Florida Getaway

Posted by Beth: After returning from the blizzardy weather of Canada and a long and darining week, we were all ready for some relaxing family time down in Florida. We left last Monday to visit my parents for a week, as they enjoy their two months in Ft. Myers.

We discovered that Caroline is not at an ideal age for a three-hour flight (or any length flight for that matter), but we survived the wiggly maniac activity and were thrilled to finally arrive and see palm trees and Grandma and Poppy. After Katie's brief, random vomiting incident at bedtime, we got some sleep and woke up ready for vacation. Jamie and Poppy got in some golf and the girls had some pool time.

We enjoyed a day trip to Sanibel Island. Both girls liked picking up shells with Grandma, although Caroline wasn't very particular about her selections. She seemed to prefer rocks and pieces of wood, as much as anything else. Caroline was also ready to plunge right into the water, even though it wasn't very warm.

The next day we enjoyed a little beach that was close to Grandma and Poppy's house in Cape Coral. The sand was great, the water was nice and there was a playground. Caroline liked to chase the sea gulls and Katie loved to join in on that, too. It was also a great place to make a sandcastle, and Katie and Poppy got right to work on digging a big hole.

After naps (for all of us) we swam in Grandma and Poppy's pool, which Katie just couldn't get enough of. She did a good job of following the rules, so this year we could relax a little with her around the pool . . . Caroline was another story, however. If she wasn't napping or with us in the pool, we had to be on full alert since the house doors were always wide open to the lanai.

On Friday, Jamie celebrated his 35th birthday with a round of golf with Poppy and then some swimming. Katie and I made him a cake. Perhaps we were a little overzealous with the decorating, but we had fun making it!

Saturday we went to the Shell Factory/zoo place, since we enjoyed it so much last year. We saw the gators and enjoyed the new dinosaur exhibit (don't ask how giant plastic dinosaurs fit in with the shell factory/zoo-- let's just say the place is ecclectic!) Caroline is into animals now, so she enjoyed the petting zoo portion and entertained us with her adorable high-pitched quacks. We did the bumper boats again and I was lucky to have a better boat, while Jamie and Katie had less fire power on their squirter.

At the afternoon swim Caroline sided with Poppy that the hot tub was a much better place to be, while Katie loved twirling in her intertube and making up all kinds of games. By the time we left she was really very comfortable in the water and doing more swimming.

On our last day of vacation we returned to the little beach to chase more seagulls, build another sand castle and get a last taste of our toes in the sand. I enjoyed a last nap in the hammock and we had some more pool time which included Poppy's many tricks with the water gun and making waves int he pool .That night we dined at an interesting establishment that Jamie found called Bubba's. Katie was most excited about being able to throw peanuts on the floor. In fact, she didn't even want to break the shells and eat the nuts, she just wanted to throw them on the floor! And since this is her way of life, Caroline was thrilled to have everyone throwing food off the table and she enjoyed having Poppy feed her peanuts. There was tons of food and both girls ate a lot and really enjoyed it (as we all did). It was a great way to end our vacation.

Monday we endured another long flight back through Detroit. Caroline was content for the first five minutes (due to cinnamon sticks from Cinnabon) and after that we were back to the "angry spaghetti noodle" where she didn't want to be held or contained in any way. Both Jamie and I were head butted and battered during the process. We basically tried to keep her happy in five-minute increments and for one blissful seven-minute stretch both girls shared a seat coloring together and were quite content. We arrived home with our enormous pile of luggage (including golf clubs and two hockey bags full of car seats, booster seats, etc.) and looked out at the gray sky and bits of snow and shared Katie's sentiments when she burst into tears and said "I want to stay in Florida!"

The Best of Grampy Bear

Posted by Beth: Many of you may already know that we lost our Grampy Bear last week. He passed away on Friday, Febraury 8 after a 16-month fight with brain cancer. Throughout our own sadness, Jamie and I have been most worried about telling Katie, but on Friday when we shared the news with her we were stunned by what happened. As I began to get the words out, Jamie and I both started to cry. When I told her that Grampy had died, she grabed my shoulders and said "Mom, it's okay. We will be okay." She then gave me a hug and gave Jamie a hug. And we then fielded a lot of questions about why.

From there we also had to break the news that we were leaving to go to Canada . . . and that she was not. We were very fortunate that Jamie's mum and his Aunt Suzie were able to come down and stay with the girls. They were able to have a terrific visit and keep to their routines and it helped us tremendously.

So first, a huge thank you to Janet and Suzie. Also, thank you to Ricia for jumping in with a kind offer to help and being the willing airport chauffeur. And thank you to the ND girls for the thoughtful idea to send prepared meals our way and to everyone else for the cards, flowers, calls and kind words during this time.

Rather than posting this week's photos, we would like to share the best of Grampy Bear. We will miss him terribly and are sad that the girls won't have more time with him, but are thankful for the time that we did have. We will also treasure these images and our memories.

We will certainly have many stories to share with the girls about their grandfather, although he was a pretty wild guy, so some of them might have to wait until they are a little older! You can read more about him on his blog: http://barryl.blogspot.com/

Now We're Cooking!

As written by Beth: We were all home this week, but the day flew by in a blur on activity, including several hockey games for Jamie and tumbling for Katie. We did lots of cooking this week. Katie helped me make chocolate chip brownies to take to work. Friday was pizza night, and as has become the custom, both girls helped make the pizza (and ate as many toppings as possible in the process).

Caroline had a bout of stomach flu this weekend. She was able to rally enough to attend Katie's first soccer game. Katie told me it would be fine--"just take a bucket." We made it for most of the second half and saw Katie play goalie. Jamie was impressed with her performance, and I was amused watching her. She made some great saves interspersed with hanging on the net, playing with her shorts, etc. I hope to get some video of it edited and posted later this week. She enjoyed the game and seems to be getting the hang of the rituals like shaking hands and eating snacks afterward! (and Caroline, did make it through the game puke free).

Caroline is so funny these days. We are really starting to see her personality. She loves to make us laugh and is good at imitating (particularly the way I read some books, she will mimic my voice). She has started calling our dog, Lily "Ro Ro" which amuses us. She also has a temper and puts on a pouty face and tries to hit when she gets mad. She is happy as a clam picking up random items from around the house and carrying them around. She especially enjoys the baby dolls and playing in the kitchen.

We had our own little SuperBowl party tonight. Katie decided that she had to pretend to be on the phone for a portion of it. She certainly seems ready to be a teenager the way she was pretending to talk on her play cell phone. She would pick it up and then hang up, roll her eyes and say "it was Zach again." Thanfully, Caroline was feeling better and was able to enjoy the SuperBowl fixings as well.