Friday morning

9:10. Project table. This was organized when they went to bed last night.

Friday morning

Girls wanted to do a car wash. 8:30 am. To take care of their mode of transportation.

Miami Highlights

 ::family bike::

 ::crocodiles next meal::

 ::the chase is on::

 ::lunch::

 ::tired girl::

 ::light displacement at the river otter exhibit::

::love the color::

Miami Flora

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took an afternoon walk at the Fairchild Botanical Gardens

We went to the beach - really!

 

 

A different beach experience here than in the VI for sure. As you can see the beaches go on forever and they are very crowded. Yesterday we drove down to South Beach, of art deco fame and it was packed even on a Monday. Technically a beach is a beach to the kids. Is the water warm. Check. Are there waves to get knocked around in? Check. Is the sand fine enough to build, dig, draw in? Check. We had a great time - playing and people watching as you should do while in South Beach.

everglades

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was not what we were expecting. The dryness of the winter season makes this flat, normally swampy area look more like open prairie with dry ground, sawgrasses and low lying pines and cypress. The wind sounded like the wind in wide open country too; soft, high and clean. We had been imagining a deep water swamp with tall cypress trees hanging with spanish moss and humidity. At one point we saw the Gulf of Florida in the distance, a blur of pastel pink and blue waiting for the heat of summer to settle in. On one walk we saw our fill of wildlife and according to C, 24 crocodiles, though I suspect it was many more than that.

Ice-cream Miami style

Soft serve, lite (even my Nutella flavor), 100% natural, and hot pink.

Over the Bahamas

I finally got a window seat yesterday. Normally, we adults get relegated to the center seat to keep kids separated. This flight is wonderful for window watching. The Bahamas are so flat, and the waters around them so shallow, I could see every shade of blue the tropical ocean can create.

Miami zoo

On the bikes at miami zoo...

Happy St. Paddy's Day

 

 

 

ROYGBIV pancakes, found by C in his highlights magazine. Perfect for St. Paddy's day. Not to many shenanigans going on around here today though...I mean beyond what normally happens. As I speak, M is doing running jump-swings on the Johnny Jump up (she's totally going to break it) and getting some good air. B and C are playing Legos . C's is a replica of a digestive system, or is it a fortress? B is making a house. W is sleeping, though he had some pool time earlier with the rest of us.

Days

"How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and that one is what we are doing. A schedule defends against chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days." - Annie Dillard

torpedo

, a photo by blakeislandblog on Flickr.

This boat is the fastest Opti in the fleet, according to the kids in the class. "Was that why you got to class early today?" the instructor asked C? To get on the fastest boat? The winds were incredible today and those boats looked like toys in a bathtub bobbing, tacking and shooting like "sliver arrows" through the water.

so quickly

I had forgotten how quickly they catch on. At first a flailing arm in the vicinity of an object may or may not connect with that object. But within days the failed efforts turn successful and a direct, controlled reach results in a grab with a strong hold.  Nothing is safe.

new skills

Breakfast is usually pancakes, dutch babies, waffles, hardboiled eggs and english muffins, or hot cereal. On mornings like last Friday when neither of us want to cook (E usually does most of the breakfast cooking) then its cold cereal. C doesn't like cold cereal preferring something more substantial I suspect. So we have challenged him lately to making his own pancakes. And he does it with great success.  We all usually end up eating them.

practice practice

We walk a fine line between high expectations and demanding too much. Sometimes the line isn't very clear and I wonder if we've gone too far. Somedays its seems we have, and others we get it just right. He's catching on and the confidence is palpable.