FL - The Rest

Only a couple of FL photos left before we get to our MN summer posts.  It feels good to be somewhat caught up on the blog.  :)

We stayed in FL long enough for the kids to go to Motorola's Take Your Child to Work Day with Jon.  The kids really look forward to that every year.  Motorola gives them a tshirt, swag bag, has lots of activities and stations planned, plus the kids get to eat breakfast and lunch with Jon.  Here they are in this year's tshirt:

They had a great day and since I was done with the packing, I had lunch with Lisa.  Win, win.  :)

That night we celebrated Father's Day (which I already talked about).  Saturday was travel day, but we stopped at Ray and Jeanette's first to wish Jeanette a happy birthday.  The kids made her compliment cards too and she cried.  

There was horrible weather in FL so we were a couple of hours late leaving.  Of course, this was the first year that the kids and I didn't book a direct flight.  When we landed in Detroit, we only had ten minutes to catch our next flight.  It took longer then that just to get off the plane!  Luckily, our flight was delayed two hours since they were waiting for pilots to arrive.  Whew!  That gave us time to have dinner before boarding.  My parents, Sara, and Gypsy met us at the airport.  We had a nice visit on the drive home, but it was a long day (the kids were troopers though).  We didn't get to bed until 1 am, but we were just happy to have made it to MN at all.  :)

Mother's Day/Father's Day

The kids both made me some cute things for my birthday and Mother's Day, but I didn't have pictures to share before.

Rylee made me this little jar of compliment notes for my birthday...

... and gave me a little prayer box.  Very thoughtful!

She also write me this poem in both English and Swedish for Mother's Day.

(It's a specific type of poem, but I can't remember the name of it right now.)

She also drew and labeled the parts of a Hibiscus flower on the back.  :)

This was my Mother's Day card from Jace.  He wrote compliments in each of the puzzle pieces.  Very sweet!

We celebrated Father's Day with Jon early (before we left for MN).

Rylee picked out this golfing card.

We got him a "Dad Perfect" (Dude Perfect style) tshirt, but I must not have taken a pic of that.

May Recap - Awards

Some of the end of school awards are given in the classroom now - both kids got Reading Across Broward Awards and AR Hall of Fame awards, but I don't have pictures of that.  Rylee also made A honor roll again...

Afterward she received a big surprise award - the MVP (Most Valuable Panther) award.  They pick one student per grade level.  Our principal reads a letter written by the teacher and everyone tries to figure out who he is talking about before he announces the name.  Jon and I knew she was getting the award, but she didn't.  Here is what her teacher wrote:

We asked her if she had any idea that Mr. D was talking about her.  She said that when he got to the part where he mentioned musicals and plays, she thought - "he could be talking about me!"

Jace got the MVP award last year (the first year our school implemented it) and he nicknamed it the Most Valuable Polich award.  He's also teased Rylee about the fact that he had one... so when Rylee came up to Jon and I, the first thing she said was something about how she had an MVP award now too.  My kids aren't competitive in the least.  :)

Speaking of Jace, he had his last soccer match of the season too.  Here he is with his team and trophy (even though they didn't win any games or even score a goal this whole season).  Lol!  Gotta love the participation trophy!  :)

May Recap - Misc

Rock n Roll  Friday

In the end, Jace decided to skip the wig this year.

Dragon fruit!

Rylee's been waiting 6 months for them to be in season.

Rylee and I went to the American Girl store for Josephine's birthday.  It's become somewhat of a birthday tradition - I think this is our third year in a row.

We decided to bring Rylee's other doll, Molly, for once.  She's been passed over for many trips to the AG Store and her feelings were starting to get hurt.  

Birthday lunch in the cafe...

Molly got her hair done in the salon.  It looks so cute!

Super fun day, as always!

End of the year party pics from Rylee's class party. 

We also had one last bingo night at school.  Jace really wanted this Pikachu stuffed animal prize, unfortunately he didn't win.  Lucky for him, Oliver won and gave it to him.  His parents were happy to not have to bring it home.  Lol!  It brings new meaning to "Pokemon Go!"

May Recap - Beauty and the Beast

Rylee was old enough to be in the school musical this year.  She was Lumiere in "Beauty and the Beast."  She used a French accent, did an amazing job throughout, and was especially fantastic in her solo of "Be Our Guest." 

Waiting for the play to start...

Rylee is the candlestick...

With the beast...

The wall prop was falling over so Rylee was holding it up during this scene.  Then it came time for her to exit and you could see that she was wondering what to do.  She stood it up the best she could and then left.  The girl who played Belle ended up having to hold it up too.  Lol!

When they turned human again at the end, she took off her candle head and hands.  

This was during the curtain call...

