Ave Maria Bound!

After a great time in Tampa we packed up our things and headed down to Ave Maria to see my parents.  Ave Maria is close to 3 hours from Tampa, near Naples.  My parents have spent a lot of time at my sister's house in Tampa while she was getting her treatments.  Now that the treatments are over and my mother is more mobile they are transitioning back to their home in Ave Maria.  My mother is doing much better - she is currently cancer free!  Weehoo!  Thank God.  She is still not able to walk around on her own, but is zipping around in her wheel chair.  She has that goal of walking still ahead of her.  Slowly, but I'm sure she'll get there!

God is truly awesome!  I couldn't ask for anything more than to spend time with my parents at their home.  We didn't think we were able to visit them in Ave Maria this vacation because of my Mom's health, but God took care of it.  The kids were so excited to just do all their favorite things when visiting Lola & Lolo!

First order of business: Swimming at the water park.

I don't think Bernadette remembers the water park from last year.  All my kids are practicing their new swimming skills and just enjoying it so much!  Anne was able to go down the water slide for the first time by herself.  It's funny to observe which child takes to the water more than the other.  Bernadette loved jumping into the water and going under and coming back out.  No issues, no fear!
We visited the water park often and each time we had the pool pretty much to ourselves.  I couldn't have asked for better circumstances.

We also went alligator hunting all over the lakes in Ave Maria. 

Good thing I brought our trusty binoculars!  This year we didn't seem to spot as many alligators as we did last year.  Perhaps, we just got tired since we didn't have our golf cart to drive us around in to lake after lake.  We made those kids walk! 

Typical Florida weather, it always starts raining during parts of the day.  You can see it coming here!  We headed back to Lolo & Lola's house.

Lately, my kids have been interested in fishing.  I was sad because my parents used to own a boat when they lived in Marco Island.  My father has sold it since.  My father loved being on the ocean and growing up, we had a boat and went fishing quite often on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.  Once I told my dad about my kids wanting to fish he bought some rods and took us back to Marco Island to go fishing off a pier.  My kids were so excited!  We had some failed attempts here at home on the Potomac River. 

This is the proper fishing stance when waiting for a bite!

Anne was so patient waiting for the fish to bite.  I thought Patrick and Tommy would be more excited to fish, but they weren't really patient like Anne was and sort of gave up, however they really enjoyed the excitement of the catch and watching the fish gasp for air, flail around and die.  Typical.

This is a picture of my dad with my nephew Ben.  He had just caught a sheephead.  I ended up fishing myself and caught, maybe one.  Since I was fishing, I didn't get any pics of my kids' catches.  Oh well.  Anne caught a few fish which made her very happy!  In total, we caught around 8 fish, I think?  Most of them were red snapper which is very delicious.  Some were small some were bigger - not huge.  It was enough for me to take home, scale, gut and fry them up for dinner!  Yum.  Anne never eats fish when I serve it for dinner, but since she caught the fish she was more willing to try it.  She said, "Tastes like chicken!" She probably had that one bite and that's it. 

While the action was going on, Joe was hanging out with Bernadette.  I thought she looked so sassy with those sunglasses!  She eventually found hanging out with Lola (in the back) and Lolo in the cool car eating snacks and drinking water more relaxing then fishing.

The next day we planned on going to Wooten's Everglades Animal Sanctuary to hold alligators.  They offered air boat rides, too but we've been there and done that!

We got there in time for the alligator feeding!  There were these people in the caged area throwing chicken parts to the alligators.  These were huge gators!  They were all resting in all parts of the lake, but once the caretakers came into the gate, they slowly started moving into one direction toward the food.  Once the food was thrown to them, they'd jump up and catch it and just start thrashing in the water while eating it.  It was quite impressive.

Then we headed over to the place where we could hold alligators.  No one was there!  I was wondering why?  The handler took a small alligator out and handed it to Anne.  No fear at all.  He put a rubber band over it's mouth for safety.  We all got to hold it.

I was most excited to have Patrick hold the alligator since it was his favorite animal!  I wasn't sure if he was going to be timid or not - nope!  He was eager and willing.  Look at that smile. 

