Crab Island, Boating, and Friends.

Yesterday, the girls and I, decided to play hooky from Church and take Daddy boating.  Our friends who have a little girl in between Remi's and Tate's age invited us to join them as they were renting a boat for the day.  IT WAS AWESOME. 

Sorry, no pictures.  Well, there are but I did not take them.  I was tagged in a few so I am sure you can see them if you want to (ugh, I hate looking like a polk-a-dot whale.  This exercise better start paying off.). 

Crab island really isn't an island so much as a giant sandbar.  Some places the water is only knee deep.  It was at my chest and Zack's waist where we were.  Tons of people go out to Crab Island in their boats to enjoy the shallow water.  There are all sorts of modified boats that look like shacks that sell food that motor out there and park for the day as well as pizza delivery by Wave Runner.  Pretty neat.  You really can just spend the entire day out there as long as you don't have to go number two (though you may be lucky and have a toilet on board your boat, we didn't).

So we spent the day playing in the water at Crab Island and near the beach by the rental marinas.  The kids loved it.  the hunted for sand fleas, hermit crabs, fish, and shells.  They had so much fun in and out of the water and were busy busy the entire time.  They were even dancing to the radio for us to watch.  Too cute.  They wore themselves out and the moment they were in the car and it went into motion they were out.

The only negative for the entire day was when Zack, trying to climb into the boat as we were launching from the beach, pulled the door into my left foot hard enough to scrape off some skin and leave a nasty deep bruise.  This bruise feels a lot more evil than it looks.  It hurt to put my running shoe on and then running was not an option so I hiked up hill until my foot began to ache.  Stupid door.  Stupid bruise. 

We had an awesome day out on the water and I have now decided that we need a boat.  Who needs a beach when a boat is so much more awesome.  I guess we should take things one step at a time.  Use deployment funds to finish paying off debt, save money for down payment for house and then look into a boat.  Oh! But I want a boat so badly now.  Maybe we should look at a condo on the beach with a boat slip....just a thought.

Potatoes

Today I let the girls pull up the potatoes.  I didn't want to be doing it so soon but the potato plants were showing signs of death.  So up the potatoes came. 

If you didn't know it, I planted originally four pieces of a potato that had sprouted in my kitchen.  They took off like crazy when I put the little plants outside in a pot.  I had to transplant them a few weeks later into our kiddie pool garden.  One plant died off pretty quickly due to the squirrels digging it up.  That left three plants.  Luckily potatoes really don't take more than a few months to develop some decent potatoes.  I would have left these in ground to get a bit bigger for at least another month if I could have gotten away with it.   

The kiddie pool gardens came about as a way to get around amending the horribly sandy soil.  It was cheaper and less risky to simply fill two kiddie pools with potting soil and top soil than it would have been to amend the in ground garden bed which is now a wild flower bed.  Wild flowers sure are pretty and TINY.

As you can see, poor plants are starting to die.  Maybe if the squirrels would stop digging at their roots.

Peeking through the dirt are some potatoes.  Damn squirrels.

Remi is in charge of pulling the spuds from the plants.

Perpetually naked Tate with a spud.

About two dinners worth of spuds.  Not bad for free and to think one potato created these.

Will definitely be planting potatoes again.  Super easy plant to grow if the squirrels would just stop digging in the garden.

Crunchy Knee

So I have come to the conclusion that my knee, though feeling fine, is still going to be crunchy sounding when I walk up steps or steep hills.  It causes me no pain anymore, just sounds really odd, so on with the exercise. 

I actually ran this morning on my treadmill.  It felt so good to get back to it.  I did a mile and a half in about fifteen minutes, of course that included some light jogging to catch my breath.  I figure I can slowly work my time back down and once I get my run where I want it to be than I will think about adding other exercise back into my routine. 

It can be difficult finding uninterrupted time to work out.  So it will either have to be a quick run in the morning and wait until the girls go down at night if I want to do anything else.  Tate seems to think that napping is optional now so that time is now sadly gone as an exercise opportunity.

I just keep thinking, no wonder there are so many out of shape, overweight moms, as everyday seems to revolve around chores, kids, and errands, where do you find the time to cram in exercise and basic me time? Early morning, or late at night, both are really not ideal since you are either still tired, waking up or now tired.  Well, I will manage it I am sure, even if I have to lock them out of the office for fifteen for a quick run.

Wish me luck, lets hope nothing else decides it is time to break down on my body, between my back, knees, random abdominal cramping and shins I deserve a reprieve for a while from issues.  I need this exercise.  I refuse to hold onto almost fifty extra pounds.  I am too short to be so round and I want my pre-kids body back.  It may take me the next few years if necessary to do it but I will.   So crunchy knee, here is to you, get over yourself, I have.

While Daddy was in Vegas.....we played.

Here is a picture collage of the time spent playing and having fun while Daddy worked and wasted money in Vegas.  We've had a great time out and about trying to meet and make new friends.  We've also loved discovering new play spots in and around our stomping grounds.  Sadly none of my library pictures came out.  Not sure why.  Fancy camera of mine sometimes is too fancy and I fail to operate is correctly on occasion. 

I think the next major thing I want to do with the girls around town is make a picture album documenting our little slice of Florida, where we like to go and all the great stuff around us.