Well Spacex had launch this evening that was spectacular and beautiful. Naturally, I completely forgot about it until I saw all the great pictures on Facebook. Oh fiddlesticks! They didn’t deliver our Hellofresh box until almost 8:00 pm tonight, so i got a late start to dinner, which distracted me from the launch.
For dinner this evening, I made the meatloaf brushed with barbecue sauce and served with shingled potatoes and green beans. Thankfully, this recipe was super easy to make. It was also delicious. I’d definitely make it again.
My Co-workers
We’re now at nine days until I have all my boys in one place and I can’t wait. It will also be the first time I’ve seen my folks since the pandemic started. Moreover, I’m looking forward to the beautiful fall weather. Oh yes, the day time temperatures will be in the mid 70s and the night time temperatures will be in the 50s. Needless to say, it will be a lot easier to hike the mountains this weather versus our last trip. I do plan to fearlessly rappel down to the waterfall I wasn’t able to see last year.
*One week and three days until I’ll have all my boys in one place!
*I still can’t run because my toe. Honestly, I’m going to try running on it on tomorrow.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, it looks like none of these waves will be impacting Florida.
*I made meatloaf, shingled potatoes and green beans via HelloFresh. It’s definitely a do again.
*The word of the day is digitally. One of the benefits of being in a digitally connected age is the ability to work from home I love working from home.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Fortunately, we had no run-ins with the toads, lizards or grasshoppers today.
In only fifteen days, we’ll be headed West to visit our airman. I’m absolutely so excited to see my boy. It will also be nice to have time off and spend it with all four of my boys. Moreover, my parents and Melly will be joining us, which is great. Since Covid started, we’ve been unable to see my parents in person.
I booked an amazing AirBnB, a cabin, at the base of a mountain. It’s a gorgeous property with a great hot tub and a trail access in the backyard. I can’t wait to hike the mountains again. Naturally, it’s going to be tough since I haven’t been able to run since July. However, the weather should be a lot nicer than the last time we were there.
We’re all adjusting to Maya’s absence and it hasn’t been easy. So far we’ve left her crate set up as it was before we lost her. Since Maya passed, we decided to try keeping Athena at night. Previously, we crated both Athena and Maya because they tended to have accidents at night. Although Goalielocks tried it one night to see how they would fair. It went well until Maya peed right next to his head just after dawn.
Night one with Athena sleeping out ended with me stepping on a piece of poop. Now that was fun. Last night I discovered Athena peed on the carpet in our bedroom hallway while walking to the bathroom. Fortunately, we got a new carpet cleaner, which made it easy to clean up Athena’s mess.
The bigger mystery, however, is what happened to my pink hoody. I left it next to the bed last night before I fell asleep. This morning when I awoke it was missing. In fact, I have yet to find said hoody. To make matters worse, my new hoody now has a hole in it. Interestingly enough the size of the hole corresponds perfectly with the size of our puppies’ mouths. Apparently, they were quite naughty last night.
I really miss my sweet Maya girl. It still doesn’t feel real. One of the best parts of working from home is getting to spend everyday with my puppies. They truly are the best co-workers. Anakin and Maya would always lay near me in my office, while Athena would sit on the couch. Now both Anakin and Athena lay near me while I work. At any rate, the countdown is on! Fifteen Days until I see my boy!
*I still can’t run because my toe. I’ll be unable to run for at least four weeks. It’s now been two weeks since I broke it. Honestly, I’m going to try running on it on Sunday.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, it looks like none of these waves will be impacting Florida.
*Uber Eats delivered my coffee for me today and will do so until we get another vehicle.
*For dinner, I made chicken, black beans and rice for the Mayor and I. Goalielocks and Coach Hubby are in Miami for hockey practice tonight.
*The word of the day is ping pong. Maya’s passing has my emotions ping ponging all over the place.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a. I put on his harness every morning. Otherwise, I have difficulty controlling him on the leash. He’s incredible strong and can pull me off balance, which is why I’m now wearing a boot to protect my poor broken toe.