Before I held the gator I was wondering if it could tell if the holder was nervous or not and it can!  I took hold of the gator and it started to wiggle around a lot.  I quickly changed my grip and showed it who was boss!  When Eddie held the gator, it jumped out of his grip and started running away.  It didn't choose to jump in the water nearby, but back into the cage where, we believe, his mama was.

Then they gave us another gator to hold.

I didn't care to hold this one at all.  Anne said it was so heavy!

They must be used to being carried.

I really like this picture!

We were able to spend as much time with these gators as we wanted.  It was really great and our kids just loved it!  After holding the gators, we walked around and looked at the other wild animals in the sanctuary.  I had to laugh at this one sign.

I don't think I would have wanted to pet a venomous snake, cougar, tiger nor the crocodiles.  No, thanks.

The next day we packed up our stuff and started driving back home.  On the way back we decided to make Okefenokee State Park (in GA) one of our stops.

We did some hiking in here.

And took a 90 minute boat ride through the swamp.  Towards the end of the boat ride it started pouring rain.  We just missed it.

It was really nice to get back home after such a great vacation.  Thanks to my sister, nephew and parents for taking us in and take over your homes!

Bonus picture:

While we were fishing, Tommy had collected some rocks/shells/coral and put them together so nicely.  He asked me to take a picture of it.  I believe there is a bag in this house with a bunch of rocks/shells/coral in it.

Florida, Here We Come!

Filling much of June with as many activities and outings as I could handle with a lot of lazy in days in the mix, the kids were counting the days till our annual trip to Florida to visit my family.  During prayers in the evening the kids would always pray for "a good trip to Florida".

Joe & I were also ready for vacation.  Joe just finished a few weeks of football camps and I, of course, just wanted a change of pace - looking forward to seeing family and being all together.

Packing was on my mind a lot in the month of June.  In my blog readings, I always see tips for packing and traveling and it makes me think that I have to have it down to an art by the time I'm done with it all.  Somehow, I always feel I've done an inadequate job - but thinking about it now, I don't think I forgot anything or could have done better.  Well, perhaps I could have packed less clothes since we had a washer/dryer available to us when needed. 

We ended up leaving on a Sunday morning after an early Mass.  The trip was going smoothly until Joe was getting a little tired and asked me to drive while he napped a little bit.  We were probably somewhere in South Carolina at the time when I took over and once I started driving, the dark clouds started coming in and the wind started picking up.  It looked like it was going to be a doozy!  The rain started pouring down, the cars started slowing down until the hail started to pound the glass.  I thought the windows were going to crack!  Cars started hiding under the overpasses.  Joe's nap didn't last long at all - I was driving all of 15 minutes when he told me to pull over so he could start driving again.  Joe drove through all the torrential weather that came at us until we had driven out of it.  It was pretty exciting and at the same time a bit scary.

We had planned on making the drive down to Tampa in two days.  We decided to stop for the evening somewhere in Georgia (I think).  We got a hotel room, but didn't even unload the car and went straight to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse!  It was such a nice dinner!  The kids ate well and behaved and just being out of the car and being together was fun.  As we left the restaurant we could see another storm had started.  What looked like rain blowing in an angle was really dirt flying at an angle.  There was a major dust storm outside and my kids were just frozen in one spot on the way to car because they couldn't open their eyes.  Carrying them to the car and closing the door to watch another storm come we noticed the power had just went out in the restaurant.  Those poor people eating in the dark!  The storm was just as fierce as the prior one, perhaps more wind this time!  Our hotel lost power and so we decided to just get our refund and go somewhere else.  We decided to just keep driving to Tampa - we'd get there around 2 am.  With Joe behind the wheel, the kids and I asleep and many cans of diet Mountain Dew later, we arrived...safely.

We had plans to go visit the Aquarium and the Children's Museum in Tampa, they were right near each other!

We had done it before, but I think I only had Anne at the time and she was about 3 years old or so? 

After the aquarium, we hit Tampa's new Children's Museum.  Joy met up with us at this point, she works nearby.  There was such a long line around the block since it was Target Tuesday or something like that where admission was only $2!  The line wasn't slow moving so we decided to stay.  They were giving out Chipotle coupons to people in line (I just remembered them as I am writing this and better use them soon) perhaps, they felt bad for the long line and the heat!

