All in a Weekend

It is better to be busy. At least, I keep telling myself that. Things have gotten pretty busy around our house lately. But fun too. This weekend is a perfect example. First of all, this is the busiest time of the year for Anthony so I consider myself a single-mother for at least the month of October. He works from 7-8 in the morning until about midnight, at least 6 days a week. So everything I do I have to do by myself - with 4 boys in tow. Fun.

On Saturday morning E and C had their last soccer game of the season. Yay and bummer. They really loved soccer and are both getting to be pretty good. But it is getting pretty cold out there on the soccer field so Mama is glad it's over! Their cool coach gave them awesome medals - thanks Tom!!When that was over it was costumes on and off to Boo at the Zoo. Anthony's bosses were super kind enough to give us a 2 year family membership to the zoo!! Yay!! Definitely one of the families favorite places so what a great gift. We are going to make the best of it, starting with Boo at the Zoo. It lightly rained most of the time we were there, which was fun, but the boys didn't care and had a great time. I should mention how awesome they were, too. Totally stayed by me and I didn't fear of losing one of the even once! Wow.

As you can see, this year we have 2 commandos, one purple dragon, and one cute pumpkin. All of the boys have worn the pumpkin costume so it's special. We got home after dark that day (couldn't miss Captain America and Iron Man's talk about recycling!!) and everyone fell into bed. On Sunday morning we were invited to a baptism for a friend's baby. Yeah! Very nice baptism (from what I could tell between hauling the boys outside - it's hard to keep 4 boys sitting still by myself!) and then really, really yummy cake afterwards. We stopped at home long enough to throw a potluck dish together and we were off to the airfield for a kids day at the airport. A very nice couple from church invited the kids out for a ride on their plane and they were super excited. I didn't realize, as I had missed church for the baptism, that the airport excursion had been expanded to anyone from the church and soon many of our members began to show up. Needless to say, there wasn't enough time for everyone to have a ride. :( It was very sad. C was the most excited when the planes started up and flew by. He waited and waited for his turn but I kept saying, just wait, it's almost your turn.

W was invited by one of the other kids to go on the first ride - along with an adult member, her adult son, and his girlfriend. Wait, wasn't this for kids? Then another couple and their grandchild - who didn't go to our church? Then a family, who were kind enough to take E. Then another family from church. Then - wait - is that a group of the older adults from church. Huh. Ok, next time C! Oh, that's the last ride? I felt so bad. The couple that was offering the rides had promised the plane to someone else later that day and so we had run out of time. They felt really bad and have offered to take our family up sometime, but it wasn't their fault. However some of those adults could have made sure the kids had gone first? Maybe? Sigh. He handled it like a trooper - but I still feel bad. I need to learn to be more aggressive! Or something.

As close as J got to an airplane. :)

W after his ride. I couldn't get a good one of E because he took off running after some bug as soon as he could get out! But we have pictures JUST like that from when we were little. :)

It was a fun weekend. But tiring. And as this is Halloween week, every day is pretty much like this. Who said parenting was boring??

Apples, Apples and more Apples!

Any of you who are also followers of my sister's fabulous blog will already know that the boys and I visited Grandpa and Minka last weekend and had a great time! It is always fun to be home and especially when we find fun things to do. Actually, to be honest, it can be a little exhausting for mama to try to keep the boys contained in one area of my parents large house and yard, while keeping them settled down and nothing broken. But still, it's their favorite thing to do. Between my mother and my sister, we were fed yummy food, too - always the best part!

So my sister and I got the bright idea that we'd take the boys out to pick apples. Of course, it was probably the coldest day so far, but they don't care! So we bucked up and hauled them out to an apple orchard that allowed you to pick your own apples. They had the best time! We tried mightily to get them to pick apples that would be good for baking or eating, but basically they just picked any apple that was at their level and looked interesting. 26 pounds of apples! YES. They loaded up their bags until they couldn't carry them any more. And then Mama had to carry them. Of course. Which didn't stop them from picking.

We also were able to get some great pictures of them. There truly are few things more beautiful than an apple orchard in the fall.