Parenting an adult is a completely different beast from parenting a child. It brings a whole host of issues and questions that are sometimes difficult to balance. The emotional tie, the worry doesn’t diminish when your child becomes an adult, but our role in their life does. It’s not that we disappear from their life, but we’re no longer making decisions for them. It’s a balancing act between enabling and empowering.
So why all this parenting talk? Last night as we started getting ready for bed, Jake texted that he was no stranded at DFW. They diverted his flight to Tulsa due to the weather. In the interim, American canceled his connection to Tallahassee. Unfortunately, American Airlines didn’t notify him until he landed in Dallas. This was, of course, hours after the flight had been canceled.
When I spoke with him on the phone he sounded fried. It was awful. Honestly, it sucks to be so far away when your kid is in trouble. The FAA closed the Dallas airports due to weather, so there was no possibility of him getting on a flight last night. I quickly started trying to book him a hotel at or near the airport. It took six tries as each hotel would show sold out by the time I put my information in. This mama was not about to let him sleep at the airport.
American wasn’t helpful and wasn’t forthcoming with information. After waiting for an hour, he finally got rebooked on a flight today. Moreover, they didn’t mention to him or any of his fellow passengers that the airline had already. placed their baggage on their rebooked flight. This would have been helpful to know before folks sat at baggage claim waiting for their bags. Honestly, after his experience yesterday and today, I would never fly American.
Once he got to the hotel, I could finally go to bed. Until this point, I felt helpless. It was horrible to be 1,000 miles away and he battled through an impossible evening at DFW. I know these travel hiccups are almost of the right of passage, but it doesn’t make the situation easier. At least I could sleep in peace.
Unfortunately, Jake’s travel troubles continued into today. As his flight was about to board, they delayed his flight due to maintenance issues. My poor kid was sitting waiting for his flight to board for over two hours. As was the situation last night, the communication from the airline continued to be poor. When he finally took off, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Now he’s in Tallahassee and happy to be through his travel ordeal.
Tonight I’m relaxing on the couch happy in the knowledge he’s finally safely in Tallahassee. Parenting never gets easier even as our children become adults. The rules of engagement do change as they become adults, but the emotional investment never diminishes.
Here are some great resources for parenting an adult child:
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy last night. This is quite the departure from the world of Queen Asa.
*I’m still under the weather. Consequently, I took another rest day today. Unfortunately, there will be no rollicking or running until I’m better.
*We’re tracking the Tropics here in Florida. Fortunately, all the tropical weather is moving away from us! Unfortunately, the heat has really cranked up with heat indexes in the triple digits.
*Uber Eats delivered my Dunkin’ this morning, which was awesome sauce.
*For dinner, I made myself some soup.
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*Today’s word of the day is figure. I figured it was going to be faster to take a train to Tallahassee than by flying on American.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness
Packing for the perfect beach vacation is key to a successful tropical vacation. If you forgot certain items, you can end up in tremendous pain. Hello my sunburnt legs! Fortunately, I’ve put together a list of must have items for any successful beach vacation.
Copious amounts of waterproof sunscreen that’s at least 50 SPF.
I love Sun Bum’s products as they protect well while not causing breakouts. Plus it’s reef safe, which is super important here in Florida.
I also love using Coppertone’s Sunscreen Spray. The ease of use is undeniable and it does a great job protecting the skin.
Nice beach towels as you can’t rely on the hotel or AirBnB to provide enough. We learned this lesson the hard way at Hawk’s Cay.
A nice sun hat to protect your scalp. Nothing sucks more than a severely sun burnt scalp!
A high quality cooler, like a Yeti, for a day on the boat or at the beach. Otherwise, your food and drinks will soon be warm.
I also like to bring a cooler bag as they take up less room and are the perfect option for carrying snacks.
SPF clothing is crucial to protecting your skin especially if you’re out on the water. My SPF shirt protected my upper body. Unfortunately, I didn’t have SPF pants on and my legs paid the price. Lily Pulitzer also offers a full line of SPF protection clothing.
What would a day on the boat or at the beach be without some great music. A Bluetooth speaker, like this one from Bose, is the perfect way to bring the party everywhere you go.
