Xander got his braces off today (after only 10 months of having them on)! They haven’t been allowing the parents or siblings of patients into the office, but they let me sneak in with my mask on after getting my temperature taken to check on him. He hates having his picture taken, but I was still able to snap one really quick where you can kind of see his teeth. He was in the middle of saying, “Stooooop, Mooooom!”. Ha! Ha! So proud of him. Look how big he’s getting!!!
Jonas loves hanging out with JJ, the newest addition to our sweet next door neighbor’s family. He’s 9 months now and is crawling, pulling up, clapping, and standing up/balancing hands-free. Jonas enjoys helping out Mrs. Amanda, J.J.’s mom, by playing with him for about 15 – 30 minutes every now and then while she does a workout. Isn’t this the cutest?
Afterwards, the boys and I ran to Birdie’s, one of my favorite new places in town to grab breakfast/lunch and picked up some cupcakes made by the Bearded Baker to share after lunch! Nate Clingman, lives here in Nolensville, and won the Bakeaway Camp with Martha Stewart competition. I saw these cupcakes and was like, “Oh, yes. I need those in my life!” They were so delicious: Oreo, Chocolate Caramel, Lemon Raspberry, and Sour Patch Kids. The boys and I each had different favorites. Yummy!
I’m not really sure why I call “miniature golf”…”put put golf”…I think it’s a leftover saying from childhood.
Anyway, I took the boys out to Grand Ole Golf to play this morning. The weather was perfect. We were doing all right…even Roman, who usually loses it when he’s not doing as well as he wants to, decided he didn’t want us to keep score for him, which I thought was a great call/big guy choice.
Then, Xander came up against this really tough hole, that all of us were totally failing on…and he lost his mind and raged so hard, so quickly that he smacked the putter against a rock…and broke it. Yes. Broke it. So, he and I took a little trip back to the front desk, where he explained to the clerk what he had done and why and asked how much it would cost to replace it. Needless to say, he owes me $11. Not worth the rage, I’d say…especially to a 9 year old.
As we were finishing up our game, this really annoying music started blasting over the loud speakers. I was definitely starting to get agitated by it…then, Roman headed into full on sensory meltdown mode with it. The only thing I could think of to help him out was to bring up his Amazon music playlist on my phone and put some headphones in his ears, so he could be in his own world for a minute. I was afraid he was going to fixate on the fact that the headphones were too big and didn’t fit right, but he was able to get over it and calm down and pretty soon he was back in sync and jamming out to “Hall of Fame” by Script. So proud of him! Then, we took a BREAK. HaHa! Mommy needed one too (that’s who Roman gets his sensory processing issues from).
We drove over to an empty, expansive church parking lot and picnicked in the quiet, under the shade of a big tree (overlooking the place where Tom proposed to me!). They burned off some post-lunch energy on the playground, and then we picked up the most delicious snow cones from Cotton and Snow (right next to Grand Ole Golf) before heading home.
Tomorrow is going to be a veg day.
It’s time for another round of “The Funny Things We Say”…
Tom: “You can do nothing upstairs and not disturb me doing nothing downstairs.”
Jodi: “Don’t point a gun at anyone. Even if it’s a stuffed animal rhino.”
Jonas: “Fun fact. You mess with Mom, you mess with Dad.”
Jonas: “Roman, you’re like full on yak right now.”
Jonas: “My face has awesome written all over it…it’s just written in invisible ink.”
Roman: “Petra, I had gravy…smell ME!”
Roman: “Mom, I know what a black hole is…it’s God biting on a universe cookie!”
Jonas: “Roman, you need a breath mint.”
Roman: “Oh yeah?!? Well, you need a body mint.”
I ran 6 miles this morning, and that’s it for my running this week…I’m trying to keep it right at 15 miles a week, a good and maintainable jumping off point in case I want to start training for another half or full marathon in the fall/winter.
Then, Xander, Roman, and I hit up the pool, while Tom and Jonas took advantage of the yellow ocean flag (medium hazard) to swim out to the sand bar and dodge some waves. After lunch, I drove out to Port St. Joe to grab a few things from the grocery store for the trip home and to pick up my book from the post office. I’ve read two books so far this week, and this will be my third…The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel) by Suzanne Collins. Whee!!! We all took one last dip in the pool before dinner, headed out for one last ice cream cone, and hung out on the beach one last time.
This trip has been such a blessing…Jonas even told Tom, “Dad, I really needed this vacation. I’ve been so stressed.”
Bless his heart…us too. I’m so grateful that we had this time together to relax, restore, and renew.
