Vitamin Sea

notice the seashell Mickey Mouse

On Saturday Braeden asked:  Are we going to swim in the ocean tomorrow?  Because I want to wrestle a shark.

(He didn't really want to wrestle a shark.)

(But he did really want to swim in the ocean.)

They all did.

Sunday, after sleeping much better (at least I did), we went to church.  We were immediately welcomed and it felt really good to be there and feel like we belonged.  It was the most culturally diverse ward I've ever been to.  We've always sat on the front row during sacrament meeting.  When we moved to Pleasant Grove and were going to church for the first time, I told the kids not to sit on the front row.  I preferred to slink in the back and get the lay of the land.  Our boys are fast walkers with long strides and impossible to keep up with.  They walked right to the front row.

Sunday morning in Orlando I said, "We are not sitting on the front row.  This time for real."

We sat in the back.  And it's a good thing we usually sit in the front because I get really distracted watching people.  There was the cutest little boy in America sitting right in front of us.  He was also super mischievous with an older brother who slyly knew how to get him riled up.

What?  I listened to the speakers too.

After that and lunch at Wawa (an East Coast convenience store/sandwich shop Braeden frequented on his mission--it was good!) we hit the road for St. Augustine.

When we got the rental, Mark had ideas about which car he wanted (of course he did) but we vetoed him and got a minivan.  It was a good call because everyone had plenty of space for the drive to St. Augustine.

By the time we got there, I decided we didn't have enough time for a lot of sightseeing and also swimming so I voted we go to the beach first.  I know these people.

The boys headed straight into the surf.

Water has an irresistible pull to them.

But not just them.

Adam watched them and said, "I want to go out there too.  But I don't want to get sand everywhere and there's no shower.  I don't have another shirt to wear.  I am not going to go."

Then after a few minutes he went.

Sorry you have to squint to see them but I was standing here:

Emma stood next to me and watched Adam and the boys play.

She said, "I want to go out there but I don't want to get my hair wet or lose my hat.  I'm not going to go."

I told her she sounded exactly like her dad.

She said, "But I'm definitely not going."

Then after a few minutes she went.

They can't resist.  And I know that so I had packed a small towel to wipe sand off of feet.

Even though I'm immune to the siren call of the ocean, it makes me happy to see them happy.

There was still a little daylight left for seeing St. Augustine.  It's a beautiful little place and I'd love to spend more time there sometime.

Emma posed for this picture to send to her friend Omar (Elder Castillo) on his mission.

It was all fun and games until the drive home.  It happened to be the same day as the Daytona 500.  We took some mysterious backroads to avoid traffic and here's a tip:  if you're ever driving in central Florida on some backroads through towns that seem big enough to have restaurants, don't count on it.

Don't plan on eating.

We finally, finally, after exhausting every snack in my arsenal, found a Wendy's.

The painfully slow and inefficient service was only matched by our famished impatience.

I'm telling you.  Central Florida = don't plan on eating.

Epcot and Emma turns 19

Buckle up for some digital scrapbooking for the next few days.

Last Friday, Adam and Mark and I flew to Orlando.  I like it there.  I love seeing palm trees and my skin loved the humidity.

My hair did too.

We went to Walmart first thing, like you do, for provisions and a birthday cupcake for Emma the next morning.  (She never did eat it--Mark did eventually though.)

None of us slept well and we were going to have our big kids, on the red-eye flight, take an Uber to the hotel (Do you take an Uber or do you take Uber or is Uber a verb, like google?  I don't get out much), but Adam decided it would be more efficient if he just went and picked them up at the airport.  So he didn't get much sleep at all.

Braeden and Emma laughed at my stumbling staggering self when they got there.  I wanted to hug them, especially the birthday girl, but I was pretty out of it.

We all attempted a little more sleep and then on to Epcot.

Braeden promised us that the power of Disney would sustain us.

This is one of the only pictures of all five of us from the trip.

I was really glad that I was able to spend the entire day with my birthday girl:

She is awesome at figuring out systems and she had fastpasses on lock.  We relied on her for our itinerary and she did not disappoint.  In addition to that she was funny and pleasant (despite the exhaustion) and I realized this is my grown up girl:  grown up Emma is wonderful.  I worry about her while she's at BYU.  She strives to be so independent and I want to help her more.  Spending a few days with her made me realize that grown up Emma will be just fine.

