4th of July

Happy 4th of July!  We had a great 4th.  I think the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays.  No presents or gifts to buy.  It's a low stress, big fun holiday.  I love the carefree, fun attitude. I love hanging out with family and friends.  I  love the colors.  I love our county.  I love the unity.  I love the weather.  This 4th was no exception, the colors, fun, friends and weather were all wonderful.

I couldn't help but think that last year at this time I was visiting my family in Utah.  I ran in the Freedom Run in Provo and then hung out with my family and watched fireworks on the hill by Provo Canyon.  So many memories.  
This year I wanted to run in the Firecracker 5k in Naples.  I love running in races on holidays, it's always so fun!  Everyone is dressed up and it's just a fun atmosphere.  Darren had to work at 5 in the morning  so I had a dilemma of what to do with Gabe during the race.  I didn't want to ask anyone to watch him that early in the morning, so I decided to just take him with me and push him in the race.  It was a pain.  LOL ok if only I had put sparkly red, white and blue lights all over his stroller and then I would have felt less serious- but I wanted to get a good time!  And actually I did pretty well and was proud of myself- I ran it in 25 min and 16 seconds, which is a 8 min and 7 second mile-pushing a stroller while weaving through a thousand people.  Ok, only 918 people, but close.   That is really good for me- that is my best time by a minute!  There I just bragged about myself, hope you don't mind.  I just want my posterity to know how fast I was. Paul came with me cause he is my morning guy, and he ran the 1K.  It was fun for him.  Here is a picture after the race.

I love my Bob stroller!  I have put many, many miles on that thing and pushes great!  Doesn't Gabe look comfy?

Feeling great!

 After the race Paul and I went and put our beach chairs on the parade route.  The parade was going to start in about and hour and there were only 2 other chairs on the street.  That should have told me something.  Pretty much the most boring parade I have ever been to.  There was not 1 marching band or 1 float.  Seriously?!  No bagpipes!  The whole thing was Veterans and advertisements and a huge group of old men wearing hats that reminded me of the Freemasons. It was strange.   

Gabe was cute sitting in this chair, then getting out, then sitting, then walking up to people and then turning around and running back to me.  He was so much fun to watch, he was more entertaining than the parade. 

My kids were only there for the candy.

Gotta love the American Flag!  I love our country!

There was lots of candy thrown out.  One of my kids gave Gabe a sucker and that was the end.  All he wanted was more suckers!  My kids thought it was hilarious and just kept giving him suckers.  He had to have one in each hand! 

Gabe refuses to look at me when I am trying to take his picture.  It's like he knows or something.

Look at me!

Gabe!  Look at me!

GABE!!!

Yea!!

2 suckers! Sugar rush!

 Darren got off early so during the day we took naps, went swimming.  That night we had a party at our house and had friends bring appetizers.  It was fun.  Then we went over to Micah and Jillian's for some sweet fireworks!  

Me and my sweetie!  They had patriotic music playing in the background which was awesome.  It just totally set the right mood.

Oh yea! The weather was beautiful!  Not to hot and not to cold.

Micah lighting off fireworks.  He was like a kid in a candy store. 

Tess, Josyln, Joshua, and Liam

Megan, me and Jillian- I love these girls!

LOL and here is Mark (Megan's husband) cleaning up the fireworks. 

 We had such a great time.  It is nice to have such good friends.  And by the way, Mark (guy pictured above) and Darren are going to be in Tampa together for the next rotation.  Yes, Darren is going away for another month.  He leaves this Sunday.  We are sad, but it's not as far and not as long.  But I'm getting off track.  This is the end of our 4th of July.  It ended with a bang!

Darren's Birthday

Darren recently turned a big 36!  I bought a kayaking and lunch date in the Everglades off Groupon.  Darren works so hard and studies so much he hardly ever takes a break or relaxes anymore.  I can see it in his eyes - no matter what we do I can tell he is thinking about clinicals the next day, or his next test or paper.  The poor guy.  On the way down I told him " It's your birthday, just relax and have a good time!"  He said, " Babe, I won't be able to fully relax until I get a job and get a paycheck.  I am a man and need to be able to support our family."  I have thought about that a lot.  I am so grateful that he is so dedicated to be good at his job.  And for being such a hard worker and willing to work for our family so I can stay home with the kids.  It took him a little time, but by the time we were half way through the kayaking trip he started to enjoy himself.  We had a great time together. 

Off we go! Hope we don't tip and get eaten by alligators.  Seriously, that's not even funny.

I said relax!!

Like this- see just smile:)

Do these sun glasses make me look like a movie star?  Cause that's the look I'm going for!

The scenery was beautiful.  We saw a  Manatee surface, so we started kayaking towards it, when we got about 15 feet away it freaked out and it's tail came crashing up out of the water and back down and up and down and up and down.  It swam away super fast creating a huge wake with it's tail.  It was AWESOME!  Except it rocked our kayak and that freaked me out a little bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ-7ynGACBE

My feet

All along the edges are these creepy crabs that climb up the roots, They look like spiders- it is creepy!!

I tried to upload the video but it wouldn't work- so you can check it out on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM35axYTNEQ&feature=youtu.be

Osprey's nest up in the trees

We sat and watched the Osprey for a while.  The birds in the everglades are amazing.

Gator in the water!  First and only one we saw- cause it's the summer time.  If you go to the everglades in the winter you will see tons more because the water is colder so they come up and lay out on the shores.

Here's a short video of the gator

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtbRX1g7XxE

This is where we rented the kayak and had lunch.  It was just perfect! Everglades City is a fun little town. I think they just call it a city to trick people into going there. 

Here is the view from where we had lunch.

LOL- gotta love the Florida humidity and heat!  Nice and sweaty from those comfy lifejackets!

