The Saturday 7
1. I initially started this entry with my Florida recap, but it became a post of its own, so I've relegated it to the end. Feel free to peruse as much or as little as you like. The short version is this: Florida was wonderful. They had unseasonably cool temps the first three days we were there, but 50s and sunny is better than 30 and dreary any day! Justin's parents put us up in their one bedroom condo, so it was a bit of a tight squeeze, but we all love each other so it was fine! (And they converted the "solarium" into a bedroom for the five of us. It was plenty big and worked out perfectly!) We had a blast playing games, riding bikes, going to various beaches, celebrating Lena and Justin's birthdays, and just breaking out of our routine and being on vacation! I stayed up late (like 1-2 a.m.) every night reading books, Justin got to do a bunch of fishing, the kids got to watch lots of cable TV and be spoiled by Grandpa and Grandma. Of course there was whining and disobedience and bad attitudes throughout as well. Don't let me paint it all as sunshine and roses. But that's vacation with kids. I knew what to expect. Neither Lena nor I were big fans of the plane rides, but they both went very smoothly and neither of us had meltdowns. Overall, we had such a great time, and are so grateful for Justin's parents' generosity! It was very hard to come back home to cold and dreary Michigan.
2. One thing that was hard for me was my in-laws seeing in person what horrendous food issues my kids have. Donna reads my blog (hi, Donna!), so she isn't totally unaware, but it was embarrassing for her to see it firsthand. She was so nice and tried to buy things they would like, but she underestimated the level of their pickiness. Talk about a blow to my pride. Oy. Lucy's doctor appointment is Tuesday. I'll keep you posted about what she says.
3. While we were in Florida, we got smart about Levi's melatonin usage. We didn't want to deal with his middle of the night freakouts - and figured they might be worse if he woke up in a strange place - but we also didn't want to deal with the three hour bedtime since we were all sleeping in the same room. So we started giving him half a melatonin gummy and that seemed to do the trick! Whew!
4. I fell into a deep pit of depression on Thursday (of this week - not while we were in FL). There seems to be this false assumption that you're supposed to come back from vacation refreshed and renewed. When, in actuality, I came home from vacation tired and with so much work to do just to get our life back to normal (the laundry!). I didn't get much sleep Wednesday night, so that didn't help, and I totally crashed by Thursday. I decided to type up what set me off and exactly how I was feeling. 1.25 pages later, I had a good summary. I'm going to try to keep doing that and watching for patterns. I asked my doctor if I could switch meds since I feel like the one I'm on has caused me to gain so much weight, but she said no. Another reason I want to keep track of these bad days is to get a good feel for how often they actually hit me (and see how much my current meds are actually helping). It's so hard when you're sitting in the doctor's office to answer, "How many days in the past month have you felt depressed?" Uhhhhhh.
5. Have you seen this article floating around facebook lately about how people think?
The first time I read it I spent all day thinking about thinking. It drove me crazy! It's like thinking about every breath you take or every time you blink. Once you're conscious of it, you do it differently. After a few days, though, I've decided that I'm not either/or. I came to the very scientific conclusion that I have three levels of thought activity. The first, most interior level is the "abstract non-verbal." It's thoughts I have that aren't fully articulated. I'd have to think just a little deeper to put them to words. The second level is the "shorthand" thoughts. I think this is my most common thought pattern. I think faster than I can put my thoughts into words, but I do have that internal monologue, so they're abbreviated sentences. Instead of "I need to go to the store to buy eggs, butter, and milk," I'd think "Store. Eggs, butter, milk." And the third level is the "classic internal monologue." I think this way most often when I'm considering a conversation I've had in the past or one I need to have in the future, or when I'm drafting a blog post in my head . . . which happens more often than you'd think. Haha. So there you have it - the inner workings of my brain.
