10 Hours in the Florida Keys

My blogger friends Laura from The View From My Window and Christine from Just Blue Dutch nominated me for a 7 day Nature Photo Challenge a few weeks ago. Thank you Laura and Christine- your beautiful blogs with their amazing photography and insightful ways of looking at the world inspire me daily. This is my take on the 7 day Nature Photo Challenge- a travel diary of 10 hours we spent in the Florida Keys this past December.

December 29, 2015

9 a.m.

We leave the house much later than we wanted to. Considering there’s 7 of us including my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, it’s a wonder we made it out at all. It’s always a pretty drive though through the colorful neighborhoods of Miami. Ocean air. Billowy clouds. Lots of interesting characters to look at along the way.

12:30 p.m.

Finally. The 7 Mile Bridge. We are able to view where the sea meets the horizon for one solid blue line of harmony. This view always takes my breath away. As we drive down the highway and through the many miles of bridges along the Florida Keys, this view is all one sees when you look to the left and when you look to the right. There is no other place like it in the world.

3:00 p.m.

After getting caught in terrible traffic because a boat literally caught on fire on the highway and because it’s only 2 lanes all the way down- 1 lane going and 1 lane coming back, we have to change plans and stop much earlier than Key West- our original destination. We will never make it to Key West- I really had wanted to wave to Cuba and eat key lime pie but that will have to be next time. We discover instead the Marathon Keys. There is an exquisite beach with easy street parking nearby and a children’s playground. What luck! One of the many things I love about South Florida is the diversity of tongues you hear, the many tourists and families from all around the world speaking so many languages, each with their own accents. Heavenly music to my ears.

6:30 p.m.

We spend the afternoon playing in the water and sand. Ocean swimming. Hubby and I take turns with the kids. I race the boys out to go as far as we can go. Baby girl cries for me from shore and runs away from the crashing waves.The Atlantic is salty, pure and through. It stings your eyes, parches you out and leaves you feeling utterly relaxed and spent. We stay as long as the sun will permit us.

7:45 p.m.

We watch the sun set another day as we make the long drive home. Was it worth the drive? I look back at everyone’s sleeping faces- heads and toes sandy and salty and dirty. The smell of stale chips, sandwiches, cereal bars in the car. Half-empty water bottles rolling around on the floor. Hubby looking at me while he changes the radio station. If I close my eyes, we could both be 20 years old again, making this drive in a two-door car and not a mini-van with 3 sleeping kids in the back. Not having to sneak in real conversations with interruptions every 5 minutes. Not having to stop to let someone go to the bathroom.

Yes, without a doubt, it’s always worth the drive to the Florida Keys.

 

 

Heart

Leaving a little bit of our heart in San Francisco- as we always do. Grateful for quality time spent with each other and loved ones we don’t get to see everyday. Happy Easter Sunday to all.

Morpho Butterflies and Wendy’s Frostys

Random ramblings reflect my scattered state of mind. I’ve got a plumber in the house doing work, interrupting my routine and schedule. There’s a deep layer of fog covering the sky this morning and every kid was late to school because of daylight savings time. Gotta love it.

In an effort to combat the fatigue of too much screen time, we’ve got a house rule that the kids only get screen time – time on iPads, phones, computer and video games – from Friday through Sunday. We limit it to one hour per kid each of those days. This strategy has backfired on us I think because what happens then is that Friday afternoons end up being indoors, in front of screens like maniacs. Then the weekends we are constantly managing this whole who gets what screen when. It is extremely frustrating and if anyone out there has come up with better ways of managing this, please share! But we haven’t come up with a better solution so we continue on.

This past Friday was an early school release day which meant we had hours of potential screen time in front of us. And it was nice out- like the sun is out and it’s above 60 degrees kind of nice. I dislike the idea of squandering good weather. So I put my big Momma foot down.

We are visiting the Butterfly House this afternoon I announced to the kids. Reactions? Baby girl squealed with joy. 2nd most honorable son whined that he just wanted to stay home and relax which in his book means playing video games. Big boy threw a major tantrum that culminated in the car with a you can force me to go but you can’t make me like it teenage back talk. It was painful. I thought maybe I should just turn the car around and forget this whole thing. It  would have been easier and that’s saying something. But I wanted us to spend quality time together and if it didn’t come naturally I was going to force it.