This morning we went to Happy Ours Kayak and Bike Outpost to do some kayaking and snorkeling in the bay. The boys loved it in the past, but today they were CRABBY. Jonas and Xander both helped paddle and took to it pretty well, which was great…they love to race. But, when it came to snorkeling, none of the boys were into it for some reason and preferred to sit on the boat and whine, which just sort of put a damper on things because they were pouting and asking to go home. I just ignored them and enjoyed snorkeling, but Tom ended up having a Come to Jesus with them. I think it helped a little, as they all ended up getting in for a little bit and checking things out. We saw horseshoe crab shells, scallops, a starfish, several schools of little fish, and lots of interesting coral. After lunch and quiet time, we went out for some ice cream at Cape Coffee and Ice Cream (a small local ice cream shop, where if you don’t time it right…will have you waiting in a line wrapped around the parking lot). So yummy! We swam in the pool until dinner time and then headed down to the beach at sunset for a game of football and one more round of pictures (we needed to get a good one of the whole family).
I went for a 5 mile run this morning. It worked so much better to do a few of the miles in the state park, as it’s shaded a little bit by palm trees…AND I even saw three deer! (I had no idea there were deer in Florida.) Then, Xander and Roman and I hung out the pool, while Tom took Jonas down to the beach. After lunch and quiet time, we went back for another round of the pool and the beach. We relaxed after dinner and got ready for pictures. We ended up taking pictures on the beach ourselves, which was no easy feat given the varying lighting at the different stages of sunset and the varying moods of our boys. But, we did it!!! And I think they turned out really well…
Today was a rainy day. So, we had a leisurely morning and drove out to Port St. Joe for lunch at Sisters. We ate there last year and loved it…the boys were begging to go back. It’s owned by several southern women who call you “honey” and “darlin'”, serve the best home cooked meals and home baked cakes/pies (that you get a slice of for free with your meal!), and make you feel right at home. We stopped at a few souvenir shops on the way back, and then hit up the beach and the pool for the rest of the afternoon. After dinner, the boys cozed up and watched a show while Tom and I took a quick walk on the beach. We even saw a fisherman reel in a huge stingray…Tom helped get him back in the water! We couldn’t wait to tell the boys about it when we got home (especially Xander because he’s such a lover of marine life). Then, Tom rounded them up for an impromptu pool competition (I love his ability to create fun)…he was the judge and I was the audience. The boys competed for Best Jump, Most Creative Underwater Movement, and Most Skilled Swimming Stroke. There are always a few come aparts because our boys are SO competitive, but it was still fun to watch/do.
To start the day, I woke up and ran 4 miles. I tell you what…it is SO different running in Florida…endlessly flat roads with almost no shade and early mornings where it’s already in the 80’s with almost 90% humidity. Phew! Another thing I noticed on my run is that the bay was SUPER calm (compared to the double red flagged ocean). One of my favorite things about Cape San Blas is that the Gulf of Mexico is on one side and St. Joseph Bay is on the other.
So, we packed up and headed for the bay in St. Joseph Peninsula State Park (which is a minute or two from where we’re staying). We set up our canopy on the very small shore (a lot of it washed away in Hurricane Michael 2 years ago, so they’re still rebuilding it) and took off in the water to do some snorkeling. Roman wanted to try to catch fish in his net, so he did that along the way instead. I ended up joining him later on (he caught two hermit crabs!), while Tom and Jonas and Xander continued to snorkel and worked on building a huge sand castle. Afterwards, we headed back to our canopy for some shade and snacks. The boys were asking to go home at this point, but they ended up getting into burying themselves/each other in sand and looking for hermit crabs, while Tom snorkeled and I sat reading under the canopy.
After lunch and quiet time, Roman and I headed to the pool while Tom took Jonas and Xander to the beach. Then, Tom and I set the boys up with a show to relax with and ran out to pick up some fresh shrimp at a seafood shop a few minutes down the road. We also ended up grabbing a stuffed animal for each of the boys at a souvenir shop next door (a sea turtle for Jonas, a dolphin for Xander, and a tie-dyed pirate monkey for Roman…all with Cape San Blas shirts on). It really cheered Xander up especially, since his favorite goggles got swept out to sea earlier in the day.
After dinner, we headed down to the beach, where the boys buried themselves/each other in sand, did some metal detecting with Tom, and had fun dodging the waves on the shoreline.
We are so grateful to be back at the beach in Cape San Blas, FL! We’re staying at the same place we stayed last year, which we love because it’s quiet and close to the pool and the beach. When we arrived yesterday, it was raining. So, it was the perfect time to unpack and unwind after a long drive.