6. A few Florida observations that didn't fit anywhere else: The old people. They're everywhere. I know that's to be expected in a tourist town during "snowbird season," but seriously. Does anyone live in these towns year round? Justin and I went to Wal-Mart on Tuesday for groceries and were seriously the youngest people in the whole store! When we went out for his birthday dinner, the place was packed, but 99% of the clientele was older than us (by 30 years!). And what is it with the old men and speedos? Whyyyy? Just whyyy? And then there's the shopping cart situation. No one puts them away. The weather is beautiful 24/7, there are cart corrals every 5 parking spaces, but the carts are piled up on every inch of grass and in numerous parking spots themselves! (Not only at trashy Wal-Mart, but also at classy Publix and Costco) Are these old people all too lazy to put their carts away? If I can push my stupid cart through 6 inches of slush to put it in the cart corral in Michigan, you can drive your cart smoothly across the parking lot in Florida! Also, the water smells weird. Like the water that comes out of the faucet - in the sink, in the shower, everywhere. What do they put in that stuff? Mostly though, I just couldn't get over the palm trees and how warm it was - even when it was unseasonably cool. I can't image waking up every day of the year without goosebumps covering your skin as soon as you get out from under the covers. I can't imagine the amounts of Vitamin D they must soak in year round (or the amount of sand the people on the coasts must sweep out of their houses every day!), or the luxury of never having to wear a stupid coat or boots. Man, I better get a really good job really soon so I can afford to retire like that in 30 years!
7. And now for the exceptionally long and detailed Florida recap that is probably only interesting to me, but I'll want to look back on it in years to come. (Also, this took me hours to write, so I didn't go back through to proofread. Sue me.)
I shared a ton of pictures on facebook already, but I'm going to share some here as well, with a long recap. Feel free to scroll . . . (I did include a few videos in the recap that weren't on facebook if you just want to watch those.)
The weekend before we left, I'd been having major stomach trouble. I wasn't sure if it was nerves, sickness, or a combination of both, but I was miserable. I pretty much didn't eat for 3 days . . . which was great since my attempt to diet before Florida was mediocre at best. I ended up losing 9 pounds in 3 weeks - mostly thanks to that weekend of sickness. I was feeling better by Monday, but still not great, and I was super anxious that I'd get sick on the plane.
Monday
Our flight didn't leave 'til 3, so we didn't have to rush in the morning. My stomach was still really unsettled and I recognized it as largely anxiety at that point, so I took my first xanax at 11:30 (along with gas-x and immodium - I wasn't messing around - haha). My wonderful brother picked us up at noon (because he and I are both anxious about getting to airports on time), we got right through security, and then spent a couple hours waiting at the gate. The kids did well for the most part while we waited. Lucy played on her tablet, Lena and I played a game on the floor, and Levi bounced between reading with Justin, playing on my phone, and running laps.
The drugs did their job and I was feeling hungry for the first time in days while we waited. I spent $8 on a 6 inch pre-made sub in the gift shop just before we boarded. I took half of another xanax at 3 while we waited to take off. It made me a little light-headed/dizzy but was totally worth it. Lena was nervous about flying. She didn't remember much about the last time we flew (3 years ago).
She was fine once we were up in the air, though.
Levi and Lucy did great.
We landed in Sarasota around 6:30 and Justin's dad picked us up. He treated us to McDonald's on the drive to the condo.
It wasn't super warm, but so much better than what we had left behind!
That night we just settled in and went to bed. (Well, the kids did. I stayed up finishing my book. Vacation perks!)
Tuesday
On Tuesday, we unpacked and settled in for the week. I took a video of the whole place, but it's too long. Here is the "bedroom" we stayed in with the kids:
The kids really wanted to swim, but it was so cold.
So we had fun riding bikes (that Justin's dad had driven down when they left in December) . . .
Eating lollipops . . .
Fishing . . .
And investigating the cold, windy beach:
That evening we met up with some friends who live close-by to have dinner at the Pizza Hut buffet. Justin's parents had driven their truck down there and we didn't want to spend the money to rent a vehicle, so anytime we all went somewhere together, we traveled slightly illegally.
While we were eating, Lucy said quietly "my tooth just fell out." It was a bloody massacre that we explained to the waitress so she wouldn't be horrified by a plateful of bloody napkins. Lol.
Earlier in the day, Justin's dad took Lucy to the library and they stocked up on books. Levi wanted Grandpa to read him some of the books he picked out at bedtime that night:
Wednesday
Wednesday was the coldest day we were there. We spent the morning playing games and watching TV, then decided to check out Sharky's pier just down the road.
Then the kids had a blast running in and out of the freezing cold gulf, getting totally drenched.
After stopping back home to dry off, change, and eat lunch, we decided to go to a movie. The only kids' movie playing was Spies in Disguise, and it cost us $50 to get in (!), but it was cute. And since it was a Wednesday during school hours we were the only ones in the theater. The kids thought it was awesome being able to run around and change seats throughout the movie.
Thursday was Lena's 7th birthday . . . and the sun finally came out and brought warmer weather! We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, per her request.
Then, since it was finally semi-warm, we walked down to the beach.