At the end of the day, we made classic apple pie and a 'Becky Original' apple pie, both in my parents convection microwave - an interesting experience. But still fun. And yummy! I also made apple crisp and STILL have apples left... Fall is such a fun time of the year!

Oh, and the boys spent Saturday helping Grandpa move my sister's family into their new house. They worked so hard and Grandpa said they carried lots of heavy things and didn't quit once. He was so proud of them (me too!!).

Ready to go apple picking!

The boys' cousin with his apple.

My sister and baby checking out the apples.

School is HARD

Now that I have a 2nd grader, I am beginning to realize how difficult school has become. Honestly! I realized when W started kindergarten that he was supposed to know things that I thought we LEARNED in kindergarten. He struggled because he didn't already know all of his letters, sounds and numbers. I guess since most kids these days attend daycare and preschool, they've already spent time learning their letters and numbers. He did neither and was behind. We worked hard and caught him up and now I believe he's where he's supposed to be for a 2nd grader. He seems to be doing much better than last year, behavior-wise, and is completing all of his work. I don't even have to fight with him to do his homework.
But having real grades has been a shock after 1st grade's S, S+, etc system. I don't know what to do when he comes home with worksheets marked with C-'s, or even D's. If I thought he was goofing off or not trying to do his work, I would be mad but I don't know how to react when he's actually doing his work. He's a smart boy, I think, and doesn't seem to have trouble understanding his math or spelling homework. Here is an example of some of the questions he's expected to answer, on his own.
I celebrate my birthday by having a party. The word celebrate means _________.
A. to go shopping.
B. to spend money on something I love (Wyatt's answer)
C. to make a gift for a friend.
D. to do something fun for a special reason (correct answer)
I can understand why he said B. Over the last years, we haven't had big parties for the kids but they have gotten to go to the store with their father on their birthday and pick out something with their money from A's grandfather.
The other one he got wrong was 'What detail does NOT support the main idea?' I think this a confusing question, especially for a 7 year old. Because he got the 2 wrong, he got a C-. He got a D on another paper for identifying the subject of 2 sentences as Jason called instead of just Jason and The fire instead of The fire truck.
Another question - What does the word flames mean in this sentence? Firefighters help save people from smoke and flames of a fire.
A. hot air
B. the dark clouds that flow from fire
C. hot, bright gases given off by a fire (correct answer)
D. sticks that burn (W's answer)
During a fire, when people are safe, they are _______.
A. not in danger (correct answer)
B. in the way
C. near something that may harm them (W's answer)
D. ready to eat
Because he got those two wrong, he got a D+. He is doing well in most of his subjects but has a C in language, and I don't even know how to help him. Do these questions seem kind of difficult and misleading for a 7 year old? His teacher is wonderful and I realize that she is required to teach the material that is given to her. But it is very frustrating as a parent. And we are not the only ones. Another friend has expressed the same concern, after having a daughter that was ahead last year. Is continuing to push our children like this, going to cause generations of underachievers? Because we require them to understand things that they are simply to young for? And therefore they continue to fail?
Last year we struggled and struggled with Wyatt's reading. He couldn't seem to catch on and therefore catch up, and his teacher continually expressed her concern. I discussed this often with my sister, a reading specialist, and she assured me that he was fine and would catch on. Exactly as she predicted, by the end of the year he had caught up. However, he spent the entire year feeling frustrated and 'dumb' because he couldn't read very well.
Anyway, any suggestions for how to help him? How concerned should a parent be in 2nd grade? Is it ok as long as he gets by and works hard? Even with C's?