Snorkel gear!! There’s no better way to explore at the beach than by snorkeling.
Naturally, you’ll need something to carry all this awesomeness in and a great beach bag is exactly what you need. I bought an expensive one years ago at Atlantis, but it quickly broke. This year I bought one by Shylero for under $50 off of Amazon. Honestly, it’s amazing for the price. It even comes with a waterproof bag for your phone and wallet. You can check it out here.
Another must have is after sun lotion or aloe Vera to help heal and moisturize your skin after a day in the sun.
These are some of the key items to have as you embark on your perfect beach vacation. Some of these items are a matter of convenience, but others are crucial to protecting your health. Now that my fabulous beach vacation is over, l’m making notes of my must haves for next year’s trip. All of which are in the list above. What are your must have beach items?
*I ran 2 miles and walked a mile. It went quite well.
*Did I mention it was vacation time?
*Tonight we’re enjoying ice cream and watching the NHL draft.
*Jake was able to have a nice lunch with Jon and Brandi before they headed for Yellowstone. I’m so jealous.
*For dinner, the hubby made vodka sauce pasta.
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*Today’s word of the day is curvaceous. After eating too much on vacation, I’m more curvaceous than I’d like.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness, so I’d have more control over him outside. Also, the flies are still here. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? I was finally able to hang the fly traps. Nobody loves flies.
Monday was our boat day in the Keys. This was the first time we rented a boat and it will not be the last. Initially, our boat day got off to a bit of a rocky start since someone blew up the engine on our boat the previous day. Fortunately, the staff at A1A Watersports was first class and upgraded our boat, threw in some fishing rods and even knocked 14 gallons off our gas charge. We ended up with a Grady dual console boat, which was super nice.
After grabbing the boat, we cruised back to the house to pick up the rest of our group. As we left the canal to head towards the Gulf, there were dolphins swimming in the canal. I was a little nervous as there were dark clouds off on the horizon and some heavy rain in the Gulf. Fortunately, we ended up having perfect weather all day. I love being on the water!
Our first trip was out to the light house and Alligator Reef for some snorkeling. It was incredibly beautiful! As we headed to the location, the seas were pretty calm. Unfortunately, the seas picked up when we dropped anchor near the reef. They started rolling in at 3-4 feet, which wasn’t great for several of our passengers. All of us, except for Captain Hubby hit the water to swim and snorkel. The water was absolutely perfect, however, we had to head back to the house due to sea sickness.
Our second trip of the day had us exploring the islands on the bay side. It was pretty hot out there with little wind, so we ended up pulling up our rods almost as soon we we had put them in. Unfortunately, there was no good way to keep our sweet Ava cool. Thankfully, we hadn’t ventured too far from the house.
Our third trip was a mix of snorkeling and fishing. We had folks fishing on one side of the boat while others swam on the other. The fish, however, were apparently avoiding both sides of our boat as we got only a few bites. Consequently, we moved under the bridge into the Atlantic to see if we could get on some fish. Sadly, not everyone was happy with this move. T was mad at the Captain for not dropping him off at the bridge pylon. Naturally, the Captain had no idea that T was wanting to be dropped off.
Since we forgot to drop him off at the pylon, he decided he would walk to it and climb up it. Of course this was a bad idea given the strength of the current where the Atlantic and Gulf water meet. Not too mention that the barnacles would cut him up as he tried to climb up into the platform. You gotta love teenagers and their ingenuity.
Afterwards, we headed into the Gulf to find the fish. After a couple false starts, the Hubby guided us to the Gopher Cut. Finally, we were on the fish! They were biting as soon as the lines hit the water. In fact, the kids started reeling in some respectable snappers. Unfortunately, the sea sickness started to kick in again as we were anchored. We pulled up anchor and headed back to the house. Thankfully, the sea sickness abated as we started moving again.
