Key West Adventure-Day 1

I am assuming by the lack of e-mails in my in-box that no one even noticed I took a brief hiatus from blogging. But for those who did notice, the good news is - I'm back! Jamie and I were on an anniversary adventure to Key West. Those who know me well know that I do not plan a trip lightly so know when I tell you that TONS of work went into this vacation. And I'm happy to report that all the hard work paid off and it was the best trip ever.

We really wanted a destination that was new to the both of us. Part of the fun of vacationing with your partner is exploring new things together so we felt like we wanted a place where one of us didn't have an advantage.

Our flight was scheduled to leave Knoxville at 5:50 a.m. on Wednesday, but we arrived at the airport to learn it was delayed until 6:37 a.m. Which is all well and good except it meant we could have had a little more sleep. We finally took off though and enjoyed a spectacular sunrise over the mountains.

We arrived in Atlanta on a "remote pad" (translation: You people are from a podunk airport in TN so we here in the big city are just too busy to actually land your plane at a real gate) and had to be bused to the terminal. When we finally arrived up in the terminal we were immediately surrounded by hundreds of people in a hurry to make it to their next destination. As we walked up the concourse I started reading the boards at each gate and some were for flights to cities I had never even heard of. It renewed my sense of adventure. I used to have more of that. I had it by the truckloads, but years of terror attacks and parenthood have left me overly cautious. This trip reawakened those feelings in me. I assure you it is a good feeling.

Our flight to Key West was a quick one. I passed the time watching TV (Spongebob anyone?) and watching Jamie try to wallop the other passengers in the trivia game playing on our seat backs. We also were able to follow our flight's progress on the screen. It was fascinating to keep up with the outside temperature, altitude and our exact location above the Gulf.

The Key West Airport may bear an international designation but it is a tiny airport. As a result, you climb off the plane out on the tarmac. A giant sign above the building proclaims "Welcome to the Conch Republic."

We took a taxi to our hotel where we dropped our bags and set out on foot for a nearby Cuban restaurant. The order of the trip was to explore new things, including new foods! We dined on fresh snapper and Cuban pork. We tried fried plantains and their amazing rice. If you're ever in the Keys, you need to eat at El Siboney. It's a must!

After lunch we did what every self-respecting person does on vacation, we took a nap! After our 4 a.m. wake-up call it was a much needed break. After nap we wandered down Truman and over to the Ernest Hemingway home.

Hemingway is one of my favorite authors, so finally seeing his home in Key West was at the top of my Clipboard of Fun. We also had to take pictures of all those six-toed kitties for the girls.

The highlight though (freaky felines aside) was seeing Hemingway's typewriter. It was one of those vacation "moments."

After Hemingway's house, we basically just wandered around on foot. It really is the best way to explore a new place and get your bearings. We trotted out to Fort Taylor and to the beach there.

After our trek out to the water we wandered back up to Duval and found ourselves at Sloppy Joe's. We ordered drinks and had dinner while listening to live music and people-watching. Wednesday evening brought us to Mallory Square for the sunset celebration.

It's a Key West tradition filled with dozens of street performers and gastronomical temptations.

And of course, sunset.

The perfect way to end our first day in paradise.

From the Mouths of Babes

"Mom, you have a really pointy chin."

-Ainsley

Casa Lamar Cliffnotes

Jamie and I are heading out on our Key West adventure this week. Which means Nana and Granddad are in charge at Casa Lamar. Before we handed over the keys to the kingdom I typed out a six-page Cliffnotes to help things run more smoothly in our absence. And yes, 6 pages is the short version. I am under no delusions that my children will miss me. In fact, I'm pretty sure they won't even notice we are gone. In any case, they are in good hands with their grandparents.

Here are some excerpts from the document I sent my parents that made me chuckle:

*When she goes hiking on Saturday, please have her wear A1’s old shoes. They are bluish and in a wooden crate in our bedroom over by the air vent. They are old and it won’t matter if they get messed up. Don’t let her wear a dress or anything white.

*Morning Snack: One packet of her Gerber fruit snacks. She will attempt to get more than one pack. Some days I let her have two….depends on how whiny she is and how exasperated I am.

*She prefers to have her toes covered.

*Do not let her con you into thinking flip-flops are okay foot attire for school.