I LOVE my husband

Really I do. For many reasons. But one of those reason is because he taught me how to make the most wonderful apple pie. And anyone who knows me knows I'm a sucker for any type of dessert item. Especially a good, warm apple pie. But I hated making them at home because I felt like the apples were always still very tart and crunchy, and I like my apples to be soft and sweet and mushy. :) SO, one day he said - well you have to cook them down first. Before you put them in the pie. Like he was mentioning it passing. Like it's a given.
WELL, I've looked in all of MY cookbooks and none of them mention cooking the apples ahead of time. But I followed his directions and it DOES make the best pie! He said to put around a 1/2 stick of butter in a frying pan, along with sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon and then add your apple slices and cook it all down until the apples are soft and sloopy. Put it all in your crust and bake it until the crust gets brown. Yummy!!
So in the spirit of the nice fall-like weather we've been having lately, I decided it was a apple-pie sort of day. I hauled all of the boys down to an apple farm right by our house and let them loose on the poor lady. She was FABULOUS and took it all in stride. We got some Jonathan apples, which she said are the old-fashioned apple pie apple, after much cajoling got all of the boys back in the car and returned home to make our pie. This method is seriously the best! The pie is so good! Fall is definitely one of my favorite times of the year!
Next - we're going to visit the orchard and pick our own apples! :)

The glamorous life

When I started this blog, I intended to write long blog posts, pontificating on the life with a chef. Somehow it seems that I've gotten far away from that. Part of the reason is that it is not easy to write about our every day travails without getting Anthony in trouble at work. :) The trials and tribulations of a chef seem to be never ending and I guess that keeps life interesting. From food critics, to messed up paychecks, to no show staff, to incompetence in the office, to being told he would be 'fired by Gordon Ramsey!' by a guest, no less. Honestly, the list is never ending. And could make for some very entertaining blogging. But, sigh, I have tried to be responsible and so have drifted away from my objective.
However, this last week has been a busy one for one wife of the chef and thus I feel that I have the right to write about my experiences. Actually, after sitting with a table full of 'bloggers' perhaps I have a responsibility to?? Or is that going too far?
Last Friday I was 'summoned' to eat dinner at the restaurant with the owners and their children. We scrambled for a babysitter (which is a WHOLE other post) and I put on my new little white dress and headed out to eat. The occasion was the visiting of 3 former 'guest chefs' who were going to make dinner for the restaurant. There were 2 entree options and 6 courses in all. Not bad for the price and most people there seemed to be friends of the chefs and therefore there for a good time. And a good time was had. By the guest chefs - not necessarily by MY chef. The idea of turning his kitchen and restaurant over to a group of old chefs, none of whom having apparently cooked professionally in many, many years, was about enough to send him into cardiac arrest. He restrained himself as best he could and calmed himself by being the expediter, which turned out to be a good thing, as the wine was flowing. In the kitchen. And I don't mean into the pans. ;) But, though it took about 3 hours to eat, it was fun to be waited on and not have even one little boy to entertain. I had a 'wife of the chef' martini (yes, it's mine :) )and we had a great bottle of Bordeaux. Great.
So then I was asked to return last night for dinner with a group of 'bloggers'. I have to say I was a little apprehensive about this dinner. But some wonderful friends of ours offered to watch all 4! boys, overnight even!!, so I didn't make up some excuse about projectile vomiting or chicken pox, and went to dinner. Apparently, since I have a small, not even mentionable, wine blog about the wines we taste from the inn, it was suggested that I could sit with these people and have something to talk about?? First of all, I must say that I was somewhat disappointed when nary a one from our table was interested in wine aside from one of the owners and me. Can you be a food/restaurant blogger and not like wine?? Really? It just seems so much of the experience. And the pairings of great food with great wine is such a big thing these days. I was really surprised. The couple I sat by was nice and sweet and though I think he has one of the biggest blogs in the city near us, they didn't seem pretentious or snobby at all. The other couple wasn't very impressive at first glance, (I'm trying to be nice here) but I got the impression as dinner went on that they really had their fingers on the pulse of dining in our area. So I sat nicely while they took pictures of each course, drank fruity mixed drinks and otherwise kept fairly poker faces. My food was good. Delicious actually. I should have gotten out my camera and taken pictures! But I honestly couldn't tell you how the reviews will fare.
As I had NO BOYS! for all night, I stayed at the restaurant and drank wine and watched Anthony finish his prep for the next day and clean up. It sounds boring but it was kind of fun. Some of the bloggers stopped in about midnight to ask him some questions and that was interesting.
But wait, its not over! Today a large wine event was planned in our city and Anthony had gotten a table and was serving at it. So once again, a fabulous friend said she'd watch the boys for a bit, and I dressed up and ran up there. It was far less impressive than I'd hoped but anything that has to do with wine and tasting is still fun. It was disappointing that all of the wines had to be wines you could purchase at a particular local grocery store - who was sponsoring the event. Anthony tries to not carry any wines that you can find in the grocery store so I guess it was fun to try ones we don't usually drink... It was an expensive affair, which is when it certainly pays to be married to a chef! It was about 90 degrees outside and I worried about Anthony, who was wearing his chef pants, shoes, T and full jacket. He stood out there for about 10 hours. He's still not home! Still, it was fun and is definitely becoming one of my favorite extracurricular activities. :)
So that is a week in the life... Maybe I'll do a day in the life next...

