Our STAYcation

My parents were here visiting this week and, although I'm sure for them it's just a habit, it seems to me that it's a tradition to watch CBS Sunday Morning with my parents before church. This week Bill Geist did a piece on energy conservation by canceling his plans for a vacation and had a "staycation" at home. He ordered room service (pizza delivery), got a fake tan, and played badminton with the trash man. It was kind of funny. So this week we had a staycation of sorts, it probably helps that we're living near the beach to start with.

One of the perks of a staycation is that when little kids need naps, you just go home! But we got off to a start by fishing on a pier in Matlacha.
Matlacha is pronounced "Matt LaShea", I pretend it's the name of some guy from Louisiana when I'd rather pronounce it "Mat lah chuh". Anyway, Matlacha is a little island right off the mainland and just west of Cape Coral, which is just west of Ft. Myers - about 15 minutes away.
Rob bought live shrimp to use as bait. On this venture out they didn't catch anything, but Rob and my dad went at night (shhh Caleb doesn't know) and they caught 3 catfish. The drawbridge in Matlacha is supposedly the "World's Fishingest Bridge".

On Memorial Day, we took a cruise on the Caloosahatchee River - give or take 3 miles from home.
The "Captain JP" has 3 decks - here's Annalise on the front of the 2nd deck.
And Caleb joined in the dances on the 2nd deck.

Tuesday we took my parents to a nearby gourmet coffee and doughnut shop. I like this picture, I think the fork looks kind of artsy :)

Then my parents and I took the kids to Ft. Myers beach - about 20 miles from where we're staying.
Have I ever mentioned how soft the sand is here?
Caleb and Grandpa swimming.
Caleb and Mommy making a sandcastle.
So far our strategy with Annalise at the beach is to park her on a beach towel under an umbrella and distract her with ample toys so she won't eat sand. Sometimes we succeed, but often we fail.
Sandy boy :)

Wednesday we went to the Six Mile Cypress Slough (pronounced "slew") Preserve - it's sort of like the Everglades, but more hardwoods. Actually this is the end of the dry season, so it was sort of a collection of muddy holes. We are going to try to go back after the wet season kicks up - about 15 miles away.
Some flora and fauna pictures. This is a pink lichen growing on the tree. Some trivia - lichen is when algae and fungi live and grow together.
Purple flower, I know no trivia about it.
Playful squirrel - we also saw big woodpeckers.
Crusty turtle.
Annalise and Grandpa in the woods. Annalise was actually very fussy at the Slough. I discovered later that she is cutting her top two front teeth both at the same time!
Lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa!

It was a nice staycation...I don't know if it quenched my hopes for a vacation though. We are going to Vero Beach for a wedding this weekend. Believe it or not, the couple's last name will be Love!

oof!

What's wrong with this picture?

Annalise says, "This is different!"

The other morning, I did not even notice that I strapped Annalise into Caleb's carseat! Well I noticed when I got ready to put him in hers! Ha!


Annalise says, "I could get used to this!"

The Big Grey Elephant

My dad got Caleb a subscription to High Five magazine for Christmas - it's like Highlights, but for 2-5 year olds. He LOOOOOOOVES it. Each issue has a fingerplay or action poem in it. This one is his favorite. It's called The Elephant.



I think it's sooo cute how he calls it an "elephick". :) The clasped hands are part of the poem - it's supposed to be his trunk.

Does it Ever Blow Your Mind?

When I was a child, one of the frequent conversation topics with my dad was technology. My grandpa, his dad, died the year before I was born (1975) and my dad used to say (and probably still does say) that if his dad could only know what all had changed since he died, he wouldn't believe it. In the 80s it was satellite TV and VCRs, which seems a little dated now!

Someone gave me a bottle of water yesterday. It was one of those new "eco-friendly" bottles that feels like the plastic is a tiny bit thicker than plastic wrap. While I was drinking it I remembered the first time I bought bottled water. It was one day when my mom and I went shopping for a prom dress. We stopped at a gas station somewhere and I got bottled water. The plastic was much sturdier than the bottles are now and the lid wasn't plastic. It was probably aluminum. I remember because I kept the bottle for YEARS - I remember refilling it while I was in college!

The first time I knew the internet existed was in 1994. I went to a summer program called Arkansas Governor's School. It was at Hendrix College. The computer lab there had a bunch of Macs; they all had funny little screens. It wasn't that we checked out the internet, but (I was with 2 or 3 other girls) we chatted with "someone" who we gigglying gave false information to; we knew it could be someone in the same room as easily as someone across the country.