The month of March is March Morpho Mania at the Butterfly House. The common blue morpho is native to Central and South America. Every March, the Butterfly House has thousands of morphos shipped to them from Costa Rica every day. An interesting fact about these beauties is that their wings are not actually blue although they appear to be blue. Their wings are lined with tiny scales that only allow blue light to escape. So, when you see the beautiful blue mess of butterflies, it’s just the sun hitting them in a certain way. When we entered the tropical conservatory we were instantly surrounded and in the company of 2,000 morpho butterflies. Here’s a picture of the 3 kids upon entering the greenhouse. You can see how unhappy the boys are.

All you parents out there with littles still- enjoy and embrace it. There we were, experiencing this stupendous nature and beauty and I have to be honest and share that I just felt sadness. I felt that the days of me dragging my kids out all together especially big boy who is on the precipice of turning 14 and entering high school are numbered. Teenage angst is building and we are already competing against so many things like lacrosse games and practices and Boy Scout activities. I struggle with this. So I remained quiet, ignored their protests and walked around the conservatory, observing the environment around us.

Yellow Roses

  It was the most beautiful 70 degree day yesterday here in St. Louis. And it will be again today. So excuse me while I go out and enjoy this exquisite beauty… Because tomorrow is not guaranteed. 

Play-Dough

Learning to play indoors on a cold winter day.

A Rocking Chair

A neighbor invited me over for coffee this morning. I walked into her home and found this little beauty in the corner. It brought back many warm childhood memories. I had not seen one in years. Growing up with my sisters and cousins – we would use the chair to build blanket forts and dream homes for our Barbies. Sometimes we turned it upside down and used it as a shield. And on occasion, we used it as a rocking chair. Imagine that.

 

There’s a New Doll in Town

My new friend Faraday’s Candle is participating in the quote challenge and has invited me to join in the fun. This is Day 2 of the 3-Day Quote Challenge.

Today, I would like to invite my new friend Chateau Des Reves to join me in this challenge!

Post one quote a day for 3 days 

Challenge one new blogger per day for 3 days

So, I’m sure by now you’ve all heard that Barbie’s had a make-over. And these aren’t any simple hair color changes. These are big, awesome awe-inspiring changes.

Barbie now comes in 3 body shapes- curvy (yay!), tall and petite. She’s also got 7 different shades of skin tones and 18 different eye colors to choose from now. I didn’t actually know that 18 different eye colors were possible but who the heck cares?! It’s diversity baby. I’ve waited 30 years for these offerings to be a reality and the 10-year-old Latina girl in me cannot wait to purchase a Barbie doll that looks like me. She’s going to be curvy with brown hair and brown eyes. And then together with baby girl- we are going to choose a Barbie that looks like her with chocolate skin and brown hair.

It’s about damn time Barbie. Welcome to the 21st century.

Buy Daffodils and Smile

The sun came out today. It’s shining so brightly and beats down on my face, back, hands. It’s melted any remaining snow that remained on the ground from the first snow two weeks ago.

For the first time in weeks, I am warm this morning. It is a wonderful 50 some degrees and am so happy I could jump for joy. If I close my eyes, it could almost be a very cold day in Los Angeles. Almost. Then I open my eyes and see all the trees and know that I’m not.

It’s been 4 long winter weeks here in St. Louis since returning from our Florida Christmas vacation. Not gonna lie. It’s been hard. Emotionally. Physically. Spiritually. Even the dog is cold.

Terribly homesick but it’s been a mild winter here and for that am so grateful. This too shall pass.

 

Beauty and Rhythm

I swam laps in the pool this morning. Broke out my pink Speedo swim cap, pink goggles and TYR reversible swimsuit and carried them off in my bag. The swim cap had sand on it from the Pacific- from a very long time ago.  I noticed the gear in my bag of course and asked me – “Momma, you going swimming without us?” Yes, dear heart- Momma is swimming without you. I felt a slight wave of guilt. I dropped the kiddos off at school and drove right over to the gym. The water was slightly cold as my body slipped in. I swam tenatively at first- freestyle strokes to warm up and find my rhythm. It took about 15 minutes but I found my groove and just like that I was swimming again. Stroke, stroke, breathe. Stroke, stroke, breathe. Repeat for 20 minutes.

I seem to have found my rhythm again and it feels right and good. All 3 kids have started school and are thriving. Not just surviving but thriving. We are only 3 days into this journey but I am filled with a renewed sense of gratitude and optimism for our life and the people in it.

A monarch butterfly visited me yesterday as I was reading “The Lowland” on the back porch. Every now and then, a butterfly visits us and stays awhile. He does not fly away. He makes sure that we notice him and then hangs around. I silently push my tears away. I know that Trevor Sr. is near. He’s watching over us, keeping a close eye on our journey- this I know in my heart. We’re going to be okay and he’s okay too. The life cycle continues.