That afternoon we had lunch with more friends (Dave knows a lot of people) at their house. They have a nice pool, but only Levi was brave enough to go in the cold water.
That afternoon we went to a different beach.
Lena requested KFC for dinner:
Friday
I think Friday was our best day. We tried the pool again, but it was still too cold:
Then we all went down to "the jetty." Justin and his dad fished and the rest of us played in the water. Lucy and Levi said they weren't going to swim, so they didn't wear their suits, but the water was calm and warm-ish so they ended up in all the way and had a blast.
This video shows how steep the drop-off was (and how fearless Levi was 🤦)
Friday was actually Justin's 35th birthday, so we left the kids with his parents and went on a date for dinner. Justin's dad insisted that we go to Gold Rush BBQ, which was fine with us!
Justin's mom sent me this picture of the kids at sunset while we were out:
Saturday
On Saturday we decided to go to the same beach as the day before. Justin's dad dropped us off, then went to help a friend move for an hour and a half. We underestimated how windy it was, though. The water was way rougher than the day before, and impossible to swim in.
We had fun watching the surfers, though.
After an hour we were all freezing and wrapped up in whatever we could find while we waited for Dave to come back for us:
That evening we attempted to catch the sunset, but were a couple minutes too late.
Then I went with Dave back to Jim and Joyce's to play Wizard. It's a 4 person game, but Justin and Donna want nothing to do with it. Haha.
Sunday
At the beginning of the week, Levi mentioned to Dave that he wished his bike was blue. And Dave said, "You should paint it blue," not realizing that Levi would take that to mean, "Yes, let's do it now." Sunday morning, Dave came home from church with blue spray paint . . . because that's what Grandpas do. Levi was thrilled.
We spent the day soaking up all the sun we could get, playing cards, riding bikes, and going to another beach (Florida has a lot of them apparently🤣).
This beach is famous for its shells, and I could see why. It was incredible! I was a cool old lady with one of those scooper things, scooping up piles of shells for an hour while Justin fished and the kids played in the waves and sand.
That night we finally caught the sunset.
Monday
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Our flight on Monday wasn't until 6:45 pm, so we swam in the pool, rode bikes, played games, cleaned, and packed up.
We piled illegally into the truck again, made it to the airport by 4:30, then stood in line to go through security . . . forever! I've never had an airport experience like that. We always just walk right up, wait for a couple people in front of us, then go through. This time we waited probably 30-40 minutes.
Fortunately, we were early enough that it didn't affect us too much (although I'd be lying if I didn't say it stressed me out a bit), but there were people in line with us that started begging to cut because their flight was about to take off. (These planes were obviously headed to the nice midwest because everyone let them through.)
By the time we made it to our gate boarding was just beginning. We had assigned seats so we weren't in a huge rush to get on, but it made me nervous not to board as soon as they said we could. We quickly went potty, popped our pills, filled up our water bottles, and got on the plane.
We landed without incident just after 9 p.m. and my wonderful sister picked us up. It was terrible to walk out of the airport into the cold, but fortunately my wonderful brother had stopped at our house earlier in the day to turn up the heat, so it wasn't too bad once we got home! We dropped our sandy suitcases on the floor and went to bed exhausted and thankful!
2. One thing that was hard for me was my in-laws seeing in person what horrendous food issues my kids have. Donna reads my blog (hi, Donna!), so she isn't totally unaware, but it was embarrassing for her to see it firsthand. She was so nice and tried to buy things they would like, but she underestimated the level of their pickiness. Talk about a blow to my pride. Oy. Lucy's doctor appointment is Tuesday. I'll keep you posted about what she says.
3. While we were in Florida, we got smart about Levi's melatonin usage. We didn't want to deal with his middle of the night freakouts - and figured they might be worse if he woke up in a strange place - but we also didn't want to deal with the three hour bedtime since we were all sleeping in the same room. So we started giving him half a melatonin gummy and that seemed to do the trick! Whew!
4. I fell into a deep pit of depression on Thursday (of this week - not while we were in FL). There seems to be this false assumption that you're supposed to come back from vacation refreshed and renewed. When, in actuality, I came home from vacation tired and with so much work to do just to get our life back to normal (the laundry!). I didn't get much sleep Wednesday night, so that didn't help, and I totally crashed by Thursday. I decided to type up what set me off and exactly how I was feeling. 1.25 pages later, I had a good summary. I'm going to try to keep doing that and watching for patterns. I asked my doctor if I could switch meds since I feel like the one I'm on has caused me to gain so much weight, but she said no. Another reason I want to keep track of these bad days is to get a good feel for how often they actually hit me (and see how much my current meds are actually helping). It's so hard when you're sitting in the doctor's office to answer, "How many days in the past month have you felt depressed?" Uhhhhhh.
