The School Bus

Another first day of school!  I can't believe how grown up these kids are.

Now, you may notice Liam's face is less than thrilled.  The kid didn't blink an eye at the thought of entering 6th grade until we actually got to the school.  Then there was a major awakening that "holy shit, this just got real!"  Joe and I dropped him off together.  The school is so big and there were so many kids.  It was overwhelming.  But by the time we walked around a bit and figured out where his classes were and where he had to pick up the bus home he was doing much better.  Which leads me to the title of this post, THE SCHOOL BUS!  A few weeks ago I was absolutely freaking out about the idea that Liam was MOST LIKELY going to have to take the bus.  I've mentioned here before that I am TERRIFIED at the thought of "the school bus".  So, in all my freaking out, I thought to myself "maybe I should just ask Liam if he's ok with this".  So I ask him, "Liam, how would you feel if you had to take the school bus everyday?"  He says, "I don't care."  Ha.  So I realized, the "school bus" is MY fear, not his fear.  So we're giving it a try.  First day, so far so good.

So, first day of school was a success!

Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse

I've been to this lighthouse twice this year.  It's a lot of fun.  You have to take a ferry from Pompano to get to the island.  Otherwise, it is only accessible via private boat.  This lighthouse has 175 steps and the tour guides claim that this is the brightest lighthouse in the world!  Although, I'm seeing conflicting information on that when I google it.  If it's not the brightest in the world, it is definitely the brightest in Florida!  It has absolutely beautiful 360 degree views from the top.

They have a statue of the barefoot mailman.  You can read what that's all about, here.

Cape Florida Lighthouse

I took the kids to Bill Baggs State Park over the weekend.  My first lighthouse post!  Unfortunately, the lighthouse was closed so we didn't get to climb to the top and see the beautiful views of Key Biscayne.

But we did wonder what a light keeper's life was like back in the 1800's.

And we contemplated life.

And hunted sea snails.

The thing I like about the location of this lighthouse is that you can get a great view of the light house from every angle.  There are 109 stairs to get to the top and you can even go right into the actual lens.  Very cool!

New floors

So I had some new flooring installed in Jan.  Here are some pics for you:

Dining room old:

Dining room new:

Living room old:

 

 

Living Room new:

Bedroom old:

Bedroom new:

So I have to say, I'm still getting used to how dark it is.  But I like it.  It feels like A LOT more maintenance.  And it's definitely noisier than carpet.  If there is one tiny speck of anything white on the floor, it feels like it's visible from the space station.  For the first few weeks, I was literally sweeping like every 10 min.  I finally had to make a rule that I sweep ONCE a day, no matter what is on the floor!  But it's fairly easy to dry dust and mop.  I just seem to be doing it a lot more often...

Lighthouses

So if you know me, you probably know that I kind of like lighthouses.  I'm not like totally obsessed with them or anything but if I'm in an area where a lighthouse is near I would def go out of my way to see it.  Two weeks ago, I went to the Cape Florida Light in Miami.  I went up top, it was really cool.  As much as I love going to the top of a lighthouse, I am totally freaked out because of my fear of heights.  But the view is amazing.  And I'm not going to let a little thing like vertigo get in my way.

Last year when I took the kids to Maine I got to see 4 different lighthouses.  Pemaquid, Fort Point Light, Owls Head Light and Marshall Point Light.  Now Pemaquid is a staple of visiting Maine and I've been there quite a few times and have at least 50 pictures of it.  But I always have to take more pictures of it every time I'm there!  But the other 3, we kind of went to coincidentally.  We have these Maine passports and you go to all the state parks and get a stamp in your passport.  So last trip, me and the kids made it a point to get 3 new stamps in our passports.  So when I explained to Joe's mom that we wanted three passport stamps she literally turned into our tour guide through basically all of Midcoast Maine.  She would say "Well, if we go to this park, then this park is just a few miles away."  And we ended up getting 7 stamps from 7 Maine state parks!  Some she had never even been to herself.  It was really fun.  So, three of the lighthouses we saw just happened to be at some of the state parks.  And funny enough, I kept running into people doing some kind of lighthouse "race" where they had a passport that they had to get stamped from certain lighthouses in like one weekend, or something like that.

Last year when I went to Key West, I ended up seeing 3 lighthouses.  Key West Light, Loggerhead Key Light and Garden Key Light.  Some lighthouses are kind of hard to get to.  Like you can only take a boat to get there or they're not open and doing tours all the time.  The Key West Light is actually "retired" and was moved from it's original location.  But they still do tours.  The Garden Key Light is part of Fort Jefferson and is about a 2 hour boat ride off the coast of Key West in the Dry Tortugas.  The Loggerhead Key Light is only accessible by private boat.  It can be seen from Garden Key, but is about 3 miles off shore.  Literally in the middle of the ocean with NOTHING around!

I've been to other lighthouses as well but can't really remember their names.  I know one was in SC (I think it may have been Hunting Island Light).

After I went to the Cape Florida Light a few weeks ago I have been fired up about seeing as many Florida lighthouses as I can.  There are only about 30.  As I go to each one I will take pictures and document them here.  If I'm coming to visit you, and there is a lighthouse nearby, don't be surprised if I ask to visit it!

Sleepover

Jill had her first sleepover this weekend.  She invited two friends from school.  We all did face masks, I painted all their toes we ate junk food and did crafts.  OK, that was Jill's experience, this was mine:

Cook dinner.  Hear a little girl I barely know tell me she doesn't like almost everything on the table.  Ask Jill to eat her hamburger at least 10 times.  Tell Liam to get off the video games and come eat at least 20 times.  Do dishes and sweep up dining room.  Playing with the bunny.  Help Liam start a school project that is due in 5 days.  "Mommy, can we do face masks?"  Help all little girls put on their face masks.  Remove all old polish from little toe nails.  Paint 30 little toe nails.  Help rinse faces and clean up the massive mess they made in the bathroom.  Playing with the bunny.  "Mommy, can we have snacks now"?  Help open all the snacks.  Sit on couch for 10 min.  Do more dishes and more sweeping.  Playing with the bunny.  "Mommy, can we paint pictures now?"  Help get out paper, find all crayons and pencils and markers.  Sit on couch for 10 min.  Clean up all the paper and crayons and pencils and markers.  More sweeping.  Work on project.  Finally sit down to watch a movie.  By 11pm I am so exhaused I just don't care anymore.  About anything.  I declare the girls have to go to Jill's room and stay there.  As I put them to bed, they all give me hugs and want me to tuck them in.  Wake up and cook pancakes and sausage.  But of course, one little girl doesn't like pancakes.  So I heat up a homemade frozen waffle for her.  She doesn't like it.  She wants a bowl of cereal.  Dishes, sweeping.  Painting pictures, playing with the bunny.  Finally!  Mommies show up.  Yay!

Jill says "that was so fun, we have to do it again!" Oh goodness...

Skippy's experience:  I'M NEVER LEAVING MY CAGE AGAIN!

Well Hello!

I've really missed blogging.  I have so many random thoughts but it's hard to make a whole post out of them.  But I'm going to try and be better about posting regularly.

Hope everyone is having a great 2014 so far.  It's almost March already, OMG!  Check back often for more updates!