Saturday, December 31, 2016

FL trip--driving home

Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Listening to a sad Jackson Browne song this morning and forcing myself to pack. Good thing Mike is driving, because I wouldn't be able to drive away from this place where my parents are and where I can see wild dolphins and birds and the ocean right out my window.
All good things got to come to an end
The thrills have to fade
Before they come 'round again
The bills will be paid
And the pleasure will mend
All good things got to come to an end


8:00 a.m.  After packing, loading. stretching, being prayed for, having the van's windows cleaned by Dad, hugs and goodbyes all around, we are on the road. Sad.
8:05 a.m.  Noah: Who farted?
[We all said no.]
Sarah: He who smelt it dealt it.
Noah: He who denied it refried it.
10:00 a.m.  Both kids sleeping.  They stopped demanding food, so I knew they must be asleep.  Nice cloudy driving weather. 70 degrees.  Peaceful.
11:00 a.m. Switching drivers at Flying J somewhere in Alabama.
1:45 Switching back. I drove 152 miles.  
3:15ish Arrived at Holiday Inn Express.  I booked this hotel while we were in FL, and I didn't want to waste time doing much research because it was a beautiful day to be on the beach (as every day was).  This place turned out to be right next to an active train track and an interstate, and there was no pool. There was an exercise room and whirlpool though.

Our room was 418.  We were never exactly sure where it was.

Thursday, December 29, 2016
8:30ish Leaving hotel.
12:25 After being denied repeated requests to stop at Subway, the kids are eating the food I packed. Mike said, "They're just like pets. If they get hungry enough, they'll eat."
2:15 Sarah: I have to urinate.
Noah: Just say pee.
Sarah: Why? It's the same thing?
Noah: Urinate is a much grosser word.
3:00 Home.
This was our best trip to FL ever!  Everybody's favorites:
Mike: dolphin cruise, frisbee on the beach, sitting on the balcony while reading and drinking coffee.
Sarah: shopping and walking the beach with Aunt Amy, picking up shells.
Noah: walking on the beach and working out with the cousins, watching basketball.
Janel: dolphin cruise and candlelight Christmas Eve service.

Friday, December 30, 2016

End of the year interviews

SARAH, AGE 12:

If you had 8 tentacles like an octopus, what would you use them for?
One for eating apples. Two and three for running. Four, writing poems. Five and six, doing gymnastics, seven and eight, doing martial arts, and...
You only get 8, so there you go.
Aw. I wanted to do one for art.
Well, you can be a 9-tentacled octopus.

What do you think is at the very bottom of the ocean? A 9-tentacled octopus?
A yeti crab! There's volcanic lava rocks erupting up because there's underwater volcanoes at the bottom of the ocean and the yeti crab sticks its arms out because it's really hairy and it filters all the lava, like the magma, through its yeti arms and then uses it as fuel.

If you could make the moon a different shape, what would it be?
A cat. There's a man in the moon, and now there's a pet.

If you could have an 8 ounce cup filled to brim with one item, what would that item be?
Like a liquid?Any item I guess.
[long pause] Probably Jolly Ranchers.

If you had to start a colony on a newly discovered planet, what things would you bring with you?
My phone, so I can text people about it...What was the question again? I know it's on another planet...
If you had to start a colony on a newly discovered planet, what things would you bring with you?
My room. I'd just bring my room, that's all, because it has all my stuff in it. I'd just break it off the edge of the house and fly away with it.

If you had to explain your parents to a stranger, what would you say about us?
Two people who are extremely crazy, and my mom runs with her arms waving around in the air, naked, and my dad wrestles with my brother, and they both wear silly outfits, and they sing about bananas and broccoli and fruit.

If your shoes could tell a story about your day, what would they say?
“My day was horrible because my person was going everywhere” because I run a lot.

Whose face would you put on a dollar?
Shiloh. That would make for a really cute dollar. But her entire body, not just her face.

What three things would be necessary for life to be perfect?
My phone, my food (and food being water too, obviously), oh wait...God, food and water (because that counts as one), and exercise...and education.

What was the best thing about 2016?
My two medals on bars and beam at my Justin Spring Meet.

What do you think was the first word ever spoken?
I KNOW what it is: Let. Let there be light!