I love that girl!

We enjoyed Epcot.

We did a color activity where you use these red, green, and blue levers to try to duplicate a color shown.  Mark, the one who's color blind was maybe the best at it.

 When you say look over here and this is what happens....

At the Space Training Center there was a sign that said, Expectant mothers should not ride.

Braeden said:  You're OK though, Mom.  You have really low expectations.

When the lens popped out of Emma's sunglasses.

There were spurts of water that seemed to jump from pad to pad.  Little kids were playing in them, trying to avoid the water.  A few big kids did too (although they didn't seem to be avoiding the water).

The manatees were fun to watch and I had no idea that a diet of Romaine lettuce could make something that fat.

We liked visiting the different country exhibits.

This building looked a lot like the restaurant where Emma and I ate our last night in Paris.

Everyone loved the Japan exhibit.  Braeden said, "Did anyone else notice that United States is keeping Japan separate from the other Axis powers?"  The order was Germany, Italy, United States, then Japan.

A topiary panda in China

Topiary Captain Hook and Peter Pan in England

I think my favorite country to visit was Mexico.  It was inside and dark so the pictures don't do it justice.

In Norway we ran into the Noll family who used to live in Seattle and were in our ward.  They live in Florida now and we live in Utah and there we all were in Norway.  It was fun to see them.

The amount of drinking in Epcot surprised me.  It was basically a pub crawl from country to country. Not really our scene.

According to Adam's phone, we walked about 10 miles.  Coupled with the lack of sleep, it was quite the day.

This is what tired Davises look like:

Adam took these pictures so he's not in them.  So Braeden took this picture of him:

Grateful Friday

Today I'm grateful for a vacation and mostly the people I get to share it with.

Adam:

We are joining Adam on a business trip to Florida.  He is the author of all adventures.  He tells me about upcoming opportunities with a little twinkle in his eye.  He figures out all the logistics and works magic with airline miles and hotel reservations and then we're on our way.

Braeden:

He and Emma are flying separately from the rest of us and I'm grateful for his sunny disposition that will make a red-eye flight more bearable.  I'm grateful for his willingness and in fact enthusiasm to ask questions of people when he needs assistance. (Emma and I don't like talking to people.  The end.)  Finally, I'm grateful he's big.  It makes me not worried about his sister traveling across the country.

Emma:

Emma is the Disney World guru.  She has made sure we all have the app.  She secured us all fast passes.  She's read all the things so she understands how it works.  She even has a friend who used to work at Disney World who gave her some insider tips.  Also, when Braeden and Emma land in Orlando, bleary eyed from a red-eye flight, she'll be the one to inherently know how to use the Uber app.  The girl has app skills.

Mark:

Like youngest children everywhere, Mark will have the least expected of him but he'll also get the worst bed.  He'll be entertaining and make everyone laugh.  He'll be the first one in line to eat but also to carry all the things.  He and I will spend a few days together after the BYU kids fly home for class.  He'll be the brilliant side kick he always is (or maybe I'm his side kick--I'm never sure) and he'll be good company when he and I fly home together the day before Adam does.

As for my role in all of this?  I just obsessively plan and overthink and I'm going to make sure I have lots of snacks.  Always.  The difference between family harmony and crankiness is usually the snacks.

Let the adventure begin!

Some emails

Some of these were intended for me and some weren't.  What can I say?  My inbox entertains me.

It doesn't matter how many times I unsubscribe from Democratic National Committee emails.  I somehow get signed back up.  By "somehow" I mean that someone who thinks my email address is theirs signs me up again.

Most of the emails are from Nancy Pelosi.  She's a tenacious woman, not to be deterred by me unsubscribing.  She also has high highs and low lows.  She's usually either livid or thrilled.  And she always wants money.

I ordered flowers from this company and I love the myriad chances they've given me here to use my credit.  They may be the company that cries wolf but I'm not going to tell them how to live their life.

FamilySearch sent me this:

They were talking specifically about my Grandma and Grandpa Egbert.  I appreciate the heads up from FamilySearch, but in addition to getting married in Utah myself, all my siblings except one, my parents, both sets of grandparents, all four sets of great-grandparents and all eight sets of great, great-grandparents were married in Utah.

I feel like FamilySearch wasn't even trying with that hint.

