Adventures in Florida

While we love catching up with friends and family in Virginia, there were some other places we wanted to go while we were in the U.S.. First stop was Florida to visit the Goerss grandparents.  I had to reassure Elena that this flight was MUCH shorter than the last one.

As soon as the girls got in the house, they found toys old and new to play with.

Then they jumped into the pool.  The only thing that could lure them out was a belated birthday celebration for Vivian.

Grandma made a fabulous yellow cake with chocolate icing which was rapidly devoured. 

Since Jeff wasn't there to keep me company on a walk, I talked the girls into coming with me, telling them that there was a playground we could stop at.  We started out well.

But since I was used to walking with Jeff, it didn't occur to me that the playground being a mile away would be a bit much for the girls.  Luckily, there was a delicious breakfast treat for them when we got back, fun shapes for biscuits! 

One of our favorite parts of our Florida visits is the alfresco dining.

Of course, it's also fun to eat out.  The girls were excited to go to P.F. Chang's.  The last time we ate there was at the one in Bogotá close to our house.  The girls were excited to see the familiar horses.

The next day we went to try our luck at the mini golf course.

I wasn't sure how the girls would do compared to the last time we went, but they did great! Each girl had a hole in one, Elena near the waterfall,

and Vivi on the one that goes up and around.

They also managed the heat pretty well.  Elena even found a shady spot to hang out with an alligator.

Of course, there's always an easy cure for being hot, jumping in the pool.

The mornings were not too bad, so long as I got out early, so I did get a couple more walks in.  After the first attempt though, I decided it was better not to bring the girls along.

The girls' love of IHOP is well known, so the Goerss grandparents found one nearby for breakfast.  The restaurant was doing a Minions tie-in, and Elena discovered that she LOVES banana pudding pancakes.

While Vivian remains devoted to her favorite, strawberry syrup.

After fueling up on sugar, we got in the car and headed to the turtle rescue place we went to last time we visited.

Unfortunately, during the pandemic, the vets who helped with the turtles all left, so there are now no turtles there.  Instead, there are "training" stations where visitors can learn how to take care of turtles.

On the way home, Elena spotted a rainbow cloud, and Vivian quickly grabbed a picture of it.

Elena also got to make her very own mug that afternoon.

Vivian got some art time in too, visiting the Norton Museum of Art with her grandparents.  She especially loved the glass ceiling that was meant to look like an underwater scene.

It was a short visit, but we all had so much fun, and it was great to spend time with them.

Happy 14th Birthday Vivi!

I know that every year I say I can't believe how old Vivi is, but really, 14 is getting ridiculous.  Thank goodness though, she still remains our sweet and lovable Vivian.  Yes, there are flashes of teenage angst and moodiness, but most of the time she's happy and good natured, and I recognize what a gift that is.

Summer birthdays are always a challenge, because friends are scattered around.  Plus, this year we didn't have Jeff, so I tried my best to make it feel fun, starting with presents for breakfast!

Elena was also trying to make Vivi's birthday as special as possible, and so she had made some extra decorations.

Viv very obligingly agreed to wear the birthday hat for opening her breakfast presents.

She wasn't so sure about her first present.  It's a mirror that says you've got this! I meant it as encouragement for high school.  I think she secretly really likes it.

She had asked for rings, and those got a good reception.

But the costume jewelry pearl bracelet I had gotten for her on a whim got an even better reception. 

The best though, was her reaction to the flapper costume which she has been asking for for a while now.

She immediately tried it on with the bracelet, and it is fabulous.

For her actual birthday celebration, she wanted to do an afternoon tea.  My mom and I looked at different ones in the area, but they were all expensive and most of them had such "fancy" menus that they didn't have regular scones. As always, Safta came to the rescue.  She found a pretty simple recipe to make scones at home and got out all the fancy china.  I contributed by making crustless sandwiches, and ta-dah! Afternoon tea is served.

I had saved the present Jeff sent her for the tea, which is a good thing, because she was hoping for more presents.

She had asked for a film history book, so Jeff found her a comprehensive one on Hitchcock's films.

My mom had also made our traditional birthday cake, but we were so full of scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserves, that we couldn't manage cake at that moment.  After dinner though, we all found some space, and we sang and feasted once more.

We all did our best to make Vivi feel loved and special on her birthday, and I think we succeeded.

Thor and the Natural History Museum

My original plan for the week of 4th of July was to send Elena to a chess camp, but she went for one day and calmly told me at pick up that she was never going back.  I know how to pick my battles, so I agreed, but that meant I had to find things for the girls to do for the rest of the week.  Elena also told me that the one thing she was sad about from not doing the chess club was that she was supposed to get her own chess set as part of the camp.  I figured that at least I could remedy, so I got her the kind that folds and holds the pieces inside.  I guess she'd never seen one of those before, because when she saw it, at first she was disappointed and said it was too small.  When I told her to open it up, the look on her face was priceless.