What is one thing you have made you are really proud of?
That piece of art right there: the 3-D hand. I've made a lot of stuff.

Would you rather have 4 eyes or 2 mouths?
2 mouths.

What is your favorite story about our family?
The one where you saw Noah's G.I. Joe doll and you had an unresisting urge to kick him in the butt and you did and he went flying into the living room and Dad yelled, “Medic!” Oh, and the one about the Thin Mints, where Noah caught you eating Thin Mints at 10 o'clock at night, outside in a thunderstorm.

If you had to describe yourself in one word, which would you definitely NOT use?
I would not use the word “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis” because that is way too long.

What is the best compliment you have ever received?
I don't get that many compliments that are above average. Probably just “I like your sweater, where did you get it?” blah blah blah.

Can you come up with a creative story about how unicorns get their horns?
A horse had a brain tumor but it was rainbow and it started growing into a horn and then little ridges started appearing with little clouds on them and it was sparkly and that is how unicorns were made because you know unicorns are just a horse with a horn.

What do you think a goldfish thinks about all day in its tank?
They probably wonder why they can't get out of the tank because it's clear.

Is there anything you would like to share?
No.

NOAH, AGE 15

If you had 8 tentacles like an octopus, what would you use them for?
Tentacles or hands?
Tentacles.
Not much you can do with a tentacle.
[Sarah interjects from the next room: “You could eat a clam!”]
I'd have pretty good basketball skills with 10 arms.
Eight.
Eight.

What do you think is at the very bottom of the ocean? A 10-tentacled octopus?
No. Sand. Probably a 10-armed octopus too. Probably some volcanoes.

If you could make the moon a different shape, what would it be?
Triangle.

If you could have an 8 ounce cup filled to brim with one item, what would that item be?
Diamonds.

If you had to start a colony on a newly discovered planet, what things would you bring with you?
Food, water, research materials, building materials, smart people.

If you had to explain your parents to a stranger, what would you say about us?
Just know that they're a little weird and crazy, but they're ok.

If your shoes could tell a story about your day, what would they say?
What pair of shoes? Clean ones? Dirty ones? Probably “runs around a lot”.

What three things would be necessary for life to be perfect?
Food, water, money

What is one thing you have made you are really proud of?
Uh....I'm sure I've made something....I just made something...what was it?.....Oh! I didn't make it, but I fixed the rails on the stairs.

What was the best thing about 2016?
There were a lot of bad things. The best thing would have to be...probably the two trips to Florida.
What was the worst?
Just about everything possible could die. Trump got elected. Just a bad year.
But for you it was good. Two trips to Florida and all.
Yeah, none of those affected me. It was just a bad year for America.

Would you rather have 4 eyes or 2 mouths?
4 eyes.

What is your favorite story about our family?
Probably the vacation stories.

Can you come up with a creative story about how unicorns get their horns?
No.

If you had to describe yourself in one word, which would you definitely NOT use?
Creative. No, artistic. Artistic! That's the word I'm looking for.

What do you think it smells like in outer space?
Probably dusty.

If you could only eat one thing for an entire week, what would you choose?
Pizza.

What do you think a goldfish thinks about all day in its tank?
They don't have long enough memory to think.

What is the best compliment you have ever received?
Can't think of any.

If you could have a farm animal live with you in your room, which would you choose?
Something small...probably a chicken. No, too loud. Does a farm cat count? Let's do that.

If you had to combine two fruits to make a new one, what would you call it?
Probably pineapples and bananas, because pineapple banana smoothies are always good.
What would you call this fruit?
Banapple.

Anything else to want to share?
Back to the compliment question. I can't think of any, but last night when I was playing 8-ball pool, this annoying person I was playing kept sending me the compliment texts. You can choose “good job” and stuff, but every move I do, he'd send me “good job” even if I scratched.
So you were overcomplimented?
Yes.
And then they were meaningless?
Yes.

Anything else?
No.

[One minute later, he's kicking himself and wants a redo]:
Okay, Noah would like to make an amendment for the record.
Two of them. One of them was when the Cubs won the World Series. That was the best thing that's happened. And another one was for the compliment thing. It was after one of my tests, one of the masters, he was like a ninth degree or something, went up to me and told me I did a good job, so that was pretty cool coming from someone who's a really high rank.

