Labor Day Weekend

To commemorate the last weekend of summer (a joke in Florida, of course), we headed down to Pompano Beach which is just north of Fort Lauderdale.  I am usually not a big fan of the ocean with the kids because you have to drive an hour to get there, lug everything on to the beach, sit there for awhile in the blazing sun, lug it all back to the car, deal with all the sand everywhere, and if you get really unlucky like we did in June when we went, suffer through a thunder and lightening storm with your kid who goes hysterical over it.  Yeah, the beach isn't my favorite thing.  BUT, if we actually stay somewhere ON the beach so that you literally walk from your door to the beach, that is completely different.  That is what we did in this case with a last minute deal at a Marriott hotel.

We headed down Sabbath afternoon - - it's about a three hour drive for us.  Just as we pulled up, I realized I had forgotten Colby's pack-n-play and Brady's sleeping bag. Whoops.  Thankfully they did have a pack-n-play so that crisis was averted.  There were no extra blankets in the room but we did request one and that worked for Brady on the floor (yes, I know it seems a little mean that he just sleeps on the floor but he still has a toddler bed at home and rolls out of any bed that doesn't have sides.  We know because it's happened).

A little dark but you can see the blue of the ocean at least.

View from our patio.

We still had a little time left in the day so it was out to the beach from there.  For a holiday weekend, the beach was pretty deserted...many because it was later in the day?  I'm not sure but it was very nice  to have so few people around us.  The water was a perfect temperature and the beach was just complete sand.  It was wonderful.

We ate some food we had brought with us and then it was off to Sawgrass Recreation Park (about 45 minutes away) to do a "Gator Night Tour." Basically it is an airboat ride but at night.  This park is located on the outskirts of the Everglades but as was clarified for me, it is not part of the Everglades National Park.

The kids have never been on an airboat ride before and it's been decades for me (and never at night, of course) so we were all pretty excited.  There were 25 of us on the boat so it was pretty good size.  Our captain was Gerald and I can only describe him as one of the most authentic persons I've ever seen.  He was probably in his 60's and he had a Southern (I guess that's what you'd call it?) accent and told us right off that he lived on a manmade island in the middle of the Everglades and he rode a boat into work every day.  He had been doing these tours and working in the Everglades for the last 30 years and although there were many other captains for the airboat tours, he was the only one who would do them at night.  The others were "too cautious." That made you stop and think!  He explained that although it was very dark and we ourselves wouldn't be able to spot gators, he had on a very powerful headlamp and he would be scanning the water back and forth and his light would catch the glint in the gators eyes.  Then, he would drive over to the gator and if it didn't dive under, we would be able to see it.

Long pants and sleeves and lots of bug spray.  Although we were moving so fast most of the time, we didn't have to deal with bugs.

Gerald

We managed to sit in the front row and the whole thing was just awesome!  There was just a sliver of a moon so yes, it was pretty dark!  You could see grass/bullrushes sticking up in the water in front of you and Gerald would just drive through it.  He somehow knew where he was going although it seemed to me that a person could get lost pretty easily out there.  Sure enough, he kept sweeping his headlamp back and forth as he drove and after about 15 minutes, he spotted one!  Once he slowed down, we could see the glowing eyes way off in the distance as his light stayed on it.  The gator didn't go under but instead just kind of treaded water as our boat approached. We were able to get right up next to him.  This experience repeated itself about five more times and I will say it was a neat rush each time you would spot the gator eyes way off in the distance.  About the second or third gator we spotted, we all got a rush of adrenaline.  Gerald explained that when the light shines in the gators eyes, they become blind, just like we would with a light shining in ours.  Sometimes they'll crash into the boat because they can't see where they are going. We pulled up to this one gator who started swimming right towards the boat at a high rate of speed...and he didn't slow down until he smacked right into the side of the boat directly next to Duncan and Brady.  It was pretty freaky and I think a few of us screamed! A few minutes later, Brady comes and sits next to me and I find out that he was doing so because he was afraid Duncan was going to throw him in.  When the gator had crashed into the boat, Duncan had picked Brady up very quickly and was holding him near the edge of the boat so he could see but in Brady's little mind, he somehow though Duncan was going to throw him in!  We felt really bad and Duncan obviously assured him that wasn't the case at all.

