A Love I Love To Watch

I think he's biting off more than he can chew...

He is actually skipping in this picture...

Explaining how the Florida landscape looked long ago before condos and highways made an appearance here...

He doesn't mind taking them in the ocean...

He can carry a heavy load...

The lure of fishing...it is a part of him.

And he's excited to pass that along...

His strength is in his gentleness. His gentleness is born of his love.

Fire In the Sky and Night Swimming

We celebrated the Fourth of July with family here at the beach all day.  The kids were looking forward to the evening activities, and getting ready for a late-night performance (the girls), the fireworks (everyone), the night swim (all the kids), and special popsicles (again, the kids) from breakfast on.

We had a great dinner which Wendy and I worked to prepare beginning last night (it happened to be a convoluted and time-consuming meal, but was delicious in the end).  Mike's mom put a wonderful salad together and we had bread sticks, to boot.  The party seemed official, however, once we served the cake.

At first Eliana was excited about cake, but then her tongue got a tiny taste of whipped cream and she set her bite back on her plate..."Like it," she said with a scrunched up nose.  In this case that translated to,"I don't like it."  The problem was the cake had zero chocolate in it.  It turns out she is picky about her cake like she is picky about her pizza; not all cake is cake.

Not everyone shared Eliana's opinion regarding the cake...particularly her cousin J.

He had no problem eating his whipped cream, blueberry, strawberry-topped lemon pound cake right up; forks are highly overrated. We thought the kids needed a little more sugar since they only had cake after dinner, so we served them homemade popsicles.  They were pretty cute-Wendy saw this idea in a magazine.

It finally got dark enough for the sparklers...Uncle Bobby passed them out.

Then we let the kids try to light one another on fire...

Noooo...they did just fine!  They took their sparklers down on the beach and thought it was very cool to watch the...well, sparkle.

Next came the fireworks; they were set off by regular folks up and down the beach, but it was still quite a show.  The kids loved it.  I have to admit, it's fun for me, too.

Sometimes they sat to watch...

The dads lit up a couple of low-to-the-ground fireworks...

And the kids admired the dads' fireworking skills...

Getting pictures of fireworks is tricky!  My favorites were the ones that exploded into a hundred smaller bursts of snowflake-like light that made one giant circle in the sky...but I never got a picture of that. This was close...

The colorful ones were also pretty.

The real show was the girls' rendition of Miss Mary Mack.  Their adoring fans awaited the performance anxiously.  In their matching Fourth of July t-shirts they stood on the beach in front of everyone and clapped out the rhyme, getting louder and louder until the end:  "They (the elephants) jumped so high, high, high, They touched the sky, sky, sky, And they never came back, back, back, Till the FOURTH OF JULY, -LY, -LY!"

The finale for the evening was a night swim; they swam in the moonlight, and the bright bursts from the fireworks, and the soft glow from the lights in the pool.

Just before 10 o'clock we got the kids out of the pool and had them get ready for bed, late-night style...

They were pretty lit up (pun totally intended) for a while, but once they got in bed they went right to sleep. We got everything cleaned up and ended our day by watching a movie we would describe as thoroughly depressing...excellent acting, but oh-so-sad story.  That was too bad, but the rest of the day was filled with fun and togetherness and great memories.

I hope your day was, too!  I am amazed and humbled that I live in this country, and I hope that I never take that for granted.

An Afternoon With Some Animals (Other Than the Kids)

The other day a storm was threatening our fun all morning and into the early afternoon. It finally decided to show up...

It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but the rain went on and on.   We were stuck inside for several of the afternoon hours.   What usually happens here, though, is the sun bursts back through the clouds after the rain.  The sun never really came back out that day, but we did end up outside for a late afternoon that was very exciting.

First, the kids discovered a skate and a bonnethead shark down on the beach; they had died and washed ashore.  They were small, but the kids thought this was very cool.

Cousin N. will touch or pick up pretty much any animal life that he's allowed to...

