Back to School

It's that time of year again; homework, lunches, hectic schedules, tests, activities, etc., etc.  Back to school for my two kiddos.  I have one off to 10th grade and the other off to first day of middle school.

My daughters big concern as she starts 10th grade is her GPA and meeting her goal of doing dual-enrollment in high school and college starting her junior year.  My sons big feat this year is managing the huge leap from being one classroom with one teacher to switching between six classes and six teachers.  Also, he will go from having 30 minutes of homework to having up to 3 or more hours of homework per night.  This will be another big adjustment as homework in any capacity is not his forte.

For me, this year is going to be a bit more challenging that the past years have been.  Up until two months ago. my husband worked from home so he handled all homework and evening activity carpools.  With my husband getting home late from his new job, I get to take on this new responsibility.  This means I get up at 5:30 am and crash at 11pm with no time for myself.  This includes not having hardly any time to workout which is my life line.  I was worn out after week one and just doing a rain dance today since schools are closed because of tropical storm Isaac.  Such is the life of a working mom.

I love my kids more than life itself and I'd do this and more for them any day or every day of the week.  I'm just praying for the strength to do the balancing act and to avoid a nervous break down by the end of the school year.

2012-2013 school year here we come!

The Keys - Kid-Free Trip #2

The trip down to the Florida Keys was quite enjoyable and less of an "adventure" than the last trip.  We left Saturday morning and rode down to Islamorada with no problems.  We ate a great little lunch before heading to Key West.

We stayed at a small bed and breakfast off Duval Street.  The lady at the front desk walked us to our room.  There was free happy hour where the staff and guests sit together and tell stories.  We also enjoyed relaxing by their small pool surrounded by tropical trees.  We absolutely loved it!

That particular weekend was Lobster Fest in Key West.  There were tons of grills in the middle of Duval Street grilling fresh lobster in the half shell.  Holy crap, it was the best lobster I've ever had.  It may have even the best seafood I've ever had and that's saying a lot since I'm a seafood fanatic.  We watched street performances where my husband was called from the crowd to participate because he looked like a "strong guy".  We also watched the infamous Key West sunset even though it was cloudy and then toiled around from place to place afterwards.

We had a lazy Sunday morning eating breakfast by the pool then hopped back on the motorcycle and headed north.  Overall it was an amazing weekend.  I just simply love hanging out with my husband.  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life and such an amazing marriage.

Here are some pics from the trip.

All About the Adventure - Kid-Free Trip #1

A motorcycle trip to Marco Island on the west coast of Florida.  Seems simple and relaxing enough, right?  Not so much!  We started on our adventure south and stopped in south Miami to fill up with gas before heading across the barren Everglades.  We both jump back on the bike, my husband turns the key, and nothing.  It's dead!  Now, trying to find a person that both spoke English and had jumper cables was like trying to find Waldo.  After about an hour we finally did.  Mind you, the temperature this day has a heat index of 115.  We start heading east but my husband doesn't feel comfortable that the bike will start up again if we stop in the middle of the Everglades to eat at our favorite stop, Joanie's.  He pulls over in a shopping center, turns off the bike, sits a minute and cranks.  Once again, nothing.  Ugh, now we're in a less trafficked area so he pushes the bike to a gas station and we're once again in the same boat.  About another hour later and the help of an English and Spanish speaking gentleman, we are riding and on our way going way out of the way to a dealership to replace the battery.  Three hours and $200 later, we have a running motorcycle.  By this time it is 5:00.  Anyone that has ever spent anytime in south Florida in the summer knows that it storms every afternoon.
We didn't get to ride through just one storm going across the Everglades, but three!  Yes, three!  We finally arrive to Joanie's, the only place to stop on the 90 mile path, to find that it was closed.  It is 6:00 and we hadn't eaten all day and guess what?  Yes, it is raining.  We decide to push through the rain that felt like needles and we were both shivering cold.  We finally arrive in Marco Island where it is nice and sunny.  We check into our quaint hotel and go immediately to eat.  I drank and ate so fast I was sick for a good two hours but the restaurant was excellent.