Here's Bernadette patiently waiting in the heat in her stroller.  It was very crowded inside, but the kids still had fun nonetheless!

After a couple of hours of counting my kids and finding them all in the midst of crowds, we left the building and headed to the park area near the Bay.  They were having a Fitness day of some sort where there were a bunch of outdoor toys to play with.  There were also those water fountains kids could play in to cool off in!

I sat in a puddle of water taking these pictures - ick.

Out near the railings is where you could see Tampa Bay - Joe & Patrick saw dolphin!

The kids had a lot of fun!  We went back to Joy's house to wash up, enjoyed a taco night dinner and time to relax and hang out.

The next day was the 4th of July.  We started the day out at the Lowry Park Zoo. 

Prior to the trip, I took the kids to the mall and told them they would need sunglasses for the trip since it's just so sunny in Florida.  They had so many to choose from - this is what they chose.  I love Patrick's aviator glasses and Bernadettes pink sparkly ones!  Eddie is so into green these days I'm not surprised with his choice.  What a cute group!  However, during the course of the visit to the zoo, the glasses slowly all ended up in the stroller.  Hmph.

We really enjoyed Tampa's zoo.  We always enjoy ourselves and the kids already know so much about animals.  I love it when the kids get to experience and touch the animals up close!

There was a little train ride that was free to ride.  I didn't really think about it too much since my kids are older, but had to remember that Bernadette and Eddie would still have a lot of fun on them so we all went on it.

I don't think you're ever too old.  We're a happy bunch, aren't we?

Choo, choo!

I don't remember if this owl was at the aquarium or the zoo?

This was probably the best part of the zoo, besides the fresh, large lemonade my sister bought me by surprise (YUM!).  Those giraffes are so much larger face to face, so gentle at the same time.  That tounge is impressive!  It's just like an elephant's trunk - it acts like a hand.  It curls up and can grab food with it and return it to it's mouth!

I love Eddie's expression here.  I wonder what the giraffe was thinking?

It was a fun day!  We ended up getting a quick dinner at home after the zoo and then headed off to Idlewild Baptist Church's Fireworks.  The rain was questionable, but it didn't get in the way at all.  I don't think I ever remember a rained out 4th of July in my life.  This place had over 50 food trucks serving food, tons of bouncy inflateable rides (long lines, only did one but it was fun!), live music and a car show full of antique cars.  I didn't bother taking pictures of this because the lighting was just too dark and filming made more sense, but it was really a neat evening!

The next day we were off to get ready for our trip down to Ave Maria, FL where my parents are.  I'll post more later about that part of the trip!

Summer "Things To Do"

I do not have my kids signed up for anything this Summer so they will be home with me.  I found some lists online as to things kids can do while they are home.  We've only done some of them so far. 

One project the kids picked out was called Hot Rocks.  You find some nice large smooth rocks and heat them in the oven for fifteen minutes to get really hot so when they come out you can use crayons to melt designs on them.  I wish this project lasted a little bit longer.

I actually thought we could take a walk to Rock Creek Park and find our favorite rock beach (where we love to throw rocks into the creek) and find those large round smooth rocks and bring them home.  Instead, they found these flat smooth rocks that have been hanging out on my back porch ever since we moved in here.  I used them to keep my table cloth (in picture) down when it gets windy.  It didn't matter - it still worked. 

I put them in the oven for fifteen minutes on 350.  I used wax paper on cookie sheets for the kids to make their mess, I mean to do their work on.  Careful, it's hot!  The kids tore the paper off some crayons while waiting for the rocks.  Once done, they got to work.

It was rather neat to see the crayons melt so easily.  The pictures I saw online had some simple designs on them, but the kids seem to just have so much fun melting all the colors onto the rock and making swirly designs.  I think we'll need more rocks next time.

They all seemed marble like.

So they dried rather quickly and now adorn my back porch table.