Our last trip of the day had us heading back into the open water of the Atlantic. In the afternoon, the seas were significantly calmer. We initially started fishing off the waters of Indian Key, but had no luck. Goalielocks and Captain Hubby decided to head out to a wreck 3.5 miles to the southeast. Truly, we should have started there because the fish were biting like mad. Goalielocks girlfriend put her line in the water and pulled up three snappers almost immediately, I had a similar experience. On her next cast, she pulled up another three snappers. It was awesome! Not to mention it was an absolutely gorgeous location. Next time we’ll start our day at this location.
The boat cost less than $600 for the day and it was well worth every penny. We all carried away some wonderful and funny memories from our adventures on the water. Obviously, the sea sickness sucked and we weren’t properly prepared. Next time I’ll be sure to have Dramamine on hand to help mitigate the sea sickness. Lastly, after the sun and salt water exsiccate my skin, I’m going to be covered head to toe in sunscreen and spf clothing. Long story short if you are in the Keys and considering renting a boat, do it and use A1A Watersports in Islamorada.
As an aside, I think they were so generous to us because we were kind and patient when they told us our boat had broken. In contrast, an asshole form New York pulled an attitude with the entire staff (all of whom were super nice and professional) as soon as he got there. Keep in mind, his boat was there and ready to go immediately. The staff, in my opinion, was way more patient and professional with him than I would have been.
He was still complaining when we brought the boat back. The man was charged for 28 gallons, which was the amount of gas he used. Thankfully, we came off akin to angels due to his poor behavior. In fact, we used 44 gallons of gas, but were only charged for 30. I guess it pays to be nice.
We finished our night with an adults only dinner at Morada Bay’s Pierre. It was quite the contrast to their Beach Cafe, but the food was awesome. The service at Pierre’s is was impeccable. We enjoyed an appetizer of shrimp cocktail and escargot. Both are amazing. For dinner, I had the fish du jour, which was a snapper in browned butter sauce. Lastly, we capped off the dinner with a key lime tart and creme brûlée. I love it!
If you go, check out:
A1A Water Sports and Boat Rental in Islamorada had several types of boats, jet skis, fishing equipment and snorkel gear for rent at a great price point. There service is also fantastic. It’s the perfect place to supply your boat day!
Pierre at Morada Bay. Their price point is high, but so is the quality. You will love it! I recommend the escargot, shrimp cocktail, fish du jour and creme brûlée. The views of the sunset are first rate.
Our islandadventure in Islamorada sadly came to an end yesterday after an incredible weekend in the Keys. I unplugged completely from the blog and all social media. Honestly, it was fantastic. The truth of the matter is I was far too busy having fun and enjoying the company to be bothered with technology. That is the hallmark of a good vacation.
This year we stayed at Su Casa, in Islamorada, which is a private rental I booked on AirBnB. It was absolutely perfect for our large group. We had the main house and the one bedroom apartment. The two bedroom apartment was rented out to a fantastic couple from Sarasota. Additionally, it was on a canal and had a beautiful dock. Allegedly their are crocodiles in the canal, but I wasn’t lucky enough to see one. Honestly, I can’t recommend the property highly enough. It was absolutely the perfect spot for our island adventure!
Speaking of perfect, it’s location was superb. We had quick access to the gulf and ocean from the canal, which was nice when we rented the boat. Also, it was a short walk to Robbie’s where you can feed the tarpon, engage in a number of fun water sports, shop or get a nice drink at the bar. Robbie’s parking lot is always overflowing, so it was nice that we could simply walk there.
Saturday night we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Morada Bay’s Beach Side cafe. The food was wonderful and relatively cheap given the size of our group. We were initially sitting outside, but it quickly became too hot. Fortunately, they were able to accommodate us inside near the bar. I ordered the Key West pink shrimp scampi pasta, which was awesome. For my drink, I had a nice vodka cocktail with watermelons purée and an herbal note. I highly recommend trying it if you ever find yourself there.
Post dinner, we headed next door to the sports store for fishing supplies. While there, Goalielocks, his girlfriend and I checked out the docks. Unbelievably, we saw a manatee eating the remnants of fish thrown into the water after having been cleaned and filleted. As the manatee munched away the fish, three sharks (two black-tips and a Bullsharks) circled the area hoping to get some fish. Needless to say that’s the closest I ever want to be to a Bullsharks.
