birthday recap

The birthday went well, he said it was his best ever and that was with the change of plans. (he however did not know what the other plan was)

We opened presents at 9:30. He received 4 new pj's (2 mom, 2 grandma), a TRU gc, an ipod shuffle, a video game for his daddy's PSP. (We are not getting him his own, he can however play Chris's) , a couple magazines and 7$. We headed out to the bowling alley at 11:30. We played 2 games-6 people in a lane. Took the 2 hours we paid for. (family special, 2 hours, up to 6 people, 6 shoe rentals, pitcher of soda, tub of popcorn for 38$) We had the bumpers up for Grif. I would like to say I only hit the bumper once. My 2nd game was a 138. I however don't know what game #1 was, the kids hit reset before I saw the score. Grandma Diane and Papa Bob joined us. BTW, Cameron is a terrible bowler. I am sure being left handed and no left hand balls were to be found had nothing to do with it. :) Riley is a very powerful bowler, no control what so ever but he has a terrific spin. Grif scored an 87 in the second game. He hit a strike 2x's and a few spares. He got 2 transformers and a dry erase board from G&G.

We took Cameron home, switched to 1 car. Then headed to Long John Silver's for his birthday lunch. Afterwards was Toys R Us. The only one they have in southern FL is in Fort Lauderdale. It is a bit of a trek but since it is a birthday treat I didn't mind. Of course the full size Krispy Kremes is down there too. They have a rinky dink one closer but they don't taste the same. Got a dozen fresh donuts. Toys R Us took us a while. They have various toys on sale for buy 2 get one free. We debated the legos for forever. They didn't have a great selection of things that were similar in price. Then we found out Nitendo's sale was still buy 2 get one free. I was thinking, great I can put one or 2 away for Xmas. Um, yeah right, we needed Grif's knowledge on what games he had, what he liked etc. No surprise there and Chris and Ri didn't want to wait til Xmas to play them. Thankfully I only had to put out 30$ and we got 95$ worth of video games.

Afterwards we walked around Ft Lauderdale by the Sea and looked thru the beach shops. We got a Florida treasure map. Chris LOVES old maps and this one has the approx location where old ships have gone down. I picked him up his holiday ornament for the year as well. We walked out the pier there. It was very over cast and drizzling but that did not stop the fishing. You should have seen this Vietnamese child and his dad. They caught 30 fish within 10 minutes. I am not exaggerating. Artificial lures as well. We asked them how and they told us in their broken English. We were in awe. The fish were small, but they are good pan fried or as bait for bigger fish.

We came home and then remembered we needed something from Walmart. Cam and Ri watched Grif and Jack and we headed up to Walmart. Chris drove as I was bushed and he of course set off my car alarm. I now know what it sounds like and don't have to run to the parking lot every time I hear a car alarm. lol We played video games for a while and sent the kids to bed. Right as I was to fall asleep Cameron's ear ripped a bit more and we headed to the ER. (It had been a record since I had been there) They wouldn't touch it, they are having us see a surgeon today. I am waiting for the office to open now to get an appt.

birthday boy

Happy Birthday Griffin! He is 7 today if you have lost track. I am currently trying to decide what we are doing. I had planned to take him to the Miami Sea Aquarium but the weather is so iffy. We haven't told him anything about our plans, so he wouldn't be disappointed. Every hour today is called for scattered thundershowers. 50% rain all day. Of course that wouldn't normally discourage me BUT the tickets aren't cheap. And it isn't exactly next door either. Plus Ri and Chris are under the weather.

I took Ri to his game alone yesterday. I sat in my chair under my umbrella for 3 hours before he played reading my book, then watched his game for 2 hours. It was heaven not having a thing to be responsible for! Chris wasn't up to being out and about all day. When I got home, he said my "job" sucked and it is exhausting entertaining the boys all day. lol He golfed the day before and was gone all day, so no sympathy here.

Ri's team had their first loss last night. The other team was undefeated too. Ri did not play the whole game, every few plays he sat out. He was starting to see spots. (I assume these are the same migraine spots Cam gets as well and then they throw up) He has a head/chest cold but he was gonna try and play as this team is rumored to be the best. After the frequent coughing fits, coach pulled him out for longer rests. Poor kid. I think when we headed home he was just thankful to be in the car vs on the field that the loss wasn't bugging him in the least.