Boys

Wow. Things have been rough lately. Summer time just seems hard. I feel like I want to be one of those mothers who are SO glad when school is out, who LOVE all of the time they get to spend with their children and look forward to it all summer long. I TRY to feel that way. Honestly. But it is hard...
I've decided that maybe I just need to learn my limitations. And not say yes to things that I know might not go well. A large, unfenced outdoor area with surrounding woods is just not a good place to take 4 little boys, 2 of whom live for exporing, catchin bugs, digging in the dirt and other things that make it hard to not lose them in wooded areas. If we're on our way to a party or playdate and things are not going well - they will not get into the car, they are fighting, someone is crying - I should trust my gut and maybe just stay home. It isn't going to get better. Being stubborn and optimistic about it doesn't seem to help.
A friend (actually 2) told me today that I just look frazzled and stressed lately. I hated hearing that. I don't want to be a 'stressed out' mom. I don't want people to feel like they don't want to have me or my children over because it will be 'stressful' or sometimes insane. But I'm not really sure what to do about it either. Is there a magic formula for keeping little boys from fighting?? Or convincing them there are fun things to do in one small confined area? To make them turn on their listening ears when their mother is talking to them?? Do other mothers of 7, 5 1/2, 4 and 1 year old boys have these same problems??
Sigh. I'm tired of being embarrased and frustrated in front of my friends and family. Or even strangers. Maybe I should just keep them home until they get older?? Will that help?
Raising children is really a tough thing. If any one of the children had been a girl, I believe the dynamic would be different. Especially between W and E. A particular kind of evil seems to ensue when you put an 'energetic' 7 year old with an 'energetic' 51/2 year old. Jumping off of the dresser onto the bed, running off into the woods to keep from having to get in the car, whipping the cart around in wide circles in the grocery store - causing their mother to fear for the safety of their baby brother, as well as others, sneaking every kind of bug and amphibian they can catch into the car and/or house, wrestling each other down to the ground in the middle of the store, yard, other people's living room, etc.
So anyway, I guess I'm glad that school will start again soon. I'm ashamed to say it. But it's a fact. I'll miss them. And I'm sad that E is old enough for kindergarten. But it's about time...
On a side note - whichever sister gave the boys the Che Guevara T, it's very popular and quite a conversation piece in some circles. :) I just received another compliment on it today.
I've just been provided a gun (made of train-track pieces) so that I can 'protect myself' so that's all for now. I guess I forgot to mention how fun they are! :D

Summer Happenings

Here are a few things that have happened at our house over the last month or so.

Emmanuel's fish, after 6 months of life?? passed away on May 23rd. No one seemed TOO upset (least of all his parents) so it was handled pretty well. Anthony took the boys out to bury the fish and have a small funeral.

Wyatt had his end of school program.

Christian had his second skin allergy test. He took the test like a champ, only flinching as she applied each of the 6 plates. However that evening his eye swelled up so he could hardly see out of it and was still swollen the next day!

The largest red spot is peanuts. He also reacted to dust, tree pollen, ragweed, cats and only slightly to eggs. Sigh. Poor boy.
As I posted before, our anniversary was this month, but Anthony had to work all day. When he got home at about 11:30pm that night, he brought in this large box. Note the amount of plastic wrap on it! He LOVES plastic wrap. Must go through ROLLS at the restaurant.
At first I didn't pay any attention to it. I thought it was something for work. So he had to urge me to go over and check it out. This is what was inside!