Fishing from the bridge
Sunday morning we grabbed some awesome cafe con leche from Cuban cafe on Plantation Key. We also grabbed some empanadas, pastelitos, and cachitos. After breakfast we headed south to go fishing off a bridge. Last year, we had little success fishing from the bridge, so we were all skeptical. Fortunately, this year the bridge fishing delivered. All of us were on the fish almost immediately. We caught several pork fish, wrasses, and some snappers. After an hour or two, we headed back to the house to get ready for lunch.
Sunday afternoon Hanh and I took the kids on a kayak trip through the mangroves. The Mayor and I shared a double kayak, which worked well. Truly, the scenery was absolutely gorgeous, but of course the kids thought it was boring since we saw no wildlife. I had hoped to see a manatee or a crocodile, but I still enjoyed the beauty of the mangroves even though I didn’t see many animals.
Sunday nights we had an early dinner/late lunch at the house instead of eating out. While we were on the kayak trip, the Hubby and John cooked us dinner. After all, we had worked up an appetite on our kayak trip, so it was perfect timing on their part. The rest of the evening we spent chilling under the tiki hut watching the sunset and hoping to spy a croc. Meanwhile, the kids continued to fish from the dock. Incredibly, Goalielocks caught a nurse shark that evening.
If you go on your own island adventure in Islamorada, be sure to check out:
Robbie’s of Islamorada: it’s well worth the hassle of the parking lot, but being able to walk there was priceless. There is so much to do here and yes you should feed the tarpon.
Su Casa vacation rentals offered a superior vacation experience in Islamorada. Last year, we stayed at Hawk’s Cay, which wasn’t a great stay.
Mrs. G’s, located on Plantation Key, was our go to spot in the Keys for our morning coffee. It’s also an ice cream place, but we only went for the coffee and breakfast pastries.
Morado Bay has a casual option in the Beach Cafe and a formal option with Pierre’s on the same beautiful property.
Well, thank goodness I’m not fasting today because it was a hump day for the record book. And not the good kind of record books, the shitty make you pull your hair out kind of day. Otherwise known as every day at my old job. So maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but today truly did suck balls.
I have been in my new job since September and helping clients since October. Thank goodness, I have had a wonderful experience with clients who are nice and respectful whether they bought or not. Unfortunately, today was the day for all the assholes of the geriatric world to coalesce and make my day miserable. To be fair, if they had bought I wouldn’t have minded the Cruella De Vil impressions. However, when they’re total dicks and they don’t buy, it’s an energy sucker.
Thank goodness there was still ice team left over from the batch I made Monday. Honestly, it is super tasty and super easy to make. In fact, there are only five ingredients in the ice cream, which is incredible. My next ice cream adventure, obviously on a non-fasting day, is going to be chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.
well, at least there’s an upside to look forward to!
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read the Norse Queen by Johanna Wittenberg. It is so good that it’s keeping me up at night!
*I skipped my run tonight to have dinner with the Hubby and our friends. We needed to finalize the grocery list for our Keys trip
*The family and I are watching the Seattle kraken’s NHL expansion draft. Sadly, the announcers are super cringey making it hard to watch.
*After dinner, I successfully ate ice cream! As if there was a doubt.
*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.
*Today’s word of the day is fractures. Knock on wold for a hockey season free of fractures.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness, so I’d have more control over him outside. Also, the flies are still here. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? I was finally able to hang the fly traps. Nobody loves flies.
All of Florida is tracking Elsa as she makes her way into the Caribbean. Right now we’re out of the cone of uncertainty, but that only means the center of the storm isn’t going to track over our area. Regardless of where Elsa ends up, our weather will suck Monday and Tuesday. Naturally, the poor weather falls on a Monday we all have off. Obviously, Elsa’s timing sucks.