Christian didn't pick it up, but he was right there. I think he was cold.

Even Aunt Wendy took a turn with the shark!

Then to add to the excitement of the evening someone spotted fins in the water.  This usually means dolphins passing by, and they seemed closer in than usual.  The conditions were such that there was a drop off just past where the waves were breaking on the beach. The kids tore off down the beach chasing the dolphins as they headed north.

I tried very hard to get some pictures of the dolphins jumping out of the water, because they were leaping and catching fish.  Here is one; I had to close in on it when editing so it's not sharp, but you can see that there is a fish in its mouth.

Then it jumped way out with another fish in its mouth!

They were so amazing to watch, sleek and beautiful.

The kids were so excited and wanted to swim with them! Especially the girls...

Wendy was trying to tell them,"There it is!" You can see how close we were to them...

I love this picture; it tells such a great story.  Cousin C. is headed out with no hesitation, and Michaela is right behind her.  Cousin N. is on his way, but not quite as quickly.  And bringing up the rear is Christian, and really he's stepping backwards.  They have such distinct personalities!

Cousin J. happily ran down the beach with everyone else, and loved watching all of the activity.

After a long chase up the beach we had to head back to get ready for dinner.  The boys discovered a crab on the beach and had to investigate the situation.

The girls just ran and ran all the way back to our condo.  Holding hands.

We eventually came to the conclusion that the lovely creatures who put on such a show for us were pilot whales.  It was such a fun experience to witness their lively pursuit of dinner (Sorry, little fish!), and their playing in the water. A final shot, because we too were in pursuit of dinner, and we headed inside right after this.

Lovin' Every Minute

Do you have a few minutes yourself?  This is how much fun we've been having...

The girls when we first arrived...they were so happy to see one another!

The boys the first morning...I know the light is terrible, but look at their faces. They were also so glad to be together.

A beautiful place to be...

There is fun indoors, too! They worked on this pyramid for a couple of days.

Eliana with Aunt Wendy in the pool...

In the water is where she wants to be.

Cousin N. told me,"Take a picture with my head on the top of the water..."

Aunt Wendy is a great sport about getting her toes covered with sand.

This girl is right at home on the beach.

I love tan feet.

The kids stay so busy collecting shells, playing in the surf, digging...

 

She's up to her elbows and enjoying every bit of it!

The fish aren't just in the ocean...

Christian doing a handstand...

This is what happens when I say,"I want a picture of you with your goggles."

Happiness...

Wendy and Bobby somehow ended up with all six kids in the pool. They came to the conclusion that three is a great number.

Like I said, we're lovin' every minute!

Dinner With Dad and Susie

The night after Mike arrived we headed back to Orlando for dinner with his dad Lance and his wife Susie.  The kids threw themselves into the pool immediately after hugs. They have a great pool with steps that lead to a very shallow end; Eliana loved walking around there, and leaping into Mike's arms.  She is in love with the water!

They have several floats in the pool along with a kickboard that has a built-in squirter...it appears that Grandpa Lance got in the line of fire before he was able to change his clothes!

Alligators abound here in Florida, but this is as close as I hope we'll get to one...

Eliana finally gave Mike a little break...

Christian had a great time chasing the other kids around and riding the floats.

Lance and Susie make a great team when they're putting dinner together! There is always something good coming off the grill (chicken and ribs), and Susie's green beans and her homemade coleslaw are sooo good.

Eliana wasn't too interested in the chicken legs, but she dug into Ms. Susie's pasta with cheese!

It was a lovely evening. We're so glad we were able to see them and spend the time there. We also visited with Susie's son (his family was not able to be there, but it was very nice to see him), and her daughter-in-law and two granddaughters (her husband was also not able to be there; she is a delight to be with and we had a good time chatting).

All of the kids had a great time splashing and playing games together. Here is Mike with his dad; I'm not sure the last time they had a picture taken together...it may have been our wedding! They look alike, don't they?

Thank you, Dad and Susie, for a wonderful dinner, and a lot of fun!