Bigfoot and Daffodils

We were so grateful to spend time with grandparents who came here just as things everywhere were starting to shift and close due to the coronavirus. It definitely changed our initial plans, but we got a bit creative and looked for opportunities and adventures that still worked.

As my parents arrived, the schools closed for two days for a deep cleaning. The kids actually went back for one day that week before their scheduled day off, and then the district announced they'd be shifting to online learning for the next chunk of time.

We spent lots of time in the yard with Vern!

 Picked up tomato plants and found a spot to plant them! Excited to give gardening a shot here. Just need to keep the deers away from the plants...

 Picking up some essentials and seeing the vast amount of empty shelves. This was the toilet paper/paper towel isle, but there were many isles that were emptied out like this - medicines, soaps, cleaning supplies, canned foods, eggs, dairy in general, meats.

 We took the grandparents on an adventure to the BigFoot Museum. It was fun, memorable, and a beautiful, scenic car ride!

 After going studying the map of Bigfoot sightings, Abby leaned over to me and said, "mom, I think we should move back to Florida." Then she looks at the map again (Florida also has sightings), pauses, and said, "no, not to Florida. I think we should move somewhere else." She first said Texas, but then realizing Utah is where grandparents lived, settled in that Utah would be much safer.

A portion of the museum had listening tracks of what Bigfoot may sound like in the woods. She pulled the headphones off, leaned over to me and with the widest eyes said, "Yeah, mom. I think I've heard that. I think I've seen one. I know I've seen his footprints in the forest."

 A fun old car next to the museum. Looks like there was an antique shop but it was closed.

 Took the grandparents to Village Burger!

 Saturday while we were so grateful for the break in rain for Tayler's Baptism, we were hoping for a rain free afternoon, but the rain seemed to just sit and settle. We wanted to pick something outdoors and grabbed our raincoats as we headed to Gibbs Gardens. We saw signs for it during our drive the day before about the "20 million daffodils."

The daffodils were beautiful! All different varieties that bloom throughout the early spring season. The grounds were so beautiful. Because of the rain, we took a little tram ride, and just as we stepped off the tram, there was a medical emergency for another guest just above us on the path. The medical teams were so responsive, but unfortunately, the person had a heart attack and was unable to recover. It was interesting to be so close to something so heavy and hard, and I found myself sending prayers throughout that day to whomever this person was and to their family.

Back to the flowers and lighter topic...

From that point, things continued to shift and close in the world, and we were so grateful to spend the Sabbath day at home together. It was so special to have Sacrament Meeting together and share our testimonies and messages of Christ. So grateful we were able to share that first "church at home" with grandparents.

Later that afternoon, Alexis and my dad made cinnamon rolls (the night before Alexis and Mike's mom made cookies). They all turned out fantastic.

Not shown are the fun times playing card games, shooting basketball hoops, studying Come Follow Me together, pizza movie night, and time in good conversation.

And by the end of day Sunday, things had closed down significantly. I had a strong and continual thought that the grandparents needed to get back home to Utah. My parents were set to leave Tuesday and Mike's parents were set to leave Thursday. They ended up all taking the same flight back on Tuesday, and all arrived before the earthquake hit in Utah on Wednesday. Who knows how things would have turned out had they not made adjustments, but we are so grateful the path they did take brought them all home safely. So grateful they were able to be here!

June Visitors - Part 2

Max took advantage of any spare moment and challenged these two to games of HORSE. Or TURTLE. Or SNAPPER. Really, any kind of animal that would enable them to keep playing. It was a hoot to see them all out there - shooting from the street, shooting from the sidewalk - anything to get him off of his shot!

The girls loved playing card games with the grandmas - uno and skip bo were at their top of the list. I didn't stop to take a pic, but those were some funny moments together!

After a fun dinner at a local burger spot, my parents headed home early the next morning. We had a few days left with Mike's parents and went to the Science Museum in Ft. Lauderdale. It was so fun! Totally different from Miami, and the kids had such a blast showing them the exhibits!

This spot you can "feel" what tornado/hurricane winds feel like. It's a hoot to see the kids in there.

Abby isn't much of a fan. Of photos, that is.

It looks like the deep sea boat fishing experience turned over a new leaf for this kid and fishing! And some tips from his grandpas and dad definitely helped too! Backyard fishing at it's best (we are so grateful that we can literally walk out our backyard and fish - it's such a neat thing to experience!).

The girls had a blast catching fish too! Alexis has really loved learning the tying and casting!

On an essential trip to Wal-mart to pick up thread for friendship bracelets and fishing supplies, the girls couldn't stop laughing over these masks. What a hoot!

We swam, we ate, kids loved showing grandparents their newly painted bedrooms (I'll post pics at some point), and loads of other moments that didn't make it to a camera, and that's okay. We loved the deliberate time we were able to spend with both sets of grandparents!

June Visitors - Part 1

We were SO grateful to have both sets of grandparents come out for a visit. They arrived the day after the last day of school. On the same red eye flight. Oh those flights are brutal!

We took them to a favorite tree park - and the weather did not disappoint - it was so hot and humid! But they were great sports - weaving through the twists and turns of the path and getting a little lost along the way as our memory turned out a bit different from the actual map! 

The next day we headed west! We split up for the day and the boys went out deep sea fishing in the Gulf. It was a first for all of them, and they were so excited. I was hopeful.

Mostly for Max.

