Email Exchange

An email exchange between me and George:

Hey George!

A haiku... just for you!

Beach, sun, crashing waves

Sand in shorts, rash on bottoms

Wishing you were here.

I love you, George Glass. I hope you had a good day today and that you don't hate the clinic as much as you anticipated. Miss you...

Love Always,

Heather

 

 ... And the next day....

 

 

Fingers in rectums,

All day.  What a career choice!

The beach is better.

 

Love you!  Have a great day!

 

Love Always,

George
 

Florida--Day 6: French pastries and Fishing!

I'm getting behind! Okay, Wednesday was a relaxing day. The boys and I woke up early for some reason and watched some of the family go running on the beach. I have to admit, I wanted to go but couldn't because anyone able to watch the boys were either sleeping or running themselves. 

After everyone either woke up or came back from exercising, we all went to Mon Delice! It's this great French bakery that has the best Napoleons around. It's tradition to go every year. It never disappoints and this year was no exception.

We spent the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon just relaxing in the condo and playing with Ashely and Bethany while the Witts played racquetball. After they came home, the rest of the family went to see the movie Inception and the boys and I went to the pool and swam for a while and then went to the beach.  

Jude fell asleep while I was holding him in the waves. The water was splashing on him and everything. He must have been really tired! 

He still can't decide if he likes the beach or not. He likes the sand better than the water (maybe because the water stings if it hit his eyes?) but he's a good sport about it.

Jared, Ashely and Lance playing in the sand.

Where we are on the beach is great because in the late afternoon when the tide is going out, the sand makes a natural little pool between the waves and the shore where the kids like to play. Lance has a great time sitting in it and playing in the sand, or just laying in the water that's getting warmer and warmer as the day goes on.

After everyone else came home from the movie (which they loved!) we had dinner and then got ready to go fishing.

Lance and Aunt Amy playing "Angry Birds" on the iPod Touch

Jude is pulling himself up on furniture now and is very proud of his new-found freedom.

So, the tide was high around 10:30 p.m. and that's when we went fishing. There was a miscommunication, though, and the Brewers were not able to come. They were the ones with all the gear and bait, so we had to make do with the two working poles we had. We didn't have bait, so Kevin and Jannene went to get some. While they were gone, everyone played on the park that was right next to riverside where we were fishing. It was so much fun to play in the dark on this great wooden playground.

Lance

Jason

Kailey and Amy

Heidi and Christy

Stephen

Lance and Mom (me!)

Jason, Bethany, Kailey, and Stephen

Lance loved the tire swing! It brought back fun memories for the Allred kids when our dad would push us really fast and high on the tire swing when we were little.

Jared, Ashley, Heidi, and Bethany. The girls were very tired (it was 11 p.m. after all!) but they were very good sports.

Laura and Kailey

The gang trying to fish.

It was a little scary to fish because there was no fence to keep the kiddies from falling in. They were very careful to not get too close to the edge. Way to be good listeners!

The only fish we caught. Kevin was trying to catch some shrimp and managed to snag this little guy in the shrimping net.

Me and Lance trying to catch a fish.

Lance was so excited to go fishing! We'll have to try again.

Kailey and Christy

Evan!

Laura, Bethany, and Jason

Kevin, Heidi, and Bethany watching the shrimping light.

Even though we didn't really catch anything, it was fun to be together. Lance was exhausted and fell asleep on the way home. 

Florida--Day 5: The Four Oldest Reunion!

Another fun day at the beach! Today we went out to the sandbar and bodysurfed and boogie boarded in the three foot waves that came when the tide went out. Chad and I took Lance out there as well and he had a blast fighting the waves and jumping over them. His little head was barely above the water without the waves, but he insisted on jumping by himself (unless he saw a huge wave coming and then clung to the closest adult).

Stephen, Chad, and Lance.

Mom and Glenn

Chad and Lance

Me and Lance :)

Trying to jump the waves.

Resting in the shade. Laura, Jason, Kailey (under the towel), Lance, Bethany, Chad, and Amy

Jude is trying to pull himself up onto things and occasionally I'll look over and see him standing, holding onto the couch. Today I looked over and saw him stuck under the coffee table. He had climbed up onto the lower level and then couldn't figure out how to get down. It was really cute.

Jude's hand. His favorite thing is still to crawl over to the balcony windows and pull himself up and look through the glass. Precious baby.

Chad trimming Stephen's hair on our balcony.