Maximum happiness achieved. 

The only thing that could tear her away from her new chess set was the new Thor movie.

Of course, nothing is ever simple.  The movie was supposed to start at three.  When nothing had come on, not even previews, by 3:15, I went back outside to ask the ticket guy if he knew what was up.  He said his manger was "on the phone" about it.  I did not take this as a good sign.  While I was gone, one of the employees had come in to tell the theater that it would be another 10-15 minutes.  Well, after another 20 minutes he came back and looked like he was a bit afraid for his life, but he told us, there was no way there were going to be able to get the movie up and running for at least another hour.  As an apology, he would give us all vouchers good for any kind of movie, even 3D.  

Everyone in the theater was surprisingly calm about it, except for Elena.  She looked at me and said, you mean we aren't going to see the movie???  Luckily, there was a 3D showing at 4:00, so we waited for our vouchers, walked out, used the vouchers to get tickets for the 3D showing (which still had seats left because it was $20 a ticket normally), and then turned around and walked back in, just in time for the previews.  Catastrophe averted!  And, as a bonus, we all enjoyed the movie.

It's hard to follow up the spectacle of a Marvel movie, but the natural world is pretty spectacular, so the girls were just as excited to be going to the Natural History Museum the next day.

The animals were a hit.

And Elena was especially into the rocks and minerals section.  She's our little rock collector. 

Summer camps certainly make it easier to keep the girls busy, but it's so much fun to watch them discover and enjoy things.  I just need a break in between outings to recover from keeping up with their energy levels.

Fourth of July and Baltimore

For the fourth of July, we had some friends over to my parents' house, and my dad grilled up hamburgers and hot dogs. My mom also made her first attempt at a peach cobbler.  It was yummy.

In between burgers and cobbler, we went to the pool with our friends.

It was a quintessential American 4th of July.

We spent the next day relaxing, but by Wednesday, we were ready for another adventure, so the girls and I drove to Baltimore to go to the aquarium.  The last time we went, Vivi was a toddler, and she loved the bubble columns near the entrance.  Those columns still proved to be a hit with the much older girls.

As soon as we got into the main part of the aquarium, Elena spotted a stingray, and she was even more thrilled when we got to the part where you could touch the animals.

It really wasn't a great set up for a touch pool though, because the water was deep and cold, and pool was large, so the animals were very rarely close enough to actually touch.  Elena managed to get to a horseshoe crab, but she was pretty frustrated.  Ironically, I was saved from a total meltdown by the jellyfish.

Now, when I see a tank full of jellyfish, my first instinct is to back away, but the aquarium employees reassured us that these were specially bred jellyfish that didn't sting.  They showed us how to gently stroke only the top of their heads with two fingers.  It was actually super cool.

Our other favorite new additions were the puffins, who were jumping in and out of the water and swimming around.  When they swam, it really looked like they were flying through the water.  Elena made friends with one, and it kept swimming up to the glass to say hello to her.

There were lots of great displays, so we really enjoyed the main part of the aquarium.

Across a little bridge, there's another section that has a huge dolphin tank and seating for shows.  They aren't doing the shows because of covid still, but I thought maybe we could see the dolphins.  We were in luck.  We showed up right at training time, so we got to see them practicing their tricks, albeit from a distance.

There was also a really cool jellyfish section.

We were a little worried about one tank of jellyfish though.  They all seemed to have fallen over.

As we walked back to the main area, Viv begged to see a 4D movie.  She even played the birthday card, so I caved.  As we were waiting for it to start, she said, are they going to shoot water at us? My calm reply was, of course not, because they would have told us to put away our electronics.  I shouldn't have spoken so soon, because as soon as the lights went down and the screen lit up, they asked us to put away our electronics, and sure enough, they squirted us with water a few times.  The movie was horrible, but the girls were happy, and luckily, it was only ten minutes long.

We found one more exhibit to explore.  This one was about Australia.

Of course, by then the girls were hungry for lunch.  I told them, never fear, a restaurant is near!

There was also a Fogo de Chao across the street that Vivian stared at longingly, but I just couldn't bring myself to go to it without Jeff.  Hard Rock Cafe turned out to be a good choice though.  We had a lot of fun with the music videos, and Elena was thrilled to discover her hotdog came in a guitar shaped plate.  She was also very inspired by the decor, and created her own Hard Rock Cafe art.

After lunch, we had a smooth drive home.  It was a lot of fun, but we were wiped out for the rest of the day.