Ok, more later. I am leaning towards bowling instead. Time will tell.

vroom

The picture to your right probably needs some explanation. We were shopping at a warehouse store and Jack kept trying to climb out of the cart to get the Christmas toys on display. The seat belt on the cart was broken so we decided to let him play with this car while we shopped. Of course you see where this is headed, don't ya? Normally we don't have any problem putting something back after shopping. He wasn't letting this car go for ANYTHING! It lights up, it moves on it's own, has wheels, plays music and is huge. All wonderful things to have in a toy. Thank goodness it was only 12.99 (why couldn't of they had 99 cent hotwheels?). He threw another full blown temper tantrum when I had to take the toy away again to buckle him into his car seat. He has never done that before. Cute stage, okay, not really. He really really loves these light up, makes noise cars. Thank goodness for the mute switch on this model!

hot tamales

Even teenagers say things that are very amusing! I purchased a cinnamon broom yesterday from Publix. Florida is missing the "fall" season and I thought I could capture it a bit with a few decorations. Besides, the broom smells devine. I was running errands and Ri calls me to check in after school and he asks why the house smells like hot tamales. (the candy, not the food) I laughed so hard! He said he spent 10 minutes looking for an unattended candle before calling me. Cameron comes home from work and comments the house smells like a Hallmark store. Chris was rolling for that one. Of course Chris is annoyed with me for purchasing it. I didn't realize he has THOUSANDS of these brooms @ his work. He works at a Publix warehouse and they are stored by the candy section. You can smell them half a warehouse away. lol

the zoo

I wish I had remembered my camera. On Thursday we took Jack and Griffin to the zoo. The boys had the day off from school. In this county we get the Jewish holidays off due to the large percentage of teachers who take the day off, the district can't find enough subs.

We went to the West Palm Beach zoo. http://www.palmbeachzoo.org/index.html We normally go to the Miami zoo. http://www.miamimetrozoo.com/ We get free, 50% or 20% off most zoos with our annual zoo membership. I thought we had to pay 50% to get in, but they didn't charge us. That is always a nice surprise! The Miami zoo is 90 minutes away. Since I am used to everything being far away, the drive doesn't bother me in the least. I get to explore more stuff that way. The Palm Beach zoo only took me 45 minutes and that was with a detour due to highway construction. That made me like it right away. Parking is close to the entrance, another plus.

The best part is that there is tons of shade! I was so pleasantly surprised. Miami zoo has literally no shade, I wasn't expecting any here either. The path ways are a lot narrower, no bike carts here. The gardens are beautiful. The animals are smaller, no large game animals in Palm Beach. I missed the elephants, but I will visit them again in Miami. They have lots of artifacts, decor in Palm Beach. Basically a lot more intimate and personal. It is almost like comparing San Diego Zoo with Sacramento zoo. Very different yet they both have their personality and charm.

Jack is starting to notice the animals now. The flamingos and ducks especially. Oh, Thursdays visit showed us tons of spiders. Chris was such a baby about those. What did he expect? More shade means more canopies, more dampness and more bugs. This is when I wish I had my camera. We had to walk under an orb spider. It was a huge spider. The web was magnificent. Quite spectacular. I shouldn't of told Chris is was over-head. What good is having a fear if you don't get to make fun just a little?

Next trip to either zoo I pack swim suits and towels. Grif was disappointed he couldn't play in the interactive sprinkle/fountains. We had a long day planned to sit in sopping wet clothes. Too humid for anything to dry out without a clothes dryer. Now that I know it doesn't cost me anything, we can go any time we want. Well, anytime I feel like heading north. I still need to check out the Butterfly World http://www.butterflyworld.com/ and flamingo gardens. http://www.flamingogardens.org/ Griffin has seen Flamingo gardens on a field trip. I am thinking this might be a nice "date" with my husband when the kids are at Grandmas. :)

cough cough ouch cough

This cold got me! I though Grif was taking forever to get rid of this cold, then I got sick. I now know this is completely different cold. So much fun. This is a chest cold, I hate chest colds. I never get them, I hate to cough. It hurts. I almost thought we were headed to the ER last night to get Grif a shot of steroids so he could breathe as he was coughing NONSTOP. Between otc cough medicine, cough drops, water and his inhaler I finally got him settled down. Humidity doesn't help when it is already humid here and there is no cold air here to try that either. lol It is morning and no coughing now, figures.