That night, the four oldest cousins (and spouses) went out to dinner at the "Dolphin View". About 14 years ago when Kevin and Chad just got their driver's license, the four of us went on our first outing in the car. We borrowed Grandma's brand new Crown Victoria and drove to this restaurant on the riverside and ate shark! Yum! So, with all of us in town for the first time in many years, we decided to relive that experience!

Heather, Jared, Heidi, Chad, Jannene, and Kevin

The restaurant. :)

It was a great night of catching up, listening to each other's life stories about college, how they met their spouses, what they're up to, and how they got to where they are today. It was so fun! We had dinner, stayed after closing while we talked, and then made our way over to Outback Steakhouse for some dessert. By the time we came home, most of the family was already in bed.  It was a great day!

Florida--Day 4: Beach, magic, and family videos

Usually when we come to Florida, everyone tries to get up around 5:45 or 6:00 in the morning to go walk/run on the beach before it gets too hot. Most of the time we make it out and do our 5 mile course up to Flaglar and back. This year I can't really go because I have two little boys and only one stroller, but this morning I was able to go with my mom, Jason, and Stephen around 7:30 while Lance stayed with Laura and Amy. It was nice to get in a little exercise before the day started, but you really do need to go a little earlier. It was super hot!

We spent a few hours on the beach today playing in the waves and sitting in the sun. It was great!

Amy helped Lance boogie-board while I took pictures.

Lance thought it was great fun until I tried to help him and proceeded to dump him off his board in huge waves twice. He popped out of the water after getting tumbled and said, "that was scary!" and then went and asked Chad to help him because "Mommy is the worst at boogie-boarding." :( Good thing I have another week and a half to convince him otherwise.

Jude was a little sleepy, but he had fun being a merman and eating sand.

He thought his toes were more interesting.

He is very interested in the water, but still a little wary after Friday when the waves washed over his face a few times. I was careful to make sure it was a happy experience today and by the end his confidence had mostly come back.

Trying to catch the water Amy was shooting for him. He loves water!

Heidi and her girls Ashley and Bethany. It's so fun to play with them and see how much the girls have grown since we saw them last in 2008.

Cousins! Bethany, Jason, Jake, Kailey, Laura, and Amy.

Chad keeping an eye on the boys while Jude naps. 

Chad and I played with Jude in the little pool made by a dip in the sand when the tide went out. It was nice because the waves were minimal and the water was a little warmer.

We came inside and enjoyed the cool air. Lance has discovered the games "Angry Birds" and "Plants vs. Zombies" on my iPod Touch and begs to play it whenever we have some down time.

While Lance played in the pool with his aunt and uncles, I made chicken adobo for dinner. It was a success and everyone liked it.

Reading on the balcony after dinner. Chad got two copies of the book "Hunger Games". I've gotten 56 pages into it and I'm hooked already!

Jude is pulling himself up on things now and loves to crawl over to the window to the balcony and look out at the water. What a happy baby!

Our cousin Kevin and his wife Janene came into town late last night. I haven't seen them in 6 years! They live in Oregon and run a business where Kevin does magic shows/performances and Janene is his personal assistant. They've been very successful. They put on a magic show for the family and it was so much fun!

This was not part of the magic show... Chad and Kevin wanted to arm wrestle.

It ended in a draw. :)

The kids all loved watching Kevin do magic, especially Lance. If I had known he was this into magic shows I would have taken him to one sooner! He laughed and participated the whole time. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Doing a trick for the adults.

Me and Jude watching the show.

Janene made the kids (and some adults) balloon animals. They were amazing! She made a baby ram, teddy bear, a cool pirate sword, and even a baseball player holding a bat! I've never seen such intricate designs.

After the show while the whole family was in our condo, we watched some of our favorite family videos. Our all-time favorite is from Christmas 1985 when the four oldest cousins (Kevin, Chad, Heidi, and Heather) and Amy and Evan did a program to send to the Brewer Grandparents. It is hilarious! We're all 5 or younger and we're singing songs and answering questions about ourselves and what we want for Christmas. And, of course, I'm two and cranky the whole time. We had a great time watching it with everyone and laughing at it all over again.

Mom and Glenn with a sleepy Jude.

In our family video, our mothers keep us in line by promising us a piece of chocolate candy if we can all be good and do the program. We still claim to this day that we never got the candy, so tonight Grandma Brewer went to her car and gave everyone a piece of chocolate candy. :)

It was a really fun day! We are loving being here with family. The only thing missing now is George. I guess we'll just have to wait until Friday when he flies in. I can't wait!