Our family hadn't been camping together in a year. But the Relief Society organize
d a camp out that the whole ward was invited to attend. And they really did a good job putting it together, too. They chose a clean, spacious park in Palm Bay for the location, and entertained the families after dinner with
s'mores and an open-air showing of
The Princess and the Frog (which is really very good). The evening sky was clear and full of stars, with a light breeze adding a slight chill to the 63-degree night air. We slept in our tent without the rain fly so we could look up into the heavens. The girls slept in sleeping bags, and Drew had the Pack 'n' Play, while Kev and I shared the air mattress, sandwiched between a fuzzy blanket and a heavy quilt. I was warm and
cozy. Too bad I really couldn't sleep. But at least I was comfortable! In the morning, Kev cooked up a pot of homemade apple-cinnamon oatmeal on the camp stove while the girls rode around on their bikes, even s
haring them with their friends. The little girls played Duck Duck Goose, and some of the women and older girls played Four Square while the m
en took down the tents and loaded gear into the cars. On our way out, we and a couple other families stopped at the playground for thirty minutes or so before going home to tackle the chores that awaited us. Of course, Kev got in a good nap first. Not me, though-- I knew if I napped, I would lose all motivation to accomplish anything, so I just worked through the fatigue... and then crashed at night.
A week ago was Easter Sunday... as well as the weekend of the General Conference of the Church. I actually have loved it when Easter and General Conference collide-- the day is always so much more relaxed. Upon waking up Easter morning,
we gathered for our normal scripture study, doing in place of it an Easter scripture egg game that we had gotten a few years back from Rebekah Jarvis. Each plastic egg is numbered, with the contents including, in
chronological order, a scripture on the Savior's last days as well as an object related to the scripture. It took us about 15-20 minutes to get through all the eggs, but the kids seemed to enjoy
it. We followed our family prayer with the official Easter egg hunt-- with the eggs full of M&Ms and jelly beans and sour gummies. The girls got Pez dispensers in their baskets... which they thought were the coolest things ever-- just that the thing spit out candy through the bunny's (or lamb's) head. We don't do the whole Easter Bunny thing, though. The girls know we are the one's that hide the eggs and leave them treats in their baskets. So Allie was pretty upset when she heard that the "Easter Bunny" had visited her friends. She felt forgotten. I changed the subject. It's tough enough for me to go along with the Santa-thing (which, while fun, we didn't really teach them either), but I just can't bring myself to get into the Easter Bunny.
The week leading up to Easter was Spring Break for Allie and Sami, which they spent with their Aunt Mallory who came to visit... and babysit while Kevin and I took an early 10th anniversary trip down to Key West f
or three nights. Mallory was a trooper to tackle the job all by herself. We did pay for her ticket, but told her she could invite someone along to keep her company, but she didn't. By the time she left at the end of the week, she was exhausted (staying up till 1am "trying to say on Vegas time" couldn't have helped either). But she did a fantastic job... especially since all three kids were battling illness-- colds, pink eye, an ear infection, etc. Sami just about put Mal over the edge with h
er incessant whining. I knew that it would a tough job for her to do all by herself, which is why I felt terrible about having asked her in the first place. But when the plan to have Kev's parents do it upon finishing their mission out here didn't work out, I asked Mallory out of desperation...
and because I knew she was fiesty and responsible enough to handle it. She is amazing! But I don't think I could ever feel good about asking that of her again...
But we will forever grateful to Mallory for helping us to have those few days together without the kids. We spent each sunset at the pier, enjoying the street performers and applauding as the sun went down, and each night wandering
Duval St., looking in stores, watching people, eating gelato. We took a day trip on our first full day there on a catamaran out to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, seventy
miles west of Key West. The nearly three hour trip out to the island was rough, heading directly into a wind coming out of the west, with the seas still recovering from the storm that had passed through the day before. We were hitting 6-8 foot swells head-on. By the time we reached our destination, nearly 80% of the passengers were nauseated and sitting out
on the back deck of the boat. Kevin gets sea sick fairly easily, and sat out
there away from me for most of the trip. I ended up out back for the last hour because I started to feel slightly sick. More than anything, though, I was terrified. I appreciate water and its beauty, but at the same time, I have a very real fear of i
t. I found a strap on the place where I sat, and gripped it till my knuckles were white. I p
rayed for comfort, that the burden of fear might be taken from me, and immediately felt peace wash over me, like a warm wave. I didn't want that to leave, so I kept praying... for the rest of the trip. Thankfully, on our way back later that afternoon, we were traveling in the same direction as the waves, and the seas h
ad also calmed quite a bit, so we were able to stay inside the boat, even taking a short nap. But while at the Dry Tortugas, and after the tour of the fort and a buffet lunch, we tried to snorkel in the unseasonably cold w
ater, but we couldn't see anything through the murky water that the storm had created. So we wandered around the fort taking pictures and soaking in the varied blue tones of the gulf waters.
