All Good Things...

Last night marked the end of a long and exciting lacrosse season for the boys.  They played for the East Regional title, going the farthest in the state playoffs of any Orange lacrosse team, drawing a fun and supportive full stadium of fans, and showing off their newly blond (orange?) heads of hair.  

Joshua #5

Gray #26, right after his goal

And the first quarter was really fun.  Orange was up 4-1 at one point, one of those goals being Gray's, who was convinced he wouldn't even play in this huge game.  Things went a bit south from there and the team fell way short, making a lot of mistakes that haven't been at all typical this season.  Gray's analysis was that he should have been on the field more, as he supposes he has the highest goals per minutes played on the team.  He may be right there, as he did have some games where he popped in for a minute or so, scored, and didn't go back in.  He is always ready to shoot if he has the opportunity!  And always ready to give his expert opinion too.  :)  Anyway, it was a fun season and the team has a lot to be proud of.  I sure do enjoy watching my boys and their friends play!

Now backtracking to right after our Florida trip...

We came home and had a visit from Mimi and GrandGene on GrandGene's 70th birthday.  

Gray got a new pair of his beloved crocs...no more toes hanging out of the holes!

Then we went to Rock Hill for a GrandGene party with the whole family!

We met the new cousin JJ for the first time!!  Precious kid!

We played some trivia and GrandGene's team smoked everyone of course.  We also got to hear a lot of his stories from growing up as we competed to see who knows him best.

Gray got his permit!  Second time's the charm.  We've had some intense rides to church since then, but overall he's doing great and seems fairly at ease.

Typical scene at our house.  So much milk gets drunk (drank?) amongst the males of the family.

Jeannie hosted egg dyeing on Easter weekend.  They turned out really pretty, though didn't last long at our house, as Raven got into them.

No matter how much I think I'm ready to enjoy Easter morning, it's always a bit stressful.  There's usually 2-3 family members that can't find clothes, are trying to take a shower as I'm announcing to get in the car, and/or are trying to wear something that is dirty or unacceptably wrinkly.  But we did finish our traditional story, have a special breakfast, and get a quick picture before church.  Matt had to work this time.

We met the Moores at church.

And they joined us at Nanny's for a big lunch with lots of family and friends, complete with an Easter egg hunt of about 300 eggs.  It was great having both sides of the family together!

Allie had her first field trip ever!  It's a burden for my school to have to find a sub if I'm out, so I'm never at her school volunteering the way I was with the older ones, but that's just this stage of life!

The boys finished the regular season undefeated in the conference and were treated to milkshakes on the bus ride home.  Fun memories for them!

And then an unexpected twist in plans.  My class had a few covid cases and was doing an extra round of testing a few days later.  I thought I had some allergy issues from gardening but began to have a feeling in the back of my mind that something was off.  Turns out I was positive and was immediately sent home.  What a strange week it was.  My main concern was not bringing down the lacrosse team on the way to the playoffs, knowing that a few weeks prior everything was shut down for a week when several of them got it.  So I stayed in my room and tried to rest, read, and catch up on tv shows I had been trying to watch for ages.  The first day was full of phone calls and emails trying to figure out logistics of kids getting taken care of, boys getting a covid test, etc.  Somewhere in there a terrible headache set in, along with body aches and a little bit of congestion, but symptoms were not as acute as my vaccine reactions.  Probably the most annoying was the weirdness in my mouth.  I had had some ulcers starting days before and they were so painful it was hard to eat, but then my whole mouth just felt kind of inflamed and food was really unappealing.  Friends and family were so helpful and kind, looking out for the kids, bringing food and flowers.  After a few days, I mostly just felt tired and a little out of breath.  I generally enjoy being alone so it really wasn't terrible.  The kids would visit in my doorway or sometimes I'd get some window visits from the porch.  Matt was very sweet to make me large plates of food and vitamins when he was home.  Eventually it passed and everyone else stayed well.  Hopefully check that off my list for a bit.