My first email address was my college email. I used to print off emails and I found a bunch of them a few months ago. I actually forwarded that Madeline Murray O'Hara email, printed it off and kept it! Although I used email regularly and had access to the internet in college. I didn't know how to use a search engine for a couple of years at least. Someone showed me altavista.com and I used it as my main search engine for a long time...probably until google came around!

Until I came to Miami, I thought cell phones were pretty rare. My parents had a car phone, but I wasn't prepared for Miami's ultimate (and almost univeral) fashion accessory! I've actually bucked the trend and only had a cell phone for about 2 years (i.e. the length of the contract) while I was teaching school. Recently, I got one of those pre-paid phones - the thing cost $15 and is a flip phone with a color screen! No camera though.

I know most 2nd born kids have less pictures taken of them than the first, but with Caleb the (digital) camera we used needed batteries and they were always running out. The camera we use now is part of a rechargable video camera, so I actually take A LOT more pictures of Annalise than I did of Caleb as an infant! Personally, digital cameras are currently my favorite marvel of technology.

So sometimes I like to think about what it was like for my grandpa. Sometimes I think it would be nice if there wasn't as much information on demand! It's kind of overwhelming to know all the world's problems!

And my kids, growing up in a post-9/11, youtube world, I wonder what all they will see...and if they could possibly imagine life any other way. I heard someone on the radio say the other day that people tend to imagine that all they know is all there's ever been. I think that's kind of a dangerous way to think.

The Striped Shirt

I'm taking the time this week to put away some out-grown clothes. This batch includes the seemingly un-outgrow-able Striped Shirt.













I bought the striped shirt at a consignment shop, so it wasn't even new when we got it! It's been Caleb's absolute favorite, but it's starting to show his belly! I'm very impressed with how it has held up! Ironically, the only part that is really faded is the tag, so I'm not sure what brand it was - Kid Connection or Kids Connection - something like that.

The Marshmallow Test

As we drove back to Miami last night, I was scanning around on the radio and found a program talking about financial discipline. The host told about an interesting study done with children and marshmallows. A group of 4 year olds were each given the choice between having 1 marshmallow immediately or 3 marshmallows in 20 minutes. Each child's choice was recorded and several years later the researchers checked in on the same children. It turned out that the children who had chosen to wait for the greater reward also went on to achieve more than their less patient peers.

I surprised myself at not realizing before how much patience is inherent to excellence. I'm married to probably the most patient person I've ever met. My husband's an eagle scout, has a PhD and is in the process of building a radio network. After Rob finished his PhD, I remember thinking that while he is a smart person, he finished the work by perseverance, not intelligence.

It's amazing how all encompasing patience is. It's such a character defining trait. You have to have patience to endure suffering, to finish a difficult task, and to forgive someone for wronging you. It's something very everyday, but it's totally supernatural at the same time - we wait for God - to speak, to act, to return. And that is what the world is so amazed at, yet it's the key to everything.

On one hand, it's sort of disparaging news because my generation is all about instant gratification, but also it's encouraging because I don't have to feel like I've failed at anything I haven't accomplished yet. And it's enlightening because now I know what I need to be focusing on with my children to help them prepare for adulthood.

The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
and patience is better than pride. - Ecclesiastes 7:8

I've Been Tagged...

...by Meredith!

10 years ago I went on two summer mission trips overseas. The first one was to China. That was my first trip to China, not the time I ate so many bugs. The second one was to Russia, I rode a train in a sleeper car, drank unpasturized milk, and took a nap in the Amsterdam airport. In between the trips my mom and I spent a week at Camp Joy in Kentucky.

5 Things on my to do list

1. Potty Train Caleb
2. Wean Annalise from night nursing (I know I wrote previously that she was sleeping through the night, but that was before teething hit...)
3. Clean the bathrooms
4. Make the bed
5. Do laundry

5 Snacks I Love

1. Junior Mints
2. Granola Bars (for some reason I really like the Sunbelt kind)
3. Annie's Organic chocolate graham bunnies - I'm not one to be a stickler for certified organic foods, but these little bunnies are really good!
4. **Fresh, in season** plums and nectarines (I stress IN SEASON)
5. pretzels

If I were a billionaire...well if I went from where we are now to a billionaire overnight, I think it might breed bad things. That is, I'm not sure I would have the self control to do what I should with the money! Just considering spending (not giving or saving), I would like to travel more and buy or build a house on a big, otherwise undeveloped piece of land with a creek and old trees and where I could find places to walk in the shade.

