Wordless Wednesday

 

Christmas 2021 

From our family to yours, I hope you had an amazing Christmas and a blessed new year!

A Brother?

 On Thursday, November 11 at 6ish in the morning, the girls' dad and his girlfriend Hazelle welcomed a son into the family. Asher was 8 pounds, 1 oz and seems to be fitting in just fine. Here are Natalie and McKayla's "first look" pictures. Not actually the first look, just the first time holding him. Thanks to covid there were no visitors allowed, so we had to wait until he came home on Saturday. 

McKayla got the first "first look" because she was home waiting for her dad to come home. I brought Liv and Natalie over later in the evening. Liv had no interest in holding him, so no pictures of her, but Natalie couldn't wait to get him in her arms. 

Can't wait to see what this new addition does for the girls. They all seem excited right now which is wonderful. 

Back To School

 So, today was our girls' first day back to school for the 21-22 school year. Because both schools start at the same time, I took Natalie and Alivia to the junior high and McKayla's dad took her to the high school. As I mentioned in my alternative options post, she is going to an alternative school. When she started her morning off by calling me crying, I was worried. I did my best to reassure her, to tell her that this school might be different then what she'd experienced before. 

Well, this momma was RIGHT! She came in the door and was smiling. It has been so long since she had a good day at school and was optimistic about it. I am so grateful. Still praying that the rest of the year goes as well as today did. It was only half a day but she was SO happy. Has people there who went to elementary school with her. Even rides the bus with a friend. 

Natalie and Alivia also came in smiling. What a great first day. We will see how tomorrow (the first FULL day of school) goes. I'm actually feeling pretty good right now. 

Wordless Wednesday

 My girls and my niece
from left: Alivia (12), Roselyn (8), Natalie (13) and McKayla(15)

Wordless Wednesday (a Throwback)

 

Ten years ago this month

Florida Trip Part 3

Wednesday, February 17

Took the day to go to Key West. We didn't last all day (it was hotter there then in Marathon as well, didn't help that we were walking the hot sidewalks. 

While in Key West we were able to see the "southern most point of the United States." Didn't take a picture in front of it because there was a freaking LINE!

We also got to see the the Key West lighthouse. There was no way to take a good picture though. Wall surrounding the property and we weren't planning to pay to go in. 

The best part of Key West has to be the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. They had this giant open greenhouse type room and inside were HUNDREDS of butterflies! The flowers were incredible and there were even a few native birds. On top of the little birds, they had two FLAMINGOS! I got to see them and take pictures of them. Beyond beautiful. 

The shopping for souvenirs was fun as well. Got the family all some slushies, special ones for Stephen and I. ;) 

For lunch we ate at Brutus'. It was only okay, not great. We were able to enjoy each other's company though. Worth it. 

Thursday, February 18

Spent quite a lot of time on the beach. Girls really swam far out this time. Loved watching my little mermaids in the water. While there we also collected more shells. I have half a jar of them I am trying to figure out what to do with! 

In the evening, Stephen's friend was able to hook Liv up with a jet ski ride, one of the things from her list. That was so fun to see how excited she was. 

We ate again at Porky's and got to enjoy the atmosphere. The guy who was on the Tiger King, "the informant" lives down in Marathon now and we got to meet him. Stephen was excited, even though he didn't even watch it all. :P 

Friday, February 19

Got to go parasailing with Dan. Just me, Natalie and Alivia though. Stephen rode in the boat with us but couldn't fly because of his back injury and McKayla simply didn't want to so we didn't push it. I have to say that it was such a calming experience. Being up in the air, just the wind rushing past. I really enjoyed my time in the air, but I especially loved coming down and getting my toes dipped in the water. Dan hooked us up with the picture package so we have some great shots of both me and the girls (they went together, I went alone.) Honestly, even just the ride out to the parasailing spot was fun. 

View from the sky (that's our boat in the top left) 

After parasailing we went swimming in Pip's pool. The girls all love the water. I stuck my feet in a bit and read my book poolside. Easier to do when you don't have a kid who is constantly asking you "watch this mom" But I really tried to be present with the family which is better. 

Saturday, February 20

You can read all about our amazing vow renewal ceremony here. 

Florida Trip Recap Part 1

Saturday, February 13 

Our first "real" day of vacation. Girls all wanted to go to the beach. Jena suggested Sombrero beach. It was like off of a postcard! 

Finding parking was TERRIBLE but we finally secured a spot and the girls were running for the water! 

Alivia basically jumped right in the ocean, swimming like a fish. Loved every part of it. 

Natalie thought it was still cold, but eventually got in. She spent a lot of time at the water's edge, searching for the best shells to take home. 

McKayla was somewhere in the middle. Not quite eager to get in, but once she was in there, loved it! She made a "friend" with a small hermit type crab. Was quite disappointed when she wasn't allowed to bring it home. 

Palm tree complete with COCONUTS! 

You could just watch the boats going by

Just incredible soft sand and tolerable water temps

After the beach, we hung around Jena's place. These are by the docs where they rent boats, jet skis and the such. I found it quite amusing that the pelicans were all on top of the wood poles. Like fixtures they were constantly there! (Expect more pelican pics, we LOVED these guys!) 

Natalie enjoying her view of the Gulf. 

We were blessed to be able to stay with Jena several nights and the others she put us up at Captain Pip's Marina and Hideaway. Pips' has a marina and is situated right next to the gulf. 

The first lizard I saw! 

Sunday, February 14 

We headed North-East to Islamorada. Stephen insisted that one of the things we do was feed the tarpon at Robbie's. Apparently it is a thing and we figured out why! It was HOT over there. While attempting to feed the tarpon, you have to keep a close eye on the pelicans because they want those fish! 

You feed them through the nets that this bad boy is standing on! 

HUGE fish! I think of them as the sturgeon of the gulf. ;) 

Stephen learned from his last trip and showed us how to do it. 

Still scary though! I think I fed ONE fish to those suckers before I was too scared of the pelicans. Natalie refused to even touch the fish and Alivia wasn't too keen to try either. 

While at Robbie's we did some souvenir shopping at their open air market and ate snow cones! Seriously hotter there then it was in Marathon, so by the time we left, all the girls (and Stephen) were hot and cranky. 

For our lunch, we decided to splurge and went to the Florida Keyes Steak and Lobster House. It was a lot of waiting because of a wait staff error, but we were rewarded for our patience with key lime pie! The food was seriously amazing though and our waitress couldn't have been nicer.

Stephen liked the marlin wall art (metal!) 

The girls, thrilled with me taking pictures 

The pie we all shared, it was YUMMY! 

When we returned to Pip's, I saw this guy. I think he was the biggest one I saw while there, but maybe not. I think I took pictures of every one of them. So cool looking and they just chill out anywhere. 

For dinner we got to eat some fresh caught lobster, cooked cuban style by a friend of Jena's. Alivia "helped" cook, but I think she was more showing Sammy her videos lol