Isn't that sweet!! So yummy too!! He knew EXACTLY what to get me. :)And finally, It's FATHER'S DAY!!! This is what the boys made for Anthony.
Jens 'helping'! Now we're off on a 14 hour trip to Minnesota. Fun! So there should be more posts to come. ;)

Congratulations...to us

Ten years. Today we've been married ten years! It's crazy. Seems like a milestone to me. Like it should really stand for something. Feels like I should have gotten a cruise?? or a trip to Europe?? or something after all these years? Oh well. Anthony spent the day at work, starting his summer menu, and I spent the day at church, at home with 4 boys and at a swimming pool birthday party. Great fun had by all.
Anyway, it feels like we couldn't possibly have been married so many years, but when I think back over all the things we done, I guess you really couldn't pack it in to much less. A summary:
Married June 12, 1999 in Mankato, MN. Lived there for a couple of years, in a little downstairs apartment, both working for McDonald's. Becky gets a job with Northwest Airlines in January 2001 and we make the move to Minneapolis - Burnsville to be specific. To a smallish 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with an underground garage. The best part! Have Wyatt in 2002 and Anthony decides to go to culinary school in 2003. So Becky and Wyatt move to Indiana to live with Minka and Grandpa and Anthony takes off for New York City and the French Culinary Institute. Have Emmanuel in November 2003 and Anthony returns, an FCI graduate, in December. Hang around in Indiana and have Christian in 2005. Move to Long Island the summer of 2006 and return to Indiana in December. And finally to Ohio in 2007, where Jens was born in 2008.
Wow, so that's 7 big moves, and 4 boys in ten years. And every year of it has been wonderful!! Honestly! I wouldn't trade a single day together for anything. I recommend marriage to anyone. It's the best!

WOW

That's all I can say. It was the last day of school today. I feel like we slid in, holding our breath, and somehow made it to the end. And this is only year 1!!! of like many, many, many!!! I panic at the thought of real homework and 2 in full day school next year. But we have the summer to chill before we have to worry about that... rriiiggghhhttt. I feel like our summer is totally filling up already. Garage sale, VBS all next week, festivals at church, trip to Minnesota, 4th of July parades, Anthony and Jens' birthdays, PTO meetings, sister's moving and a wedding. The time is going to FLY by. I know it.
So they had field day during the morning at Wyatt's school. Jens and I went to help out and it was so much fun! I was the only parent that showed up to help his teacher so I got to be in charge of leading 20 1st graders through super crowded hallways from one activity to another. I found that I could do it! And first graders are kind of fun!! And they are up for doing almost anything you ask of them. They jumped as far as they could from a line of tape on the floor. They cheered each other on in the sack races. They threw rings at a post that was WAY too far away. And then they turned around a drew beautiful pictures of things they did throughout the year on a big piece of poster paper. It was awesome. It's great how they can just redirect from one thing to another and then throw themselves completely into it. I had to leave after the freeze pop station - which was everyone's favorite. :) Except one little boy - he turned on the projector in one of the rooms so he didn't get a freeze pop. I felt bad. You could tell he felt bad too. That's why I'm not sure I could be a teacher. It would break my heart to tell a kid they had to sit out of Field Day because they stuck their little finger out and popped that switch on the projector... He looked so scared right after he did it. Wyatt's teacher is great though and she did the right thing. Wyatt said she was crying at the end of the day. :( But he gave her a hug.
I am going to miss seeing Christian's teacher every day too - shout out to you!! :) She did such a fabulous job this year and forgave me EVERY time I forgot something. We won' t see her again next year :( but hopefully we'll see Emmanuel's teacher. We were so blessed with teachers this year!
Sigh. So now I'm sitting in total darkness, except for the tv and computer, trying to get the boys to finally go to sleep (Wyatt's first comment when he got in the car was 'now I get to stay up all night') and keep the baby sleeping. And there are how many more days left of summer??

Soccer is over

Well spring soccer ended last week. It was great fun. We took Emmanuel's team out for ice cream at DQ after his last game. Wyatt's team had a party on Friday. They both got trophies. Very exciting stuff! :)

Here are some pictures of Emmanuel playing soccer.