Today, we hit the beach in the morning for some metal detecting, sand castle building, and wave dodging on the shore. Then, we spent some time at the pool (the boys had fun rescuing little frogs!) before heading back in for lunch and quiet time. In the afternoon, Roman and I hung out at the pool while Tom took Jonas and Xander down to the beach. Afterwards, we got cleaned up and went out to dinner in Port St. Joe at Pepper’s, a Mexican restaurant that was packed (which was a little crazy for me, honestly…we’ve definitely not been used to being surrounded by that many people in more than three months). Roman did not make it long, which I was actually grateful for, because it was loud with music and conversations and I was feeling done too. He started covering his ears right after he finished his meal, and I knew the sensory meltdown was coming. Thankfully, he was able to be a big guy and use his words to say, “Mom, can we get out of here? The sound is driving me crazy!” instead of flipping into full meltdown mode. I was so proud of him! We walked down the street and window shopped (Jonas and Xander ended up joining us too) until Tom was able to box up the leftovers and pay the bill. Then, Tom walked with the boys down the street and to the ocean to hang out, while I did the grocery shopping. When we got back home, Tom and I put a movie on for the boys and took a short but wonderful sunset walk on the beach.
One of Petra’s favorite places in the world is Camp Beans. As much as she can whenever we go out of town, Jeanne takes care of Petra for us. All we have to do is mention Aunt Beans’ and Riley’s names, and Petra’s ears perk up and she’s looking at the door, ready to jump in the van when we say the word “go”. We dropped Petra off this morning and got to spend a little bit of time, visiting with Aunt Beans, hanging out in her backyard, and checking out the coolest ever chicken coupe next door that her neighbor has been working on during the quarantine. It’s such a blessing to know that Petra will be in the best and most loving hands ever while we’re out of town…AND she’ll be keeping Aunt Beans and Riley company. Win. Win.
Roman had the amazing opportunity today to interview Pops, who is back in the studio recording a new record! Look for it soon on Roman’s YouTube channel, Romo Monkey!
Tom got a new toy…a metal detector!!! He’s been taking the boys out with him in the evenings some this week to test it out.
We had a Make It Monday today. The boys worked on our big sea turtle coloring page, folded origami, and re-painted pavers for our garden path.
We went out on the boat this afternoon for a little end of the year/beginning of summer celebration!
We took Petra, which is always fun because she’s just so in her element when she’s in the great outdoors with her people. When we stop off at wooded islands to explore, she’ll grab a stick and drop it at our feet and jump up and down until we throw it out in the water…then she’ll sprint out and swim to catch it and bring it back to shore, shake all the water off, and do it all over again.
Tom and the boys love cliff jumping. Petra was whining so much in the boat when she saw that the boys were swimming over to the cliffs…she just wanted to be with them. So, Tom put her in the water, and she swam all the way over…I think she would’ve jumped in with them, if they had gotten the timing right. She eventually kind of misstepped off of one of the lower rocks, landed in the water, and swam back to the boat. Sweet girl. What a great dog!
We also loved taking the Big Mabel out for a spin. Jonas and Xander could do it all day long, going super fast over bumpy waters, doing continual donuts, and/or hanging off the side. Roman and I, on the other hand, get a little nervous/nauseous and prefer to stick to the basics (sit down, hold on for dear life, and go as slow as possible)…so we make a good team. We’re looking to more summer fun on the boat…it was a great way to end the school ring in the summer this afternoon.
We REALLY enjoyed creek stomping this afternoon with the sweet, fun Grant Family. The water was really low, which made for some interesting exploring. We saw snakes, crayfish skeletons, water bugs, and minnows. Roman and Xander both caught fish with their nets…they were so excited…Roman, so much so that he had a hard time releasing his fish back into the creek. But he did (albeit with tears)…sweet buddy. It was such a great way to end the school year and ring in the summer. We all needed a little bit of free forming with friends, and it lifted our spirits. Thank God for time spent in the great outdoors with kindred spirits!
NES had a Reverse Parade today! It was so sweet…all of the teachers lined the sidewalks around the school and smiled and waved at the kids as we drove by…one of the many reasons why I love our school…what heart!
(Xander was not into having his picture taken…even for posterity…oh well.)
It is SO crazy unbelievable that we have gone from here…
to here…
in six (short to me now) school years. Jonas has grown tremendously since kindergarten, always hanging on to that wit, intelligence, and spirit so willing to challenge and push boundaries. I can hardly believe he will be a middle schooler next year!!! Look out, world!!!
We burned through homeschooling pretty quickly today. The boys did coding (on Khan and Kano Code), worked on their math skills (on Beast and Khan Academy), and read on Epic. We skipped Mommy and Me Time and Science/Social Studies.
Then, we drove out to Smyrna for the dreaded haircut…it’s always at least one of them who is dissatisfied, and I get to hear about it the whole way home (and the rest of the day). Ugh.
We limped to the finish line, but we made it. 8 weeks and 40 days of homeschooling (crisis schooling) in the books…one and done (hopefully, if I’m honest).
Here’s to summer…
Roman went in to the Masters Martial Arts studio for his green belt testing this afternoon. It was just him and Mrs. Mast. We’re so proud of our little guy for all of his persistence and hard work!!! Congratulations, Roman!!!