*Disney Channel is #302

*Please roll the trashcan to the end of the driveway on Thursday morning (Wednesday night might be better, but don’t forget it is there when you back out of the driveway on Thursday morning…)

*Remind them to water/feed the hermit crabs.

Wordless Wednesday

Sister Superpowers

School may be back in session, but my girls are still squeezing plenty of life out of summer. Over the weekend they both went off a big diving board for the first time. We don't have a lot of opportunities to swim, and definitely not many to go off a large diving board so this was a big step for my little swimmers.

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Ainsley's first day of Kindergarten.

She donned her new backpack (despite not actually having anything to carry in it) and set out for school.

She stopped at her cubby and deposited her backpack.

Then she joined the other kids to get the day started.

From everything she told me, the day was a success. She can't wait to go back on Wednesday. I understand that staggered days help the kids who have never been away from their parents, but it's brutal on kids like Ainsley who have been waiting to start Kindergarten forever. She's had it marked on her calendar since the 2011 one went up on their closet door. But her eagerness will have to wait until Wednesday to go back.

Merry Christmas!

Today's calendar alerts me to the fact that Christmas is only five months away. But for part of my family, Christmas 2011 has already come and gone. You may remember that each July, my dad's siblings and my cousins and my grandparents gather to celebrate Christmas in July. It really does take some of the stress off the December holidays and gives an air of insanity to singing carols in the midst of a brutal heat wave.

We meet each year at a church camp outside of Chattanooga. Fortunately, all our cabins were air conditioned. (read: LIFESAVER). We spent Friday night swimming and playing games. Allie didn't go to bed until almost midnight. I think she was too excited about the whole Christmas thing.

Saturday morning....we did what everyone else does on Christmas morning....we opened gifts!

And collected bugs!

And opened gifts!

We got so many wonderful things this year. My older gals got a tea set and a homemade clothing rack for their American Girls. Allie got plenty of books, clothes and an awesome new puzzle!

We did more swimming after lunch because it was HOT!

After dinner on the grill, we celebrated my grandparents' birthdays who both turn 80 this month!

Then it was time for the all-important family portrait. It was great fun to orchestrate.

And lest you think we are too normal (wait...you probably don't think that since we celebrate Christmas in July) here's our "silly picture."

Yup, that just about sums us all up. It was a wonderful weekend. I'm grateful we all make it a priority and do our darndest to be there for some part of the weekend. It's such a special time!

Movie Review: Winnie The Pooh

Winnie the Pooh is back in theaters this summer and I must say I give it two thumbs up. I took the girls to see it on Friday, even Allie. Although it did mean she wandered around saying "Pooh! Pooh! Pooh!" for the rest of the day. It's only 69 minutes which is the perfect length for a film aimed at the younger kiddos. It was the quality storytelling you expect with Winnie the Pooh and his pals, combined with good old-fashioned animation. The songs were new and lively, which reminds me I need to go download them from iTunes. I loved the sequence where Owl's chalk drawings come to life. It was well-executed and unique.

All in all, it was a fun summer movie for my girls that we will definitely be purchasing when it comes out on DVD.

10 Years

10 years ago today Jamie and I were married. This is my favorite picture from that day.

Although there are many others. TONS of pictures in fact. Some from our photographer, some from friends and some from family. It was a well-documented wedding to say the least.

I remember so much about that day. Little details that you wouldn't think I would remember. I remember exactly the way the fabric of his tux felt as I ran my hand down his sleeve after our kiss. I remember who was there and what they said. I remember what we ate (or didn't eat as was the case with the newlyweds) and who wore a hat. It was a wonderful day. A special day.

To celebrate we are heading to Key West soon. I had wanted to be gone on our anniversary, but school starts today. Another beautiful milestone in an already blessed life. For Jamie's gift I had some new portraits made. My amazingly talented friend at work helped me set up a secret photo shoot. It's not easy to sneak a giant wedding dress out of the house under the nose of your spouse and three curious children, but we managed. She took about 200 photos that morning, but these are two of my favorites. I printed out about 25 and placed them in a handmade photo album that we were given as a wedding gift. It has be sitting empty all these years so I felt it was the appropriate way to display them.




Here's to many more years with my love......

First Day of School

The first day of school has arrived. And while the naysayers grouse about such a drastic early start time....we really like our school schedule. We've had a wonderful summer and are looking forward to the year ahead.

Today was the first day of second grade for Anastasia. Ainsley starts on Monday.