5. Have you seen this article floating around facebook lately about how people think?
The first time I read it I spent all day thinking about thinking. It drove me crazy! It's like thinking about every breath you take or every time you blink. Once you're conscious of it, you do it differently. After a few days, though, I've decided that I'm not either/or. I came to the very scientific conclusion that I have three levels of thought activity. The first, most interior level is the "abstract non-verbal." It's thoughts I have that aren't fully articulated. I'd have to think just a little deeper to put them to words. The second level is the "shorthand" thoughts. I think this is my most common thought pattern. I think faster than I can put my thoughts into words, but I do have that internal monologue, so they're abbreviated sentences. Instead of "I need to go to the store to buy eggs, butter, and milk," I'd think "Store. Eggs, butter, milk." And the third level is the "classic internal monologue." I think this way most often when I'm considering a conversation I've had in the past or one I need to have in the future, or when I'm drafting a blog post in my head . . . which happens more often than you'd think. Haha. So there you have it - the inner workings of my brain.
6. A few Florida observations that didn't fit anywhere else: The old people. They're everywhere. I know that's to be expected in a tourist town during "snowbird season," but seriously. Does anyone live in these towns year round? Justin and I went to Wal-Mart on Tuesday for groceries and were seriously the youngest people in the whole store! When we went out for his birthday dinner, the place was packed, but 99% of the clientele was older than us (by 30 years!). And what is it with the old men and speedos? Whyyyy? Just whyyy? And then there's the shopping cart situation. No one puts them away. The weather is beautiful 24/7, there are cart corrals every 5 parking spaces, but the carts are piled up on every inch of grass and in numerous parking spots themselves! (Not only at trashy Wal-Mart, but also at classy Publix and Costco) Are these old people all too lazy to put their carts away? If I can push my stupid cart through 6 inches of slush to put it in the cart corral in Michigan, you can drive your cart smoothly across the parking lot in Florida! Also, the water smells weird. Like the water that comes out of the faucet - in the sink, in the shower, everywhere. What do they put in that stuff? Mostly though, I just couldn't get over the palm trees and how warm it was - even when it was unseasonably cool. I can't image waking up every day of the year without goosebumps covering your skin as soon as you get out from under the covers. I can't imagine the amounts of Vitamin D they must soak in year round (or the amount of sand the people on the coasts must sweep out of their houses every day!), or the luxury of never having to wear a stupid coat or boots. Man, I better get a really good job really soon so I can afford to retire like that in 30 years!
7. And now for the exceptionally long and detailed Florida recap that is probably only interesting to me, but I'll want to look back on it in years to come. (Also, this took me hours to write, so I didn't go back through to proofread. Sue me.)
I shared a ton of pictures on facebook already, but I'm going to share some here as well, with a long recap. Feel free to scroll . . . (I did include a few videos in the recap that weren't on facebook if you just want to watch those.)
The weekend before we left, I'd been having major stomach trouble. I wasn't sure if it was nerves, sickness, or a combination of both, but I was miserable. I pretty much didn't eat for 3 days . . . which was great since my attempt to diet before Florida was mediocre at best. I ended up losing 9 pounds in 3 weeks - mostly thanks to that weekend of sickness. I was feeling better by Monday, but still not great, and I was super anxious that I'd get sick on the plane.
Monday
Our flight didn't leave 'til 3, so we didn't have to rush in the morning. My stomach was still really unsettled and I recognized it as largely anxiety at that point, so I took my first xanax at 11:30 (along with gas-x and immodium - I wasn't messing around - haha). My wonderful brother picked us up at noon (because he and I are both anxious about getting to airports on time), we got right through security, and then spent a couple hours waiting at the gate. The kids did well for the most part while we waited. Lucy played on her tablet, Lena and I played a game on the floor, and Levi bounced between reading with Justin, playing on my phone, and running laps.
The drugs did their job and I was feeling hungry for the first time in days while we waited. I spent $8 on a 6 inch pre-made sub in the gift shop just before we boarded. I took half of another xanax at 3 while we waited to take off. It made me a little light-headed/dizzy but was totally worth it. Lena was nervous about flying. She didn't remember much about the last time we flew (3 years ago).
She was fine once we were up in the air, though.
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| Playing war on the plane. |
Lena didn't like landing, but the beautiful sunset was a good distraction.
