Spring Break

We had a lovely visit with the Goerss grandparents in October, so we planned a repeat visit for April and the school spring break.  Unfortunately, there were a LOT more people on the road than there had been in October, but luckily the girls are travel troopers, and so even though it took us significantly longer to drive than it had in October, we still made good time with very few stops.

There was a feast awaiting us when we finally arrived.

And the girls had enough time for a quick tea party with the toys before bed.

The next day, Elena got up first and wasted no time jumping right in the pool.

Jeff and Vivian showed up a little later and high jinx ensued.  Jeff kept "kidnapping" the flamingos from their flamingo school.

The girls spent a good portion of the week in the pool, and at one point Jeff gave Vivian the waterproof camera.  Vivian directed Elena to assume various poses, and the resulting photos are pretty hilarious.

My two water babies love being in the pool.

They come by it honestly, and by that I mean, it's all Jeff.

Occasionally, we did fish them out though for snacks and a sun break.  Elena established the pink towel as the "picnic blanket", and Vivian bought into the arrangement.

We also ate lots of delicious meals outside at the table.

Elena was in mango heaven.

I had my fill of crab salad and shrimp.

Vivian has also learned to love shrimp, and made some shrimp tail name artwork to proclaim her love for one of her new favorite foods.

My favorite outdoor dining experience though was my early birthday celebration.  Elena proudly declared that she had made me a birthday cake, with a little help from her grandparents.

It was delicious, and the birthday balloons kept us company for the rest of the week.  Luckily, the community where they live has lots of paths for walking, so Jeff and I were able to burn off some of our food calories on morning walks.  We got started early in the day, so that it wouldn't be too hot, and, as a bonus, we caught some nice sunrises.

We got caught in a downpour one morning, and Jeff's dad drove out to rescue us, but for the rest of the week, we had good walking weather.

We also went on a couple, very Florida outings.  The first was an airboat ride through an area of the Everglades.  The girls and I had never been on an airboat before, and it was fun explaining it to them and seeing if they could figure out why it was set up the way that it was.

Eventually they figured out that you can't have a motor in the water the way you normally would, because it would catch on all the plants along the surface.

We had fed them lunch before the ride.  Luckily, they're good with boats, because it was a fast ride!

The wind was bothering Elena a lot, so I let her have my sunglasses.  She liked that.

Viv, on the other hand, loves the wind in her face, so she was fine.

The best part of the ride was spotting wildlife.  We saw a heron and an osprey, and Jeff, photographer extraordinaire, got pictures of both.

There was a gift shop, and the girls begged for dessert, so I got them candy.  Elena was crafty though, she got a lollipop wrapped in a stuffed alligator, so she had a toy when her candy was done.

Our other Florida outing was to play mini golf, since we're not really up for regular golf.  Elena loved it, but we may need to try real golf with Vivian next time, because she has some force to her swing.

The course was really nice, and there was plenty of strategically located shade, so that we didn't get too hot along the way.

It was great to spend so much time outdoors, but we also had fun indoors.  Vivian learned how to play jacks, and she got to be really good at it.

The girls also had fun with art projects and Grandpa Goerss's hat from the navy.  Elena was thrilled to discover that it said Goerss on it.

Viv gave it a try too, but we decided it was meant for Elena.

We tried to stick to evening reading time as much as possible, to help wind down after such active days.  Jeff took time to work with the girls on their D&D characters too, since our DM said he would start up a special game just for them.  Vivi was in her too cool almost teenager mode, but Elena got really into it.

It was a wonderful week full of outdoor fun and family time, and even with the long drive each way, I'm so glad that we did it.  These are precious memories.