Chillin' in between quarters.

Get that BALL!!

Leading the pack! GO EMMANUEL GO!!

More Soccer!!

Here are some picture's from soccer - as promised. We had games Monday through Thursday last week and then Monday and Tuesday this week. Sigh. I'm so happy for an evening at home. Now if only the boys would go to sleep...

Anyway, here are pictures of Wyatt. He and Emmanuel have been playing at the same time lately and as Anthony is coaching Emmanuel's team, I've been watching Wyatt. But Emmanuel has a game on Saturday morning so I'll take some pictures of him then. I guess he's getting quite good.

Diving for the ball!
Super stellar kick! As Emmanuel would say 'very impressive.'
This is absolutely the cutest thing ever. They have to 'take a knee' if someone gets hurt. There are other times when they are scattered around the field down on one knee. I'll try to get a picture of that. It's just so cute. And I'm glad they're being taught to be considerate.

I have a picture exactly like this from when he played his first season. It's amazing how fast they're growing! You should come down and watch them play! They are getting good! :)

Another one bites the dust

A friend of mine (you know who you are) recently said she 'laughs in the face of disaster.' Well this is me laughing hahahahahahaha. Our vacuum has bit the dust. I'm pretty sure for the final time. Now I'm sure you are saying to yourself "THIS is a disaster??""Isn't she being a bit dramatic??". Well, anyone who lives with any children, let alone 4 boys!! knows that the lack of a vacuum borders on disaster. Add to that an old but small apartment that is fully carpeted and I'd say that tips the scales into the disaster field.

Do we have a funeral? That is the question. This vacuum that we've been using has been in my family far longer than I. It has made the family rounds and was given to me finally by my father. Very generously. I'm serious - it was nice of him. It was a great vacuum too. It could probably suck up a small child, it could blow up air mattresses and the cord could get sucked back into the machine for storage - like it was made that way. Way cool. It did weigh about 25 lbs but I still made the boys haul it around when they made messes on the floor. Sigh. Here's a picture.

May it rest in peace. The vacuum end came off and won't reconnect to the hose. I'm going to have to confess to my father...
SO, then Anthony brought home this vacuum -
Certainly doesn't look any younger does it? It does have a stand up attachment that weighs about 10lbs and won't push forward, forcing you to vacuum backwards. No folks, I can not make this stuff up. So out of total desperation, I was forced to vacuum the ENTIRE apartment with the hose function. Ahhhh. I don't know when we'll be able to buy a new one - so I guess I'm stuck vacuuming this way, or backwards.
A sad funeral is definitely in order.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Does anyone know how to find Mr. Roger's episodes online? I've looked and looked, but admittedly I am NOT the best Internet searcher. I think Big C Man (his new self-title) would really enjoy it.
So my house smells like smoke. And my garage. And my car. And my clothes. And my sons. No this is not a flashback to last summer. Last night I became one of 'those people'. You know the type. They put a fire pit on their driveway and they sit out around it all night, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, etc. Those people that I snicker at and think 'well at least I have more class than that. I mean, I would at least put it in the backyard...'. Now the fire pit was not MINE, but my neighbors, but they invited us over to cook hot dogs and marshmallows. So the fire pit was set up on our joint driveway and we sat around on chairs while the boys waved flaming marshmallows and burnt hot dogs around on long pointed sticks that are red hot... it's a miracle that no eyes were poked out or hair set on fire! But I have to admit that I had a good time. It's another learning experience for me. God has certainly been teaching me not to be so judgemental. On the down side, I didn't realize that when you set a fire pit outside of your house like that, everything fills up with smoke. I took a shower before bed last night and another this morning and I could STILL smell the smoke when I was drying my hair. Yuck! After last summer's drama, you can imagine how sensitive I am to that. Will I join them again...hmm, probably. But not for a while...anyone else wanna try it? :)

The End of the Adventure

Friday was the last day of our Great Beach Adventure. We drove down to Tampa to visit my sister and her husband and had a super AWESOME time! They took us to a tapas restaurant in St. Petersburg called Ceviche. We sat outside and ordered a bunch of different tapas dishes and shared them. Emmanuel loved the squid and I even tried some salmon ceviche my sister ordered - I was always a bit speculative about ceviche. We had a big pitcher of sangria and it was sooo yummy. Then we walked down the pier to the aquarium. This is what we found when we got down there.

