checked a couple more things off the list this week.
Friday we packed up and headed off to stay with Nana and Papa (an item on the list). The kids and I left in the afternoon with Jack and Steven came when he got off work. He was working in Cocoa for the day so it made more sense for him to go straight from there rather than home first. Plus, with Jack we were limited on space in my car so we almost needed him to drive his truck just for the added space. The trip up was uneventful except for some heavy patched of rain. Steven got a lot more rain on his trip but both of us made it within about 30 minutes of each other. We all went to dinner at La Hacienda, a super yummy Mexican restaurant in Palatka. Palatka doesn't have a lot going on, but that Mexican restaurant is always yummy. That evening we just hung out at the house and relaxed. The kids share a bed at Nana and Papa's and they took a bit to fall asleep because they were playing around. The adults sat outside and enjoyed some margaritas and the cool-ish night on the back porch.
We were up bright and early the next morning thanks to kids that rise early when they aren't in their own beds. Oh... who am I kidding? They get up early regardless. They just tend to be even earlier when they are not at home in their beds. We got ready for the day and then drove over to St. Augustine to meet up with Grandma, Grandaddy, Uncle E, Aunt Juju, and Evie for lunch. Eric, Julie, and Evie were in visiting Grandma and Grandaddy so we wanted to try to get together with them as we don't see them often enough. We initially planned a beach day but there was some concern over the possibility of a high number of jellyfish so we elected to just do something a bit more low key. Also, a beach day is actually a lot more work than one might think (at least for us since we are typically in charge of the tent and have to keep both kids from leaping into the ocean and being pulled out to sea. Haha!) and we were hoping for a more relaxing weekend. Combined with driving over an hour each way from my parents' house, it ended up much easier for us to do lunch. We had a great lunch at Salt Life Food Shack. We really like that restaurant. I want to go back when it is cooler out and sit on the top deck. Definite plan for this fall or winter. We had a great visit with everyone. Evie and Will were cracking us up as they continually tried to one up one another with crazy antics. Will was just stoked to have an audience that was actually interested in his craziness. The kid is always trying to put on a show for us. That afternoon Uncle Rick and Aunt Danielle came over to Nana and Papa's house to have dinner and celebrate the early July birthdays. We had a yummy cookout before a cake that had a little something for everyone. My mom had a cake made that was half chocolate (Steven), half strawberry (me), and had cream cheese icing (Danielle). It was quite yummy. After we got the kids to bed (at which point they fell right asleep despite Will taking a nap earlier in the day), we sat down and watched The Greatest Showman. It is definitely one of my new favorite movies. Everyone enjoyed it. The story is great and the music is even better. Danielle and Rick left after that and we all turned in as we knew we would be up early again the next day.
The following morning we got up early and drove over to Rick and Danielle's house. They had a yummy breakfast waiting for us when we got there. After we ate (and played with Maverick for a few minutes) we went over to their neighborhood pool. Let me tell you... our neighborhood is slacking. They have a splash pad that then uses a zero entry into a full pool complete with small waterfall. It was such a nice pool. They also have a great clubhouse with a gym, covered picnic tables, and super nice grills for resident use. It was really nice. The kids had a blast in the pool. Will seemed to really like the zero entry option and Kenzie swam around showing off her swimming skills to anyone willing to pay attention. We also didn't have anyone else in the pool with us until about 15 minutes before we left so we basically had it all to ourselves. After that we went back and got changed before going to lunch at Steak n Shake and then driving back to my parents' house. We spent some time at their house and then had to pack up to leave and head home. We had a great weekend.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were basically the same. We cleaned up around the house including mowing the yard in sections after Steven got home from work because we are leaving soon and don't want to get a letter from the HOA while we are gone. All the rain has made our grass go into overdrive. I worked on laundry and cleaning up some around the house and started running errands related to the trip and Kenzie's birthday party as we only have 5 days after returning to get everything ready for the party. I also had the fun job of trying to pack for another weekend away while simultaneously packing for a week long trip. That was... interesting but I started working on it early. It was definitely sort of crazy. Thursday we went to a program at the library with animals. The kids enjoyed it. And then finishing up our packing and prepping for our crazy weekend and upcoming week away.