5 Bad Habits

1. Using too many words to describe something simple
2. Neglecting my potted plants
3. Neglecting to clean my floors (especially bad since Annalise is so near crawling)
4. Forgetting to wear make-up
5. Spending too much time online

5 Jobs I've Had

1. Overnight Desk Worker - in college dorms
2. Campus Ministry Intern at FIU
3. I worked for the Call at one point, but I don't remember my title.
4. Legal Secretary - very briefly, very very briefly
5. Teacher

5 Places I've Lived

1. Holly Springs, Arkansas
2. Fayetteville, Arkansas
3. Coral Gables, Florida (i.e. Miami)
4. Pinecrest, Florida (i.e. Miami)
5. Cutler Bay, Florida (i.e. Miami!)

Finding a Foothold

I like watching kids on a playground. The way they climb makes it look like it just feels good to stretch out and pull themselves up, like an itch that feels so nice to scratch. Caleb is hitting a new stride in climbing. It just seems like everything he sees is a potential summit - the counter, the dresser, you name it. When he climbs he keeps his eyes on the prize; he doesn't look back to see where to step, he just keeps prodding with his foot until it hits a foothold that pushes him higher.

I like how kids have so much to teach us just in the way they live their lives.

Uni-tooth

...but not for long, tooth #2 is visible beneath the gums.

Econo-miser

I thought I was being so frugal budgeting only $150 biweekly for groceries until we came to Ft. Myers. I could drive all over town to different grocery stores in Miami to save grocery money, but even before gas prices were what they are now, that wasn't going to really save much. But here there is a discount grocery store about a quarter of a mile from the nearest Publix, so I can justify going to both stores...and I think if I could do this longer term, I could feed my family for even less.

Tightening the belt on my grocery spending has been a very positive thing - I've learned how to cook a lot of different things and saved a lot of money, but it has also taken some of the joy out of eating out! Last night we went out to eat with some Miami friends and all of my comparative pricing worked against me as I realized that I could have made my entire entree for a hungry family of four for the same cost of my one meal! But it was good and we had a water view...I certainly don't have that at home!

A Few Pretty Much Unrelated Pictures

Finally! Both of them smiling at the same time! :)



"Aaaaaaaaaannalise!"

Lately Caleb wants to paint a lot. He kind of goes in phases - playdough, trains, etc.

The striped shirt - it's days are definately numbered! This kid is growing.

Caleb was not going to try the celery until I made Ants on a Log, then he ate it right up!

My Very Own Blog Stalker

Ever since I read a comment on Meredith's blog clarifying blog etiquette, I became concerned with the issue of blog stalking. Simply put, a blog stalker is someone who visits a blog occasionally, but remains anonymous by never posting a comment. I felt a little embarrassed because I've blog stalked a few times myself, but hadn't realized I'd been so lacking in decorum.

Like a lot of other bloggers I have a site meter that clues me in on how many hits my blog receives and about where they come from. I checked it recently and noticed that I had a blog stalker! And a serious one at that! I was suddenly getting several hits from someone in Lehigh Acres, Florida. The reason I was concerned is that Lehigh Acres is a part of the Ft. Myers area! Not only did I have a blog stalker...they lived nearby!

At first I flattered myself thinking that it was just someone like me who liked looking at other blogs, noticed we were in the same area, and was just curious to see what we were doing. But it bothered me that they were so close and I started thinking about how to disguise my location just in case this blog stalker was a real stalker!

Then I started noticing that this person wasn't just checking occasionally, but very often, sometimes more than once a day! Even when I've blog stalked, it's been pretty random and even the blogs I like to see more often, I don't check several times a day! What was wrong with this person?! Their referring URL was just my site, so they were going directly to meanpuppies, not finding the link somewhere else! It was almost like they were writing this blog....oh

...

So I'm guessing you see where I'm going with this. If not, maybe I'll have to post myself a comment so I won't be blog stalking any longer.

Morning at Bunche Beach

We had another Saturday morning adventure. Through a moms group I've visited, I learned about a coffee shop downtown with particularly good doughnuts, which we patronized and then headed to Bunche Beach, which is a county maintained beach preserve.
I was curious to see it because I knew it would not be touristy; it is completely undeveloped. There is an unpaved parking area and the parking is free. There was no foot wash or bathroom.
But I kind of liked the rustic-ness of it.
The actual beach was not as deep as Ft. Myers Beach, but it was sand enough for us!
With our umbrella, it was a nice not too hot morning. Caleb had fun digging in the sand and Annalise liked sitting in the shade chewing on things (she's teething).

In the end I had to admit that Rob was right, if you're looking for pretty shells, this isn't the place to be. But if you aren't fond of crowds (I'm not, generally speaking) and like mangrove, this is a great little spot.