She wanted all four of us to walk her in to her classroom.

She actually has the same teacher as last year, which is wonderful. This also means she has the same classroom. I know that she will be such a good friend today and help make the new kids feel welcome and will treat the kids she already knows like old friends.

It's kind of exciting to pack up a backpack again and write little lunchbox notes. It's been a fun, lazy summer but I think we are all more than ready to get back into our routine.

Anniversary Eve

So tomorrow is our 10th anniversary. In the midst of this crazy week, we're going to celebrate 10 years of marriage. I will admit that it has been hard to reflect on that milestone this week between allergist appointments, trips to the dentist, orientation nights at school, and everything else we have going this week. But that's really what the last 3,650 days have been about. A bunch of little moments woven together to create this amazing journey we call life.

I'll share some old pictures tomorrow, but for now...a sneak peek. I found this one at mom and dad's last weekend. It's a picture mom had a in a frame. It was obviously taken with someone else's camera since I never had a copy of my own. It was taken right after the reception. I had just changed into my going away outfit and was saying goodbye to mom and dad before we left on our honeymoon. We were all such babies!

Wordless Wednesday

Mom's Barbershop

Yesterday Anastasia and Ainsley got new haircuts for school. Nothing fancy, just some trims. I was telling Granddad about it and he said, "You did get Allie's cut too, right?" Um...no, I didn't. He then proceeded to tell me he was going to take care of that himself while we are away in Florida next week.

Obviously this spurred me to action, so this morning I cut her hair myself.

She seems to like it.

And the pouty face she's giving me below is because I used my stern voice to say "sit still." She's really working that pouty lip these days.

Dog Days of Summer

What do you do when the dog days of summer arrive and settle in over your community like a wet, sticky blanket? Why you cover yourself in dish soap and hurl your body down a flimsy water-covered piece of plastic of course!

I don't know what it is about a Slip-and-Slide that is so darn amazing to kids, but they are drawn to it like a moth to a flame. I had one as a kid and now I want to rifle through mom's photo albums and see if I can find any evidence of Anna and I on our own bright yellow Slip-and-Slide.

My girls spent most of Saturday afternoon zipping down a hill in Nana and Granddad's back yard. Their knees and arms are now bruise-covered and scratched like they were on the bad end of a cat fight. Fortunately, Allie chose a safer way to enjoy it.

Nana thinks the Slip-and-Slide should be retired, but despite their banged-up limbs, my girls insist it was "Awesome!" They also got to enjoy some pool time.

Why is the sky blue?

Anastasia has grown quite philosophical of late. I'm not sure if it is the ripe old age of seven talking or more things are just starting to make sense, but she's been tossing out some real zingers lately.

Yesterday, on the way to church we passed another large church. It became obvious to her (perhaps for the first time) that this church was much closer to our home than the one we attend. "Why don't we go to that church?" she asked. Jamie and I tag-teamed a rather nice response if I do say so myself. We discussed freedom of religion and all that entailed.

I wanted to go into the fact that if we attended the church she pointed out, our dear Pastor Sarah would not be allowed in the pulpit. I wanted to say that and so much more but I kept quiet. She'll learn those things soon enough. For now, we are trying to reward her curiosity, even though that means spending our entire Sunday lunch discussing the "Cut the Baby in Half" story from 1 Kings 3.

Front Page Follies

We recently started subscribing to the Sunday newspaper. It seems a terribly backwards step for someone who lives in 2011 and gets all her news from the web but in all honestly I just wanted the coupons. We were driving to the corner every Sunday morning (read: Jamie drove to the corner store every Sunday) to get the paper so I could loot it for coupons. But then the paper sent us a killer deal we couldn't refuse so now the paper comes to my sidewalk every Sunday morning.

Yesterday I ventured outside, still in my pajamas, silently hoping my neighbors were still asleep to grab my paper. It was encased in plastic as it always is so as I walked back in I ripped it open. I tossed it on the kitchen table and turned around to get the milk for my cereal. This is what greeted me when I turned around.

Yup, that's my dad. On the front page, above the fold...with a head so big it blots out the word Knoxville. The picture on the actual story was even larger. The kids of course got a kick out of seeing Granddad in the newspaper. If you'd like to read the article you can click here. It does a pretty good job of getting to the heart of mountains and ministry...the two things that really make my father tick.