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

FL trip--day 8

I was up at 4:30 this morning, because it's our last day, and I don't want to miss a minute.  I watched a sliver of a crescent moon and lots of bright stars over the ocean. Another wonderful, warm morning.  Classical Stretch at 6:00 a.m. and now I'm energized for the day.  We have plans to take Mom and Dad out for lunch at McGuires and then we're all going on a dolphin cruise at 3:00.  Will have to come home and pack after that, but I don't want to think about that now.

We ate at McGuire's, which is a very meat-centered Irish pub.  There was exactly one thing on the menu for me, and it was cleverly and enticing entitled "vegetarian diet plate".  It consisted of an entire head of boiled cabbage with a little Irish flag in it and a bunch of soft vegetables with no seasoning or sauce of any kind.  When I ordered it, the server said, "Why would you come here and order vegetables...are you vegetarian?"  She did bring me some horseradish sauce that saved that day.
This cheery (and incomprehensible) Irish song was playing very loudly while I was in the bathroom:

Look at the coffin, with golden handles
Isn't it grand, boys, to be bloody-well dead?
Let's not have a sniffle, let's have a bloody-good cry
And always remember: The longer you live
The sooner you'll bloody-well die.

The dolphin cruise was fantastic!  Weather was perfect, we saw lots and lots of dolphins and birds of various kinds, and the sunset was gorgeous.  The dolphins seemed to truly enjoy racing the boat and playing in its wake.






 What could be better than dolphins and pelicans together?
 A dolphin and pelican in the sunset.


And to top it all off, someone is shooting off fireworks on the beach. 

Monday, December 26, 2016

FL trip--day 7

6:00 a.m. Classical Stetch in the living room and then a walk on the beach to watch the sunrise. I was gone a long time but got hardly any exercise because I had to stop to take a picture of these pretty flowers:
 and wonder what made this hole:
 and wonder if this was a cat pawprint:
 and take tons of pictures of the sunrise:
 and talk to this bird (and many others):
 and take a picture of this pretty seaweed that washed up on the beach:
 and wonder what kind of vine this is:
 and notice that this chunk of cement looks like a fried egg:
 and watch this snail slither along:
 and pick up all these treasures from the sea.
Later we fed seagulls on the beach:






and the kids made a smiley face that would be visible from our balcony:
   
Later in the day, I decided to add hair and a tongue.  I gathered up old palm leaves and pink flower petals from the ground and placed them in the appropriate places on Smiley.  The boys were looking down from the 11th floor balcony and gave me the thumbs up sign.  Then a truck from the Sheriff's office pulled up nearby and told someone they couldn't have their dog on the beach.  After warning the violator, he started driving...right towards Smiley.  The boys started yelling and flailing their arms from 11 floors up, and I was chasing the truck to try to stop it, but it ran right over Smiley.  My tongue, which I thought was so huge while I was making it, looks more like a zit from way up here, and you can't see the hair at all.  He looks kind of like a ninja turtle with the tire tracks on him:
I took the four boys shopping at Silver Sands outlet mall.
We played frisbee on the beach at sunset, fed the ducks, and went to Jeff & Amy's for Dad's birthday dinner. 


FL trip--day 6

Sunday, December 25, 2016
Christmas morning started with a beautiful sunrise and a single dolphin heading east close to us. 
The day turned out to be absolutely perfect weather. Sunny and 72, just enough breeze for Mike to fly a kite on the beach:
The kids spent some time at the pool and hot tub, and then we went to Mom & Dad's for Christmas lunch.
 I brought a "celebration roast" (fake meat made of grains and vegetables). Everyone else had ham.  Baked potato (mine had Kite Hill "cheese" from Whole Foods), delicious broccoli/cauliflower salad and carrots.
 
 Then we played a game where you have to draw a Christmas picture on a plate on top of your head.
Amy won. 
Then it was bubble time.  I thought maybe the kids would be too old for bubbles, but it was oldest two who were most interested:


Family picture on the beach (after all meeting up in the elevator).
We stayed on the beach and watched a gorgeous sunset.





 


 The palm trees are decorated for Christmas.
Saw this cute little frog on the wall.

Mike and my dad fed the ducks and coots.
Mom and I swam and sat in the hot tub.  Poker night at our place with Mike, Noah, Sam, and Ben.