In the Past Month... and a half

Saturday was probably literally the best beach day ever. Of course, right when we got there, the sand burned my feet as I walked down near the water. The hot sun had been beating down all morning with no relief. Once we set up "camp," I threw my shoes off, dropped Sami (whom I had been carrying because of the sand) and sped down to the water. I could have sworn I heard the sizzle of steam when I stepped in. It was cool. Refreshing. Glorious. But not ten minutes after our arrival, I long cloud came and blocked the sun, cooling the sand and allowing me to remove my sunglasses, until we left a couple hours later. We dug a wide ditch in the sand near the water's edge-- the girls piling the sand in a long bar, and decorating it with sea shells. The ditch immediately filled with water-- perfect for Allie to lie in, in a relaxed, lounge-state with her eyes closed. Sami continued to dig aimlessly, and Drew splashed in the ditch and threw fists-full of wet sand over (and on) his head. He would occasionally tempt the waves, running toward them to let them touch his feet, even sitting in them for a while until one would come that would threaten his already sketchy balance. Then he would head back to the wet sand. Kevin took the Boogie Board out for a while, and then handed it to me. I accepted with some hesitancy-- even though we've lived here for over five years, I still wince at the idea that sharks are lurking not too far from the shoreline. But the waves were easy to catch without having to go in too far above my knees, so I went. And I survived... and I had fun.

So far our summer has been full of similar days-- enjoying the Florida sunshine (albeit hot) with swimming lessons, day trips to the zoo, an hour here and there at the community pool, library mornings, and play time at the park. We've even gotten in an outing with my friend Michele and her kids Sabrina and James at the bowling alley. My ICS friend Rosie teaches a group singing class over at the Henegar Center, The Joy of Singing, and Allie is now a part of that. She adores the class, especially learning to play the hand bells, and even decided on her own to audition to sing a solo for the variety show the class will hold at the end of July (seriously, I did not push her-- I informed her of it, and she said she wanted to do it). She settled on "Castle on a Cloud" from Les Miserables. Sami now loves the song, too, and both of them had it memorized in less than a day.

At the end of May through the beginning of June, we spent a week with my family in San Diego-- it was the first time my siblings and I had all been home together with my parents and grandparents since Christmas '06. We got to see my Aunt Rahn and Uncle Terry and only cousin Brenna, my best friend Anne from high school (whom I hadn't seen in five years), and my Aunt Gina made it down for a few days as well. We spent a day with my mom and Gina in Old Town at the new Mormon Battalion Center (which is seriously awesome, by the way-- the girls loved panning for gold), later eating dinner at a pretty good Mexican restaurant, and then watching traditional Mexican dancers. After my mom and Gina went home, we hiked up to the Presidio, enjoying the view, cool breeze, and a golden sunset.

We also took a day trip to Legoland up in Carlsbad, also with Mom and Gina. The girls loved it, but I actually thought it was a bit bizarro. I felt no kind of emotional/nostalgic/sentimental attachment to it, of which Disney is the master. But it was cute. Gina treated the girls to a face painting (a ridiculously expensive one, at that) before she and Mom left a bit early. On our own way home, we stopped by the coast, and then took a detour to the temple, which was surprisingly covered with scaffolding due to cleaning and re-painting.


The next day we spent 4 1/4 hours touring the U.S.S. Midway (an aircraft carrier that had been in use from the 40's through the 90's) in the harbor, afterward letting them ride the carousel and play in the hat shop in Seaport Village.


The highlight of the week, though, was attending the temple to escort my sister who was receiving her own endowments. While attending the temple for the first time generally is an overwhelming experience, it is such a privilege and blessing to be able to attend the temple. It truly is a place of learning and a place of God. The peace is unmatched. How beautiful an experience to walk in the Celestial Room, with its tall stained glass windows and bright chandeliers, and see your family and loved ones there, all in white... like angels... reminding us that through Christ we are made clean and pure.

And all through this Sami battled croup, Drew flew home with bronchitis, and Sami (upon coming home) came down with an ear infection.

Due to some Divine intervention I was able to maintain my health through our ICS concerts the following weekend.

Within a week of coming home, Allie lost her front two teeth... thanks to Miss Sami whacking her in the face after swimming lessons. Of course, the teeth had been loose for weeks, meaning Sami really didn't hit her that hard. To stop the bleeding when we got home, Allie sucked on a wet rag, which cause one to fall out. Later that afternoon, while riding bikes outside, Allie hit the other tooth with her water bottle, and then hit it again, all while trying to take a drink. The second tooth fell out. She was pretty excited to find two dollars the next day-- she was "rich!"

The following week Kevin had an off-Friday, and we took advantage of it, driving an hour and a half out to the middle of the state to explore the Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales. Bok Tower is an enormous, gorgeous carillon tower at the highest point on the Florida peninsula. We got caught in an afternoon thunderstorm and took refuge in one of the rain shelters, and then spent the next couple hours, hiking around. The moat around the tower had large fish and two swans to feed. But a friendly squirrel got his share, too. From Lake Wales we decided to drive another 45 minutes to explore Downtown Disney, which was a bit too crowded for our liking. We didn't stay very long.


And now we're in July! Ahead of us we have more swimming lessons, Scout Camp, and Allie's singing concert!

And Kevin and I are planning to spend the evening tomorrow at Wet 'N' Wild in Orlando. Shhh... don't tell the girls... Kev and I haven't had a date in a while.