Towards the end of my isolation came Mother's Day.  Matt made breakfast and made a quick drop of it in my room.  The kids dropped off cards and such and we went to church, me in my mask.  We went to Matt's parents' afterward for lunch but by then my energy was completely gone so I didn't last long.  I forget things so quickly, but checked back to this text I sent my family so I could better remember the day:

I had a similar stereotypical gift experience. From Joshua, a card they made in French class where he wrote a really sweet message (in English) to me. 😍😍

From Allie, a sweet message on the back of a scrap paper, to which she taped the stick with a little message that came out of a flower she planted for me at school for Mother’s Day. But not the actual plant bc she told me a few days ago “I really been wantin my own plant so I’m just gonna keep it.” 🤣🤣

From Julia, some of her own things she thought I would like and a picture of the two of us in a frame she made a long time ago that she let me know was hard to part with. And a sweet card that also included a wistful message about wishing we could do art together more. 

From Gray, “Do you want me to actually write down the coupons or just tell you?” He wanted to give me three coupons for making dinner and one for taking me somewhere to buy me something I wanted worth $20.  I told him thanks so much but save his money and I will take the meals. 30 seconds later he reappeared with some scribbled scrap papers that said “free meal”.  🤣🤣

Ah, Mother's Day.  :)  

We got another visit from Mimi and GrandGene that week, but they stayed with Jeannie since I wasn't up to par.  It was a whirlwind trip with a sporting event each night they were here and I didn't get any pictures.

The girls got a traditional coffee shop trip with Matt last weekend.  Julia's typical mode is to announce frequently all the things/food/places she greatly desires and/or misses, so these trips make her happy for a moment.

The rest of the weekend was just hair.  Jeannie thankfully came over and helped with round one, which turned out, predictably, more orange than blonde.  Sunday was round two with a bright yellow result.  And the girls got in on it with the leftovers.  Matt and I did enjoy a date night with Hunter and Jeannie to the Wooden Nickel and then home to play some games.  Thankful every day to have them here!

And that's about it for us.  We've got 3 1/2 weeks left of school and full summer plans ahead..mostly just working.  Joshua and Gray have jobs, I've got summer school, and Julia hopes to have a little business with her friend in the neighborhood.  Allie gets to do some rec camps this year and we will take a trip to the mountains with Matt's family.  Days are getting hot, kids getting restless, pool is opening this weekend, and it's feeling like summer!

The Wonderful Weeki Wachee

We are back from a great time in Florida and have had a super packed week back in the normal routine.  Of course we took tons of pics on the trip so I'll try to narrow down...

On Saturday, we spent the evening celebrating Matt's birthday (and Gray's upcoming bday) at Barnette and Cindy's house.  

We left at 5:45am Sunday so we got a great head start.  We were so thankful for no traffic on the way down--quite a contrast from the trip up north last summer.  We got to our airbnb house on the river late afternoon and had dinner at a nearby restaurant on the water, which is also a park that is a swim area and launching point for kayaks, so we got to see a little of what was to come.  The house was quite quirky-- a mix of some nice appliances and some that didn't work as well, some really modern looking things like a fancy bathroom sink and some worn out old things like threadbare couches, a "master suite" with a bathroom and kitchenette, but a ceiling barely high enough for Matt to stand up without bumping his head.  But it was clean and had a wonderful, huge porch and the location on the river was amazing.  Julia wants to go back to that very house every year!

(view out the back porch)

Lots of wildlife, especially birds and lizards.

Monday we set out a little timidly on our first kayak down the river.  We didn't really know what we were doing and there were lots of other kayakers out to try not to run into, as well as tree branches and docks...some we avoided and some not.  We saw manatees that first time but were really nervous to get out a camera in case we lost it in the river.  Matt did capture the whole family in a particularly tense moment.  Later when we felt more natural on the water, we realized we weren't at all likely to tip over and got many more pictures.  By the end of the week, most of us were just grabbing a kayak and jumping right in at the spur of the moment, Julia was steering like a pro with Allie as her sidekick (complete with code words for when they saw something in the water), Joshua was intentionally steering himself under docks where he'd have to lay down to get through, and Gray was very bored of paddling-- and sore from a 200 pushup challenge he and Matt did.