We did this the day after Father's Day.  I had another quick project in mind for the afternoon that I was definitely excited about.  I had been reading a magazine and came across this recipe for a cake in a cup, ready in five minutes in the microwave.  I don't know about you, but that just sounded so yummy and a really neat idea.  The picture in the magazine looked so luscious!  They used really elegant mugs with just a bit of the cake showing, topped with fluffy whipped cream and chocolate shavings.  I had also heard of this recipe before but never had the chance to do it.  So, I looked online to see what people had to say about it.  I was thinking of making it for a dessert after Father's day dinner, but we were to full after dinner to think about eating dessert.  Reading the comments just make you confused sometimes, because you get half the people saying it was the best recipe ever and the other half saying it was disgusting.  Hmph...just had to try it for myself and I knew the kids would have fun with it.

There were two recipes.  One that was circulating the Internet and the one I found in my magazine.  I thought I would try the one I found online.  I had Anne helping me.

It looks yummy, right?  It tasted pretty good in this form.  I used a wide mug because I read the heat distributes better this way.  It made sense to me.

I also read that 3 minutes was all it really took to nuke in the microwave.  We had it set for five and checked it after 3 minutes.

Honestly, it didn't look so good to me.  I took the spoon and took a bite.  Immediately, it felt spongy and dry. 

It kind of felt like packing popcorn.  It tasted rather the same to me, too.  YUCK.  It was edible, but why even make this recipe if it doesn't satisfy like it's supposed to?  I'd rather wait 20 minutes for a box recipe.

My boys came running to the back porch and devoured the cake in the cup and thought it was the best thing ever.  These are the kids that don't even eat their birthday cake on their birthdays!  My kids don't like cake - look at them. 

Gone in seconds.

So, I had to try the recipe I found in the magazine.  This recipe was a lot different.  It had butter, the other didn't.  Butter makes everything better.  I tried it, why not?  So, Anne and I went for it!

Ohhhh, it looked better.  Did it taste better?  Let's ask Anne....

Same result - Yuck.  This time (and this is my fault) too much salt.  For some reason I was thinking salt enhances the sweet.  I also used kosher salt.  Either way, it was basically the same old thing.  We concluded that cake in the cup is really not worth your time or calories. 

If you are looking for a similar cute chocolate dessert in minutes - stick to the molten lava cakes in ramekins.  They are definitely a fun yummy chocolate dessert.

Adventure Aquarium

Soon after summer vacation started we had planned on going to Joe's 15th reunion at Villanova.  After attending the afternoon event we drove by some of Joe's old haunts and had lunch at the King of Prussia Mall!  That mall is something - huge!

We stayed overnight at a hotel (my kids love staying in hotels) so that we could go to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ the next day.  This is after hitting the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul for Mass in Philly.  It was a beautiful church.

Unfortunately, our FONZ membership didn't get us a discount at this aquarium.  My kids love animals and we've been to so many aquariums and zoos that we couldn't pass this up.

There is a view of Philly from across the bridge.

This aquarium had a lot of cool sharks, petting stations for various animals like sting ray, sharks (the small harmless kind) and starfish and some shellfish.  You could even swim with the sharks if you were 13 years or older.  I'm not sure how that worked, but I didn't see any volunteers!  I wish I had better pictures, but I got a lot of blurry shots.

The start of my kids' fascination with animals was with Happy the hippo at our National Zoo here in DC.  My kids were his biggest fan and it was a sad day in DC when they moved Happy to Milwaukee.  No more hippo.  My kids have moved on to sharks and alligators, but always hold a special place for Happy.

Adventure Aquarium had hippos.  We didn't know what to expect, but they had the best place to exhibit their two hippos.  It was wide and open and had a play area, a large indoor pool filled with colorful fish and toys for the hippos to splash around and swim in.  They had a lot of birds of all types flying around the exhibit, too.  If you kept on walking around the corner, you'd see a dark room with a window that showed you underwater - for when the hippos came and swam by.  And that is exactly what these hippos did.  My kids were face to face with two hippos and were in hippo heaven!  It wasn't crowded, as what we're used to, so it was definitely the highlight of the visit.

I think the size alone of one of these creatures is just amazing.  A picture really doesn't show that. 

It was a good weekend trip!  A lot to see.