Another time near the end of the trip, Gerald slowed down and we coasted for several hundred feet at least.  None of us could see anything so we wondered what he was looking at.  Finally, we saw.  There amongst the bullrushes was a baby alligator about the size of my forearm.  We were all completely astounded as to how Gerald could have possibly seen a gator so tiny from so far away but somehow he did.  He explained that most baby alligators get eaten by male alligators but this one was about a year old and had survived.

The tour was supposed to be an hour long but you could tell that Gerald was really enjoying himself and we didn't end up back until about 20 minutes past the end time (it was now 9:50).  By this time, poor Brady was really tired and had his head down on my lap.  We piled into the van and all the kids were asleep in about 10 minutes (or 10 seconds in Brady's case).  Duncan and I drove back in contented silence.  The sound of a fun day for your kids!

After a good night of sleep (kids slept with no problems although some really loud people in the hallways woke me up at some point in the night), we headed down for breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  We got a deal where the breakfast buffet was included for Duncan and me and then all kids under 12 eat free so that meant free breakfast for all.  After that, it was on to the beach where most of us would remain for the whole day.  The kids had a really, really great time, I would say in particular Aubree and Brady although all of them loved it.  Calleigh enjoyed going back and forth between the pool and the ocean but Aubree and Brady just wanted to stay in the ocean the whole time, playing in the waves.  Again, there wasn't a huge crowd of people which was very nice although the pool, which seemed particularly tiny for a hotel, WAS a bit crowded.

Breakfast

The tiny pool  This was taken early Monday morning before we left.  Hence why there aren't many people in it.

At one point, Duncan took Calleigh and Colby to the pool and I stayed in the ocean with Aubree and Brady.  Brady had his goggles on and was trying to swim and look for shells or what have you on the bottom.  I told him he needed to get the snorkel so he wouldn't have to keep coming up for air.  He ran and got it and I helped him put it on and he used it for about two minutes.  Then, he stands up, takes it off, and turns to me and says, "Can I throw this on the beach so we can just enjoy the waves?"






I took Colby up for a nap about 2:00 pm and Duncan stayed out with the other three. About 4:30 pm, they all came back in so we could get ready to go get some supper (we hadn't eat lunch).  As they traipsed back in, I took one look at them and said "Oh, no." Yup, we were those parents who did a horrible job of reapplying the sunblock. Poor Aubree, especially, with her fair hair was completely red faced. Parenting fail! Clearly we are not accustomed to being outside for the entire day like we were.

We ate at the fine establishment of Kiki's Pizza where a family of six can eat for the low price of $24 which included a beverage for Duncan.  Can't beat that!  When we got back, Aubree's belly wasn't feeling very good so I stayed with her while Duncan took the other three to the pool (we weren't going to battle sand again, for sure).  After they came back, Duncan, Calleigh, and Brady curled up in one bed and Aubree, Colby, and I in the other and we watched a few episodes of Beachfront Bargain Hunt.  It was very relaxing and I really enjoyed all of us lounging together.  Of course, eventually we had to break the party up so that everyone could go to the proper beds to sleep.  It didn't take much urging since everyone was tired out from all the sun.

Brady actually fell asleep under this desk because he left the bed in a huff because at some point he didn't want to be in the same bed as Calleigh as we were watching the show.

When I woke up Monday morning I couldn't find Duncan or Calleigh.  Finally looked on the patio and found them playing Monopoly Deal.