On every door of Mark's school they have had signs saying that they will not be accepting deliveries from parents for Valentine's Day.  I have also received multiple emails with the same warning:

PGJH Announcements:

**Valentines Day.  To minimize the interruption of classroom instruction, our school will not be accepting outside deliveries for students on Valentines Day, this includes deliveries from florists.  Please do not bring or send valentine items to the Front Office to have delivered to a student. 

It would never occur to me in a million years to have a "valentine item" or flowers delivered to my 15 year old son.

Who are these people that needed the warning?  Whoever they are, my hat's off to them.

Finally here's an email not intended for me that made me happy all the same:

If I ever need foot surgery, I'm going to Niceville.  It just seems...nice.

Why I was saved for these latter-days

There are lots of reasons I am grateful to live in the here and now. (Here's looking at you indoor plumbing.)  Another reason:  text conversations.  Namely the Fam-a-Lam ones.

There are the texts that are general inquiries:

A question Mark had while indexing (the child can't read cursive very well):

 And the general inquiries that turn into something else:

The time Braeden threw down the gauntlet:

(By the way, Heather was one of my laurels.  And is one of my favorite people.  And someone I'd want to be on the same side of in a battle.)

Mark usually has Fam-a-Lam blocked (and who can blame him) but he occasionally chimes in:

The time Emma followed in her aunt Olivia's footsteps and sold her plasma:

Some observations by Braeden:

and...

Emma getting an idea:

Then there was the time Emma wanted to see some ancient art:

If I can't spend all my days with these people, at least I can get their texts.  I especially love the funny ones:

One of these kids is not like the other

Saturday we ran errands for ten thousand hours and also went to the high school play matinee.  (Into the Woods!  Loved it!) When we finally got home from all of that, Adam and Mark went to help someone move and Adam and Mark installed a new microwave (I don't want to talk about it).  Except.  I'm glad we have Mark.  The whole thing made me nervous (something about heavy objects hovering above my glass cooktop) and Adam would ask me to do something while he was holding the microwave aloft and I'd look at him sort of helpless and call for Mark, who has dexterity and an innate sense of how things work.

Finally I told Mark he needed to stay there.  I pointed out (not for the first time) that we were installing a new microwave because of him.  Stay and help.  So he did.

Because of the myriad delays, we sat down to eat dinner in the 10:00 hour.  Which gave me a headache.  Me + not eating on time = headache.

On his way over to the table, I asked Adam to bring the Advil.

"Um, where is it kept?" Adam asked.

And that made me laugh out loud.

Braeden, Emma and Mark and I?  We're Advil takers.  When one of us has a headache and hasn't had Advil, someone else will invariably ask, "What family were you raised in?"

The kids know I always have Advil in my purse.  This is just basic safety.

But Adam doesn't know where we keep the Advil.

Mark said it's because he's stronger than the rest of us.  Truth.

Brothers

Thursday night Mark went with the youth to Provo to do baptisms at the temple.  After, they went to the Creamery which is steps away from Braeden's apartment.

So Mark texted his brother.  Braeden joined him and they called to see if Mark could stay and go to the men's basketball game with Braeden.  Braeden said he would drive Mark home later.  I said OK and have him home by 10:00 (school night).  Adam offered to go pick Mark up but Braeden wanted to drive Mark home so they could spend more time together.

They texted this picture:

That's one of Braeden's roommates, Ben, on the other side of Mark and I don't know what Mark is wearing because he left home in a white shirt and tie.  He borrowed it from Braeden?

Then Emma texted, "Why are you hanging out without me?"

Both boys texted her to come and join them and she answered, "I'm actually busy."

They rolled in around 10:30 and I said, "Wow, is it 10:00 already?"

Braeden said, "In my defense, I said I would have him home by 10:00-ish."

And I didn't really care that much, just like they knew I wouldn't, so there's another reason why I shouldn't write parenting books.  I was already in bed and had been looking forward to going to bed early but the boys climbed onto the bed and the four of us talked and Mark made us laugh so hard that I cried.  I kept saying I was going to sleep and they would make a move to leave but we'd start talking again and the problem with entertaining sons is that they're entertaining even when you want to go to sleep.  Finally we said a prayer together and I said goodnight for real this time.  They tumbled out the door, laughing and talking and I love those two.

And I love that they love each other.