We get up the next morning and eat at a nice breakfast restaurant where the waitress and I shared the same first name, Nell, and then leave to go check out the beach.  The beach in Marco Island is literally the widest beach I have ever seen.  Also, the public access area requires that you walk a half mile (literally) around a dirty lagoon to get to the Gulf of Mexico.  We did and the only nice thing about the beach was the shelling.  The water wasn't even remotely clear.  I guess I'm spoiled from frequenting the beaches on the east coast of Florida.  We stay only 30 minutes because at this point my husband is getting really nervous about leaving too late to hitting rain again.  We decide to go ahead and leave and hit Key Biscayne on the way home.

Well, we didn't hit a drop of rain going back.  We were beat down by rain going to Marco Island and we were beat down by sun coming home.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky.  I have an olive complexion and hardly ever burn and have literally never burned when continually applying sunscreen.  There's a first for everything.  My entire back was red and already hurting before we even got home.  My husband was burnt to a crisp, which isn't surprising since he's the whitest guy I know.

So, they say it's all about the adventure.  Well, we definitely had that and now we have a great story to tell.  Next weekend, the Florida Keys!


Boots on and ready to ride.


You're hopeful to make it through one of the clearings, but it never happens.


Joanie's, closed on the way there and the way back. :(


At the restaurant in Marco Island after a long and hard ride.


Me and a manatee. Random pic on the walk back to the hotel.


The shells. The only good thing about the beach.


Smallest post office in the world on Tamiami Trail.


Looking back at the city of Miami as we head to Key Biscayne.

Going East to West

For a while now we've planned for my children to fly across the country to visit my parents for two weeks.   The airline considers a 15 year old to be an "adult" so the tickets were purchased with my daughter being the adult flying and my son being the accompanying child.  I convinced the airline attendant to allow me to walk them to the gate which apparently is not something they normally do since my daughter was flying as "adult".  I was totally fine playing games and laughing with the kids while we waited for them to start boarding the plane.  I walked them to the gate and hugged them both goodbye.  They scanned their tickets and as they started walking down the tunnel to the plane, I turned into the crazy mom yelling goodbye over and over.  Neither one of them turned around.  It was at that moment that I realized how incredibly grown up they are, how independent they are, and how much they really don't need me.  My next logical step was to sit at the window and wait for their plane to take off while crying profusely....obviously.

Now that they are gone, I still miss them dearly because they are my life but I am now focusing on spending some amazing one-on-one time with my wonderful husband.  First weekend will be spent in Marco Island and the second weekend will be spent in the Florida Keys.  Each of these excursions will be via the motorcycle, of course.  There will be more posts to come on our couple adventures.

Camp and Change

The past two weeks my children have attended camp with our church (www.cbglades.com); my daughter went to high school camp the first week and my son went to middle school camp the second week.  This was my daughter's third church camp experience and my sons first.

My daughter has had a bit of a rough year and 9th grade was really difficult for her.  Life gets busy and crazy and it's easy to lose focus as adults much less as teenagers.  I am so proud of this girl as she recommitted her life to Jesus and got baptized at camp.  She is devoted to God and putting Him first.

My son went to camp knowing no one but I was not very concerned as this kid is so outgoing and makes friends wherever he goes.  As you can see, he had no problem as all the pictures in this post are of him that I grabbed from leaders posting on Facebook and Twitter.  When asked what his favorite part of camp was, he said the worship.  He loved the message and the music and camp definitely renewed in his faith.  When I picked him up, I asked what he thought about his camp experience and he said, "it was the best 4 days of my life."

Check out the pics of my son and the overall camp summary video.  I'm so blessed to be a part of this church and a youth volunteer with these awesome students.