Friday morning we got up the usual time and headed out to Palm Coast. We had breakfast along the way at Chick Fil A. We have hit the point that the kids can't share breakfast food anymore. =( We ate breakfast and then drove on to Tanger Outlets in Daytona. We met up with Grandma and Grandaddy there and did some shopping first. We managed to find a new bathing suit for Will and Kenzie's first day of school outfit complete with a necklace as an accessory. We looked for Will a first day outfit but didn't find anything so we will just keep looking. After some shopping we let the kids play in the splash pad for a while. They had a good time but it was HOT and almost lunch time so we packed it up and headed the rest of the way to Palm Coast. We had lunch and then went over to the pool in Grandma and Grandaddy's neighborhood. For some strange reason that we have never figured out, they chill the pool. It is downright uncomfortable to start but once you are used to it, it isn't terrible. The kids still had a great time. Eventually we had to leave the pool though (cue tears from Kenzie... but she did eventually calm down and we all left) so we could get ready for dinner. Steven, the kids, and I drove to this fitness place on the way to dinner to pick up our race packets and then met Grandma and Grandaddy at The Reef. We had a great dinner. The kids were really good and I think they ate their weight in calamari. Which was good because they didn't finish all of their chicken. We then drove to Jungle Hut and let the kids play in the sand a bit. They were covered by the time we left. Not surprising but we did somehow keep them out of the water the entire time we were there. Not sure how... but we did it. It was a super busy day and both kids fell asleep practically the moment their heads hit the pillow.
Saturday morning Steven and I were up bright and early and on our way out of the house to run the Bridge of Lions 5k. I'm not going to recap the race again, but if you are interested, you can read the recap HERE. When we got back to the house we relaxed until lunch time. The kids played so nice together. I love seeing them play nice together. It doesn't always last but Kenzie doesn't have a room to run away to and hide in at Grandma and Grandaddy's so she has to play with Will more than she may at home. My favorite was them laying in one of the beds reading books. Kenzie was reading a goodnight story to Will apparently and then he was supposedly going to take a nap. He didn't but it was a fun game. That afternoon we went to the pool again. The kids swam around like crazy. How they don't seem to feel the terribly cold water, I will never know. We did manage to wear them out though. So much so that while Steven and Grandaddy were opening gifts before dinner, Will fell asleep on top of me. We had a super yummy dinner of chicken parm. After dinner we went over to the intercoastal and let the kids fish. We didn't get any bites but the kids had a great time casting their lines and reeling them back in. Will also liked watching the boats go by. Kenzie was casting her own line by the time we were ready to leave. She did great. We had birthday cake when we returned to the house to celebrate Daddy and Grandaddy birthdays.
Sunday morning we were up bright and early but we didn't rush out of the house too fast. We had breakfast and then ran to Publix to get subs for lunch on the way to Jungle Hut. We originally had plans to hit up Anastasia State Park which would have checked off a bucket list item... but we didn't want to drive too far as we knew we would have to drive all the way home later, then drive to go get the rental car, and then finally leave for our trip the following day. The beach was beautiful. I don't recall the water ever looking the color it did that day at Jungle Hut. It almost rivaled the waters in the Gulf. Not sure what was different but it was a gorgeous day at the beach. We searched for shells, played in some of the shallow water (it was high tide so we couldn't see the rocks but we didn't go out because we knew they were there and we didn't want to get hurt on them), played some beach football (catch really), and had a great time. We had our lunch on the beach which is always a hit in our family. Eventually it was time to pack it up. It had rained on us a few times without thunder and lightning so we were okay sticking it out but when we heard the thunder start and could see lightning in the distance, we packed it in an headed back to Grandma and Grandaddy's house. We saw a gopher tortoise in the parking lot as we were leaving so that was pretty exciting. Eventually we headed home and then picked up the rental car so we could get ready to leave on our trip.
The next week was our summer roadtrip. You can read about those days here if you are interested:
Day 1 - Apopka to Pensacola, FL
Day 2 - Pensacola, FL (And the Blue Angels)
Day 3 - Pensacola, FL to Jackson, MS (And visiting family)
Day 4 - Jackson, MS to New Orleans, LA
Day 5 - New Orleans, LA to Moss Point, MS (And mostly NOLA)
Day 6 - Moss Point, MS to Panama City Beach, FL (And the #3 best beach in the US according to Dr. Beach)
Day 7 - Panama City Beach, FL to Apopka
We had a great time and Monday it was back to business as usual. The kids both slept in as they were still so tired from our trip and then we had errands to run before going to swimming lessons. This week was set to be our last week of lessons since we had to postpone the final 3 because of our trip. The kids did well. Will cried a bit but was mostly fine. Kenzie was a fish, as usual. We then rested a bit before setting back out for VBS at our own church this week. I was volunteering, Kenzie was attending, and Will was super excited to play with his friends because they were offering childcare for volunteers. Everyone had a blast. We didn't get home until close to 9 and both kids were so tired they pretty much fell into bed. Well, Kenzie was so tired she just fell. Repeatedly. She gets clumsy when she is tired.
The rest of the week was more of the same. Errands, swimming, resting (still resetting from being gone and trying to get laundry done) and then VBS. It was a very long week.
Since it has been such a busy few weeks and we are now winding down and gearing up for school starting, this will probably be our final two week (and yes, I know it is late) update for the Bucket List this summer. We will hit up a few more things before Labor Day when we consider our Bucket List timeline done but I will likely just do a simple update after Labor Day with what we did and what we may carry over to next summer.
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