We had a birthday party yesterday. Family is from Peru. They had rented a pavilion at the park. They had ponies for horse rides, a train, music, a bounce house, snow cone machine, cotton candy machine. The food was wonderful. Grilled burgers, hot dogs, sausages, steaks, briscuit, turkey/chicken legs. A lot of things I had no clue about. I can't imagine throwing a party this grand. Shoot, I didn't do this much for my wedding! This was the birthday boy's first birthday!

We had soccer ratings yesterday for Grif. If you didn't play this league last year you had to be rated. They want all teams as equal as possible. There will be approx 40 teams for the 6-8 age group! This is just my town, soccer is BIG here. We start this as soon as football is over. Mid Nov. I think every Saturday will be filled with a sports even til the end of time.

We had a football game last night. Normally I wait til the paper prints its review to tell you, but I am too proud to keep this quiet til Friday. Riley scored a 40 yard touchdown! Woohoo! More details later on. They won. They are undefeated. I know he had fun last year playing, but undefeated this year is a lot more fun. I believe there are 5 more games, one will be a real test as they are GOOD! I have to go get him a tie and dress shoes this week. He has to dress up for the pep rally for the homecoming game. I suppose he needs something nice to wear but I swear it will just sit unused for the next 9 months until another freak event happens.

Today, we do nothing! {I think Cam is off work} I think all of us are just plain worn out. Chris is the only one not exhausted, he had to work and didn't have to entertain Jack all evening long. He gets the brunt of it next weekend. We have an away game next weekend. Will be another long Saturday. Oh and of course Sunday is Griffin's birthday. I "think" we are taking him to Miami's Sea Aquarium. http://www.miamiseaquarium.com/ Similar to Sea World. If we didn't have football we would head up to Orlando, but don't want such a drive for a day trip. Oh Friday night is birthday dinner with Papa Bob, my mouth is watering already for my grilled fish tacos I had last time I went to Muddy Waters. http://www.muddywaters.biz/index.html

the screamer

I never had one of these before. A Screamer. Jack is one. The more you encourage him to be quiet, the more he screams. It started when he realized an empty Wal-Mart makes great echos. Now he does it if we are the only ones shopping or the millionth customer. He decided it would be fun at the PTA volunteer orientation yesterday. We didn't finish the meeting. They are happy screams. They aren't temper tantrums. He just likes to be loud.

He is standing unassisted. He bounces on the bed. He climbs up onto the couches and over the back side. He climbs the coffee tables, the end tables the kitchen chairs. Can he walk? Nope not at all. He could if he tried but he refuses. Gosh he is a stubborn child.

I am loving my car. I heard the back up sensors this morning. A dog was behind the car, the car beeped at me. Very cool. I like the memory settings for the drivers seat. Although I haven't let Chris drive it other than to park it at his mom's. lol It is amazing how many other Jags I see now that I have one. Just in my town though. Yes, this is the GV of Southern FL. Oh the dual settings for the a/c is a fine feature as is the controls on the steering wheel. And parking is easy again. Chris can't make fun of me anymore. :)

Grif is doing well in his new class. He is doing his homework with no problems. His classwork is finished each day. The one thing I don't get is that this is the same work as he was doing last week while in the 2nd grade classroom. My only guess is that this is a slower pace. Or maybe they get longer to finish. This is review to him where the others in the class it would be new to them. No matter, he is happy and he isn't struggling 24-7. I like the teacher a lot more.

new ride

We got a new ride. Yes, I didn't want a car payment. Yes, this requres a car payment. It is not new, I can't afford new. We got a discount thru Chris's work. I wanted a car w/ a trunk. This town was not made for big cars. It is my dream car. I am not worthy at all. lol It is a 2003 s-style.