Monday morning we got an early start because the plan was to go to Lion Country Safari which was about a 55-minute drive north from the hotel (in the town of Loxahatchee, just west of West Palm Beach).  We wanted to be there at 9:30 when it opened especially since we thought it might rain later in the day.  Lion Country is indeed a safari where you drive your car through the "safari" and wild animals are roaming freely around.  Sadly(?) this did not include the actual lions who were penned up but we did have huge rhinos walking right next to our car as well as zebras, giraffes, tortoises, ostriches, and numerous other animals, most of which I've never heard of before. At one point, we pulled up next to some grazing animals and I looked down at my handout to identify them and Brady says "Look at the wildebeests." Yup, sure enough.  That kid had learned more from watching Wild Kratts than you could in a textbook.
It took us about an hour to drive through the safari and then we parked to do the walking part of the park which had some rides, lots of more animals, a splash playground, two waterslides, a train ride, paddle boats, etc.  I was fearful it would be very crowded because of the holiday but we didn't have to wait to do anything. It took us several hours to get through everything (did I mention it is still very HOT in Florida at the beginning of September) and we ended our time with a meal in their very reasonably priced restaurant.  Just as we were finishing up (about 2:00 pm), it started to sprinkle so our timing seemed to be perfect.

The lions

Got to feed the giraffes.

With all four of them sitting together on this little train ride, I will admit I had a tear in my eye thinking about them all getting older.

The boys took a nice long nap on the way back and it was an uneventful trip although we did feel incredibly bad for all the people headed south on the turnpike as it was backed up for miles.  Apparently lots of people must come up to Disney for the long weekend.

It was a great trip but it didn't end on a positive note for Aubree.  As she was getting ready for bed, she couldn't find her "Aubree" blanket and we realized we must have left it in the bed in the hotel.  She has had the blanket since birth and has her name embroidered on it.  She was devastated, of course, and I thought "Here we go again" since I quickly recalled Calleigh's reaction to losing her "Calleigh" teddy bear on our trip to Williamsburg last year.  I was confident, though, that the hotel would find the blanket in the bed since I was 99% confident that's where it was. She had slept with it that night. Alas, no luck.  We called that evening and again the next day and they said they'd get back in touch.  I called them a third time on Wednesday and they said they didn't have it.  So discouraging especially when you KNOW that's where it was. Someone (a former employee of Duncan's) had handmade the blanket so I know I can't get the exact same one but we will work on getting a new one for her.  Note to self: Do not let kids bring their precious belongings when we are going to hotels.

Tuesday morning it was back to business.  Work for Dad and school for the kids. Brady is still going strong with his schooling but it comes and goes. Sometimes he'll just play with Colby for long stretches and then come to ask to do school work. Sometimes he wants to do it right away.

Wednesday the girls started their homeschool PE class.  We had started doing it at the end of last school year and are happy to be getting in at the very beginning this time.  It is a measly $8 for the month (every Wednesday).  The teacher, Rodney, is really great with the kids.  They are doing soccer this month and will be doing a different sport each month.  The only downside is that you have to be six so Brady can't do it.  I thought about doing the homeschool gymnastics again so he could join but it's so expensive and frankly, I'm appreciative of not having another commitment.  Our school days are definitely longer this year with some additional subjects we haven't done in the past.  It is so nice to just be able to work uninterrupted in the mornings to get our work done rather than having to break for some class (the PE class is at 10:00 which is most inconvenient). Even with days without interruption, I am still finding that the girls are having to finish their individual work after lunch which generally didn't happen in the past.  Still, we school much less than a regular school when you consider we don't start until around 9:30 or 10:00 am.

The boys having fun in the game room during PE (these are free).

If you've ever read the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, you will recognize this letter tree that I started for Brady.  So far we have "A" and "B."

Some other pictures from the week...

At ice skating on Tuesday night, one of the local girls was headed off to a competition so she did her routine (to music) for all the kids.

For Science, we had to start a fire using the sun and a magnifying glass.  It worked.  Don't try this at home, kids. Ha!

On Thursday afternoon, one of Aubree's best friends, Eva, and her mom and two sisters, came over for a play date.  It was a great time!

For years I've wanted Calleigh to love reading as I do and finally things have started to click.  I haven't had the heart to tell her no reading at the table since it's all so new.

Brady with a "broken" foot, lots of bandages, and a "Pick-Up-Sticks" canister representing a prosthetic arm. Not sure what happened to him.

Have a great week!