In between Tracking Elsa updates, I worked for a bit this morning. Unsurprisingly, work was dead. Fortunately, we got to quit early due to the lack of volume. After work, I managed to go for a two-mile run. I didn’t feel like running in the morning, so opted for a post-lunch run. It went well, but my knee/it band was quite stiff at the end.
While I was running and couch surfing, Hubby took the Mayor to practice driving. The Mayor loves to drive and asks several times a day to practice. This is a huge contrast to his older brothers, who never wanted to drive. He’s a good driver and will be more than ready for his license when he turns sixteen. Meanwhile, Goalielocks recuperated from his early morning hockey practice with a nice nap.
After the Hubby finished washing the cars, took a shower, and came out wearing a shirt Jake and I bought him in Helsinki. It’s the first time he’s worn the shirt since we bought it. Undeniably, it brought back great memories of our travels in Finland. One night Jake and I found ourselves, perusing through Stockmann’s Department store off the Esplanade. It’s an incredible store! Jake and I try to buy a shirt every place we go as a unique, but practical souvenir. He bought something at Stockmann’s and I bought a shirt from Marimekko. I can’t wait until we can travel again!!!
Here’s a list of our day’s activities:
*I read Demons, by Dostoevsky. I am really enjoying this book so far.
*I ran 2 miles and walked a mile and it felt great!
* I made a new roast recipe in the Instant Pot tonight. I didn’t super love the recipe, but the roast was extremely tender and tasty. Truly, I was pleasantly surprised as the roast wasn’t completely defrosted when I put it in the pot. Now that I know the Instapot does a great job on frozen meat, I won’t be so frantic if I forget to defrost something.
*The family and I have been binge-watching Thirty Rock. It is such a good show.
*I spent my day with the puppies. Maya is feeling great and is super playful with her siblings. We are all relieved and grateful that she rebounded from her illness.
*I’m off to the long weekend and tracking Elsa as she looks to disrupt my long weekend.
*Today’s word of the day is venation. It has to do with insect veins, which is really more than I ever wanted to know about that.
*I took my puppies including sweetAnakin for a walk. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos?
Presidents’ Day weekend has been synonymous with hockey tournaments for the past decade. Often, we’ve been separated by garages, cities and even country as we divided and conquered our hockey schedule. This Presidents’ Day weekend was the first time we’ve been together since our travel hockey days started.
This weekend we’ve been in Charlotte for Myhockey’s Carolina Cup. A couple quick observations. The weather completely sucks here. It’s been in the high 30s with rain every day. Its’s also strikingly brown and gloomy. Perhaps.l, we’re a bit spoiled by the perpetual sunshine and greenery in Florida. Also, the traffic is horrendous. We’re from South Florida, so we’re used to traffic nightmares. However, we didn’t anticipate that the traffic would be insane here in a Charlotte.
As I write this, we’re stuck on a tarmac weighting for clearance to take off. This is obviously one of the less glamours parts of travel hockey. We have a connecting flight in Atlanta, so here’s hoping we get to ATL with plenty of time to spare. Oh snap, we’re finally pushing back. I was beginning to think I’d have enough time to write the Grapes of Wrath as we waited for takeoff.
Goalielocks and I got upgraded to First class, which would be even more cool if the flight have beverage service. Unfortunately, it’s too short for any of that action. Thankfully, it has afforded a lot more room to relax in as we waited out the delay on the tarmac. Sadly, I think our nice layover in Atlanta just changed into a short one with this delay. We had hoped to grab a drink and dessert before the second flight. Oh well…..
Well, we’re about to take off, so this will be a two part post. More to come on our trip to Charlotte!
Game 1 is in the books here in Charlotte. The Mayor scored two goals and had two assists. His line continues to gel incredible well together. The final score was 6-2 Hawks with all three offensive lines making the scoresheet. Overall, it was a solid team effort this morning.
Game 1 is in the books!
It was a fun game to watch. In fact, you can find it the videos on my Facebook. My commentary is colorful, so if you’re easily offended, you may want to skip the feed. If on the other hand, you like a good gong show, then my feed is perfect for you. I’ll be live from Pineville ice arena at 3:15 and live from Extreme Ice at 8:40.