Rylee's director from her other play, Miss Emily, surprised Rylee by attending that night.  She even had Rylee autograph her program.  We so love her!

The Moraes boys attended, as did the Amoroso girls (they bought Rylee a Belle pez dispenser).  

Rylee's bestie, Emily, was also in the play.  She was Chip (the teacup).

We took a few family pics outside the school after the play.

Gaga and Papa stayed late into the year just to see Rylee's play (luckily it was a brutal winter and spring so they didn't miss much in MN).  The kids and I went over to their condo after the play to say goodbye to them and Gypsy as they were leaving the next day.

The kids were worried Gypsy would forget about them so they gave up their stinky socks so she could play with them on the car ride. 

But back to Rylee, she was phenomenal as usual.  I'm not bragging or anything, but several people told me she stole the show.  :)

May Recap - Gypsy

A couple of quick pics before we introduce Gypsy.

A tropical themed Fun Friday...

A fun pool party...

The kids went to the Nilsen twin's birthday party.  They had it at their clubhouse pool and had lots of cool activities - like these inflatable balls.  The guy would spin the kids around and then dump them into the water.  I wasn't at the party, but I guess it was a blast!

Since Rylee liked Golden Corral so much, Jon and I treated my parents to dinner there as a thank you for all their help this year.  My Dad especially went above and beyond, taking care of Jon, doing the yard work when he was out of commission, being our accountant and insurance figure-outer, and I forgot to give him a shout out for our Philadelphia trip.  He stayed with Rio for the 5 days we were away.  Thanks Papa!

Jace enjoyed the brownie at the dessert bar.

Rylee thought chocolate-covered strawberries were the best thing ever!  

Both kids are enjoying trying new things with milk. 

Two days before my parents left for MN, they surprised us all when they picked up the kids at school with a 6 month old pomeranian puppy in arms.  

Her name was Tinkerbelle and she needed to be rehomed (the original family that bought her found out they were allergic).  My parents loved her disposition and after two years of searching, my Mom finally found a pom that seemed like the right fit.

My kids spent the evening with her and fell in love.  Even Jon went over on his lunch break the next day so he could meet her before my parent's left.  We renamed her Gypsy.  We always joke that when we travel, we're like "gypsies, tramps, and thieves" so it seemed fitting.  :)

She loves to he held and snuggled, but she's also content to chew or play or nap by herself.  As of right now, she's not barky at all (somewhat unusual for a pom).  Fingers crossed!  Lol!

Welcome to the family, Gypsy!

May Recap - St Augustine Day 2

Day two of our trip started with breakfast at the hotel.  It was catered and we had our own banquet hall.

Then we went to a Pirate Museum.  The first stop is the movie pirate room where they tell you about Hollywood's version of the pirate.  They have some cool movie props from some of our favorite movies: The Goonies...

...and Pirates of the Caribbean.

The rest of the museum is set up like you are inside a pirate ship, but it was so dark that the photos didn't turn out.  You aren't allowed to use flash since they don't want to degrade any of the artifacts.  We learned about some real pirate stories, especially those that affected St. Augustine.  It was my favorite stop of day 2.

Next door to that museum is a colonial village.  We had the best tour guide for this stop - she was hilarious.  Like when she described the need for lookout towers since the pirates didn't instragram their plans: #attacking St. Augustine#pirate life.  Lol!  Here the girls are in the lookout tower and you can see the fort in the background (or the Castillo de San Marcos to be proper).

We had lunch at the village.  It was catered cold sandwiches and very few of the kids actually liked what they ordered.  The adults had hot cubans - they were delicious - sorry kids!

Our last stop of the day was The Fountain of Youth, which I admit was not at all what I expected (it was my least favorite part of the trip actually).  We sat through a very boring planetarium show that was neither interesting to listen to nor to look at.  We did see a cannon demonstration that was kind of cool.  Last, we went to the fountain itself - which is more of a glorified water fountain than anything else.  You grab a cup and walk down some steps to where three streams of water shoot out, then fill up your cup and drink the sulfury tasting water, before walking up the steps and throwing your cup away.

Afterwards, they tell you that almost everyone has drank from the Fountain of Youth since the water comes from the great Floridan Aquifer which is used by many bottled water companies.  I guess I won't be becoming more youthful and beautiful anytime soon!

Then it was back on the bus for the long drive home.  We did stop at Golden Corral and had the buffet (which was a good thing since the kids were starved and most hadn't really eaten much since breakfast that morning).  

 Rylee took this picture of all the chaperones when we were back on the bus.    

We got back to school around 10:30 pm so it was a long two days... and we still had to get through Thursday and Friday.  Luckily, Gaga came over in the morning so Rylee could sleep in a bit and not have to go to school with me and Jace at 7 am.  Lucky girl!  :)