We landed in Sarasota around 6:30 and Justin's dad picked us up. He treated us to McDonald's on the drive to the condo.
It wasn't super warm, but so much better than what we had left behind!
Tuesday
On Tuesday, we unpacked and settled in for the week. I took a video of the whole place, but it's too long. Here is the "bedroom" we stayed in with the kids:
The kids really wanted to swim, but it was so cold.
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| They tried, but didn't last long. |
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| In this picture the pool is right behind me, and the sidewalk ends at the beach. We were in the condo directly in between. |
Eating lollipops . . .
That evening we met up with some friends who live close-by to have dinner at the Pizza Hut buffet. Justin's parents had driven their truck down there and we didn't want to spend the money to rent a vehicle, so anytime we all went somewhere together, we traveled slightly illegally.
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| "Give me five. On the side. Down low - too slow!" |
Earlier in the day, Justin's dad took Lucy to the library and they stocked up on books. Levi wanted Grandpa to read him some of the books he picked out at bedtime that night:
Wednesday
Wednesday was the coldest day we were there. We spent the morning playing games and watching TV, then decided to check out Sharky's pier just down the road.
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| Lena was too scared to go on the pier, so she and I stayed on the beach while Justin took the other kids to the end of the pier. |
Then the kids had a blast running in and out of the freezing cold gulf, getting totally drenched.
Lena has epic dance moves
ThursdayThursday was Lena's 7th birthday . . . and the sun finally came out and brought warmer weather! We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, per her request.
Then presents (that I had sent down with Dave in December so I wouldn't have to haul them in my luggage - #prepared).
Then, since it was finally semi-warm, we walked down to the beach.
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| The water was still really cold, and the drop off was super sharp and close to shore, but they had fun running in the waves and playing with the sand. |
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| Their backyard is full of these huge cool trees. |
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| Jim fried up the fish they had caught the day before. I'm not a fish fan, but this stuff was seriously delicious. #tasteslikechicken |
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| Joyce was sweet enough to provide brownies and ice cream for Lena's birthday |
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| And Lucy was happy to read in the sun. |
Then we went back to the condo for birthday brownies made by Justin's mom:
One of her birthday presents was Mancala, which was a big hit:
Friday
I think Friday was our best day. We tried the pool again, but it was still too cold:
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| Grandpa teaching Levi how to use the water gun . . . because that's what Grandpas do . . . |
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| Lucy looking way too old. |
Friday was actually Justin's 35th birthday, so we left the kids with his parents and went on a date for dinner. Justin's dad insisted that we go to Gold Rush BBQ, which was fine with us!
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| It was delicious! (And yes, he ate that whole rack of ribs! 🐷) |
When we got back, we had birthday cupcakes before bed:
On Saturday we decided to go to the same beach as the day before. Justin's dad dropped us off, then went to help a friend move for an hour and a half. We underestimated how windy it was, though. The water was way rougher than the day before, and impossible to swim in.
We had fun watching the surfers, though.
After an hour we were all freezing and wrapped up in whatever we could find while we waited for Dave to come back for us:
Then I went with Dave back to Jim and Joyce's to play Wizard. It's a 4 person game, but Justin and Donna want nothing to do with it. Haha.
At the beginning of the week, Levi mentioned to Dave that he wished his bike was blue. And Dave said, "You should paint it blue," not realizing that Levi would take that to mean, "Yes, let's do it now." Sunday morning, Dave came home from church with blue spray paint . . . because that's what Grandpas do. Levi was thrilled.
That night we finally caught the sunset.
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| A nice guy on the beach offered to take our picture. Too bad Levi was off riding his bike with Grandpa. |
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Our flight on Monday wasn't until 6:45 pm, so we swam in the pool, rode bikes, played games, cleaned, and packed up.
We piled illegally into the truck again, made it to the airport by 4:30, then stood in line to go through security . . . forever! I've never had an airport experience like that. We always just walk right up, wait for a couple people in front of us, then go through. This time we waited probably 30-40 minutes.
By the time we made it to our gate boarding was just beginning. We had assigned seats so we weren't in a huge rush to get on, but it made me nervous not to board as soon as they said we could. We quickly went potty, popped our pills, filled up our water bottles, and got on the plane.
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| Justin's mom came home with us. His dad is driving home later. (She has to work. He's the owner of his company, so he does what he wants. Lol.) |
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| During the second half of the flight, Levi ended up in the row with the girls and me so he could watch what they were watching on their tablets. Good thing they're small! |
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