We went out most days at least once and I loved it so much more than I thought.  It was super peaceful to glide down the river, a little challenging going against the current, and really exciting to see the manatees. The water on the main river was so clear you could see everything, which made me more at ease having Allie riding around out there...I had quite a few visions of her being eaten by a hidden alligator before we went!  

I really enjoyed going out on the water one afternoon with just Julia, because it was much easier to row without an extra kid in my boat and on the single kayak instead of the double with Matt (though we did get better at rowing peacefully together by the end).  

On Tuesday it was Gray's birthday so we let him dictate the agenda for the day.  We let him open some gifts and finish up watching a movie from the day before, then we headed out to an inflatable obstacle course that I'd found months before, but didn't think would be open during the week while we were there.  Thankfully, they changed their hours that week and we were able to go.  It was so much fun to watch the three big kids and Matt navigate the tricky course and fall in quite a bit.  Funny and very tiring for them!  Meanwhile, Allie was happy as a clam getting some sand digging time.  

We finished that up with Sweet Frog's where the kids loaded up their bowls so much that it cost more than our dinner that night at Chick Fil-A!  We had planned to grill steaks but grill was being replaced so we put that off a few days and did Gray's choice of fast food.  We also played games and watched Jumanji.  I think it was a nice birthday for Gray.  15!!!

On Wednesday, we attempted to go to the only public beach around but it was full and cars were turned away, so we paddled instead and went back to watch the sunset.  It was not a Carolina beach...no waves, but beautiful palm trees, white sand, and gorgeous sunset.  

On Thursday it was cloudy and set to rain later so we had our last paddle and saw 4 or 5 manatees together.  We stayed by them for quite awhile to observe and take pictures.   They mostly stay on the bottom and eat very slowly and then come up for air with their cute noses sticking out of the water and spraying out a little water.  One did that right by me and I got a video.  It made me laugh and when I showed the kids later they got such a kick out of it.  Gray kept playing on repeat and decided to make a video of himself imitating me laughing and then made everyone else try to do my laugh on video.  (insert eye roll) It was quite the inside joke of the night.  We had a great time playing Gray's new games while the rain poured outside.  Gray even spotted a manatee from the porch, not for the first time that week.

The older kids and Matt enjoyed watching Pirates of the Caribbean movies several nights while I did a huge puzzle.  We had a lot of downtime this trip and never had to get up early or rush off anywhere.  On Friday we didn't have anything to do but souvenir shop and I felt like we needed an activity.  We didn't end up going to the Weeki Wachee Springs State Park with the mermaid show because their water slides weren't open and the rest of it was supposed to be a little lackluster after it's heyday many years ago.  Without driving some distance, there wasn't anything else to do and the kids were mostly tired of paddling.  Gray wanted to see alligators and often tried to get us to stop in some forest and see if we could find some.  So we decided on the spur of the moment to try a reptile zoo in Tampa.  We went down and had lunch at an Irish pub and then headed over to Croc Encounters.  

It was a super interesting experience that began with a talking macaw as we waited for our tour to begin.  Then we saw all kinds of gators and crocs, old and young, and learned all about them.  We saw snakes and got to hold a bit python.  Julia said the feeling she had during her turn was that she wanted to hold it for the rest of her life!  

We saw turtles and tortoises and got to feed them.

We saw even more gators and got to hold a small one for a family picture.  It had had enough by the time Julia had a turn holding it for our family pic.  It went a little crazy and Matt had to take off.  They are strong little boogers!

We were so glad we went and got to see and learn about these quintessentially Florida creatures!  After we left, we finally got some souvenirs (Julia had been dying for this moment, as she'd worked and saved to shop to her heart's content) and headed back to pack up the house so we could get another early start.

We got home Saturday late afternoon, just in time to eat dinner, the boys go to a lacrosse practice, and put on the Duke/UNC game, which of course was an unfortunate ending to the day....though I couldn't stay awake past the first half.  

It was a really different and good vacation for us and I'm really thankful for the experience!