Assembly Luke and Visiting Household in Florida

Hey associates! How are you? How is your week going to this point? I let running a blog and social media fall to the wayside over the previous few days (aside from pre-written and scheduled content material) and it was for an excellent purpose.

We made our strategy to Florida to fulfill Luke, my tiny, excellent, likes-to-nurse-non-stop little nephew.

Luke is the primary boy born into my sister’s household and our boys’ first boy cousin! When Leslie first informed us she was pregnant, all of us chatted about how distinctive it will be if Leslie and Ross had three women whereas Ryan and I’ve three boys. After all we have been thrilled for an additional child — boy or woman; being pregnant loss has taught me to by no means for one second take being pregnant and wholesome infants as a right — however there was slightly a part of my coronary heart that skipped a beat once we came upon Leslie and Ross have been having their first little boy! Little boys are riiight in my wheelhouse and it was so great to fulfill their third child final weekend.

(Observe a melting Rhett behind me. Rhett truly dealt with me holding Luke pretty nicely however proper earlier than this image was taken he stated, “That my mommy” simply to verify Luke is aware of what’s up.) 

Chase, Ryder and Rhett have been very interested by their new cousin and I bought a kick out of watching them and listening to their conversations about Luke. Chase actually, actually needed to carry Luke whereas Ryder opted to go. As Chase held him, we laughed when he stated, “He all the time appears to be like slightly offended.” Newborns are the funniest little issues and watching Chase attempt to imitate the 100 totally different facial expressions Luke made in a 5-second timespan had me cracking up.

We soaked up as a lot time with Callie, Colette and Luke as attainable and crammed our days with journeys to Sunshine Park (our Jacksonville Seashore favourite!), cups of Kona Ice, a St. Patrick’s Day go to to the zoo and even some seashore and pool time.

We joked that Chase and Ryder did their very own model of a polar plunge once they jumped into the freezing pool at my dad and mom’ place after they splashed round within the surf of the ocean. They have been so amped about their chilly plunge and I can not imagine they did it. The water was next-level freezing and despite the fact that they hopped out of the pool in lower than 30 seconds, I used to be nonetheless amazed they even tried. Brrrr!

At any time when we go to Jacksonville, we nearly all the time keep at my dad and mom’ place. (Final summer time we rented a home close to my dad and mom and sister’s household for a month since we have been between homes and having our gang of 5 crammed into my dad and mom’ rental for 30-days appeared like quite a bit for everybody.) Throughout final week’s go to we, as soon as once more, stayed with my mother and pa and beloved spending time with them. My mother is a gem and had a brand new puzzle and lego kits ready for the boys which solely added to the thrill of returning to Mae and Pop’s rental.

I used to be particularly anxious to see my dad and I’d be mendacity if I stated seeing him was simple. He’s in ache and he’s struggling emotionally, bodily and mentally. Whereas his surgical procedure was slightly below two months in the past, his restoration has been crammed with issues and so they’re taking their toll on him. I’m simply praying for issues to begin going his method and for all the set backs, infections and issues to stop.

My dad is a particularly energetic and social particular person and I do know the “cabin fever” side of his restoration is attending to him. He was capable of get out for a simple journey on his seashore cruiser bike for the primary time throughout our go to and his demeanor was night-and-day totally different after his first journey out within the sunshine. I’m praying for extra of this for him sooner or later! It was laborious not having my dad alongside on our adventures however we all know and imagine that is all momentary and we’ll have our wholesome, energetic Pop again quickly.

One main spotlight from our time in Florida was the truth that our complete crew bought to see an evening launch from the balcony of my dad and mom’ rental. My mother is big-time house fanatic and continuously texts our household with updates concerning the moon, rocket launches, and many others., so she had the launch streaming on her cellphone so we have been capable of take part within the countdown after which search the horizon for the rocket.

It blew all of us away and seeing the bright-orange flare blast by means of the sky was actually unbelievable. (Sure, they’ll see launches from Cape Canaveral all the way in which in Jacksonville Seashore if the climate cooperates. So cool, proper!?) Between sea turtle nest excavations, rocket launches and lizard catching, it’s no marvel our boys all the time beg us to take them again to Florida.

(Please notice the double stroller with zero youngsters in it. If that doesn’t sum up life with a toddler or two, I don’t know what does.) 

And sure, loads of lizard searching occurred on this journey, too. The boys catch and launch one million anoles throughout our Florida visits and actually spend hours trying to find their favourite reptile associates.

The inexperienced anoles are the “prized lizard” for the boys as a result of they’re native to Florida whereas the brown anoles are an invasive species. Thanks, Creature Man, for sharing this reality with me! (When the massive youngsters catch a inexperienced anole, I’m pretty sure the entire state of Florida can hear their excited whoops and screams.)

No anole lizards got here house with us — Lucky is the right reptile for our household — and we have been joyful to be again in our personal beds heading into the week. I’m already wanting on the calendar and attempting to see once we could make our subsequent go to as a result of just a few days in Florida with household by no means fairly looks like sufficient.

I hope you’re all having an excellent week to this point and thanks a lot for stopping by the weblog as we speak!