The awesome Uncle Robby even paid big bucks so they could feed fish to the pelicans. That was the greatest!

The aquarium was pretty little but the boys enjoyed it and even got to hold some starfish! Exciting! This is us chillin at Auntie Wedgo and Uncle Robby's house.

And Emmanuel asking Uncle Robby question number 502 out of at least 1000. For supper we went to another really good restaurant in Ybor City. It was so fun and Mical and I had another pitcher of Sangria :) and shared Ropa Vieja, which is apparently the same as Hilachas which was my favorite Guatemalan dish when I was little. YUMMY!! We even picked up some handmade cigars - regular for the boys (big boys - not little boys ;) ) and chocolate for Mical and I. Unfortuntely, Becky's a ditz and hadn't planned ahead to close up the condo and stay with M and R so we had to drive back that night. I think, if the boys had their way, Mical and Robby would have at least 2 new roomates! They say when they grow up they're going to live in Florida. :)

Saturday morning we started the LONG trip home. It took FOREVER. The traffic was horrendous. This is us sitting, stopped, in the middle of Georgia. I should point out that there was no construction, no accident, no apparent reason whatsoever for the traffic jam.

Can you feel the pain, people? 4 little boys, stopped traffic, middle of nowhere...

The upside of it though was that we got to stop at my aunt and uncles house in Charlotte and the boys got to get out and run around. I wish we had taken picture there. I really like being at their house and we all had a much needed rest. This did mean that we didn't get home until 4am on Sunday morning, but was definitely worth it.

The boys still talk about the beach daily. We had such a wonderful trip. Thanks Terry and Ellen!!!

Last Day at the Beach

Today was our last day at the beach. Yesterday and today were absolutely beautiful days, although the wind started to pick up this afternoon and made it a little chilly for swimming on the beach. We've been making an effort to lather on the SPF 50 and everyone seems to be doing better. It's dangerous because it is so beautiful and cool on the beach that you could sit out there all day. It's not until that evening that you realize how sunburned you are. I should be used to it since it's like that in Guatemala but I guess I've spent too many years in the midwest - where you can sit out for DAYS and barely get any sun.

Anyway, Anthony found an authentic little French bakery this morning, complete with old french chef yelling from the back. It was his little slice of heaven today! He brought back coffee, a yummy baguette that tasted like pan frances!, a croissant and chocolate eclairs. Super delicious! We plan to stop there tomorrow morning, too! Then we made an effort to be up and on the beach earlier and the boys had a great time body boarding.

Emmanuel has no fear, like my mom always says.
Pepe's work well to keep the baby from eating the sand. He was issued a new hat to keep the bald head from being sunburned and each boy was issued sunglasses, to be worn at all times. You'll note from the pictures that little boys ALWAYS comply with the rules...

Then we built a family sand castle. Papa made the castle and Mama made the walls and then the boys filled the rest in and tried to make a moat. Still couldn't get the water to stay in the moat. :(

There is no crying in sand castle making!

Another attempt at water for the moat.
This afternoon Anthony wanted to go to the Flagler Intl Food Festival here in New Smyrna Beach. Someone told us that at 4pm every day you could walk down to the end of Flagler and see the dolphins so here we are looking for them. When we got down to the water, they had just lifted the drawbridge so some boats could come through. That was very exciting!

Baby didn't think it was nearly as exciting.

We did see a few dolphins out in the water but could only get a picture of this pelican that landed right by us.

And Anthony enjoying some food at the festival. :)

Tomorrow we're off to Tampa and St. Petersburg to visit with Aunt Wedgo and Uncle Robby. Should be LOTS of fun. They are taking us to some great looking restaurants and an aquarium. The boys are most excited about the salamanders in their backyard though. What can you do- BOYS!