That evening, b
ack on Key West, we even ran into Jeff, one of Kevin's bosses, and his wife. So we took a picture, I with our c
amera and Jeff's wife with his phone.
The next day we started out a few blocks from Duval St., eating breakfast at Harpoon Harry's, and then "hoofed" it through the town. I think my favorite thing to do in a new place, is to get my shoes on and walk-- explore. We went to the Shipwrec
k Treasure museum, learning about Key West's history in the wrecking industry, and walked down to the Hemingway house.
We saw the Southernmost Point (but refused to
wait in a huge line to take a picture directly in front of the marker, so from the side had to do) and spent a couple hours at the beach looking at the marine life along the shore-- conches and urchins, etc.. Kevin (
very carefully) took the camera out with him on his second trip out to take a video of a conch flipping itself over... which some drunk
spring break-er passerby thought was pretty cool.
On our drive home, we stopped at Crane Point, a reserve on Marathon with trails and exhibits and terrific views of the water.
And then we arrived home to fed and bathed children and a clean house. Thank you, Mallory! The day after our return, and after Mallory had gone home, we took the kids to their first carnival, which had been set up at the mall a couple miles away. They had seen the Ferris wheel earlier that day while out to lunch with Mal, and begged me to go. I told them to ask their dad. So we went that evening, and got the bracelets for unlimited rides. They rode every ki
ddie ride they
could, but also ventured out on some bigger rides, like the Ferris wheel and the Tilt-a-Whirl. Allie pleaded to go on Starship, which is the "gravitron" spinning ride where you spin so fast you don't even need to be strapped in. I was hesitant, but she was persistent, so we went. Man, my head can't handle stuff like that anymore. I actually need some recovery time after rides like that anymore.
Sami also celebrated her 4th birthday on St. Patrick's Day. She woke up to a decorated house, and later we brought chocolate cupcakes with green frosting to her preschool class. She wanted macaroni and cheese and mandarin oranges for her special dinner, and then to go to the ice cream shop (just like Allie) for her birthday treat, in lieu of cake (whew!). I think my favorite part of the day, though, was when she opened up her gift from us.
Back in December, I had sneakily bought this music/jewelry box that played a tune from Swan Lake when Sami came with me to Sears and saw it. While she stood and looked at the boxes, I secretly grabbed one and bought it, hiding it all the way home. I worried that
she might forget about it. But when she opened it up, she gasped, "It's what I always wanted!" Kev and I smiled.
And, lastly, Mom and Dad Smith finished up their Florida mission and, sadly, have gone home. They served as terrific missionaries at the Ranch, and are very missed by the people in our stake, as well as by us! It was wonderful for us to have them here for a year.
Ugh... I need to go take out my contacts.
at the Baptist church... which is nice for several reasons-- the classes are smaller and the kids are nicer, I haven't had to worry about dealing with "stage moms", and there aren't modesty issues. In fact, the dances were all biblical-- either in the portrayal of a biblical principle or story. Sami's pre-ballet 
class did a balletic interpretation on the battle of Jericho, with the one little boy in the class acting as "Joshua." He blew his little ram's horn (which the the other girls giggle), and they "chased" (sha-sayed) around Jericho. Allie's jazz class did they're "happy to know Jesus" dance, and her ballet class portrayed the Creation... which ended up being more of an epic than a dance (in the words of Kimberley, their teacher) with each "day" taking a minute or so. But it was beautiful. We all smiled as Allie flew around the stage, gliding and spinning and leaping, portraying every kind of "flying bird," and then she made us all laugh with her ape-like faces while attempting to da
nce like a monkey-- the more the audience laughed, the more she scrunched up her face and stuck her jaw out. And of course, at the end as everyone applauded and the girls walked off the stage, Allie couldn't help but blow the audience a kiss. I wish I had gotten that on video.
never be a Kindergartner again. Sami finished her first year of preschool last week, even wearing for the end-of-year program the same dress Allie had worn when she was in her place two years ago. I don't remember crying when Allie finished that first year, but I did this time... just a little. I came to realize how quickly these years are going by. Billie William
s, the director of the preschool who retired at the end of the year, said, "The days are long, but the years fly by," (or something like that), and I am reminded daily of how fast my children are growing. A girl who, when we moved here, was just fifteen years old and babysat for us until she moved away after high school, got married earlier this year and is expecting her first child in November. Time really isn't standing still like I sometimes believe it is just because I tend to do have the same routine day in and day out.