All the houses in Everglades "City" are up on stilts and the garages are underneath. 

Another cool house- I love the colors!

I just loved this field of palm trees that we drove along for a while.  I finally had to get out and take a picture.  It kinda reminded me of a Dr. Seuss illustration.  My picture just doesn't do it justice. 

After lunch we headed home, which is only about an hour away, and hung out with the kids the rest of the day.  It really was so nice to go out on such a cool date with Darren.  I love where we live- we have had so many good times here!

Kids triathalon

One of the fun things we have done this summer is exercise.  Yea, my kids don't like it as much as I do, but we registered them for a triathlon which gave them something to train for.  Their hard work paid off and it was a piece of cake for them- and lots of fun for them, not so much for me.  Darren was out of town and I was watching 3 kids for the weekend- so I had 7 kids with me.  It was crazy trying to get their bikes set up and helmets on all while trying to keep Gabe  from running into the street or getting close to the alligator infested pond.  But once they started the first younger kids race it was great.
 Here the distances.

Ages 7-10:

• Run .4 miles
• Bike 1.5 miles
• Swim 100 yards

Ages 11-13:

• Run .8 miles
• Bike 3.0 miles
• Swim 200 yards

So Ellie and Kyle and our friend Caroline ran with the younger group.  Here they are running.  

Ellie in the blue shirt and pink bike transitioning from running to biking.

Kyle with his hand right in front of his face waving to me!

Ellie getting off her bike ready to swim.

Kyle and Caroline

The kids swam in the lazy river with the current so I think it was extra easy. 

Ellie and her very good friend Emma.  Yea, they are the same age.

Kyle, Caroline, and Ellie- awesome kids!

The older kids were up after the younger group.  There were some pretty serious kids doing this! Here is Paul right before the start.

And their off!  It took longer cause the running and biking were further.

Go Paul!

Yea!

Good job buddy!

Here's the crew! Ellie, Kyle, Kyle's friend Benjamin, Paul and Ellie's friend Caroline. 

 I it was a fun race.  The younger group was definitely more crazy and chaotic and a few kids turfed it on their bikes, but it was super fun. Way to go kids!

24th of July and such

There is so much I want to post about.  We have done so many fun things this summer- but it will have to wait till after the 24th of July.  Cause It's midnight and I've got a big sewing project.   See, I was sitting in primary on Sunday and looking at this cute pioneer outfit our Primary President brought and thought, "hmm, we should have a 24th of July party.  I could make an outfit like that for Ellie. I have a day to make it.  I'll do it!"  So today we went to the fabric store, (which is heaven to me, I can feel my heart sing anytime I go into a fabric store). Ellie and I chose out some fun fabrics.  We came home and I made a bonnet for her.  Then I made a bonnet for her friend.  Now it is almost midnight.  I still want to make a skirt, and apron for her, but I need to go to bed.  We've got dentist appointments and the party tomorrow.  Every night when the kids are asleep and it's all quiet I wish so badly I could pause time and get some stuff done.  Fun stuff- sewing and painting and blogging.  But no, time must go on.  So instead of time pausing, it keeps going and I just end up staying up late.  hmmph.   So it will be a few days before I get some serious blogging done.

On a side note the other day my 7 year old Kyle said a funny thing.  He said, "you know, 6 year olds, and 7 year olds, and 8 year olds- those are my kind of people.  3 year olds, and 4 year olds, and 5 year olds, their just to babyish for me."  Ok Kyle, glad to know, I won't make you hang out with any 3 year olds:)

Summer Time Summer Time

I wasn't really looking forward to this summer.  I am not sure why- I pictured myself laying on the couch in curlers and pajamas with sweat dripping off my nose trying to fan myself to get cool.  I could just see all the kids jumping all over me with nothing to do and nowhere to go because of the heat.
It hasn't been like that at all!  It has been great! In fact, it has been so fun I haven't blogged for a month! The weather here has just been AMAZING.  I mean, just absolutely beautiful and so much fun.
Typically our days go like this.  We get up- semi early.   I go to the gym while the older kids do jobs.  Then we do something fun- like the pool or Children's Museum or library.  Then we go home and Gabe takes a nap from 12-3 and I clean up, make dinner, surf the internet and search for jobs for Darren while I let the kids have quiet time- usually electronics or a book.   My kids have read a TON this summer which I am so happy about.  I won't lie, they have watched a ton of movies too.  But it's fun, I don't mind.  Then when Gabe wakes up it usually rains, so we just hang out.  Then Darren gets home from work and we have dinner and then go to the pool till it gets dark.  Then we come home and have what I like to refer to as "2nd dinner".  Which usually consists of a bowl of cereal or a sandwich.  Swimming makes us hungry- what can I say?    Then Darren usually has to show the kids something funny on the internet which usually leads to something else funny and we are all watching funny videos till it's way past time for bed.  I have had a hard time putting my kids to bed early (except Gabe) because we are usually having a fun time together! So lately we have all been going to bed at the same time.  And then I sneak out of bed and look for jobs and dream of houses in the peace of the night till the wee hours of the morning.  It's fun!
Some mornings all the kids climb in bed with me and we spend an hour just playing with Gabe trying to make him laugh, or talk, or point to his nose.  He is the center of everyone's attention.  He is so cute!  Sometimes I think, "what did we used to do before we sat around Gabe all day just playing with him?" This summer has been one to remember.
We have also done a lot of fun activities- but my favorite thing of all is just laying in bed in the morning nursing Gabe and snuggling with my kids instead of rushing them out the door to get on the bus.  Wait, maybe that is similar to me laying on the couch with my hair in curlers and kids climbing all over me.  I guess in Florida, the air conditioning makes all the difference.