That kid has been out fishing countless times since moving here and hasn't caught a single fish. Not one. Part of me was worried he'd go out there, and everyone would catch fish but him. But the bigger part of me was hopeful - I mean in the big ocean, they'd have to have some luck, right?!

And here it is! His first catch of the day!! They were all thrilled (and relieved that no matter what happened, at least he'd caught one fish!).

They headed out to a shipwreck, and fished around this now coral reef. They said the water was incredibly clear and it was solid ocean in every direction. And then the real fish story comes in - in a matter of :20 minutes they ALL had multiple catches - big fish, a sting ray, colorful fish, spanish mackerels, snappers, blue runners, barracuda, sheepshead, lookdown - it was a constant catch all around the boat. 

This part of the story is in Max's words (since he was the one on the boat seeing it all happen!):

My grandpa (my mom's dad) caught a king fish which was pulled off by TWO black tip sharks! We couldn't believe it! The only thing left on the hook was the head of the king fish. My grandpa was ready to reel it in, but the guide said "drop the line to the bottom and try to catch the sharks!" He did, and re-caught one of the black tip sharks (about 3-4 feet long)! As this shark was pulling away - and he's trying to reel it in - out of nowhere a HUGE bull shark (it had to of been at least 10 feet long) swims in faster than lightning - snatches the shark in one gulp and gets hooked on the line! THEN it jumped out of the water - full body and landed with the biggest splash ever and totally snapped his line like a tin can. This whole thing happened in about :30 seconds. There was blood everywhere and I barely had time to see any of it as I had to put my pole down and get over there! It was the craziest thing I've ever seen! Definitely won't go snorkeling in that water!

Meanwhile...the gals and I all headed to the beach! We LOVE the beaches in Naples! The white sands, the sea shells EVERYWHERE and I love how the water is unbelievably shallow. We spent the whole day playing in the water, I loved swimming in the ocean with the girls, practicing the boogie boards on the little rolling waves, and building sandcastles.

We met up that night for dinner and headed to the hotel for an overnight stay.

The next morning we went to Sanibel Island - another favorite! This beach had been pretty beat up from the tropical storm in May, and it was completely different from what we'd seen in December. It's amazing how much the water/tides/storms will change beaches. We spent most of our time at this beach snorkeling and looking for shells of all types and sizes. It was a blast!

And here's the real reason we were so lucky to have all of the grandparents here! Max was ordained a Deacon in our church and was so excited to begin participating in the service associated with it. I love the realness of this photo. How difficult it can be to get everyone to look at the camera, Abigail holding her "treat bucket" for next week, and the excitement of that 12 year old front and center. There was so much love and light in this moment.

Keeping true with his humor/inability to hold still for a photo, this was the best "12 year old" photo I could get of him. But again, I love the realness/fuzziness of it. It reminds me that he simply couldn't hold back his excitement. He has been so excited (and patient - we delayed it a couple weeks to coordinate schedules with grandparents coming out and school ending) for this new chapter to begin. I love that he loves it and while he understands it with incredible faith as a 12 year old, I know that his love and understanding of the service of the priesthood will only continue to grow as he chooses to apply and use it throughout his life.

The next day the weather was a bit spotty, and after the beach days and full sun, the crew was ready for something a bit more indoors. We headed on a new adventure - The Frost Museum in Miami - and LOVED it! It's right next to the ocean and has an incredible three story aquarium where you can view sharks, Mahi mahi, rays and all kinds of fish from underneath, the side and the top. So beautiful! Loads of smaller aquariums are throughout and this crew loved the stingray touch pool! The entire building has an inside-but-outside feeling to it and it's one of my most favorite architectural museums we've ever been to.

Had to get a pic of their hair - they were so excited to go on another outing with grandparents and all picked their hairstyles they wanted for it! Yes there are so many crazy moments and the years of "who took my shirt" have already begun, but at the core, these gals aren't just siblings, they are friends.

We spent oodles of time at the traveling Leonardo exhibit. Oh. My. Goodness. Until going through this exhibit, I had no idea he invented pretty much everything and artwork and composing music and writing poetry were happening in his "spare time." The renderings of the human body are simply incredible. I can't say how many times I paused in that exhibit thinking about this example of man who clearly used his time wisely. There were a few moments I caught my mind thinking "gosh, what am I really doing with my time?" Yet I was reminded of a very clear principle that I am so grateful for: oodles of my time over these last 12 years has been centered in the trenches of motherhood. And while my life story may not have the discoveries of this great individual, creating and developing humans is something I hold near and dear. His work was clearly inspired in Truth and I am so grateful to be a beneficiary of his wisdom through every day life and modern-day conveniences hundreds of years later. It's cool to think how much history truly does pave the way for what and who we are today. He also may or may not have been an inspiration behind me using some of my birthday money to pick up a few watercolor supplies/learn how to watercolor book. While watercolors weren't his medium, I haven't stopped thinking about how much he dedicated his mind to CREATING. Something I'll have to write more about another time.

Some of the quotes I just loved:

Loads more from the museum that we didn't take pics of - a poison exhibit and a cool one all about flying/aerodynamics.

She adores him.

Love the real photo of this one too. Abigail couldn't slow down enough for a group photo with grandparents, and we couldn't seem to get a very good angle with the folks that were all enjoying the view of the bottom of the aquarium, nor does this really show how cool it really was, but we were there. Happy moment.